Pastries With Parents, Realistic Fiction Writing, and a class update :)

Today is Sunday, and I've had quite a busy weekend - which meant I didn't get to blog on Friday! Some things about my weekend:  Pizza night on Friday, worked out, got to watch my daughter sing a solo at church, my niece's 9th birthday party, trivia night, got good deals with my Cartwheel app at Target.  (PS - I found a star wars shirt on CLEARANCE to wear for our Star Wars spirit day Tuesday!  Score!)

Pastries With Parents was on Friday morning. - Something new that we've never done at Lincoln before.  The event unfolded like this:  In the morning, kids could arrive with their parents and go straight to the classroom (for a 45 minute block).   Each classroom had something different to show or do.  In our room, we were showing off our recent work on our realistic fiction series books.  They just finished the series boxes full of books, and they were so good!  This event was so cute because, as kids were just hanging out with parents, and visiting the book fair,etc.  I got to see them all interact and show off their classroom and the things they do here every day!  It was so awesome to see the kids excited about their work.  They were able to tell their parents how they came up with their characters, gave them adventures and a problem, and then solved it in the end.  They were able to show parents "Hey, that's where I sit for readers workshop!" or " This is my turn and talk partner!" or " This is where I turn in my folder every day".  Those "ownership" type things are what make kids feel a sense of accomplishment and belonging.  They love to show off those things to their families.:)
Friday was so fun!

More about the realistic fiction books! This is my favorite writer's workshop unit because, well, frankly, it's the end of the year, and I FINALLY feel like I have TONS of writers in my room!  They are able to take the lessons and apply them more deeply than before.  Their books have so much more in them than at the beginning of the year.  I go from kids that are barely stringing together letters to kids that are writing 5..6..7 page stories!! This is why I LOVE teaching first grade.  The growth is so immense!  I don't think any grade has as much growth!  It makes for a very busy year, but it's all worth it in the end.  

Here's some of our realistic fiction book series sets!  These took a lot of time (and made a lot of mess all week long on the floor), but they are well worth it!

Rhylee's box set: Shimmer and Shine

Carolina's box set: The Adventures of Lily and Macy

Heidi's box set: Alis and Lilly

Isabella's box set: Lilly

Are we seeing a theme here?! :)

Max's box set: The Adventures of Ethan and Mrs. Corley

Ethan's box set: The Adventures of Kilr

And here's some from our writer's celebration in the afternoon!

 

 


That's all for now!  What's your favorite writing unit?

Some big news happening lately:

• Carolina gets to stay up until 9:00 on Fridays AND sleep with her mom and dad.
• Lillian and Dean won BIG in the ticket drawing on Friday :)
• Isaiah's last day was Friday :(
• Dean had a game this weekend.
• Keigen had a game this weekend.
• Bently won the drawing for a free book at the book fair!
• Lillian bought our class two new books from the book fair and we are so grateful! :)
• The kids are super excited for our spirit days this week (in preparation for MAP testing) and our field trip on Friday!

Hope your week treats you well! :)

PEACE