Friday Flashback Linky- Don't know how to do it, but I'm giving it a whirl!

 
I'm not sure how to do a linky, but if someone does... let me know!  (Amanda?)

Ok, so I've kinda been reflecting on the week already and I stick with what I said yesterday that the persuasive writing we did with our presidential speeches takes the cake for the week!  Unfortunately, today the space on my iPad ran out and I couldn't record anymore speeches, but I will take care of that by Monday!

Due to technical difficulties, I do not have anything new to post about that, but you can read my posts from Tuesday and Thursday to see all the good stuff!  Here's one fun picture I already posted:

Kids' campaign posters that are in the hallway with their speeches.

Of course, we couldn't JUST do election stuff, so here's another new thing I tried this week.  (After 9 years, I have to say that I am so happy that I don't repeat everything year after year, even if it would be easier.  I still get so excited to learn and try new things!)  Anyway, I've always had trouble getting kids to remember to try both vowel sounds when decoding new words.  If we're working on short vowels, they try that every time, and if we're working on long vowels, same thing for the most part.  It's frustrating!  And when I say, "Try both sounds," or, "What's the other sound that vowel makes?" what do I get?  Crickets!  Arrrgh!  So my blogging buddy Jill showed me all about the Beanie Baby strategies and I love the "flip the sound."  For some reason, I really think that this little change in wording helped me teach this strategy better this time around!

I have some flashcards with vowel sounds on them and usually just stick them in the pocket chart or up on the wall as a reference, but with the whole "flipping" idea, I wanted something to go with that.  I taped the long and short vowel cards back to back and physically flipped the card over when we flipped the sound.  It sounds so easy, but for some reason the kids did seem to "get" it more than in previous years.  I know their background knowledge wasn't any better, because I got the crickets at the beginning of the lesson and this definitely was not a strategy kids were using in guided reading groups.

The cards before I taped them together for flipping.

Next, we practiced some one syllable words, flipping the sound and deciding which one "sounds right" or sounds like a real word.

It seemed like some of the kids were seeing a visual pattern with the words (yay), so we sorted the short and long vowel words and then they talked with their partner.  I'm trying so hard this year not to just give the information away... they are so much more invested when they come up with the rules and strategies themselves.  Even if it takes longer, it's worth it because it sticks with them.  They did indeed notice the e on the end of the long vowel words- yay!

I took all of the vowel cards and photocopied them.  I made it so that when the kids cut around short and and long a, they can fold them so they are back to back like when I taped them together.  They will be on cardstock and I will hole punch them and put them on rings so the kids can put them in their browsing boxes for independent reading time.  I actually made two copies per child so that one copy can stay in their reading bags for home.  It took FOREVER to shrink these and fit them all on one page, especially since the copy machine had a mind of its own today, so I hope the kiddos use them!

I know this isn't anything prolific, but it was new to me!

And the election elation continues...

Well, I didn't plan to keep the election fun rolling, but when your kids are into something, you have to capitalize, right?  On Tuesday, the kiddos colored a campaign poster for their chosen candidate to take home and share what they learned with their families.  Yesterday, they made their own campaign poster and came up with their own platform to run for president.  Here's a sample of their oh-so-cute posters (from PBSkids.org):

What was funny was that some kids had to look in the mirror to draw their face. :)

We revisited our candidate platform comparison chart (see the November 6 post) and also talked about the many hats a president must wear: leader, problem-solver, community builder, etc.  I can't believe how excited the class was about this and how seriously they took it.  I was so proud!  They worked and worked on their speeches and then today began presenting them to the class.  Of course, they needed a podium to give their speech from, so...

Tada!  Old overhead cart transformed!

I will admit that the perfectionist in me did in fact measure out the stripes, as well as correctly placing the stars.  I just had to, okay?  But anyway, the class sat on the rug and the candidates gave their speeches to their supporters.  Well, all the kids said they'd vote for themselves, but they did clap for each other without prompting, which was really awesome.  Again, I am super impressed to hear first graders speak about national defense, Iran, energy, taxes, etc.  Our future is in good hands!

My student from IU Northwest came back today just to hear the speeches and had some big VOTE buttons for them to wear... I will try to snap pictures of that tomorrow.  Super cute!  She really wanted them to have Uncle Sam hats, but couldn't find any.  The kids inspired her to drive all over last night looking... and she works full time while being a full time college student!  I love that she came back to watch the speeches!  She wants to type up their speeches and send them to the White House.  How fun is that?!  We hung their posters and speeches up in the hall while they were at music.  I wish I had a picture of their faces lighting up as they walked down the hall and saw their hard work- priceless!  (This is why I do my job, so when I'm stressed about other work stuff, I just need to remember...I  <3 these kids!!)  Amy (IUN student) says she is totally going back and buying the ballot box- the kids want other people around the school to read their speeches and vote!  I'm also pondering emailing the videos out for teachers/students to watch.  They're only about 30 seconds each, so that wouldn't take too long.  We'll see...
(While proofreading this, I did notice the excessive use of exclamation marks, but it really was that exciting, so they are staying.  Sorry if it is annoying. :))

What's next?  Adding the voice trait (which some students already really demonstrated in their speeches) to the ideas trait we've been focusing on... letter writing.  I have some books of real letters to President Obama from kids around the country:

We will read the letters in reading workshop, focusing on author's purpose and still working on retelling the main idea and details.  Then in writing workshop we will plan and write our own letters to President Obama.  (Thankfully he won, so I can still use these books!)  They can give him advice, ask him questions, or try to persuade him to focus on an issue important to them.  I may just have to record them reading their letters to him.  They watched kids asking the President questions via video on Nick.com and they would LOVE to emulate this.

This is BY FAR one of the coolest writing activities I have ever done, and it was all inspired by the kids and their love of politics.  Who knew?  If only I had written those persuasive letters to the Chicago Cubs, asking them to come to our school!  (It worked for us in 2007.)  This just goes to show that if you give kids something that really sparks their interest, they can really take off with it.  They have truly inspired and energized me this week.  I can't wait to hear more speeches tomorrow!!

Do I really have to wait 4 years to do this again?!?!

Election Day Elation and Chicken Nuggets?!

Wow, was my class excited about the election!  I had two game plans for today, one with a little bit of election coverage and one with a LOT.  Well, we went with a lot because they were pumped!  I think I have some future politicians and maybe even a future President in my class.  One of my girls says she wants to be the President... you go, girl!

I wasn't at school yesterday, so we had a lot of research to do today.  With report cards last week and finishing up assessments, it was too hard to break from my normal routine.  So today we went to Nick.com and did some research.  I love that Scholastic, Time For Kids, and even Nick have some great resources for kids to help them understand issues important to our citizens and also to let them know that even though they can't vote, they can still influence it!  Did you know that 5 out of the last 6 elections, kids have correctly chosen which candidate will win?  Anyway, we watched videos about the candidates and their opinions on important issues.  It was so cute to see my little friends writing down what they learned in their composition book!  I told them that if they wanted to vote, they had to have a good reason for choosing their candidate.

So here is a rundown of our research:
First, we started with a KWL chart.  It was important to see what the kids already knew, and what they were wondering.

BTW, the kids decided that they were the smartest class ever because they filled the K column.  We had an interesting conversation during the making of our chart this morning.  It was hard for kids to understand what exactly the mayor, governor, and president are in charge of.  The concepts of cities, states, and countries are just so hard for first graders!  So, we made the connection to our school.  Our classroom is like a city, and I am the mayor.  Our school is like a state, full of lots of cities (classrooms), and the principal is the governor.  Put all the schools (states) together, and you have the country (corporation), with the superintendent as the president.  I saw some lightbulbs go on with that.  We'll keep working on it to bring the rest of the kids along.  I will probably move to the Me on the Map activity I've seen all over Pinterest!  This was a good way to get them more interested in geography, that's for sure!

Next, we moved onto the research on websites.  The kids were so concerned about me pausing the videos and making sure they could write down what they wanted, or that they could ask me questions about what they didn't understand.  It was amazing to hear first graders talk about taxes, healthcare, gun control, etc.!  They really care about current events and changing the world... I hope they keep that drive when it's time for them to take charge!

One thing about the research that really made some students upset was that President Obama answered kids' questions on Nick.com, while Romney's camp said he couldn't fit it into his schedule.  I couldn't believe that!  I wonder if that cost him some first grade votes...

After we did our research on the candidates and their platforms, we did some nonfiction shared writing.  Later in the year we will make "all about" books, and one of the pages is a compare/contrast page.  We did one together today on the candidates.

I tried to put as much as I could exactly how the kids said it, but this was also a time to clear up misconceptions.  Some kids thought that Iran was using oil to make weapons, and some thought that citizens were paying for illegal immigrants to go to college.  We had to clear that up!  Still, they were so deep in thought on all the issues, particularly energy and healthcare!  They really got that the energy debate is tied to the environment, money, and jobs.  Some kids were pretty fired up about the environment and finding clean energy. They also understood what the President meant when he was talking about sanctions on Iran.  Of course, I had to explain what that meant, but still... impressive!

Finally, it was time to vote.  I used ballots from First Grade Fever for the kids to cast their vote.  Then they polled 10 friends to see who they voted for, using another sheet from this voting kit.

You should go check out Christine's store... super cute stuff!

I also used the kit to make a classroom graph of the results from our poll.  And the winner is... Obama!

To wrap up our election day fun, the kids colored a poster of the candidate they voted for to go home and share with their families, since their opinion counts!

These were from PBS and I thought they were super cute!  The kids were trying soooo hard today to figure out who I was going to vote for (at least I know I presented the information impartially), so I am going to color my choice and show them tomorrow.  We talked about how sometimes people don't share who they vote for, but they wouldn't quit asking and I don't have a problem with sharing.  It's a good way to set an example of having a reason why you are voting for a certain person.  I told them I wouldn't share today because I didn't want to influence anyone's votes.  They needed to make up their own minds!

On a fun side note, I voted during the day and rewarded myself with some Wendy's chicken nuggets.  When the kids got back, I rewarded the child who picked up my "mystery object" during clean up time with a nugget.  I have never seen kids clean so fast!!!!

I definitely want to create my own materials for the next election- I loved what I found, but had so many ideas throughout the day of what I wish I had done!  I really wish I had started earlier, too!  Tomorrow we will fill in the last column of the KWL chart and read up about the election results.  I think this one is going to be a nailbiter...