How Do You Feel?

In our 1st grade writing workshop, we have been begun discussing what good writers write about.

Good Writers Can Write About:

*Things that happen to them

*Things they've done

*Places they've been

*How they feel

How they feel?!?  Oh, no!  This is where EVERYONE is going to write, 'I felt happy when...' or 'I felt sad when...'"  Ugh!  Those boring words...good, happy, sad, bad...  

But then I began thinking, why not combine two great lessons together; writing about feelings AND making better word choice?  PLUS, I have a lot of ESL students in this class with low vocabulary.  How can I make it easier for them to understand words like "disappointed" and "nervous"?  That's when I came up with this chart:

I had all the photos hidden away in a bag as I came to the carpet to teach my whole group lesson.  As I pulled out each picture, the kids helped me read the word.  As one student attached the picture to the chart, the others acted out the feeling.  They did a great job showing me what each "strong feeling" meant.  I could see it all over their faces!  :)

Once the chart was created (over the course of 2 days), I modeled writing and drawing about how I was feeling this morning after being woken up by my dog barking several times throughout the night.  I was SO tired when I woke up this morning!  I just HAD to write about it!

I asked the kids to put their thumb up by their heart once they had an idea of what they were going to write about today.  Then I sent them off to get started.  Those who still needed time to think of an idea, remained on the carpet with me.  I quickly talked to them about how they were feeling when they woke up this morning or how they felt when their mom dropped them off at school today, and off they went to write, as well.

This anchor chart now hangs in their first grade classroom to help them remember not only that they can write about their feelings, but also to remember those "strong" feeling words (and how to spell them).  It especially serves as a great scaffold for my ESL kiddos.

A New Adventure!

I haven't posted anything on my blog for over a year.  Geez!  Well, it's about time because I'm beginning a new chapter in my teaching life.  I've been in the general ed. classroom for the past... hmmm...18 years?!  Wow!  It's been longer than I thought!  When I began in 1995, I never thought I'd EVER want to leave my fun kindergartners.  I loved the developmentally appropriate curriculum that I was teaching.  After 7 years of teaching 5 year olds how to hold their scissors and walk in a line, and then giving them to the first grade teachers reading, writing and walking (almost) perfectly in the hallway, I decided I wanted to continue on with them to 1st Grade.  I wanted to see how much further I could actually take them.  I was ready to move up to 6 & 7 year olds!  Well, the last 11 years have been spent getting those 6 year olds reading and comprehending liking champions.  It's amazing how much progress they make by the end of first grade, especially where reading is concerned!  There were also 3 years in there where I tried out k-2 multiage (that was an interesting experience.  Wish I could go back and do a better job on that...) 

Anyway, after 18 1/2 years in the classroom (I started midyear my first year), I am giving up the control of my own classroom and working as an intervention teacher for English Language Learners (ELLs).  I am SO excited about this new adventure!  I still get to work in classrooms with kids and I get to help other teachers by co-teaching with them in their classrooms. 

So...I'm going to try to document this new challenge on my blog.  I've been searching for another ESOL blog, but there aren't a lot of them out there.  I'm hoping to post pictures and ideas from my experiences this year in my new position.  I'll be growing a lot this year and I am up for the challenge!