Paper Mate Pencils in the Classroom

I have recently found that Paper Mate mechanical pencils are a great solutions to having to constantly sharpen pencils. I have a straw dispenser in my classroom and I love it as a way of making pencils available for my students, but these mechanical pencils keep students in their seats and me from having to sharpen so many pencils. Plus they work great.

I've used mechanical pencils in the past, usually the kind from the Dollar Store, but I found that I was having to replace the lead all of the time. As I was getting ready to place my supply order I thought about the fact that my Paper Mate pencils seem to last forever.  When I saw that I could purchase a box of 12 for $5.00 I figured it was worth a shot. They are more expensive in the store, something like $3.00 for 4 pencils. Next year I am adding them to my classroom supply list. 

Anyways, once I got the pencils I wrote students, names on them with a black sharpie and told my students that they were responsible for their own pencil. I showed them how to adjust the lead and suggested that they use their big erasers vs the eraser on their pencil when they had a lot to erase. They took this very seriously. Because I had written the names towards the tip of the pencil we found that after a few days the names started to wear off, so for those who it mattered to I rewrote the names closer to the eraser. 

Today I told my students that I was going to blog about the pencils and that I wanted some feedback. I first asked how many of them thought that other students would enjoy using these pencils. They all agreed that the students would. Then I asked how many of them preferred to use regular pencils, because I had noticed a few of them were. About 3-4 raised their hand. I asked them to explain why this was, and as I had suspected, the answer was that they didn't want to ruin their Paper Mate pencils. They seemed to feel that the best way to take care of it was not to use it. The final question I asked was about their experience with the pencils. Since students were constantly breaking the tips of the regular pencils I asked if they were having the same problem with Paper Mate pencils. They said that the tips were not breaking off and that they only had to turn the pencil for more lead when it had been used from writing so much.

I don't know if it is a perfect solution, but it feels good right now so I'm going with it. I don't know if age matters, but these are appropriate for my first grade students who are now in their second trimester of school. 

Mrs. Navarre's TpT Store 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Anna-Navarre

Penguin Art

This is a penguin art project that we did last week. I've actually been doing it for years and the kids always seem to enjoy it. It does take some prep work, but I usually have parent volunteers who are willing to help from home do this prep for me. I have one parent do the black pieces and another do the orange pieces. I then have another parent put all of the pieces together in individual Zip-loc bags.

As we do the activity I give the students a blue piece of paper and their bag of penguin pieces. We work together, gluing each of the pieces onto the paper. Students give their penguin personality by deciding how they want the pieces to go. After the penguin has been assembled I give students a small piece of black paper and a small piece of white paper. They use these pieces for the eyes. I used to use googly eyes, which I love, but by the end of the year when I went to put these pages in the memory books, the eyes were falling off, so I gave up on that idea. 

Once students finished their penguins I had them use a white crayon to draw snowflakes and the snow. This adds an extra cute touch and again helps to make each penguin art project unique. 

I don't have a template for you to use for this project, so I thought I would just take a picture of the pieces that I have parents cut. I'm sure you can figure out what you need from this sample.

I have some penguin resources that you might be interested in as you teach about penguins. Please feel free to click on the links and check them out. 

Penguin PowerPoint

Penguin Unit

Penguin Facts Game

Consonant Blend Game

Easy Birthday Reminder

You wouldn't think that it would be difficult to remember students birthdays. Most teacher's just write the birthdays in on their planner. Those who really got it together might even have the dates in their digital calendars set with reminders of students' birthdays. Well, even though those are helpful, I still have to find the time to get out my birthday bookmarkers, stickers, and the birthday book bag. It just seems to take that one extra minute that I don't have.

This year I have become more organized with birthdays. At the beginning of the year I listed all of my students' birthdays on the birthday chart. After all of these years I still love having the birthday chart up. Then I used a paperclip to clip a bookmarker and birthday sticker together. I wrote students' names and birthdays on a sticky and then paperclipped all of the birthdays for each month together. I also made a pocket out of construction paper. Now, at the beginning of the month I pull out the clipped birthdays for that month and put them in the pocket. I stick the sticky on the front of the pocket, so I don't even need to look at the chart. On the student's birthday I just pull out one of the clipped bookmarker and sticker sets and get out my birthday book bag. Then I'm all set.

I don't do much with birthdays, because we don't really have the time. Also, with health concerns students aren't allowed to bring in special food treats, but they can bring in something else like a party favor or a classroom book. Anyways, as I mentioned I don't do much. I usually just call the birthday student up in front of the class and present them with their special birthday things. Then we sing Happy Birthday. The students seem to enjoy this and it is a simple enough recognition that doesn't make things too crazy. My students are always aware of whose birthday is coming up. They look at the birthday chart that is up in the classroom and also we add birthdays to our classroom calendar at the beginning of the month.

Yes, I realize this post would have probably been more helpful at the beginning of the year, but I didn't think about it until last week when I went to pull out the birthdays for the new month. Well, hopefully you will still find it a useful idea, especially if you have a non-traditional school year.

Birthday Bookmarkers and Certificates

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Birthday-Bookmarkers-and-Certificates-1231871

Connecting Close Reading to CC Standards

After the winter break our district gave teachers a professional development day. One of the best things I got out of it was a better understanding of the reason to have students reread the text three times in a close read. I mean, in my mind students are going to obviously understand anything better after reading it three times, but this training gave purpose for me as a teacher for having my students do this. 


As part of a webinar presentation given by our director of education, Tracy Garcia, we learned more about the purpose of having students read a close read passage three times. Tracy related it to the three phases of the moon (I don't know if this was her own analogy or it was from a training, so sorry if I am not giving proper credit). In this analogy she explains that each read is like one of the phases of the moon. The correlation pretty much ends there, so I won't go much further with that, but to say the three reads are phases and each phase correlates to one specific read of a literature/informational text. 

In the first phase or first read the purpose is for students to find out what the text says. If you look at your grade level common core standards under Literature/Informational Key Ideas and Details you will see that this first read correlates to what students should be doing in standards 1-3. In order to support this read you can use close read strategies and asks text dependent questions to help students determine general understanding of the text. The close read strategies for my first graders are very basic. They underline key words/ideas and circle unknown words. They also attempt annotations, but are still not very proficient at this.



The second phase or read has a different purpose. The purpose is for students to find out how the text works. If you look at these grade level standards under Craft and Structure you will see that this second read correlates to what students should be doing in standards 4-6. In order to support this read teachers ask text dependent questions on vocabulary and text structure.

The third and final phase/read again has another purpose. The purpose is to help students to determine what the text means. If you look at these grade level standards under Integration of Knowledge and Ideas you will see this third read correlates to what students should be doing in standards 7-9. In order to support this read teachers ask text dependent question on inferences, author's purpose and comparing tow texts on the same topic.  

I believe that taking students to a higher level of understanding is important, but I think that it is important to not forsake basic phonics. Students do need to learn to read first of all, but that doesn't mean that they can't be exposed to higher level text and thinking. It just means they might need some support. In my classroom we do this type of reading whole class for the most part. This allows me the time to go through a passage without feeling rushed. We first read we do together. The second read I partner my students up. The third read they do on their own. While some students may not be as successful on the third read, it does give them time to think about the passage. I created a comparing and connecting text packet in order to have some passages that I can use. In years passed I used passages from Edhelper. 

Here is the link to my Comparing and Connecting Text packet in case you would like to check it out.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Comparing-and-Connecting-Texts-1645506

Also, feel free to visit my TpT Store to see my other products.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Anna-Navarre

Amazing San Diego Zoo App

Wow! If you teach animal habitats, have young children, or just love animals then the San Diego Zoo app is for you. I started off by looking at the exhibit section, not really realizing that was what I was looking at, and I was a little discouraged that more information wasn't given. Then, I went to the animal section and there was plenty of information for my first graders. Next, I checked out the media section. I love that there are live cams (FYI.. Nothing happening at 2:30 a.m.). There are also short video clips. All of this is perfect for teaching students about the different animals. It is also perfect for students who have never been to the zoo.

I believe this is an app for both iPads and iPhones, I have it on my iPad. I had some trouble finding it when I went to the iTunes App Store, but found a link that sent me straight to it. Here is the link in case you have trouble too:

San Diego Zoo App

itunes.apple.com/us/app/sandiegozoo/id481823522?mt=8 

If  you don't have iPads or an iPhone in your classroom you can go to the San Diego Zoo website and access many, if not all, of the same things as the app. Here is the San Diego Zoo link:

San Diego Zoo Link

http://sandiegozoo104.reachlocal.net


If you teach animal habitats and are looking for some additional resources then you might be interested in checking out some products I have available at my teachers store.

Animal Habitat Cup Sort
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Habitat-Cup-Sort-986183

Animal Habitat Show Me Cards
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Habitat-Show-Me-Cards-1142667

Animal Habitat Sort
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Habitat-Sort-702021

Animal Nonfiction Comprehension Pages
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Animal-Nonfiction-Comprehension-Pages-787910

Martin Luther King, Jr. Matching Game

Now that Christmas is over I need to start getting out things for the winter months, right now I'm focused specifically on January. One of the things that we do in January is talk about Martin Luther King, Jr. I really love this. It is a great time of the year (after winter break) to talk about how we need to get along with each other and also about how we are alike and different. I find that I don't really need to hammer this point. As students hear about Martin Luther King, Jr. they begin to understand why getting along with each other is so important.

As we go through this unit on Martin Luther King, Jr. we, of course, read lots of books about him. We also watch some Youtube videos that help students to learn key points about Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life.

There are a few other activities that we do as we learn about Martin Luther King Jr. We do a writing about him, a coloring page, and as a center activity, I provide a matching game to reinforce what students have been learning. This packet is available at my teacher's store if you are interested.

There are lots of ways to get students thinking about the importance of what Martin Luther King, Jr. has done for our country. One other thing that I like to do is to have students find someone who doesn't have anyone to play with. Then I have them invite that person to play with them. After recess, we spend a couple of minutes reporting on what happened, how they think the other person felt, and then how they felt.

I've provided the link to the Martin Luther King Jr. Matching Game Packet. This resource includes not only matching cards for a fun game, but also a summary of MLK, a coloring page, and a writing page. Please feel free to check it out. 

Martin Luther King Jr. Matching Game

Another resource that I have is a 25 page reading and writing resource which is geared mainly towards 2nd - 4th. I've included the list of what is included in this resource, but you can visit my TPT Store to see a preview of the pages included.  

Martin Luther King Jr. -People in History

Anna Navarre's New Webpage

First of all I'd like to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! I can't believe it is officially 2015. I hope that you will be blessed with great things this year.

Well, in an attempt to start my year off right I am bringing in the new year with a new webpage. My niece and brother suggested it at our Christmas get together, so I decided to take their advice. My hope is that it will be another way for me to display my products and continue to grow. Please feel free to check it out and share it with others. I hope that you like it.

Anna Navarre's Site on Strikingly

 http://site241493-9861-1924.strikingly.com/