Our Top 10

Please enjoy our Top 10 List as decided by the students in Room 222.

10. Read Aloud - Lulu and the Brontosaurus, My Father's Dragon, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Our read alouds took a new turn this year by connecting us with classrooms across the country via Kid Blog and Twitter. We also shared my favorite... Edward.

9. Insects - Sampson (the dead and then alive cicada), Butterflies, Insect Jobs - So many bugs, so little time.
Here are the answers to our insect jobs challenge:

Insect jobs - Answers from LBright on Vimeo.

8. iPad - KidBlog, ScreenChomp, Drawing Pad - Our favorite Apps. 

7. Field Day - Beautiful day in the sun with our buddies. 

6. Mo Willems - Elephant and Piggie books - We read them EVERYDAY. We read them to ourselves. We read them with buddies. We read them to the class. We even read them as a reader's theater. We are an Elephant and Piggie classroom. 

5. Fairy Tale Plays

Click here to see our videos. Don't forget our password. 

4. Inquiry Groups - *Teacher Favorite - The amount of knowledge gathering and smart conversations was impressive and amazing. During each inquiry session, I was blown away by the maturity, collaboration and chatter within the groups. I can't wait to try this again next year. 

3. Field Trip to the Shedd Aquarium - Best trip yet!

2. Skyping with Dr. Burkholder - First for us and love the interaction with a famous shark expert. 

1. Genius Hour - A first for me, the kids and McDole! I love that our class was able to become leaders in a new wave of education. This was my favorite part of the year too. 

Wrapping Up...

We only have a few days left but we are still hard at work. 

Here is a quick post about what we have been working on:

Opinion Writing: Which object is the best and why?

Mystery Number: Try and guess Mrs. Bright's Number!

A bit of outdoor play practice. We were working on projecting our voices. 

Traveling to the McDole Prairie. We looked for all kinds of insects. We were able to snap photos of pollinators and soil tillers!

We having been spending quality time with our friends.

The students have been learning more about insects and their jobs using Pebblego. 

Most importantly, we have continued our year long discussion about digital safety and digital citizenship. Miss Owen's Class (5th Grade at Blackberry) made an amazing video for primary students. We used it as our guide to lead our discussion.

Coming soon... our Fairy Tale videos and our 2013-2014 Top 10!

Dear PTO... Thank You!!!

Dear McDole PTO,

This amazing year is coming to a close and Room 222 wanted to make sure we thanked you for all you did for us this year. Thank you for the fun lunches, dances, flings, special teacher lunches and support. 

We also want to say a huge, "THANK YOU" for your generosity towards our classroom. With your donation towards books, Room 222 was able to have a 2013-2014 First Reads Club.  

A First Reads Club is an exclusive club in which the members get to be the first kids to read a new book. The new books are all lined up for all to see and I do a quick book talk about each book. Then each student gets come up one at a time to pick their first read. Once they have read their book, they get to place a permanent label in the book so that all future Room 222 kiddos will know which former students previewed that book for them. We have many books in our current classroom library that were first reads for siblings of several of our current students. 

Here is a glimpse at our 2013-2014 First Reads Club sponsored by the McDole PTO:

Again, thank you for all you do for McDole. 

My Movie from LBright on Vimeo.

Guess our Insect Jobs!!!

Welcome to our new game called...

Here is how it goes...

1. Watch the video

2. Decide which group matches each job

*Population Control

*Decomposers

*Soil Tillers

*Pollinators

*Producers

3. Leave us a comment or tweet us (@mrsbrightmcdole) with your answers. 

4. We will get back to you to let you know how you did. 

Insect Jobs from LBright on Vimeo.

Can't wait to hear from you!

An Exciting, Nature-Filled Day!

Each day in Room 222 is an adventure!

Check out what was crawling around McDole's playground today!

So, what is a 1st grade teacher to do when something this cool in in our school?????

Wonder about it, of course!

We took a museum walk through the office to meet our visitor then immediately returned to the room to begin gathering our thoughts. 

We compared it to other turtles we know. 

We studied it's picture. 

We jotted our thoughts.

Here is a Padlet wall that shares all of our learning: 
http://padlet.com/10068/mcdoleturtle


We also said "Farewell" to our Room 222 butterflies today. GF raised them well and now they are ready for the world. 

GF felt them flutter on her finger...

She found safe places for all of them to live...

She also took charge during our "butterfly emergency"!

Great job GF! Thank you for sharing your Genius Hour project with all of us!

Lastly,

Here is a little project that we have been working on. We reviewed a new product this week (our intro to opinion writing). Check out our thoughts on the Gripcase:

Gripcase from LBright on Vimeo.

A Glimpse at What's to Come

I can't believe we are in the last stretch of 1st Grade!

Are we slowing down?

Goodness no!

We are just getting started!

Here is a glimpse at what's to come...

Published Informational Books: (password in email)

The two gentlemen in this video are showcasing their research books that are a product of their inquiry group progress. These are works in progress but you can see excellence in the making from two of our most passionate writers. 

Published Books from LBright on Vimeo.

First Grade Fairy Tales Plays:

At the end of May, these amazing kiddos will get the opportunity to showcase their knowledge of retelling a story and true understanding of character, plot and main ideas, through the act of performance. 

Much more information will come home in just a few days. Until then, please enjoy the video that kicked it all off on Friday:

My Movie 2 from LBright on Vimeo.

Have a Great Week!

The Shedd Aquarium

It was a long but wonderful day at The Shedd Aquarium.

I am so proud of all of the KME students on their amazing behavior and exceptional learning. It was amazing to walk up to groups of KME students and hear them discussing the characteristics of the creatures they have been studying.

I would like to thank all of the parents who joined us on the trip today and all of the parents who prepped their kids before hand. It was clear that Room 222 was ready to be respectful and responsible citizens.

Here is a quick video clip sharing some of our experience today:

My Movie 3 from LBright on Vimeo.

As a team, we wanted to try something new this year to help keep all of our parents informed and entertained at home. We started our own Twitter hashtag (#kmeshedd) to help chronicle our day. We had many parents follow us on our Twitter accounts today and tweet us back!

I would really like to thank the parents and KME staff who signed up for twitter on the bus ride there. It was amazing to have KME parents join KME staff in our sharing of our journey.

Not on Twitter? Don't worry! There are two ways you can check out all of the tweets and pictures from our journey.

1. Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23kmeshedd&src=typd

My Favorite

2. Tweet Beam - Watch the tweets like a slideshow presentation - http://www.tweetbeam.com/show?query=%23kmeshedd

Thank you again to all of the parents of Room 222 for making today a success!