Visualizing Introduction

This week I introduced visualization as our next comprehension strategy.  I love this strategy!  The kiddos always crack me up with what they 'visualize' during our introduction week.  The official Comprehension Connections lesson uses cotton balls dipped in various scents, but I just hide smell-y things in a paper bag.

Last year when I used my hamburger patty (freshly heated up in the microwave) as a scent one of the students drew a pile of garbage!  Lesson learned - I did not use a hamburger this year, I used salsa instead.

Here is a quick pick of what I did use (except I did use salsa and that's not in the picture):

nail polish remover, coffee, flower-y body wash, aloe vera, tanning gel - smells orangey, Christmas candle

I start with just having them talk about what they smell.  Then we move on to visualizing a whole picture that helps explain the smell.  I wish I had been recording when the kids were sharing their 'pictures' this year.  One little guy blew me away with the fingernail polish.  Some students were still just saying, "it smells like hand sanitizer" or something close to that.  This very quiet little guy raised his hand...I always call on him when he does because he so rarely wants to speak in front of everyone.  And he begins, "I'm thinking about when you are at the zoo.  And the guy in charge of the zoo is letting you pet some of the animals.  But then your hands have a lot of germs on them.  So you have to go to the machine that gives you the clear stuff that gets rid of the germs.  It has alcohol in it."  I hope my jaw didn't stay down too long!  I was so excited to see it click for him.

The next day I had them smell the tanning gel.  It smells more orangey than my orange juice did.  And this was the description a different boy gave.  "You are shopping in the grocery store and you get really thirsty.  But you already have a lot of things in your cart and it is expensive at the store.  Then when you are leaving you see a big box with lights.  You put some money in it and a can comes out.  You open it and take a drink."  So precious!  He was describing an orange soda but I had been going on and on about not just saying what you smelled, that I wanted a whole picture described.  He took it literally and didn't even want to say what it was in the description.

This is why I love teaching first grade!  I could not have planned these two cute descriptions when I thought about my visualizing lesson plans.

My favorite scent to finish with is my Christmas candle.  That is when I have the students draw their pictures instead of just talk about them.  Here are a few of the drawings. 

 

At the end of the week I used sound to get them to visualize.  Of course...technical difficulties (As I was being observed!!!)...my sounds weren't working.  But after a round of Daily 5 I was able to locate more.  I'll get pics of those drawings soon - they were really good.  The sounds I used were birds chirping, traffic, playground, and ice cream truck.

Visualizing Introduction Lesson Plans (with smells and sounds)

Classroom Organization

I've seen a bunch of classroom pics online.  I love sneaking in to see what other people have come up with since most of the time I'm just in my little classroom.  So here are a few pics of my class with why I have it set up that way.

This basically what you see when you are in my room.  It's a little crowded...but that is because I use tables (which are very big) and have parts of the room sectioned off.  The kids and I spend a lot of time here so I tried to make it cozy.

Aren't my thought protectors the cutest ever???  My mom and I were getting school supplies one year and I saw these.  So cute!  I would never have paid for these (about $1/folder and it takes 2 to make a thought protector), but my mom got me tons of each folder so I could staple them together and make thought protectors.  And since I'm crazy I tried to match the dog or folder to the table bucket color...of course a golden retriever for the yellow table is a bit of a stretch...but I tried.

 

My calendar wall is like most - has all the same basic things.  At the bottom of calendar wall I have a small shelf with more library book tubs.  My class library has grown to where it is all over the room.  So the math book and days of the week book tubs are by the calendar wall.  I also have a small magnetic calendar from Target that is one of the students' favorite centers to go to when they have free time.

For our word wall I put up the sight words we have learned the week before.  I use Scholastic's Systematic Sight Words.  I like knowing the order and the various activities and assessments that the curriculum uses.  After we have learned the 5-7 words for the whole week I transfer them from my small pocket chart by the rocking chair to up on the word wall.

It seems like we are making an anchor chart, poster, or learning a song/poem ALL the time.  So I used this blank space by my classroom library to move those older charts.  This gives them a few more weeks of hanging up in case a student wants to use them during work on writing or writer's workshop...and here's the thing - they actually do!

I'm going to get on a little soap box about my class library.  After watching a video interview on the Daily 5 / CAFE website I had an 'aha' moment.  So many teachers are leveling their class libraries and teaching their students what level they are and to pick books on that level.  But in real life, not everything is leveled.  My students know what DRA level they are reading on, but that doesn't help them pick books at the school library or public library.  It is my responsibility to teach my students how to look through a book and decide if it is a good fit or not.  Something to think about as you organize your class library.  So....my books are organized by author or topic - Berenstain Bears, Tomie de Paola, Magic School Bus, dogs, sports, science, etc.  I also have the covers facing the students.  It just seems to make sense for them to see the cover and not the spine.  All of my books have a small sticker on the bottom front corner that matches the library box sticker.  Berenstain Bears books have red stickers, Magic School Bus books have yellow stickers, etc.  I just use the garage sale dot stickers for this system.  This makes it easier for students to quickly place the books back in the correct box when they are finished.

Here are the leveled readers and books by phonics skills I have.  These are a compilation of 2 basil adoptions, Stafall books, Reading A-Z books, and any other books I have purchased that follow a phonetic sounds.  I have organized them in the order my district teaches them in instead of just how they were packaged.  There are labels for each section of books with the sound and a list of the basil books that go in that section.  I also have the DRA level listed on the stickers so I know which books to send home with which students.  I don't have all the photocopy books or extra books listed because that would just be an endless list and if I ever move classrooms (Gah!) then I would take those with me while the basil leveled readers would stay.  Until my students reach a DRA 16 I choose the homework books that go home.  I use this system to match up the books I send home.

When I first got in my class I made curtains for several areas in the room.  It helps to cover some of the things around the room that just aren't that nice to look at.  Plus it makes it feel cozier...maybe.  Since I can't sew I used the adhesive strip that you iron to do the edges and attached it to my counter underneath using velcro.  A lot of people think it's a mess under the curtains, but I won't use it if it's chaos.  So here is a sneak peak under the curtain.  I have a bunch of small readers leveled by DRA level instead of the phonics skill like above.  There are also a bunch of materials for word work or small groups.  I need access to them, but don't want them showing all the time.

This is what I call the 'messy zone' in my room.  I love for things to look clean and organized, but sometimes you have supplies for your lessons that you need to be able to reach quickly.  First graders are not known for their patience.  So each week I get out my supplies for the following week for various math games, science projects, etc. and put them here.  I also get my anchor charts that I might be introducing and put them up here for easy access.  So even though it is not pretty to look at...I am in touch enough with reality to know that I need one small messy zone in my room.

   

Here's my writer's workshop set-up.  Again, I used the old containers from some basil samples we received.  The boxes have held up really well and have lots of smaller compartments that I can use.  The supplies were added one at a time as the students learned how to use them: pre-stapled books, list paper, notes, folded paper so students can staple longer or shorter books, name lists, small staplers.  I also saw this idea for a 'finished book' poster in one of the books I was reading and loved it.  I've never used it before this year but it really seemed to work.

Our school's Design Team got together a couple of times over the summer to brainstorm ways to bring our school together.  One of the ideas was to link our class helpers to more real life situations.  Some of the older grades have students get 'paid' for the various jobs and have them connected to actual real life professions.  I love hearing what others are doing and tailoring it to first grade.  Another one of the ideas was to have every child have a job for an extended period of time.  I believe the older grades were doing a semester and actually held interviews.  A semester seems like FOREVER to a first grader.  But I decided to give each student a job for the whole six weeks.  I used to have about 11 jobs and the students had them for one week, then we rotated so everyone had a job about every other week.  This has turned out very well since I don't have to change jobs each week and the students really get to know their job.  It is very sweet to see my 'veterans' help train the new students when they first begin their new job.

Well, that is a sneak peek into my classroom and some of the reasoning behind why it is set up the way it is.  I hope it wasn't too boring or over-whelming.  I just want to give some ideas for when you think about how to set up your room and why you set it up that way.  I also like to share resources that work well for me and my students. 

Happy teaching ~

Welcome to the Randomness

Spring break must have gotten to me...because I'm jumping into the blogging world.  My husband will LAUGH in a major way if he finds out I'm online for teaching stuff in my free time...middle school just isn't quite the same as elementary.  :O)  I can't promise this will be interesting or witty like so many other blogs.  I mostly just steal ideas from other really creative people and then Doroth-ify them.  But either way - welcome to my randomness ~