Amber Lawson
EDUCATOR - INNOVATOR - MENTOR - SPARTAN
Gallery of Student Work
Here's a collection of some exemplary work done my first grade and kindergarten students over the years.
One of the Common Core State Standards for first graders is for students to be able to write a sequence of events using temporal words. We decided to sequence the steps necessary to blow a bubble using chewing gum. After blowing some bubbles, we wrote the order of the steps using the writing process then created a craft of them blowing a bubble. We also made a chart to show how many students in our class can blow a bubble.
CCSS: W.1.3 - Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.
Student Portfolio
Portfolios include a variety of students' data that students, families, and myself use to keep track of students' growth.
Students' portfolios include four pockets, one for behavior, assessments, math topic tests, and spelling tests. After taking a test, students graph their score and think about what areas are strengths and what areas they may need additional support. The pockets are kid friendly by using colored squares for students to know where things are located. After graphing tests, students take them home and return them with a parent's signature to keep families regularly aware of students' performance.
CCSS: 1.MD.C.4-Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
The Dot: How Will Your Teacher Inspire You?
After listening to a story, students reflected on their own experiences to write a short narrative.
In the story, The Dot by Peter Reynolds, Vashti's teacher inspired her to be an artist even when she thought she couldn't be one. This all happened when Vashti stabbed her blank paper with a pencil by making a dot. My students spent some time thinking of how one of their teachers inspired them. They created their own dot using watercolors and framed it in swirly gold just like Vashti's teacher framed hers.
CCSS:W.1.5-With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
Write through the Year Journals
This journal is a collection of students' writing from every month including a variety of different kinds of writing.
Every month we focus on one of the CCSS writing standards and the district's topic of choice. We use the writing process as a group until we have a finished piece. Towards the end of the month, the students have time to write their own piece using the writing process.
For Martian Luther King Jr. Day, my students listened to a read aloud of his life and his accomplishments. We then watched a clip of his I Have a Dream Speech. The students then shared their dream in making the world a better place. After, they made a craft of a person. Some made themselves while others made Dr. King and a dream cloud with their dream.
Michigan Grade Level Expectations: 1.H2.0.7 - Identify events and people celebrated during United States national holidays and why we celebrate them.
100th Day
We spent the 100th day of school doing a variety of activities about the number 100.
Every day we add a number to our growing number line and we count the number of days we've been in school. On the 100th day, we have a huge 1ooth day celebration. When students first come in the classroom in the morning, they see 100 balloons. With the help of families, each student bring in one of ten snacks for students to count ten pieces of popcorn, cheerios, m&ms, marshmallows, coco puffs, fruit loops, chocolate chips, goldfish, teddy grahams, and pretzel sticks to have a total of 100 pieces. They build different things out of 100 cups, write their names 100 times, and do a total of 100 reps of 10 different exercises. They also roll a dice to find out how many rolls it will take to make it from 1 to 100 on a hundred chart in addition to other activities.
CCSS: K.CC.A.1 - Count to 100 by ones and by tens.
K.CC.B.4 - Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
K.CC.B.4.C - Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.