Papa, Please Get The.....For Me

Continuing our Eric Carle study with:

So as a response project, I asked them to make themselves climbing a ladder reaching for something unreachable and they wrote "Papa, bring me the.....". I don't know why the pics of their writing didn't come out as well, but I wanted to share them anyway.

Please bring me the stars so I could sleep with it and the star won't be alone.

crayon

a cloud

A bird (I love that he did his blue the opposite way!)

so I can live in a nest and tweet tweet in the night sky (a born poet or what?! :)

                                                                  the sun

a flower

a cloud

a cloud because it can hold my little brother and sister so I don't have to hold them.

                                                                    the world

the sky

a diamond

the core (of the earth) so I can play ball with it.

clouds

Eric Carle Characters

One of the challenges with looping is coming up with all new units to do with your kiddos! Especially around the holidays, I think we all have certain books we like to read or crafts we like to make---we did all those already last year! So over the break I really tried to come up with some ideas for new units that would keep their attention in these last few weeks before the holiday.

I went to the library and found some Eric Carle books that I actually feel badly I didn't know existed before. We have read a lot of the insect-related stories, but I had no idea he had this batch of books that can be used as a real spark for creativity. One of them is Draw Me a Star:  (and I know there is some controversy regarding one of the ilustrations-my library copy had the man and the woman clothed as much as they would be on the beach, so you may want to check first if you use it. If it had the original illustration I'd probably still use the book, just maybe skip that page):

I am always open to questions, but I asked my kids to hold their questions for the end as I read this story. One of my girls commented that the story was very "peaceful". I think it's a beautiful story and especially if you read the inspiration for it on the last page. I love finding out how authors come up with their ideas.

I asked my kids to write from the perspective of an Eric Carle character. What is it like to be in one of his books compared to say Winnie-the-Pooh or a Dr. Seuss book? What is good about it/hard/what would you wish for. I LOVED some of the ideas they came up with and couldn't wait to share them with you guys.

I had to cut off his illustration to crop out his name-but he was in the clouds!

I think that's my favorite one. They all wanted to re-read the story themselves, so that book did work hard in our classroom!

New Uses for Candy Canes

And no, this is not a Pinterest find post! I've done this activity before, but because every class thinks differently I wanted to post what these kiddos came up with. This is a critical thinking activity where the students are trying to come up with different ways they can use an object. I model for them with a pencil or a paper clip-a pencil for example I can use to up-do my hair or open a soda can. The first time we do this activity together I usually give them a paper clip they can glue to their paper and then use in their design.

Because it is the holiday season, we are using candy canes. I was very specific up front-I did not want them to write using it as a decoration in any way--something else we can use it for. Think about the shape and the colors.....

Here's what they came up with:

                                        Cane, dancing cane (I guess there's a difference :), tail and earrings.

]

a match, something round, to hold a lantern, and my favorite--a bookmark

for old people :), painting a bridge, to grab shoes and to grab the remote (we could all use one of those right?)

                                                                         A pretty hammer, a pretty key hanger, bag holder

Knot untier, earrings, getting ear wax out :), and as a fork

decorations *sigh*, for grabbing stuff, to measure and to make spaces :)

for shoes, poofy dresses, for your hair and a keyboard

A sword, paint brush, seat belt, cane to walk with

Cane to walk with,  the letter J

                                   to hang clothes, to make your hair poofy (I need one of those too), clothes, to start a                                                                                       fire.

 

Lunch With My Word Wizards

We got AR for the first time this year and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I want my kiddos to love reading. I want them to read books that they chose to read. I want them to think reading is fun. I don't want them to read just to take quizzes and answer questions. However....it has inspired some of my kiddos to read at least a book every day-a choice they often make over doing workstation activities. I've been making extra trips to the library looking for stories I think they will enjoy, classics like: Dinosaurs Love Underpants and Glamsters (glamorous hamsters:). I have seen a jump in fluency, I truly believe because they are reading more. Even if it starts out wanting to win more points, it does seem to be helping with their skills.

I just don't know what to do with my struggling readers, for whom even the lower goals seem daunting.

With her stack of books to read.

They have not taken off their crowns. :)

I had 5 kids who scored over 20 points (miraculous I think, considering all their books are worth 1/2 a point). So we came up with a title for them "Word Wizards" and I ate lunch with them today in the classroom complete with brownies and diet root beer. I wish I could do this more often-we had the most entertaining conversation. Let me recap:

"I watched Tron last night-their electric bill must be really high!"

" Santa has a long beard", "beer?"

"How do mosquitoes get the West Nile Virus to give to us?"

"Let's make a toast-to Word Wizards and football"

Gotta love 'em.

If anyone has any suggestions of how they track AR points or how they work it with their struggling readers-I would love to hear any ideas you may have.