Perfect Picture Book Friday- Groundhog's Special Secret

What a crazy week this has been! We started out the week with the Chinese New Year! Then yesterday, we celebrated the 100th day of school. And I was sick. As. A. Dog!!!! Oh my goodness you guys, I had the most terrible sore throat on Wednesday night. I had a hunch I shouldn't go to school yesterday so I quick emailed my bestie at school with sub plans.

What would one do without a best friend at school, right?
Are ya with me???

Luckily, my usual suspect of a substitute was available and willing to tackle the 100th day of school with my little firstie buzzers. I had this cute shirt all planned out and then, bam! sore throat hit. Also luckily, I was able to get in to my doctor right away at 8:00am yesterday and she told me I had something bacterial going on. A something closely related to strep, so she put me on a kick bootie antibiotic and I'm feelin' like a champ today!!! Good thing, because I did a LOT of managing these 27 little ones today....

Well, let's get to the perfect picture book, shall we....???

Groundhog's Special Secret
Written by: Iris Hiskey Arno
Illustrated by: Renee Graef
Scholastic Incorporated, 2003, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 5 and up
Themes/Topics: Groundhog's Day, Seasons, being a good friend
Opening: "Lila twirled around and around in the candlelit den. On the wall, her shadow spun like a whirling top.
"Time for all groundhogs to be in bed!" Papa called.
"But I'm not tired!" Lila cried. "I can't possibly sleep all the way until spring!"
"Now, Lila," Mama said, "everyone else is in bed and Uncle Wilbur is about to head for his den."

Brief Synopsis: Lila doesn't want to go to sleep because she is not tired. Uncle Wilbur challenges her to be the first one awake, but when she does wake, Uncle Wilbur tells her to go back to sleep for a few minutes. But instead, Lila goes above ground!

Links to Resources: There are some WAY cute craftivities out in bloggy world right now having to do with Groundhog's Day! Check out this burrowing activity, craft and writing from Cara at The First Grade Parade. I love the Smartboard lesson to introduce it. I'm so doing this on Tuesday or Wednesday next week!
There's also these way cute activities from Mrs. Cupcake over at A Cupcake for the Teacher. I can't wait to share in the fun with my little buzzers next week, too! I know there are MANY more on TPT or TN so go check that out, too! Oh! And don't forget to show your kiddos LIVE footage of the groundhog actually seeing or not seeing his shadow next Thursday, too. They LOVE that!

Why I Like This Book: I love this book because it is a fun way to introduce Groundhog's Day to those little ones that HAVE NEVER heard of it, or so they say. :) It's a cute little tale that kids can relate to--the-not-wanting-to-go-to-bed-and-the-waking-up-early-with-excitement thing of course.

For more perfect picture books with resources, or join in the fun, please click here!

Have a GRRREAT weekend!
Marcy

Perfect Picture Book Friday- Deep Snow

I cannot believe I have been missing out on this linky party! Where have I been?? Oh well, I'm excited to start in this Friday book talk!

Not the best picture...sorry I couldn't find a better one!

Deep Snow
Written By: Robert Munsch
Illustrated By: Michael Martchenko
Scholastic Inc., 2006, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 5 and up
Themes: Snow, Winter, Seasonal Actvities

Opening:
"Way out in the middle of nowhere, Ali suddenly yelled, "STOP!"
"What's the matter?" said her father.
"I want to jump in the snow," said Ali.
"No," said her sister Kate, "that is deep, deep, deeeeeeeep snow!"
"I still want to jump in it," said Ali.
"This is not a good idea," said Kate."

Brief Synopsis: I hate to give it away so if you don't want the surprise ruined, read on.
They have to get something out of the snow. I hope I haven't said too much.

Links to Resources: I haven't found any yet....so if you find some, post a comment below and I'll get them added!

Why I Like This Book: Because it's by Robert Munsch, duh! :)
I love the voice in his books. He adds humor in his books which kids "get" and understand. I love using Robert Munsch books to teach how to use voice in kids' writing! I loved using this book today after the 6 inches of snow we received early this morning.....

White Penguins!

Happy Thursday! One more day folks and we have the weekend to relax again. The kids will be CRAZY again tomorrow I presume, but we are expected to get 4-6 inches of snow in my region of South Dakota. I know some of you are itching for snow, but I could live without it! Hopefully though, it will help me con Mr. Hubster to go snowmobiling out in the beautiful Black Hills!

We are learning about penguins right now and I know many of you are also! As I was browsing through the news articles online the other I saw this headline:

"Rare White Penguin Spotted in Antarctica"

I couldn't believe my eyes! I was super duper excited! So, if you click HERE you can be rerouted to the article. My kids loved it!

Isn't it a cutie?

Then, I got to thinking...I wonder if there are any videos of this darling. I went to YouTube and found it! Enjoy!

Marcy

Favorite Thanksgiving Book(s) Linky Party!

I have so many favorite Thanksgiving books that I love to read to my students! I am so excited to share them with each of you and with Teaching Blog Addict's Linky Party!

I LOVE Fancy Nancy. In the Spring, we do a whole unit on Jane O'Connor and the Fancy Nancy books. I cannot wait. I love the vocabulary, the interactions with Fancy Nancy's extended family, the teaching of the manners. I love it all.

The next is I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie. Hilarious. Not only because I love pumpkin pie, but because of what happens at the end. I'd hate to spoil it for you if you haven't read it, but all my kids then write about their favorite float the following Monday. I hope that wasn't too much information....

The Littlest Pilgrim is another favorite because the poor main character is too small to help on the plantation. It is great for little ones who always want to help, but are "too little". We brainstorm ways and write about how they can help at this years Thanksgiving feast at their house.

I just came across this next book at the Scholastic Book Fair this fall. I love the illustrations and the point of view from the mouse. After reading it, all my sweet little buzzers started writing stories, "If I were a mouse...". It was a great writing workshop mentor text!

And last but certainly not least, my favorite informational text. Pilgrims of Plymouth has real photographs from the National Geographic Society. It allows the kiddos to see exactly how the Pilgrims and Wampanoags dressed for that first feast and in their daily lives. We compare and contrast their lives with ours after reading this. My sweet little buzzers also love seeing how the kids dressed and played!

That's it for now! I hope you had a great Tuesday!!
If you do not have a blog yet, please share some of your favorite Thanksgiving books in the comments section! I LOVE comments!!!

Marcy

Monday, Monday...

If I received a nickel for every time I had to say, "Hands to yourself", this girl would be RICH!!! Wowsas...this just days after our counselor came in to do the ol' hands and feet to yourself lesson.

I was SO busy last week. A meeting every day after school, not to mention I was out of the classroom Tuesday and Wednesday for project-based learning training. The long leisurely lunches were FABULOUS. I could totally get used to that!!! A lot of learning took place on my end and I am so excited to implement more project-based learning in the future! I can't wait to share them with you!

Today, we worked on visualizing. I love teaching this during Halloween season because there are so many great graphics in books for Halloween. Today we listened to one of my favorites:

I played it on c.d. and the kids first closed their eyes and visualized in their heads. They like to call visualizing, "making movies in my brain". Whatever. It makes sense to them, right? Then, they go back to their desk and fill out the top part of their form (Before seeing the actual illustrations) while they listen to the story again.

 

Then, they come back after about five minutes and we listen to the story again BUT this time they get to see the illustrations. They go back to their desk and illustrate the real Goodnight Goon illustration. The form isn't all fancy shmancy. Definitely not TPT material. If you have commercialized fonts and want to make it fabulous, email me a copy. :)

The little buzzers were SO engaged in this lesson. It took about a half hour and they were so enthralled. I was hoping the assistant superintendent that was visiting our school would stop in, but no such luck.

How do you teach visualizing???

Hope your week is starting off great!

Marcy

Leaves

I am estatic today! It's only lunch time, (yes, we go to lunch at 10:55) but I am so happy already! My kids are working so hard and quiet today! I couldn't be more happy!!

We started the day practicing for our first spelling test on Friday. Let's just say I hope the real test on Friday goes better than the practice one today! ;)

After recess, we came back and did poetry, finished up our bee project-based learning unit, and then went into the bulk of this post!

I read Leaves by David Ezra Stein. LOVE the illustrations in this book.

We talked about how author's don't need to use a ton of words to get their story out there. And then we reviewed the CAFE strategy "Retell the Story" by writing about the beginning, middle, and end in their cute little reading journals. I sent my little buzzers back to their desks and this is just a sampling of their reading journals:

 

 

When they were all settled and working, I started pulling some little ones to work with at the table. Then, all of a sudden I hear one of my little darlings say, "Hey, I just forgot the periods!". My class is terrible at remembering punctuation, but I keep telling myself, "It's only the first quarter of first grade!" Even though it was a disruption to my high attention kiddos, it was adorable. When they say cute things that relate to what I have been hounding, I make a BIIIIG deal of it. That student gets to draw their school picture, just like they did here, expect on LARGE paper and then we write in a speech balloon what they said. We hang it up so all can see and remember for next time. They LOVE this. All of them. It really gets each child to strive to get their picture up with something brilliant they said. Here's his:

GREAT day here so far! I hope you are having an AWESOME day, too!!!

Marcy