Petunia, the Silly Goose

Have you ever read Petunia, by Roger Duvoisin? 

This book is an oldie, but a goodie! When I was teaching 1st grade, I shared the Petunia series with my students every year. If you can find a copy, try reading it to your students. It provides a great launchpad for...

WORDPLAY: The author always refers to Petunia as a "silly goose." Then he proceeds to prove that description with the story.  In this book, Petunia finds a book. She knows that reading is associated with intelligent beings, so she picks up the book and carries it with her. The other farm animals seek her wise counsel with disastrous results. I was always delighted when my students started referring to themselves as a "silly goose" when they did something foolish. It's so much more benign than some of the terms they bring from home.

GREATER THAN/LESS THAN CONCEPTS: When Petunia tries to help Mother Hen count her chicks, she miscounts and then declares that 6 is more than 9. Timing this book to that point in your math curriculum when you introduce (or review) < and >, will help implant the concepts firmly in your students' brains. You just have to help Petunia count those chicks. And, you just have to talk about the math concepts.  Then add some Petunia problems to your math journals or morning meeting.  For example: 

• 5 pigs are ___ than 3 pigs.
• 8 sheep are ___ than 4 sheep.
• 2 turkeys are ___ than 6 turkeys.
• 7 ducklings are ___ than 9 ducklings.

Let your students illustrate one or more of these math sentences. They will love it. 

Invariably, some clever child suggested that we do "Petunia math" wherein we would purposely choose the wrong symbol. Thus began some great discussions about whether a given answer was according to Petunia (i.e. incorrect) or according to us (i.e. correct). I just love first graders!

MORAL OF THE STORY: One of the most endearing parts of any Petunia story is that she finally realizes the error of her ways and corrects her behavior.  Oh the possibilities her lessons bring to a group of 6 year olds.

Other books in the Petunia series:

 

In keeping with farm animals, Ducks in a Row Literacy Center provides practice with letter sounds and phonological awareness.

Get your Ducks in a Row!

100 Ways to Celebrate 100 Days

I'm challenging myself to name 100 ways to celebrate 100 days.  So, here goes . . .

1. Estimate how far 100 feet is, student feet, that is. Using sticky notes with their names on them, have your kiddos place their notes where they think 100 feet from the classroom door will be.
2. Have your students trace the outline of their shoes on construction paper and cut them out.  Then line them up, heel to toe in the hallway to determine the correct answer. Give a certificate to the student(s) who came the closest to the correct distance.  
3. If your students are capable, have them figure out how many construction paper feet each one needs to make using operations.  If they are not able to do that much math, have them count off by 2s, making tally marks or holding up fingers to track how many times they gave the next number in the skip counting, thus determining how many sets of footprints to make.
4. Give each student a 1 quart ziplock bag to take home.  Direct them to find 100 of the same item to put in the bag and bring them to school on the 100th day.  Stress that all items must fit in the bag and that are dear or valuable are to be considered carefully as their collections will be manipulated during the day.  Thus, there is the risk that breakables could be broken and valuables lost.  My personal preference is that they not bring in food that will attract bugs or vermin.
5. Read 100 Hungry Ants, by Elinor J. Pinczes.
6. Save the ads from your Sunday newspapers and bring them to class.  Challenge your students to find ONE item they could buy if they had $100 without going over $100. Ask them to record their purchase on a $100 bill representation.
7. Then ask your class to find 2 items they could buy without exceeding their $100.  Again they should record their purchases.
8. Repeat the task with as many numbers as you deem appropriate.  I recommend 4, 5, and 10, at the least.
9. Bring in 3 jars (mayonnaise jars work well) that you have filled with a collection of objects. Make 1 jar = exactly 100.  Make the other jars greater than and less than 100. Ask your students to vote for the jar they think has exactly 100 objects.  Near the end of the day, count the objects in each jar to determine who selected the correct jar. Give certificates to those who guessed correctly.
10. Have your students determine the year in which they will turn 100 years old.                          
11. Discuss signs of old age.  Have your students draw a picture of themselves as they will look at 100.  For extra effect, have them crinkle the paper after their drawing is complete to make their faces look wrinkled.
12. Read Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten, by Joseph Slate.
13. Ask your students to write a paragraph about what they think they will be doing when they are 100 years old.
14. Prior to 100th day, begin compiling a list with your students of 100 words they can read and write.  On the 100th day, have a spelling bee using those words.  For older students, challenge them to name 100 words that pertain to a specific subject (science, math, social studies, food, nouns, verbs, ...).  Use those words for the spelling bee.
15. Promote team work by providing several 100 piece jigsaw puzzles.  Divide the class into equal small groups; then give each group a puzzle to complete.  Certificates to those who finish first! 
16. Thumbs up to thumbprints!  Using a stamp pad, their thumb, and a marker, students will print their thumb on paper 100 times.  Each time they make 10 thumbprints, they should stop printing and use the marker to circle that group of 10.  Encourage them to label each set with the appropriate decade.
17. Calculate what year it will be 100 years from now.  Ask each student to draw and describe something that schools will have then that they do not have now.  Collate their pages and illustrations into a class book.
18. Give each student a 10 x 10 grid.  Flip a penny 100 times, recording H (heads) or T (tails) on the grid cells.  
19. Calculate how many Tails appeared in #18; calculate how many Heads came up.  
20. On another 10 x 10 grid, have students record the numbers that come up as they roll a die 100 times.  
21. Have your students graph the results of #20.
22. Read 100 Days of School, by Trudy Harris.
23. Have small groups of students make trains with unifix cubes.  Each train should be exactly 100 cubes long.  Compare the trains.  Are they all the same length?  If not, which one is correct?  The only way to figure that out is to break the trains into equal lengths (I recommend 10).  Give certificates to the students who used exactly 100.
24. Brainstorm a list of activities from the 1st 100 days that are memorable.  Limit your list according to the age and stage of your students.  Create a class graph of their favorite activities.
25. Working with a partner, complete this writing activity:  If we had 100 _____, we would _____.  The partners write about their idea and then illustrate it.
26. Another writing activity, perhaps more appropriate for older students:  Write about what it may have been like 100 years ago.  What would not yet be invented?  What would school have been like then?
27. Read aloud The 100th Day of School, by Angela Shelf Medearis.
28. Take a brain break and do 100 jumping jacks.
29. Because the 100th day falls in Feb. in my district, I include a Black History activity. The challenge is to compile a list of 100 African Americans of note.
30. Have a coloring race.  Give each students a 10 x 10 grid.  Using a die, each child rolls a number and then colors in that many squares.  Students should change colors for each roll of the die.  Play continues until 1 student reaches 100.  If you like, require the children to roll the exact number they need to complete the grid.  That is, rolling a 6 when you need 4 to finish will be disallowed.  They must roll exactly a 4 or a combination thereof.  Give the winner(s) a certificate and a pat on the back.  
31. Another variation of the coloring race is to give each child 2 dice which they roll together.  The number of squares they get to color is the sum, difference, product or quotient of the 2 numbers.  It's your choice!
32. After everyone has finished coloring their grid from above, have them cut the grid into the 100 squares.  Use the squares to create a mosaic picture.  This could be 1 huge, full class mosaic or each students could complete their own picture.
33. Read The Night Before the 100th Day of School, by Natasha Wing.
34. Hop on your right foot 50 times.  Then hop on your left foot 50 times.
35. Create paper chains of exactly 100 loops.  Join them together with a distinctive loop and hang them around the room.  Now you can count by 100s!
36. Sing the following song to the tune of Ta-ra-ra Boom De Ay:  It's the 100th day/ So shout, "Hip hip hooray!"/ We'll count and eat and play/ on the 100th day.   See all we've collected/ 100s on display/ Join in the fun and say,/ "Hooray for the 100th day!"
37. Clip 100 paperclips together.  With a partner, measure things in the room.  Find 2 each of the following:  shorter than, longer than, and equal to the 100 chain.
38. Have a 100 snack -- a pretzel stick and 2 round or oval crackers.  Tell you kiddos that it's a 100 snack, but they can't eat it until they figure out why it is a 100 snack.  (You may wish to discourage the breaking of the pieces into 1000s of crumbs!)
39. Make 100 placemats and deliver them to a nursing home.  I guarantee they will be appreciated by the seniors.
40. If your 100th day is near Valentine's Day, make 100 Valentine cards to send to soldiers who are deployed overseas.
41. Enlist the P.E. teacher to make the children do 10 different in sets of 10 exercises.  For example, 10 sit-ups, 10 toe touches, 10 push ups, etc.
42. Have the students estimate how long 100 seconds is.  The teacher uses a stopwatch, declaring the start time.  Students stand up when they think 100 seconds have expired.  The teacher may wish to note which student(s) were correct, if indeed, any were correct.  Repeat this exercise at various times throughout the day.  Hopefully, the children will get better at estimating the time.
43. Read 100th Day Worries, by Margery Cuyler.
44. Ask each student to list 5 things they are thankful for.  Display the lists together under the title, We are Thankful for 100 Things.  If you have more than 20 students, have each child name 4 things and complete the list with things you, the teacher, are thankful for.
45. Using long strips of paper (adding machine rolls work great) and 2 different color markers, have pairs of students write the numbers from 1 - 100.  For example, 1 = red, 2 = blue, 3 = red, 4 = blue, ...  Pairing a student who is struggling with this with a more capable partner is particularly helpful.
46. Have the children create a domino train with 100 dominoes.  Then have them watch as they fall down.
47. Using Do-a-Dot paints, have your students make 100 dots on a piece of construction paper.
48. Have each student graph the color distribution of #47.
49. Students complete 100 math problems of whatever operation is most appropriate to the grade level.
50. Dance for 100 seconds.
51. Read Lester L. Laminack's book, Jake's 100th Day of School.
52. Using Froot Loops, create a 100 loop necklace.  Students should use 10 loops of 1 color and then switch to another color for the next ten.  Yarn works well for the chain.
53. Give small groups of children 100 paper cups.  Ask them to build a wall or structure with the cups.
54. Have the children add their ages together.  Did the sum equal 100?  Was it larger than 100?  Was it smaller than 100?  You may want to ask your students to predict the answers to those questions before completing the computation.
55. Give small groups 100 pattern blocks to share.  Together they should make a design. Take pictures of their designs and display the pictures in your classroom.
56. Using the 100 collection the students brought from home, have them divide the objects into 2 equal groups.  Use a piece of construction paper folded in half to provide spaces for the groups.  Make note of how many objects are in each group. 
57. Repeat #56, dividing the objects into 4 equal groups.  Note the number in each group.
58. Repeat #56, dividing the objects into 5 equal groups.  Note the numbers.
59. Clap hands 100 times.
60. Read It's the 100th Day, Stinky Face! by Lisa McCourt.
61. Give each student a 10 x 10 grid.  Have them write their first name, putting 1 letter in each square, repeatedly, until the grid is filled.  Students then choose a color for each letter and create a key.  They then color the squares according to the key.
62. Collect the grid from #61 and combine them to make a large "quilt."
63. Bounce a ball 100 times.
64. Ask the music teacher to help celebrate 100 days by having the children strike percussion instruments 100 times in unison during music class.
65. Give each student a 100 chart.  Direct them to color only the odd numbers. 
66. Brainstorm a list of 100 things we do at school.
67. Skip rope 100 times.
68. Create a class book in which each student completes a page that reads, "Once I saw 100 _________."  You may wish to share some ideas before turning the students loose.  For example, Once I saw 100 ants in my lunch bag.  Students should also illustrate their page.
69. Display a large 100 chart.  Ask the students how many numbers on the chart have the number ___ as a digit?  Repeat with other numbers for as long as is appropriate for the age of your students.
70. Still using the 100 chart, ask how many numbers have 1 digit?
71. How many numbers on the chart have 3 digits?
72. How many numbers have 2 digits?
73. How many numbers have a 5 in the ones place?
74. How many numbers have a 5 in the tens place?
75. Using 100 unifix cubes, make a pattern.
76. Using rubber stamps, make 10 different patterns with 10 items in each pattern.
77. Name 3 things you can eat 100 of at one time.
78. Build the tallest tower you can in 100 seconds.
79. Read Emily's First 100 Days of School, by Rosemary Wells.
80. Write the number 100 as many times as you can in 100 seconds.
81. Solve the math problems in these couplets:  100 thumbs working at the fair.  How many fingers are also busy there?
82. Now try these couplets.  Some have math answers; some have common knowledge answers.  100 dogs with black & white spots.  If you add 1 more dog, what have you got?
83. 100 shoes are on the stairs.  How many do we have if we're talking pairs?
84. 100 flowers in the garden and 100 weeds.  What percentage of the whole did the gardener plant as seeds?
85. 100 kinds of food to eat.  If you enjoy 3/4 of them, what number are a treat?
86. 100 blades of a plant, green and thin, times hundreds more; what are you walking in?
87. 100 pieces of sweet cherry pie.  If I keep 25 pieces, what fraction have I?
88. Make a list of 100 animals.
89. Have challenges between 2 students to see who can count backwards from 100 the fastest.
90. Jump up and down 100 times.
91. Build a shape with 100 blocks.
92. Read Young Cam Jansen and the 100th Day of School Mystery, by David A. Adler.
93. Have each child make a 100 Day crown.  Decorate it by punching out 100 holes with a hole punch.
94. Using the letters in ONE HUNDRED, make as many words as you can.
95. Make trail mix using 100 items of each ingredient.
96. At a center, have 100 pennies.  Have the students sort them into shiny and dull piles.  Count and record the number in each pile.
97. At the same center, have the children look for a penny with their birth year on it.  How many pennies did they look at before they found that one?
98. Stand on 1 foot for 100 seconds without holding onto anything.
99. Weigh each student's 100 collection.  Which collection weighs the most?  Which weighs the least?
100. Sing this song --

Yahoo!  I made it.

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Hat Day -- Jan. 15

It's about time, teachers, for . . .

National Hat Day, while not officially a national holiday (that requires an act of Congress), is a day dedicated to hat lovers everywhere.  On this special day, hats come out of the mothballs to make a statement about the wearer.  What could be better for a little winter fun and learning?!?

In my classroom, we dedicate an entire week to hats, culminated by wearing hats on the last day.  Since Jan. 15 is National Hat Day, I like to make that the day when my students can wear a hat of their choice to school.  While there is a school rule that hats cannot be worn inside, my principal gladly suspends that rule for the day for my class.  I love to watch my kiddos walk down the hall, beaming under their headgear as students from other classes stare with obvious envy.

There are scores of children's books on the subject.  I like to read 1 or 2 aloud each day. Here are some of my favorites:

• The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss
• Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner
• Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard
• Aunt Lucy Went to Buy a Hat by Alice Low
• Away Went the Farmer’s Hat by Jane Belk Moncure
• Benny’s Hat by Dirk Walbrecker
• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by Dr. Seuss
• Do You Have a Hat? By Eileen Spinelli
• Don't Touch My Hat by James Rumford
• Hat by Paul Hoppe
• A Hat for Ivan by Max Lucado
• A Hat for Minerva Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke
• Hats! by Kevin Luthardt
• Hats, Hats, Hats (Around the World Series) by Ann Morris
• The Hat by Jan Brett
• The Hat That Wore Clara B. by Melanie Turner-Denstaedt
• I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
• Jennie’s Hat by Ezra Jack Keats
• Little Red Cowboy Hat by Susan Lowell
• Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans
• The Magic Baseball Cap by David A. Ham
• The Magic Hat by Mem Fox
• Magritte's Marvelous Hat by D.B. Johnson
• Milo's Hat Trick by Jon Agee
• Old Hat New Hat by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain
• Pinkalicious and the Pink Hat Parade by Victoria Kann
• The Scarecrow's Hat by Ken Brown
• That 17th Hat by Trevor Eissler
• A Three Hat Day by Laura Geringer 
• Tornado Slim and the Magic Cowboy Hat by Bryan Langdo
• Who Took the Farmer's Hat? by Joan L. Nodset
• Whose Hat Is This? A Look at Hats Workers Wear by Sharon Katz Cooper

Hats provide a perfect platform for a thematic unit.  Over the next several days, I will post ideas for using a hat theme in your classroom.  These ideas are found in my product, Hats!  Hats!  Hooray for Hats!  

It is available on TpT and TN.

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Hanging Out with Stellaluna -- Pt. 3

Now that you've read Stellaluna to your class, it's time to extend the learning.  One of my goals with this study is to change my students' attitudes about bats.  To this end, I invite experts to come talk to my class.  I'm fortunate to live in a college town (Go ILLINI!) where it is easy to find a bat expert.  A professor from the U of I's Natural History Museum is kind enough to spend some time with my kiddos and brings lots of cool artifacts.  Moreover, I have a personal friend who is a caver and professor at the local community college.  She also gives her time to my class.

In addition to these awesome resources, I like to read several non-fiction books about bats to my class.  A couple of my favorites are Amazing Bats by Seymour Simon and Bats by Gail Gibbons.

Armed with new knowledge about bats, my class then completes a Venn Diagram comparing bats and birds.  I have always done this with the traditional 2 ovals intersecting in the middle.   Yesterday, as I was perusing Pinterest, I found this idea for putting the diagram on a bat.  Well, duh.

Well done Kinder by Kim!

Being a "poet-tree nut," I just have to include some poetry writing.  We write acrostics --

and bat shaped poems -- 

 

and stories -- 

Because I teach first grade, I don't assign factual reports to the class.  I do, however, challenge my gifted/enrichment students to create a factual report -- 

We make a bat nursery with origami bats --

and share our learning with the school --

Can you see the echolocation lines in Katie's drawing above?  They are purple lines right beside the bat's head.  

We publish a class book with all of our poems, stories, and reports.  One copy goes in our class library, one copy is given to the school library, and each student takes a copy home.

If you would like more ideas for teaching about bats through Janell Cannon's Stellaluna, check out my Hanging Out with Stellaluna product on TpT or TN.  In addition to the activities already discussed, Hanging Out with Stellaluna includes math journal prompts, origami directions, and center ideas, such as this phonics center vowel sort --

I don't need a standardized test to assess my students' learning.  It's obvious.  

 

Hanging Out with Stellaluna, Part 2

It's about time, teachers, for more Hanging Out with Stellaluna.  This is the second in a 3 part blog post.  The first post focused on things to do BEFORE reading Stellaluna.  Today I'll address actually reading the book.

The illustrations Janell Cannon made are exceptional.  Her full color panels are captivating and do a wonderful job of making bats cute and lovable. Be sure to give your students plenty of time to enjoy those works of art.

Have you ever noticed the small, pen & ink drawings at the top of each text page? They will not be very apparent to your students unless you enlarge them, at least not while you are reading the book aloud. Those drawings tell a story, too. Challenge your class to explain how the story the pen &  ink drawings tell is different from the full color pictures' story.  

This would be a great time to launch a lesson on point of view.  The pen & ink drawings tell the story from the mother bat's point of view.

As you read the story to your children, invite them to make predictions about the story before you turn the page.  For example, ask them what they think will happen when Stellaluna can't hang on to the branch any longer.  Or, what do they predict the mother bird will do when she finds Stellalluna in her nest with her hatchlings?  What will happen when Pip, Flap, & Flitter try to fly at night?  You get the idea.  

And now it's bedtime, so until next time...

You may also like:

Both of these products are available from my TpT Store or my TN Shop.

Hanging Out with Stellaluna

Do bats give you the willies?  Then it's about time, teachers, that you met Stellaluna.  

Stellaluna is an adorable baby bat that stars in Janell Cannon's award winning book, Stellaluna.  Although the book was published in 1993, it holds timeless appeal for children.  In fact, just this year, School Library Journal named it one of the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time.  Stellaluna was featured on Reading Rainbow (my all time favorite TV show for children), as well as in the movie, I Am Sam.  It has also been released in an animated version on DVD by MGM & Scholastic.  

If you haven't fallen in love with Stellaluna yet, you need to crawl out from under that rock where you've been hiding!

Before reading this book to my class, I like to do 2 activities.  The first one is designed to gauge their feelings about bats before we study them.  To this end, my students add their name to a graph like this:

[One of my anchor activities each morning is a graph.  My students join the graph of the day upon arriving at school.  There's a new graph every day, so this is a rote action by my kiddos.]

Be sure to save this graph so that you can compare it to your students' feelings about bats AFTER you've studied them.  

The second thing we do is complete a K-W-L chart about bats.  NOW we are ready to read the book.  

By the way, I always pull Stellaluna out in early October.  My school no longer celebrates Halloween.  By studying bats, I can give a nod to this holiday without breaking the rules.  

I hope you will have time to come back soon for more ideas about teaching with Stellaluna.

P.S.  In response to a request, the bat graph is now available via Google Docs.  Use this link: bat graph

You may like these other resources for October:

 


Both are available in either my TpT Store  or my TN Shop.