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.  

 

More Pinteresting Boards for Teachers

It's about time, teachers, ... for an update on all the pinteresting collaborative boards for teachers.  

Last week I posted a list of 57 collaborative boards that pertain to elementary teaching. After posting it, I was asked to list contact information for boards that did not give that info in the heading.  

Here's what I found out about those boards that do not make the contact info readily available:

1. Click on the button "Edit Board."  A list of contributors appears.  For many of these boards, the creator is listed at the top.  Clicking on the creator's name should lead you to contact info.  
2. For all the other boards with missing contact info, I emailed the creators I could identify to ask permission to publish their contact info.  Sadly, I did not get any permissions.  The best I can suggest is that you go to the Seller's Forum on TpT. Look in the Selling Tips section, as that is where the vast majority of threads on collaborative boards can be found.  There are threads on other portions, as well. Check the Everything Else section since I know there are threads there.

Just this past weekend, Jason @ Jason's Online Classroom started 44 new TpT collaborative boards.  [Can we say, "over-achiever?"]  Go to his pinterest account to check them out:  http://pinterest.com/JasonsClass/

Of course, you can also find all of the boards I have listed on my pinterest account since I joined all of them!  [Now you can definitely say, "over-achiever!"]  

Almost simultaneous with my original blog post about these boards, Heather @ Creation Castle created a FREE TpT product that lists Collaborative Pinterest Boards.  She has broken the boards down into categories and only included boards with contact info listed.  Her product is dynamic; she'll be adding to the lists as she finds more boards.  

It's time to pin, pin, pin! 

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.

Pinteresting Boards

It's about time, teachers, ... to help each other find interesting boards on Pinterest (i.e. Pinteresting Boards).  There are scores of collaborative boards on Pinterest that cater to elementary teachers and teaching.  Here's a list of some of my favorites:

• TpT Free Lessons
• Tpt Misc. Lessons
• TpT Language Arts Lessons
• TpT Math Lessons
• TpT Social Studies Lessons
• TpT Science Lessons
• TpT Blogs
• Primary Materials from TpT
• TpT Product Highlights
• Free Grammar Resources TpT
• Free Writing Resources TpT
• Free Reading Resources TpT
• Free Spelling Resources TpT
• Primary Book Activities on TpT
• Language Arts Collaborative
• Gifted Education Ideas and Products
• Math for Sixth Grade
• Math for Fifth Grade
• Math for Fourth Grade
• Math for Third Grade
• Math for Second Grade
• Math for First Grade
• Math for Kindergarten
• Common Core Ideas
• Third Grade materials under $3
• Second Grade materials under $3
• First Grade materials under $3
• Kindergarten materials under $3
• TpT on Sale
• The Creative Classroom by Teachers
• Centers and Small Groups
• Simply Centers - Literacy
• Simply Centers -- Math
• Fifth Grade Free Stuff
• Fourth Grade Free Stuff
• Third Grade Free Stuff
• Second Grade Free Stuff
• First Grade Free Stuff
• back to school!
• Holiday Themed Teaching Activities
• KindergartenKlub.com
• FirstGradeFaculty.com
• SecondGradeSquad.com
• ThirdGradeTroop.com
• FourthGradeFriends.com
• FfithGradeFlock.com
• Miscellaneous - Teachers Notebook Elementary Items
• Social Studies -- Teachers Notebook Elementary Items
• Science - Teachers Notebook Elementary Items
• Language Arts - Teachers Notebook Elem. Items
• Reading - Teachers Notebook Elementary Items
• Math - Teachers Notebook Elementary Items
• Loving Language Arts {TPT}
• Marvelous Math {TPT}
• Spectacular Science {TPT}
• Stupendous Social Studies {TPT}
• TPT items worth a second look

Some of these boards have thousands of followers; others are just getting started.  What a treasure these boards are!  You've just got to check them out!!

Calendar Activities

It's about time, teachers, -- calendar time!  

Recently, I posted about introducing patterning and predicting to your calendar activities. (See blog post here.)  Calendar icons for Sept. & Oct. are available FREE at Tpt and at TN. The response was enthusiastic and overwhelming.  Naturally, that spurred me to create calendar icons for the entire year.  

Each month's icons increase the complexity of the pattern.  Simple patterns based on color transition into color, shape, and direction properties.  

The simplest pattern begins in July, in deference to those of you who teach in year-round schools.  The calendar icons come in sets of 31, allowing you to use them in any month you choose.  I have also included some icons for special days, such as Father's Day or the first day of spring. 

I like to place the special day icons on the calendar on the first day of the month.  Then as we do our calendar activities, we can count the days until Father's Day, for example. We can also predict what the icon for that day will be, ultimately replacing the special day icon with the patterned one.  The hardest part for me is not affirming my students' predictions until we reach the actual day.  It's just so rewarding to hear the kiddos squeal, "I was right!" when that icon is placed on the calendar.  

Also included are title strips for each month.  The title strips are designed for 8 1/2" x 14" paper.  

All of the traditional calendar activities continue.  Naturally, we name the day, tell what day came before, and which day will come next.  We still bundle sticks into groups of 5 to tally our days in school.  Counting the days until the weekend or a special day carries on, etc.

By using patterned icons, you can simply add another dimension to your calendar activities.  In naming the pattern and predicting the next icon, you are exercising your students' critical thinking skills, challenging their visual discrimination abilities, addressing the CCSS, maximizing your teaching time, and engaging your students in a fun and valuable activity.  It's about time, teachers!

                  

 free set                                             

entire year set

Update 2015 :  Now available, a new set of calendar icons in a forest friends theme.

GR8 PL8

It’s about time, teachers, for some creativity!  Here’s a fun project that is sure to get your students’ creative juices flowing.

Challenge your students’ creativity with vanity license plates.  Vanity plates are car license plates that convey a personalized message using just 8 letters and/or numbers.  Many vanity plates have cryptic messages that symbolize something important to the owner.  The message may tell something about the person’s:

appearance --   

personality --

accomplishment --

occupation -- 

or philosophy --

Present several examples, asking your students to deduce the meaning.  This will get your class into the right frame of mind for creating vanity plates. Then challenge them to design 2 vanity plates. 

The first license plate should describe someone or something well known.  For example:

• A famous person like Abe Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, or Christopher Columbus
• An occupation such as cook, artist, or computer programmer
• A fictional character like Cinderella, Superman, or the 7 dwarves
• A fictional place such as Never-Never Land or the Land of Oz
• A well-known site such as Mount Rushmore or the Eiffel Tower
• An historic event like the 1^st moon landing or the Civil War

The second license plate should describe something unique to the student.  It may be a personality trait, a favorite activity, a goal, an accomplishment, or a message s/he wishes to express. 

Encourage your students to think of several ideas before selecting the license plates that suit them best.  Fluency of ideas often leads to increased creativity.  Distribute 2 templates to your students and encourage them to use upper case letters.  Numbers can be used for words (1 for ONE or WON, 8 for EIGHT or ATE).  Alternate or incomplete spellings are absolutely acceptable (CS for SEES or SEAS, or EZ DUZ IT).  

Display the vanity plates on a bulletin board in the hall.  Then prepare for traffic jams as spectators gather to decipher the messages.  

You can download all the materials for this project for FREE at my TpT Store or TN Shop

 Enjoy!