Pumpkin Jack

A wonderful and delightful story about the life cycle of a pumpkin. The students not only enjoyed it but actually got it! So exciting! 

Using the story as our focus book for a week, we explored mental imaging, vocabulary, made connections, learned about life cycle of a pumpkin, inferred how the story might continue, and carved our very own pumpkin!  

Since election day is coming up, I thought it might be fun to learn about the democratic process. So we voted on the type of face to carve. The students helped with cleaning and prepping the pumpkin then I took over for the carving. (I know, I got the best part) The students were so excited! Inspired by the story, we wanted to name our pumpkin too. Back to voting we went. I am please to introduce you to...

"Is-A-Bella"

our class pumpkin!  

She's a pretty happy one, isn't she! This time of year is always super fun in the classroom. 

We also learned a chant "Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, what do you see?" then wrote the response using sight words we have been learning.  The chant whole chant is:

Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, What do you see?I see _____Looking at me.

To add to the fun, we made some pretty adorable pumpkins. The results were too cute! We just had to put them on the bulletin board for all to see. 

The vine has the title of the chant "Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, What do you see?" with one word per leaf.

Recess Queen

If you haven't read "Mean Jean the Recess Queen" by Alexis O'Neill, I highly recommend it for the start up of your school year. What a great way to open up discussion on bullying and how to reach out to others.

From making connections to our own experiences, looking closer at the characters, diving into vocabulary, and even discussing why Jean behaved the way she did. It was interesting to watch the students explore and share their thoughts. Their drawings were very detailed and certainly had a lot to say about what their favorite part of the story was. As mentioned in my last blog, we posted writings on their favorite part on Padlet. I also made a bulletin board of our work. I printed a color photo of a  screen shot of our Padlet project along with a QR code so other students and teachers in our school can access it online.

Want to see the Padlet as well. Using a QR code reader, scan the image below and it should take you to it.

Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon

What a wonderful story to use at the beginning of the school year! 
Students learn a great deal from Molly Lou, like how to love your uniqueness (plus uniqueness in others) and how to handle a bully. Molly Lou is really small (but taller than her dog), has buck teeth, has a voice that sounds like a bullfrog being squeezed by a boa constrictor, and can be clumsy. But her grandmother always told her to stand tall, sing loud and to believe in herself. When she moves to a new town, a bully tries to make her feel bad about herself, but Molly Lou stands tall against the bully.

To bring the lesson closer to home, the students shared ways they feel special. Using the responses the students gave, we made a giant sunflower to display in the hallway. The students are proud of it and were eager to find their petal. I saw some really great ideas on Pinterest and the web for Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon craft ideas. Since I teach kindergarten and writing is a challenge at this time of year, I wrote their responses then had them sign their own names. We are also focusing on building classroom community. Our one giant sunflower is an example of our classroom family. To finish off the display, I made a small color poster of the book cover and added a little write up on the story. Needless to say, I'm really excited about the end result!