Biographies with first graders

I LOVE teaching 1st graders because they are so excited to learn new things.  I introduced them to BIOGRAPHIES recently.  We started our unit by reading On A Beam of Light:  A Story of Albert Einstein and talked about what difference he made in our world.  Over the past two weeks we have begun each class with a read aloud and then we break out into our partner groups and get to work on PebbleGo.
  

More books we read outloud:

                                         

The process:

Examples of their research:

              

Students created drawings of their person on ArtPad.com and we printed these.  They also shared them with me electronically.

Mrs. Werking's Class Shares their Biographies

Mrs. Beiting's Class Shares their Biographies

Miss. Huntington's Class Shares their Biographies

Miss. Brown's Class Shares their Biographies

March Madness has Arrived!!! Who will prevail as our SBY?

VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!  We now have our SBY (Summit Book of the Year).  The WINNER with 53.1% of the votes is...drum roll please....

The results broken down below.

Summary

Pick your top book for our March Madness Bracket. Which book will prevail?

Wonder	26	53.1%
Diary of a Wimpy Kid	24	49%

WE NOW HAVE OUR FINAL TWO!  Which book will prevail as our SBY (Summit Book of the Year)?

Pick your top 2 books for our March Madness Bracket. Which books will prevail?

Wonder	76	49.4%
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	57	37%
Diary of a Wimpy Kid	76	49.4%
Because of Winn Dixie	71	46.1%

We have our FINAL FOUR!  We will now narrow it down to the FINAL TWO!!!

 

Smile	35	34.3%
The One and Only Ivan	40	39.2%
Wonder	49	48%
Lightning Thief	42	41.2%
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	47	46.1%
Diary of a Wimpy Kid	54	52.9%
I Survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871	34	33.3%
Because of Winn Dixie	52	51%

The NCAA tournment doesn't have anything over on us....we are inviting all 4-6 graders to vote for our SBY (Summit Book of the Year).  We started with the top 16 books from these grades and had students cast their vote on a Google Form to narrow it down to their top 8.  We will continue narrowing it down to we get to the champion...

Here are our TOP 8 (not in any order):

Smile	33	48.5%
The One and Only Ivan	30	44.1%
Wonder	30	44.1%
Lightning Thief	31	45.6%
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	32	47.1%
Diary of a Wimpy Kid	40	58.8%
I Survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871	30	44.1%
Because of Winn Dixie	52	76.5%

When I Grow Up- Why I love asking Preschooler and Kindergarten this question

Preschool and Kindergarten has been learning about what they want to be when they grow up. Don't you love when an adult asks a 4, 5, or 6 year old this and expects them to know the answer. Even though that may seem like a crazy thing to ask such a young child you will never again witness such an innocent response. I love asking this before the reality of "life" sets in as they get older. Before they realize how long they may have to go to college to achieve their goal, or how much money they would make at a specific career, or before someone "heaven forbids" tells them they can't be that because it is silly. We started our unit by reading When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic.
  We moved on to:  

Students will complete a drawing of their chosen career and then film their creations.  I can't wait to see them!

                                              Mrs. Julie's Preschool Class "When I Grow Up" video

Mrs. Kris's a.m. Preschool Class "When I Grow Up" video

Mrs. Kris's Preschool p.m. class "When I Grow Up" video

                           Mrs. James's afternoon KINDERGARTEN "When I Grow Up" video

Mrs. Geiger's Thursday KINDERGARTEN "When I Grow Up" video

Mrs. Geiger's Monday KINDERGARTEN "When I Grow Up" video