Spring Fever (SOLS)

At this time of the year my first graders have Spring Fever.  The weather is warmer, and the sun shines brightly.   Images of Summer fun have already started to take hold.  I'm usually ready for a break by this time of the year, but also overwhelmed with things left to do.  I'm busy completing assessments and finishing lingering units of study.  Planning end of year parties, creating volunteer gifts, and preparing student mementos are also on the agenda.

Each year, I promise myself the time to Stop and Savor the memories.  Savor the days of listening to long stories and funny episodes.  Savor the proud displays of new shoes, outfits, and haircuts.  Savor important events like loosing a tooth.  Savor the many, many personal connections to the stories we've read and shared.

What I most want to savor are the achievements; the reading growth, the writing progress, and the increased confidence in math skills.  Mostly, I want to savor the memories...of a wonderful, curious, enthusiastic, and spirited group of kids...a classroom family that I will miss saying, "Good Morning" to each day.

Poetry: A Shared Writing Experience

My first graders have been busy reading, listening, noticing, and creating poetry.  I'm already considering different ways to tweak and improve this unit.  In my district we use Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for Primary Writing.  I also use other resources, such as Kid's Poems by Reggie Routman.

Some of the key understandings that I want students to take away from this unit are: 

• Write about things you REALLY care about
• Consider word choice
• Use only the words you need for your message
• Poems can be short
• Poems utilize line breaks, white space, and repetition
• Endings are important-Poems need a sense of closure

Some important considerations for me are:

• Start with lots of examples-exposure to poetry is important
• Choice is important-allow students to choose what they'll write about and which poem they'll publish 
• Give students the opportunity to share their work daily

As we finish up our poetry unit, my students are been busy polishing their own poems.  A few days ago we created a class poem about pizza.  This poem was inspired by Kid's Poems by Reggie Routman.  We brainstormed words first, like hot, red peppers, peperoni, cheese crust, Hawaiian, black olives, mushrooms, and pineapple pizza. This is what our working copy looked like.

This is our final product:

I Love Pizza
by Mrs. Ruckes' Class

Pizza, pizza
People like
different kinds of pizza.
Pizza, pizza
People like
different kinds of toppings.
Cheese,
Pepperoni and
Ham
Pizza, pizza
Everyone loves pizza!

The kids were so excited about our class poem, and couldn't wait to publish it.  So we did.  Now, who should illustrate it?  Perhaps I will... I think they'll like that.

Next Steps?  Creating our Poetry Anthology.  These will make great gifts for the end of the school year.

When writing a class poem, do you guide your students to write the poem a certain way?
or
Do you just let the magic happen?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Maybe It Was The Shoes (SOLS)

What a day.  This morning as I was dressing for work, I had the sense that my day was going to be a rocky one.  My first indication was the brown spot that appeared on my white pants as I was ironing them.  I don't know about you, but I never iron anything ahead of time.  I wait until I'm ready to wear it, and then I iron it.  Fortunately, I managed to get the spot off my pants, and I was still able to wear them.  As I began to slip on my jacket, I noticed a button was missing.  So, I spent a few extra minutes sewing on another button.  As I drove to work I started thinking that my day would not go smoothly since my morning had not.

However, I decided I would not allow my day to go awry.  I made the decision to take control of my day.  I began to confess to myself that today was going to be a Great day.

This is what may day was like:
Drove to work
Prepared some things for my student teacher (who officially starts in the fall)
Spent the morning teaching
Went out and picked up lunch
Spent the afternoon teaching
Tidied up the classroom and prepared a few things for the next day
Drove across town to a workshop
Spent and hour at the workshop
Drove home
Picked up my daughter
Went to the craft store
Went shopping at a department store (and bought three pairs of shoes)
Stopped by the coffee shop
Went to the drug store

Was chauffeured home by my daughter (she needs to get those hours in)
Settled in for bit but then remembered...IT'S TUESDAY!  I HAVE TO WRITE MY SLICE.

So there you have it.  What a day!  A Great Day!

Or...Maybe it was the shoes.

How Can You Change Seem Into Heal? (SOLS)

As I was reading Debbie Diller's post, Poetry Friday: A doublet, I was inspired to try one of my own.  I was not familiar with doublets, and became intrigued by the one she created.  According to Debbie, "In a doublet, a word is changed, one letter at a time, into another word and arranged vertically into a poem." 


What may seem to take forever,

are the important things we seek,

the things desired by a meek heart.

Inspiration from the muses we meet,

are as vibrant as the color of a beet.

The thought makes my heart skip a beat.

I sense the heat of it

as my thoughts begin to heal.

Little Poets

Today I launched our poetry unit in my first grade classroom.  Using an idea from the Two Writing Teachers, I decided to have my students write a poem prior to teaching the unit to determine what my students already knew about poetry.  I read Zoe Ryder White's poem, The Pencil Sharpener, and we talked about looking at ordinary objects with poets' eyes.  I also had my students close their eyes while they listened to me sharpen a pencil in our electric pencil sharpener.  Immediately, I heard words like bees, point, stinger, sharpen, and buzzing.  Excitement filled the room as the light bulbs began to turn on in their heads.  It was truly an "aha moment".  My first graders are beginning to understand what it means to look at ordinary things with poets' eyes.

I created new poetry folders for the unit.  Inside the folder I placed ten sheets of paper with a box at the top for a picture and lines below.  I asked my students to try their hands at writing a poem.  It could be a poem about anything at all.  "Can I write a poem about a poem?" asked Emily.  "You sure can!" I responded with a bit too much enthusiasm.  "Can I write a poem about a clock?" Aidan asked.  "Yes." I responded.  "You can write a poem about anything at all."  Everyone was sent off to write.  I started the music for Quiet Ten.  (Ten minutes of absolute quiet writing time by everyone, including me.)  Today however, it was more like Quiet 20.  I wanted to give my poets enough time to illustrate and write a poem.

Everyone wrote a poem, including me.  There was another pencil sharpener poem written.  Several kids wrote poems about clocks.  I was surprised and amazed at what my new little poets were able to do.  Below is the poem I wrote during Quiet 20, and another poem written by one of my first graders.

(My district uses Units of Study for Primary Writing:  A Yearlong Curriculum, Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages by Lucy Calkins as a resource for teaching writing.)

First Grade Poets
by Valerie Ruckes

Pencils at the ready
eagerly preparing to write
a poem, a thought, a memory.

Heads bent in concentration
eyes focused on the paper
some drawing
some looking up and into thought
imagining the possibilities
of creating
something special.


Fireworks!
by Rachel

Firework Flame
Firework Flame
They dance awake
like a game.
Fireworks, Fireworks, Fireworks
Oh how beautiful
fireworks are!
I love Fireworks

Never Give Up! (SOLS)

This week I started playing my flute again.  I played the flute throughout middles school and high school.  After that, I grew tired of it and didn't pick it up again.  A few years ago, I encouraged my daughter to take band, hoping that she would play the flute and learn to love it as I had.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen.  I was constantly reminding her to practice, I paid for extra lessons over the summer, and was present at every school performance.  Still, she didn't show much interest in learning to play the flute, and I finally gave up.  That was a couple of years ago.  I remember reassuring my husband that this flute purchase was not in vein.  That I would take the flute and learn to play it again.  That it would become MY flute.

I dug out my old flute music, along with the music books I had purchased for my daughter, and I began to practice again.  I started reviewing the notes and a lot of what I knew started to come back to me.  I'm still in the beginning stages of playing the flute, and I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be.  However, I know that little by little, I'll get better.  The more I pick up that flute and actually practice, the better I'll become.

All of this reminds me of my first grade readers.  At the start of the school year, many of them were excited but apprehensive about reading.  Could they do it?  Would reading be difficult?  How much reading would they be required to do?  I'm sure those are some of the questions that went through there heads as they embarked on their reading journeys.   Those are the same questions that are going through my head as I embark on this flute playing journey.  Months have gone by and most of my first graders are very good readers, and all of them, every single one, has shown a tremendous amount of reading growth.  Some have had to work extra hard to make the progress they have shown, but they stuck it out.  Reading success is an important achievement for first graders.  It's the grade where students show the biggest reading growth.

If my first graders can work so hard at reading, I can certainly work as hard to learn to play this flute again.  Like them, I must demonstrate determination, desire, enthusiasm, and a positive attitude toward learning.  Most of all, I can't give up.  Thank you first graders for teaching me another important lesson.  Never give up!

Waiting Is My Friend (SOLS)

This poem was inspired by a post I wrote this morning called, Waiting.  You can take a look at it here.

Waiting,
In line
At the grocery store.
Sign says,
Express Lane.
I'm not moving
At express speed!
Still holding
My few items.

Waiting,
Sitting here,
Sitting there.
Lost in
My book.
Unaware
Of the time,
Still waiting
My turn.

Waiting,
At my computer.
Click
Click, click.
Too many
Pages load.
Green bar appears.
Come On!
Error.
End Task?
Still trying,
Still waiting.

Waiting,
To Calm down.
Did I read
That correctly?
Did I hear
That right?
Thinking,
Processing my thoughts.
Not now,
It's too soon to respond.
I'm waiting,
To clear my head.
To make sense of it all.
Waiting is my friend.