President Projects for First Graders

Since President's Day is a day that most only remember George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we decided to make it a day about ALL of the presidents.  

We grouped the entire first grade and assigned each child a different president to research.  They then followed the directions to do the research and make their president.  The students could then use any media to bring their president to "life."


The students then had to share their findings with their classmates.  Listening was not the only thing the "audience" had to do.  They also had to fill out the president project reflection sheet in order to take notes on their friends' presidents.  This helped us to make sure that they were actively listening to the presentations.





We used this rubric to grade the projects and their presentations.

What did you do celebrate President's Day?

What We're Reading ~ Valentine Favorites

Check out what we're reading on this "love"-ly day!!

Franklin's Valentines by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark

Franklin is getting ready for his class' Valentine party, but he has lost all of his valentines.  He is so sad when he does not have cards to give to his friends.  In the true spirit of friendship, Franklin's friends reassure him that it's not what you give, but what kind of friend you truly are!

One Zillion Valentines by Frank Modell

Since Marvin and Milton do not have money to buy Valentines, they decide to make them for their whole neighborhood. 

 

Love, Splat by Rob Scotton   

Splat has a special Valentine in mind for a cute girl named Kitten.  But Spike also likes Kitten.  Splat tries to win her heart on Valentine's Day.

What stories do you like to share on Valentine's Day?

Alexis

Lesson Ideas ~ A Book of Homophones

This week we learned about homophones.  Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled and mean something different.  

We began by reading Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones by Gene Barretta.  This story is about clever Aunt Ant who has just moved to the zoo. Speaking in homophones, she describes the quirky animal behavior she sees. There's the MOOSE who loved MOUSSE and ATE EIGHT bowls, and the WHALE who was ALLOWED to WAIL ALOUD--and that's just for starters.

We then made a list of homophones and put them into sentences.

The students used the book and our list of homophones to create their own.  


This was a fun way to reinforce their understanding of these troublesome words.


What ideas do you have to teach homophones?


Alexis

Lesson Ideas ~ When I Grow Up

We have our school's annual Career Day approaching.  So to coincide with our Social Studies unit of Our Community and It's Workers, we had the children think of what they think their future endeavors might be. 


In order to complete the task, the students had to:

• Think of their career choice
• Explain what they thought they would have to do with that job
• Decide how they would spend their money

The students had so much fun imagining themselves 20 years from now.  And I thought it was really interesting to see how they would spend their money!


They turned their writing into shapes of themselves and we displayed them on a bulletin board of our city in 20 years.

What interesting ways have you taught about the future?

Alexis