Spider Week!

Last week (Well when I drafted this post it was last week.  I got a bit behind on the blog!)  I  used bats to introduce nonfiction text features.  (You can read about that here.)  I wanted to continue working with the nonfiction text features.  So I took a bit of a risk and decided to try something I hadn't yet done with my little firsties.  Last year (or the year before) I created these flip books.

I'm not sure why, but I love flip books.  They are seriously addicting.  So last year, I printed a to z readers and students cut and pasted features from their books onto the flip book.  It worked well and it was a solid learning experience which I also used as a formative assessment.  This year, I thought the idea of using iPod Touches to take pictures of the features seemed more fun!  So, I brought in a collection of spider books that I borrowed from the library.  I considered doing this whole class and having them work in partners, but then decided that it might be too chaotic for me.  I wanted to give them more support (and I'm glad I did), so we did this activity in our small guided reading groups.  I'm a bit of a control, quiet freak.  So that's the risk in this for me.  This certainly isn't a lesson I would plan for my formal teacher evaluation.  (However, my principal of course did stop by right in the middle of it all, but thank goodness, the lesson went SO well.  I'm hoping he was impressed with the technology integration?!  I have no idea if he was, but I loved this lesson and will for sure do it again next year.)

So armed with iPod Touches, they went on a scavenger hunt for nonfiction text features.  Some students of course could do this independently.  Others needed varying levels of support.  For some, all I needed to do was direct them to our anchor chart for a visual example of the feature they were looking for.  And the best and most unexpected part was the support they gave each other without my suggestion.   One student would announce he couldn't find a diagram and before I could even begin to help, two other students were at his side guiding him.  I felt more like a facilitator which I love, but honestly doesn't happen enough in my first grade world!  

Here are a few pictures of a completed flip book.

Spider week in math was so fun!  We worked on doubles and doubles plus one facts.  I made up some spider themed task cards to use in my small math groups and they did so well with them.  We use Go Math and on the end of the unit assessment, students need to be able to show how they used a doubles fact for the doubles plus/minus one.  So I matched the format of these questions when creating some of the task cards.  I was so glad that I did because it was a bit of a challenge at first even for my enrichment group.  My intense intervention group worked on doubles facts using the spider manipulatives.  This why I love these sweet first graders-a few spider rings and they are more than motivated!

I put the spider doubles/doubles plus one facts cards and the web sum cards for students to sort in our math center.  You can see this resource here in my TPT store.

I saw these adorable spiders on Pinterest that led me to The Primary Techie blog.  She has the free template to download.  I didn't want to mess with painting so I just used purple plates instead.  It was a great way to review.  My students did this during our math rotations while I was meeting with small guided math groups.  I was able to differentiate when assigning the sum.

I love to see all the different, fun spider-themed activities everyone does in their classrooms!  What a fun time of year!

Bat Week!

I love to use bats to introduce nonfiction text features.  The students love to learn about bats, and they get so excited when they begin to find nonfiction text features during our small groups or independent reading.  I find the activity that really makes an impact on them is creating their own informative "All About Bats" book that includes some nonfiction text features.  When they are actively constructing their own examples of these features, it solidifies their understanding.  I could point out nonfiction text features all day long, but for many of my students, they won't truly begin to recognize them until they create their own example.

I started by reading an a to z reader about Bats projected on the smartboard so that we had large examples of the features to look at it.  We discussed how an author's purpose and our purpose as readers is different when reading nonfiction versus fiction.  As we read and came across a new text feature, I would add it to our anchor chart.  I tried to keep the anchor chart very simple.  I simply had the word and an example right from the book we read.  I didn't want to include a written definition because that wouldn't be meaningful or a helpful reference for first graders.

Then in small groups I guided students in finding examples of each of the features in nonfiction bat books that I got from the library.  As we found examples, we reviewed the purpose of each feature.  Later in the week, my job share partner had them read nonfiction a to z readers at their level and they had more opportunities to identify nonfiction text features.

Bold print the students found

A diagram with labels

After reading (either the read aloud, small group reading, or independent reading), the students would summarize important facts they learned about bats.  I made a list on the smart board and we added to it each day.  Students chose between 4-8 facts to include on their graphic organizers.

I wanted to include at least a couple of the nonfiction text features in our books.  I found a directed drawing activity, so we drew bats and then labeled them.  Their little bats turned out so cute!!  The other feature I thought would be good for them to create an example of their own is a caption.  I printed a small color picture of bats hanging upside down and the students wrote their own caption to go with it.  As the week went on, I could tell that they were definitely finding more captions and labels in their independent reading!

I considered having the students create their own Table of Contents and glossaries (with just one word), but I decided to save that for our next All About informative writing piece.  We did an awful lot with this one for the beginning of first grade!  I did provide them with a Table of Contents and they were actually quite excited about that.  I think having all of these features made them feel like true authors and I love to see them excited about that!  Here are a few pages from completed books:

You can get the graphic organizer I used in my TPT store here along with other bat writing resources. 

Next up, SPIDER WEEK!