Chris Van Allsburg

Of course, everyone has heard of "The Polar Express," but have you really explored any of Van Allsburg's other books?  This man is amazing!  I love the story of how his career started and his process of sketching and writing for his books.  You can read more about that here.  Be sure to read about Fritz, the dog too.  It's a heartwarming story and you'll find yourself on a search to find him in all of Van Allsburg's books.

Here's a quick glance at all of his books.  He has recently published a new book and is currently on a book tour.  You can find the tour schedule here.

I recently started a mini-study with my 2nd graders on Van Allsburg's works.  Naturally, I timed it so we could watch "The Polar Express" just before the Christmas break! 

But we started with "The Widow's Broom" and they loved it.  After doing some research into how and why he creates his sketches, they appreciated the black and white pictures in the book a lot more.  For those of you that don't know, the broom comes to life and has a personality.  After a lot of discussion and brainstorming my students were asked to pick a mundane object and bring it to life through a writing assignment.  You can find it here, if you are interested in using it with your little smarties.

I've also included a writing sheet for them to create their stories.  I hope this helps and I'll be back with more freebies as we explore more of his WONDERFUL books.  So check back from time to time and be sure to comment with things you have used in your classrooms.  Chris Van Allsburg is an amazingly talented man.

Idioms in Action

I mentioned in this post that I was planning a big lesson on idioms for my firsties.  This week we dove in head first.  I started out with a quick PowerPoint with my objectives, I can statements, definitions, and some examples of idioms. 

Here's a peek at my objectives.  I call my students CLUEsters.  Our gifted program is called CLUE (Creative Learning in a Unique Environment.) So CLUE students are CLUEsters, get it?!?

Then continued by reading aloud, "My Teacher Likes To Say." (pictured below)

This book is packed full of easy idioms that we discussed and talked about the origin of some of them. There are literal illustrations of each idiom in the book which resulted in a lot giggles.  This was a great time to discuss the terms "literal" meaning of idioms and "actual" meanings of idioms.  Which was a segway to one of the assignments they would be completing.  

I had several different idiom sheets (like the one pictured above) for them to choose from, student choices equals them being invested in the assignment.  This one is, "He's in hot water."  On the left side they drew the literal meaning and on the right the actual meaning.  I defined the idiom at the top right:  "He got into trouble."  This activity was reinforcement for my lower group. Each child completed a different idiom.  This created exposure to a variety of idioms when they shared at the end of class.  

I also used some matching cards from this packet and we did a little scavenger hunt around the room.

Probably my favorite part of this lesson was the original idioms they wrote.  I copied several, and again, they could choose the one they wanted.

 Never bite the hand of the restaurant waiter.

Get off on the wrong road.

(Maybe this is a good time to discuss homophones!!)

You can grab this fun activity here.  Be prepared to crack up!

What's your secret for teaching idioms?  Young children think so literally, it's a tough skill to teach.

Hopes and Dreams~Responsive Classroom

I love beginning each school year by developing our Hopes and Dreams.  For the little ones, this is something they may have never considered.  I try to explain that a "hope" is something you hope to do, learn, or accomplish this school year.  A "dream" is something you may aspire to do in the future.  With 1st and 2nd graders this always means, what they want to be when they grow up and I'm fine with that.   I like to introduce this discussion about personal choices and how they influence end results, with a read-aloud.  Here are some of my favorites:

What read-alouds have you used to introduce Hopes and Dreams?

I have used the royal theme for several years.  

I never remember to keep the crown outline, so I have to search on-line for a crown to photocopy on yellow card stock.  The kiddos cut them out and we place a picture of them in the center.  They write up their hopes and dreams statements and I type them, select a fun font, and print them.  I tear the edges of the paper to make it look like a scroll and staple it up!  It's that easy!

Here's a fun one from a fellow teacher, a few years back.

Here's two of my all time favorites from Pinterest.

Even if you're not a Responsive Classroom trained educator, it's worth checking out.  There are so many great ideas that you could easily incorporate into your classroom routines.

This book is a GREAT place to start.