Kindergarten: Playing in the Pond, a CREATE Station

As we work our way through our CREATE stations, the ART station has definitely become a favorite for students. Our first graders enjoyed learning about the frog life cycle. Our kindergartners colored the dragonfly and watched it fly around and come to life. 

For this coloring ART station, we started off by reading the picture, Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner and discussing the pond ecosystem. Kate Messner's books are excellent books to pair with science lessons. Her other books include: Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and Over and Under the Rainforest. 

After reading the story, we dicuss living vs. nonliving. 

What is living in the pond? 

What do the living plants and animals need? 

What is nonliving in the pond? How can you tell it is nonliving? 

Time permitting, we even take it a step further and have students solidify their knowledge with a word sort where they have to put living and nonliving items under the correct category. 

For those teachers with a subscription to the Pebble Go, feel free to check out this link to their article: Living vs. Nonliving. This is a great article that will read to the students. 

After we read the book and discuss living vs. nonliving, it is time to color the Quivervision sheet. Quivervision is a great app, and very user friendly! Be sure to check out the Quivervision Education Dashboard if you would like to research subscriptions for your classes.  Here is a quick video tutorial on how to get started using augmented reality in your classroom or library: QUIVERVISION TUTORIAL. There is also a slide deck to help you out! 

Once the students color their sheet, they will open the app on their device. The Quiver mobile app requires a backward-facing camera and iOS 11 or later. If using an Android device, it requires minimum Android 7.0 "Nougal" (API Level 24). 

Students use the device to scan the QR code for the coloring page. Once it loads, they can click the butterfly to launch and scan the coloring sheet. Wait until the image turns red and then blue. Give it a few more minutes and voila! It will come to life for students to explore and learn. This is an incredibly immersive learning experience. 

Feel free to access the lesson plan with the standards, signs, and I CAN statements: Quivervision Dragonfly Lesson Plan. I also have this sign below that I use as a visual for my art station; it covers K-2. Feel free to click on it and make a copy. 

April Choice Board and HAPPY SPRING BREAK

The finish line is in sight! I hope everyone has a really great, safe, and happy SPRING BREAK! We are hitting the roller coaster circuit, so expect some pretty funny pictures of me in different states of terror. Maybe one day I will get over my fear of heights. Until then, I guess my family will continue to drag me all over to visit the different roller coasters just to record as many funny pictures as possible! 

When we come back from spring break, we will be celebrating NATIONAL LIBRARY MONTH, which is pretty exciting. This is the infographic I created for my school; it will be a fun month celebrating our library. 

I have also created some CREATE digital stations and a virtual classroom for the month of April. 

Click on the image below to check out and view our April digital CREATE stations. 
If you would like to make a copy, so you can make changes, feel free to use THIS LINK. 
 

If your students like to be surprised with different clicks and activities, here is the April bitmoji classroom. You can click on the image to view it. 

Feel free to make a copy if you would like to make changes for your students.

I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break. When we return, we will be looking forward to book fair and CHICKS in the library! 

First Grade FICTION vs. NONFICTION: Frog Life Cycles in the ART STATION

                                        

Spring time means studying life cycles, and in first grade, we look at the life cycle of the frog as well as different animal habitats.  This is a lesson we have done many times, and we will be completing it this year in April. 

A great way to begin this lesson is by reading, A Frog Thing by Eric Drachman. There is a great video you can access for this book (click on the image below and it will take you to the video).  

This year we will also be reading the nonfiction selection, Frogs which is part of our extremely popular Animal Kingdom series published by Abdo. 

These books rarely stay on the library shelves, and I highly recommend them! You can check out this book and others like it on the ABDO website. 

After reading the book, we discuss the differences between nonfiction and fiction. What makes A Frog Thing a fiction picture book? How do we know? What examples can we provide? 

What makes Frogs a nonfiction picture book? What are some facts we learned? What are some text features we noticed that aren't in a fiction book? 

Finally, what is the main difference between a fiction book and a nonfiction book? Student are always able to make the connection that our nonfiction books provide facts and information.

Next step in the process: students select an Animal Kingdom book of their choice to use in the library and read about their animal. Task ONE...figure out which of these animal habitats their animal lives in: 

Ocean

Desert

Wetlands

Grassland

Woodland

Polar

Rain Forest 

After that, they record ONE fact about their animal and then put this fact in their own words. If you would like a copy of this lesson with the lesson plan standards, I CAN statements, procedures, and worksheets, you can access them here: Animal Habitat FREEBIE.

 

Next up? We access our PebbleGo database. We segue into animal habitats since this correlates with the first grade VA SOL: 

SCI 1.5: The student will investigate and understand that animals, including humans, have basic life needs that allow them to survive. Key ideas include:

• animals need air, food, water, shelter, and space (habitat);
• animals have different physical characteristics that perform specific functions; and
• animals can be classified based on a variety of characteristics.

FINAL STEP....turning our picture into augmented reality and watching the frog evolve from an egg, to a tadpole, froglet, and frog! I have this library station outlined HERE. This freebie includes the library lesson plan (that also be used as a sign at the library table). 

Want more information on the Quivervision dashboard? There is a great presentation that you can access to get you started: Getting Started Kit.

CREATE Stations...A is for ART - A Second Grade Library Station

 

It is no secret....second graders love dinosaurs. We had the best time listening to Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne. We were able to listen to the author read the first chapter aloud on the Brightly Storytime website, and it was a great way to get the story underway. 

Similar to my earlier CREATE station posts, the novel is accompanied with a short research project activity where students have the opportunity to access print encyclopedias or a database. If we are using print encyclopedia, this research activity is best completed in small groups, and it is part of my Explore station.  The small group can each choose a different dinosaur and have their own encyclopedia volume.  

If we are all accessing the database, then we can work in a whole group setting with students on their chromebooks. When we use databases in second grade, we access Pebblego. It is the perfect database for this age group, and they all seem to really like it. 

Feel free to access my EXPLORE STATION HERE. This is a freebie that will allow you to print and/or edit the materials and lessons to suit your needs and make changes, so it works for your resources. 

Now for the next part....the really fun activity....the students get to pick a dinosaur coloring sheet. 

Quivervision is very engaging and gives a WOW factor for the students. Here is a link to my station that has directions, standards, and Quivervision sheets: Quivervision Art Station.

Be sure to check out the Quivervision Education Dashboard if you would like to research subscriptions for your classes.  

I also have this sign below that I use as a visual for my art station; it covers K-2. Feel free to click on it and make a copy.