How to Use ChatterPix During Writer's Workshop

Do you have iPads in your classroom?  Do you do writer's workshop?  Then this post is for you!  I'm going to show you how I use ChatterPix, a free iPad app, in my writer's workshop. 



ChatterPix is an awesome, FREE iPad app.  It's by the app makers Duck, Duck Moose, who make some other incredible apps.  Essentially, in ChatterPix, you take a picture, add a mouth and then record so you can make pretty much anything talk.  It's funny and the kids LOVE it!  

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Tournament of Books: March Madness for the Classroom

Hello, friends!

It's Christmas break for me and I'm taking a few minutes to plan ahead for the new year!  Last year our first graders hosted a Tournament of Books and it was a huge success so we're getting ready to host one again this year!

The first thing I did was put up this huge bracket in the main hallway of our school.  It generated a ton of buzz around the school, especially before we shared any details about what we were actually planning!  The Brown Bag Teacher has bracket printables free on Teachers Pay Teachers.  They are perfect for getting your bracket ready.  To build the bracket, I started from the middle and worked out on each side, using black duct tape for the lines.  It wasn't a quick project, but it turned out perfectly!

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Read Alouds to Support Social Thinking

Hi Friends! It's Nicole here from Why Pencils Have Erasers and I'm pumped to be blogging at The Punchbowl today.

In the primary classroom, read aloud is such an important part of our day. It is a time for exploring possibilities, building connections between every area of our content instruction, reviewing, previewing, and so much more. Read alouds encourage even our youngest students to question, discuss, build on prior knowledge, and expand their thinking. One of my favorite ways to use our daily read aloud time is to explore social thinking themes with my kiddos. Read below to find my top three can't-live-without-em picks for creating a thoughtful classroom community!

Now picture this: due to our restrictive scheduling, the only time I could build read aloud into our schedule this year was during snack. The me of September felt that surely, this could never work. How could I expect my kiddos to munch their goldfish, peel their clementines, and heck, even remember to eat all while thoughtfully considering the pages in front of them? Would this valuable time be squashed into nothing more than a 15 minute filler? Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. Not only are my kids more focused and attentive than ever, they actually eat more without the distractions of talking with their table mates (cue: less nervous emails from parents worrying that Jack/Samantha/Liam/Elizabeth/Jonathan/Ellie's snack box didn't come home quite empty enough).

Now, their mouths might be full of seaweed when they ask me questions about certain characters, and occasionally someone spills their chocolate milk because, well, books are just so interesting, but our snack time conversations have become one of my favorite parts of the day. My first grade kiddos have proven that they really are quite skilled at multi-tasking, and I often watch in awe as they quickly take concepts from the books we read and apply them to classroom activities and interactions. So, proud teacher aside, here are my top three picks for building social thinking skills:


1. The Blanket Statement

I use Jo Ann Stover's book, If Everybody Did, each year to form our classroom rules. Not only is it hilarious, but it also gives my first graders a clear visual about why it actually is important to follow the rules. The best part? It provides an excellent point of reference for the ENTIRE YEAR in situations like:

"Isaac are you putting those legos in your mouth? Imagine if everybody did."
"Olivia, imagine if everybody used the markers like they were trying to stab them all the way through the table."
"Is that your snack trash on the floor, Naomi? Imagine if everybody did that!"

The possibilities are endless.

2. No More Interruptions
Julia Cook is essentially the Cesar Milan of social thinking. If you haven't yet purchased any of her books for your classroom, then I must insist you stop reading immediately and put that Amazon Prime account to good use. Though many of her titles play a key role in my social thinking instruction, I truly couldn't live without My Mouth Is A Volcano. 

Wouldn't it be amazing to have a way to thoughtfully, non-verbally, and without distraction remind students to raise their hands? This book provides the language for just that. I read this book during the first six weeks of school every year, then create the key principles into an anchor chart like this:

This hangs directly next to my easel in our class meeting area and for all those moments when someone calls out ("MRS. Z!" "THE ANSWER IS 12!" "I WENT ICE SKATING THIS WEEKEND!") I simply (and silently) point to the chart as a reminder. I don't have to stop instruction or publicly remind students to raise their hands. Students are assured that I always still want to hear what they have to say, and our lessons can continue on. Game. Set. Match.

3. Grow Your Brain

If my classroom had a slogan, it would be 'grow your brain'. Why do we work hard during math partners? To grow our brains. Why build our Read to Self stamina? To grow our brains. Why practice building, rebuilding, and otherwise reciting all those trickster words? (I'm looking at you, was.) You guessed it, brain growing.

JoAnn Deak's book, Your Fantastic Elastic Brain provides students with a scientific, but easy-to-follow explanation about why making mistakes, bring brave, working hard, and trying new things all help to stretch, strengthen, and grow your brain to help you be your best self. I find myself using this book as a tool to encourage students in almost every part of our school day as a way to provide positive reinforcement, motivation, or encouragement. In fact, many of my students report going home with a 'tight head' from all their brain growing. I always count that as a win.

What are your favorite read alouds to build social thinking skills? I can't wait to hear about them! My Amazon Prime account thanks you in advance…

Thanks for stopping by!

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Must Have Pumpkin Books

Hello, friends! I am Erin, from Very Perry Classroom, and I am SO excited to share with you today! I don't know about you, but I am ALL about pumpkins these days: the coveted Pumpkin Spice Latte, candles, home decor, and more! Today, I am giving you our list of AMAZING books, both informational and fiction, that I love to read about pumpkins! It is great for us to use it to front-load information prior to our trip to the pumpkin patch.....

 To start off, let's talk about the one that I only just discovered recently, Pumpkin Circle, by George Levenson. This one has GORGEOUS pictures, taken by Samuel Thaler, and even BETTER vocabulary!! I loved using this one as a Close read because it is informational, but really challenges students' depth of knowledge with the language and vivid pictures. At the end of the book, there is even a "How-To" about growing pumpkins.

We like to make an anchor chart when learning something new, and this book is no exception to the rule! Here is the anchor chart we made for this one this year: 

(we added decomposing to our chart after I took this picture, and students were excited to use a "math word" for ELA)

 And another one...

 Of COURSE, I LOVE Gail Gibbons' book, The Pumpkin Book, too!!

I JUST ordered this one from Scholastic in a Fall Science pack. My students were enamored with it. 

Just a few more on our shelf... A few of them may even be used in Andrea's post tomorrow about Pumpkin Science!!

In my district, we assess Narrative writing first, so we read TONS of Narrative stories to compare to our informational text, and to discuss elements of narrative writing. 

One of my FAVORITES has to be Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman!! My students get SO into it, and so do I! It's a great rhyming, repetitive, rhythmic story that kids love to act out and sing. I make every character have a different voice, and the kids use them in cheers as well! 

We also like to do a sequencing activity as a group. 

Students get to take turns using stick puppets of the characters, or acting out the characters for each scene. It ends up being HILARIOUS (at least, I like to think so)!!

Here is a page we worked on as a whole group:

This week, we are reading The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything, by Linda Williams. I know this one is not directly about pumpkins, but it includes a pumpkin head, and I can't help but share it, in case you haven't heard of it! This one is HILARIOUS, builds as you read, and gets the kids involved, using sound effects. My students fall over laughing at this one, and it subtly teaches them to solve problems, instead of being fearful. 

We also write about our favorite part, and talk about what we are NOT afraid of. 

(This one is mine. I have not finished this activity with my kiddos yet)

I will be posting more about this book on my blog in a few days, so be sure to check that post out!

Finally, I love to go to our age-old favorite: Five Little Pumpkins. I practice this one in many ways: A PowerPoint, to do a shared reading. 

Monkey Mitt puppets, Acting it out with stick puppets, Emergent Readers, and a "Highlight the sight word" page. 

Have you seen the newest addition to the Five Little Pumpkins collection? I know I snatched one up from Scholastic as soon as I saw it!!

Here are a few more of my suggestions:

(The Stubborn Pumpkin is another one that is very similar to Big Pumpkin) 

Please feel free to share titles of pumpkin books you love!! I am always looking to add to my ever-growing collection!

Stay tuned tomorrow for some FUN pumpkin science activities from Andrea of Always Kindergarten!! 

Cheers! Erin

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