How-To-Writing, Fact Family Kites, and Plant Part Art

Manic Monday

        I don’t know about you, but today FLEW by for me! We were very busy in first grade today. We continued our how to writing, and made fact family kites. Now, that probably doesn't sound like a lot, but those two activities took up most of our day.

        We started our how-to make a s’more writing this morning. I COULD NOT believe how many of my kids didn't know what a s’more was! (Maybe it’s just my Midwest roots, but knowing what a s’more was back home was part of Life 101!) So, I took a few quick polls to see who knew what, and then went from there. I used the kids who knew what a s’more was to help explain it to the other kiddos. I meant to bring the s’more supplies I bought yesterday with me to school, but left them at home in my rush to get out the door. Luckily, the how-to writing unit I am using comes with picture cards to help the kids sequence the steps correctly as they write, so that’s what I used as a ‘visual aid’. Once my kids understood the concept of a s’more, we began our whole class writing of how-to make a s’more. Then, I explained the planning page and how to use the cards to help them; this really was more of a review because we used the same process for the how-to… PB&J.  Then I sent them off to get started, as I prepped for reading groups.

        This afternoon, we made fact family kites. I totally decided this on the fly, having not found any other ‘cute’ fact family ideas for spring/summer. I prepped everything for this in less than 20 minutes during my lunch break, which includes searching for an easy template to use online. I came across a GREAT template on another first grade blog:

http://busybeesinfirst.blogspot.com/2011/03/fact-family-kite.html

        I downloaded the templates and then ran them off on different colored construction paper. I gave each kid a different fact family on a sticky note. Then they had to write both addition and subtraction sentences on the sticky and have their work checked by me. After that, I walked them through the process as a class (using my ELMO) on how to complete the rest. Finally, we were ready to attach our facts to the kite! I borrowed some crepe paper from a lovely K teacher, and well, I’ll let you see for yourself:

       Here is a picture of our hallway board 'Plant Parts':

I took more pictures, but I guess I bombarded my email, so they didn't all get sent! Hopefully I can post more tomorrow!