Johnny Appleseed Day

Celebrating Johnny Appleseed Day was a fabulous adventure for my first grade class. We began the day by peeling some apples so we could make applesauce. A special thanks goes out to Hayden Lee's Mom for helping us get the apples peeled. We then read the story of Johnny Appleseed and the students shared their connections to the story. We have been working on making connections in reading. Ask your child to explain a text to self, text to text, and a text to world connection. Next for our nonfiction text, we read an applesauce recipe. Not only did we read the recipe, but we followed it at the same time. We also discussed the importance of following the directions in the recipe. Everyone agreed that they wanted the applesauce to taste delicious, and that it was important to make sure to add the sugar. After putting all the ingredients into the crock pot, we left the applesauce to cook. Later that morning, we tasted and described five different kinds of apples: Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, McIntosh, Gala, and Braeburn. After tasting and describing the apples, we graphed our favorite. Granny Smith and Golden Delicious tied as the student's favorite apples. Mrs. Brodeur's favorite, the Braeburn apple was considered yucky by most of the students! Oh well, more for me. During writing time, the students wrote about their Johnny Appleseed experience as they ate the YUMMY, SWEET applesauce. We all thoroughly enjoyed our special day. Thanks Johnny Chapman for planting apple trees!

Cows visit the farm!

Two weeks ago, six cows visited our playground at Kimmel Farm Elementary. The students were amazed to see cows on their playground. This visit prompted a PBL that was real to life for the students. The problem I posed to them was as follows: The cows are on the playground. How can we help Mrs. Norwood get the cows back to the farm? After discussing the facts found in the problem and the students' need to knows, each student wrote down their solution to the problem. The next day, each student had the chance to share their solution with the class. After each student shared, the other students had an opportunity to critique the solution. They shared positives, as well as, problems with the students' solutions. As the sharing continued, it became evident to the class that they had more things that they needed to know. For example, what kind of food do the cows eat. As a group, we decided that we needed to talk to the farmer. I contacted Mr. Miller, the owner of the cows, and he is coming to visit our class sometime next week. I will let you know how the visit turns out.  The next question we have is how did the cows actually get back to the farm?  I can't wait to find out.

Jazz Pizzazz

WOW!  What a smart and creative first grade class we have.  Today we had a great break from testing when we had a PBL lesson called Jazz Pizzazz.  We went down to the music room and collaborated with Mr. York and Mr. Walker.  The problem that the students had to solve was as follows:  You are performing with American jazz artists Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Marian Anderson in a local concert. Jazz music is upbeat and often has repeating rhythm. How will you compose and perform your jazz selection. After I presented the problem, the class came up with the facts from the problem and the things that they needed to know.  Then, Mr. York worked with them on their need to know list.  He had them listen to some Duke Ellington music and pick out the beat and pattern in the music.  After discussing the beat and pattern of the music, the students worked together in small groups to compose and practice for their performance.  Last, they had a chance to present as a group their solution to the problem and perform their piece of music.  Listening to their ideas and performances was amazing.  The following are the group solutions:  put music in and play together in a,a,b pattern, make an A,A,B pat, pat, clap pattern, make a pattern with different instruments making a jazz beat, make an A, A, B, B, C pattern, and  pick our own instruments and make a beat  A, A, B, B! What amazing solutions to the problem.  I think we have some future musicians and mathematicians on our hands.  A special thanks goes out to Mr. York for his musical expertise; I couldn't have done it without him.  Also, a special thanks to Mr. Walker for helping me create the flipchart and typing in the students ideas.  Another special thanks to Mr. Carmichael for videoing the lesson.