Making a Complete Sentence

We spent most of the first quarter learning about writing sentences.  One of the key things the children have to understand is what makes a complete sentence.  I've found one of the most effective ways to get this concept across to the children is to tell them a sentence is made up of two parts, a who part, and a what part.  For the sake of not confusing first graders, I don't distinguish between people and animals and other inanimate objects as the who in a sentence.

We spend several weeks looking at various sentences and identifying the who and what part of each sentence to makes sure they are complete sentences.  When we do group writing, I often will put just one part or the other of the sentence and have them tell me whether or not it's a complete sentence and why it is or is not a complete sentence.

I also provide lots of opportunities for the children to write in complete sentences by providing a daily writing prompt in our morning work time and having the children respond in sentences.  When I check their writing, if I see a child only has a phrase, I'll ask them to apply the test.  For instance, if the prompt was what is your favorite pet, and they write "my dog," I'll ask them who.  They will respond "my dog."  Then I will say "what," and they realize that there is no what part of the sentence. So after they tell me "what," they go back and rewrite their sentence to make it a complete sentence.

After practicing this for around three to four weeks, I'm ready to let the children work on making compete sentences independently.  I use the free resource that I created for my store, Fall Subject Predicate Sentence Puzzles, as an independent center.
                         

 I use the sentence recording sheet as a formative assessment to judge whether or not they understand that sentences have two parts, the who and the what part.  If they can correctly color the who and what part of the sentences, they understand the concept.  If they have trouble distinguishing between the who and what part of the sentences, they need more instruction on the concept.

If you would like to try out this resource in your classroom, click on any of the pictures above to visit my store and download it for free!

I've joined up with many other sellers to bring you some wonderful freebies to help you with your fall planning.  Check out the link up below to see all the great resources available!

Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for TpT giftcard giveaways as well!

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Why Do Leaves Change Colors?

Now that fall has arrived (finally!), and the leaves are changing colors on the trees, it's time for my annual science lesson on leaves changing colors.

Through the years, I've found two good mentor texts to use that address this concept.  Both are from Scholastic Books, and both do a great job taking a complex subject and bringing it down to an elementary level of understanding.

Both books simply introduce the children to the life cycle of a leaf, from a bud in winter, to a new leaf in spring, to a mature leaf in summer, and then a fall leaf, changing color and falling off the tree.

They also introduce the children to the job of a leaf, which is to take air, water, and sunlight, mix it with chlorophyll, and make tree food!  There is not a long, complex explanation of all the chemistry involved -- we can save that for later on in their educational career -- but just an elementary level explanation of the job of a leaf.

The books talk about how the chlorophyll the leaf uses to make tree food is green, and it covers up the natural color of the leaf.  I use my shirt and pants as an example.  I show them where my shirt has covered up my pants, so they only see the color of my shirt.  But when I lift my shirt, when my shirt goes away, they can see the actual color of my pants.

It's the same with the chlorophyll in the plants.  When fall comes, and there is less sunlight in a day, the leaves know it is time to stop making plant food.  The chlorophyll is not needed anymore, and gradually the green color goes away, letting the golds and yellows and reds and oranges of the leaves show.

Then we do a science experiment using rubbing alcohol, coffee filters, and crushed up leaves.  The children each bring a leaf in to school.  The children draw a picture of their leaf on their experiment recording sheet.

Then I put a bit of rubbing alcohol in each jar. I stop there, and the children record this step in the "first" box.

We sort the leaves out by their colors and tear and crush the leaves up and put them in a glass jar.   I make sure the rubbing alcohol covers the leaves, cut the filter into strips, then place the strips in the glass jars.  The children then record this step on their sheets.

At first glance, it will appear as if your experiment failed because, while the rubbing alcohol will get sucked up by the coffee filter, no colors will appear.  But if you leave it sit for a few hours (we leave ours sit overnight), as the rubbing alcohol dried, the colors that were separated out of the leaves will appear.  

The children record this on their sheets as well.

Then, using my resource, 

they put all the information into their science notebooks.

The children are always excited when we do this lesson, and they love sharing this information with their families, impressing them with their knowledge of chlorophyll and how leaves change colors in the fall.

Exciting news!  We are bringing back Freaky Friday for October, with a special sneak preview on Friday, September 30.  Click on the picture below or check out the link-up to see over 40 $1 deals.  Be sure to check back each Friday in October to see what deals we have for you!

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I'm Lovin' It!

Hey everyone!  Isn't this fall weather fabulous?  It is so refreshing that I've been inspired to create, create, create with the windows open and the breezes blowing on me.  LOVE IT!

So I've got quite a class this year:  majority boys, high energy, wiggly boys.  I love them, but they are hard to keep focused for more than 10  minutes at a time.  So I've started using Class Dojo with them., and it has made a world of difference.

Class Dojo is an online behavior management tool.  You set it up and customize it to your class.

Sorry for the side view.  I haven't figured out how to rotate an image in blogger yet.  But you get the idea.

You can customize the positive and negative awards to your classroom rules.  When a child is following classroom rules, you give him/her a point.

  If a child is not following the classroom rules, you give him/her a negative point.  

You can set up your own reward system.  I have a pocket chart where the children earn golden tickets.  So I tied Class Dojo into that.  At the end of the day, for every five points a child earns, he/she gets one golden ticket.  They have to earn at least one golden ticket in a week (yeah, it's that bad) to take part in Friday Fun Day the last period of the day.  To give you an idea of my class dynamics, Last week was the first full week using this system.  Last Friday, 14 of my 24 students did not take part in the reward.  This week, I only had two students not take part in Friday Fun Day.  That's a really drastic improvement!  Of course, this week, they will have to earn at least 2 tickets to take part in Friday Fun Day, and my final goal will be 4 tickets.

As an extra incentive, I've added clip chart reward coupons, and each child who earns a ticket in a day gets a coupon to use the next day.  So there is a short term and a long term goal for the children to focus on.  You can find these clip chart coupons on TPT, and many of them are free.

Some other really nice features are the ability to award multiple students points and the ability to choose a random student to earn a point.  I use this a lot when I want to settle the class.  I will say, I'm going to choose a random student, and if that student is settled and ready to begin, he/she will get a positive point.  It takes a few seconds to pick a student, and in that time, most have settled down and are ready to begin.

There is also a timer.

I love using this timer to get their desks cleaned out and organized.  I set it to countdown for five minutes, and the race is on!  There is a scurry of papers to the garbage, books on desks, and at the end, everyone who is done gets a positive point.  The rules are no papers shoved in desks, books and folders neatly stacked in desk, and crayons, pencils, markers, erasers, et cetera in their pencil cases and cases zipped shut.  One of my goals this year is to help the students learn to keep their supplies organized so they can find them when they need it.

Parental involvement is a big part of Class Dojo.  

There is an individual behavior profile for each student, and you can invite the parents to go online and check out their children's behavior for the week.  I haven't delved into that aspect yet.  It is on my to do list this week.  I wanted to get the system up and running and be sure it was something I wanted to continue to use before I brought the parents in.

And finally, there is a mobile app that I downloaded on my android phone so that I can add points at anytime and anyplace during the day.  I take the cell phone everywhere with me, and the kids know that I can access Class Dojo from anyplace anytime.  That includes church, halls, computer lab, lunchroom, and even on our evacuation drill we had yesterday when we walked from our school to the local high school!  I did clear it with my principal first so she knew why I was carrying my phone everywhere.  Luckily, she knew of my class, and she approved of "whatever it takes."

So there you have it!  Class Dojo is great online tool for managing student behavior.  I'm sure many of you have already heard of it, but it's definitely worth checking out if you haven't already.  

Here's an old blog post to revisit to grab a fall freebie:

I hope you are enjoying your fall as much as I am, and you have settled into your school year nicely!

Finally Fall!

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day here in SW Pennsylvania, one of those sunshiny, cool, crisp, leaves blazing in full color-changing glory, fall day.  We spent the day at a local festival, Ligonier Days, and then in the early evening watched my daughter cheer at a football game.  It was the quintessential fall day!

It inspired me to come home and finally finish up the mini-unit I've been working on, activities to go along with the story "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves."  I think it came out really cute.  It's up for sale on  TPT for $2.00 now, but as a special thank you for my blog followers, I am giving you one of the worksheets that go along with the unit as a freebie!

If you like this freebie, be sure to check out the whole There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves unit.

  Happy Fall, everyone!