A

Alliteration
  In my first grade class, I taught my students about alliteration.  In order to do this, I showed my students an example of what an alliteration is, which is seen in the picture below.  Students then created their own alliterations with their name, following the example I provided them with.

This lesson idea was shared and adapted from a lesson created by my block leader in my credential program, Barbara Finnell.  

B

Blogging
  Throughout my time student teaching, I have enjoyed blogging, reflecting, and writing down my ideas through blogging (this blog being a prime example of my new found blogging hobby).  I enjoy writing and feel that I am able to really able to reflect and process my learnings and findings when I am able to blog about them.  I hope to share my ideas with other teachers, as other teachers have been kind enough to share ideas and information with me!

C

Camouflage

During my science methods class, I was given the opportunity to teach a lesson on camouflage to my peers.  In order to do this, I created a newspaper poster with multiple moths posted on the paper.  Many of the moths were brightly colored, while a few were cut out of newspaper, thus camouflaging into the newspaper background. My peers were asked to estimate how many moths were on the newspaper and guess how many different types, or colors, they saw; none of my peers were able to see the camouflaged moth.  This example helped me explain camouflage and how many animals use camouflage to blend in with their environment, protecting them predators.  Below is a picture of my peers working on their camouflage science lesson.

D

Drawing Conclusions (Comprehension Skills)

Every week, I teach my students different comprehension skills and strategies to help them become better readers.  One week, my comprehension focus skill was "Drawing Conclusions."  I had my students draw conclusions about a boy in the story they read.  They were required to give me strong evidence so that a conclusion could be drawn.  Attached is a visual I used for students to post their evidence and answers to a question I gave them.

E

English
  One of my fondest teaching experiences was teaching English abroad in Tanzania, Africa.  This is an opportunity I will never forget! The students I worked with were extremely inspiring and I was happy to share my passion for learning and for teaching with them.  

F

Future Teacher's Conference

One of my favorite moments during my time in the Multiple Subject Teaching Credential Program at Cal State Fullerton was the Future Teacher's Conference.  Here, I was able to hear from Rick Morris and learn about different classroom management strategies to implement in my future classroom.  I was even selected to have lunch with Rick Morris.  This was an amazing time to talk with Rick and further learn from him and his experiences as a classroom teacher.  Here is a picture of me and my classmates with Rick Morris.

G

Grid Drawing
  In my arts method class, we learned about grid drawing.  As a whole class, we were able to complete a mural of art through individual grid drawings.  This is something I want to try for an open house project when I have my own classroom.

H

Habits of Mind
  With the new standards shifts to common core, my credential program had us analyze and focus on the habits of mind related to common core.  These habits of mind tell teachers what students should be able to achieve when the standards shift to common core.

I

Integrated Lessons
  I recently taught a science and language arts integrated lesson to my peers.  While the purpose of the lesson was to teach expository writing, I was also able to teach about different cloud shapes and cloud types (CA science content for 1st and 2nd grade).  First, I read a picture book on different types of clouds and then had my students brainstorm words and phrases describing four different cloud types.  Then, students created a cloud of their choice using cotton balls and wrote about the cloud of their choice.  Below is a picture of the brainstorm as well as a student sample of the assignment.

J

Jingle
  I find that making up "jingles" or songs related to the content is extremely beneficial and useful for student learning.  I sang a jingle for students and incorporated realia to teach a lesson on shapes to my first grade students.

It goes like this:

Sphere, Sphere, what's your clue?
I look like a soccer ball I kick with my shoe

Cube, cube, what's your clue?
I look a die that you just threw

Rectangular prism what's your clue?
I look like a tissue box...ahhhchoooo

Cone, Cone, what's your clue?
Don't let the ice cream I hold drip on you

Pyramid, pyramid, what's your clue?
I look like the house the Egyptians walked through

Cylinder, cylinder, what's your clue?
I look like a can of chicken noodle soup.

(As I sang the lyrics, I held up the object I was singing about.  Students would repeat after I taught them about one shape/ sang about the shape.)

K

Kinesthetic Learners
  In order to engage my kinesthetic learners, I like to create lessons where my students are able to move and participate in hands-on activities.  Just recently, I created a language arts and PE integrated lesson that helped students learn about verbs.  Students had to identify a verb in a sentence I provided them with, and then "do" that verb to the next station.  My students loved this activity and it ultimately helped them learn about verbs.

L

La Habra Children's Museum

  I visited the La Habra's Children's Museum for a Science Methods Credential class.  I remember visiting this museum as a young girl and enjoying every minute I spent there.  It was interesting to go to this museum as an adult and look at it from the teacher's perspective.  I was amazed to see how many exhibits related to various content areas, addressed standards, and ultimately allowed children to explore  through hands-on activities.  I think students would take a lot away from this museum and would enjoy learning at the wide variety of exhibits in the museum.

This is a picture of the "dress up" area, complete with stage, sound room, and costumes galore!

M

Math

During my mathematics methods course, I was given the opportunity to teach an after school math lesson to students at a local school. I love teaching math and instilling the importance and value of math to each student I teach.  Below is a picture of me working one on one with a student to solve equivalent fractions.

N

Newspaper

  In my first grade class, for a comprehension activity, I had students create a newspaper about a story they read from their literature anthology.  They had to create a title for their newspaper, write about their favorite part of the story, and write about the conflict in the story. The students loved this activity, as they were able to be creative while also showing their story comprehension.  

O

Owl Pellets

In my science methods course, we had the opportunity to dissect owl pellets to determine what things owls eat.  This is an activity I hope to do with my classroom to help teach them about the food chain and animal habits. Below is a picture of a dissected owl pellet.

P

Putty
 By creating silly putty, students watch liquids turn into solids.  I created my own silly putty and loved this activity.  I'm certain students would too! The procedure for making silly putty is:
1. Mix 15 ml of Elmer white glue with 3 ml water and 2 drops of food coloring. Mix until color is uniform.
2.  While stirring glue solution, add 15 ml of prepared base solution.
3.  Stir rapidly until nearly homogeneous mass is obtained, remove from container and knead by hand to obtain final consistency.

Take a look at my silly putty creation!

Q

Q-R Codes

 Being in a technology-rich school has allowed me to test out and integrate technology into my lessons and curriculum.  Recently, I discovered how to create Q-R codes and decided to teach a first grade science lesson on seasons, where students would use the classroom set of i-pods to scan the Q-R code to find out about a specific  season.  Students loved being able to scan the codes and use the information they scanned to write about the four different seasons.

R

Rainforest

Currently, I am student teaching in a first grade classroom.  We just finished an awesome science unit on the rainforest.  After learning about the rainforest, the students researched a rainforest animal, wrote a report on the animal, and then created the animal out of materials of their choice.  We just finished building the rainforest in our classroom.  The students were so excited to see the complete rainforest, with their rainforest animals hanging in the classroom.  I loved talking to the students about their rainforest animal and hearing them share amazing facts about their animal.

Check out our rainforest!

S

Sidewalk Chalk

During my mathematics methods course, I learned how to create a mathematics and art integrated lesson by using sidewalk chalk.  This lesson requires students to draw geometric solid and plane figures in a repeating pattern, dividing them into 9 equal parts, while also teaching students about artists who create sidewalk chalk masterpieces.  We got to experience this artwork firsthand and created our own sidewalk chalk masterpieces.

T

Technology

During this past year, I have learned how to use and implement a variety of technology into the classroom.  I have been able to use the Promeathean Board, Promeathean Clickers, iPods, iPads, and a variety of apps that allow for cooperative group projects.  In my science methods class, we were given the opportunity to use pro-scopes to analyze animal remains.  We were able to link up our laptops to the pro-scopes to get a full screen view of the animal remains.  I hope to be able to use pro-scopes in my future classroom.

U

Unit
 While I have experience with individual lesson planning, the time finally came for me to design my own unit. At first, I approached this process with much apprehension, however, after researching and looking into an abundance of resources, I became fixated and slightly excited about my unit planning.  I created my first unit on weather and seasons for my first graders.  Included in my science unit is an integration of language arts, math, and technology.  Here is my unit overview!

Graphic Overview of  Science Unit

Teacher: Alexandra Bishop                                                    

UNIT: Seasons and Weather                                                    Strand: Earth Science

Grade: 1st

Grade level concepts as per the Standards: Weather can be observed, measure and described. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Day #	Standard	Lesson	Integration (in any order)	Resource
1	Introduction to Unit—Overview of all sub standards. Writing Applications 2.2: Write brief expository descriptions of a real object, person, place, or event, using sensory details.	Hook: I will call four different students up to the front, each wearing similar clothing.  I will tell the students to look at the clothing these students are wearing and discuss how their clothing choices are similar.  I will ask students how they decide what clothes to wear on any given day.  Then I will ask how they know if they should wear a sweater, a T-shirt, rain boots etc.? This will lead into a discussion on weather, allowing me to introduce the new unit.  I will define weather and show pictures of different types of weather using the online picture gallery. Students will then draw a picture and describe one picture from the gallery.	“Tech Link”: I would use the online photo gallery of different types of weather to show students that there are various types of weather conditions.  Because many students at this age are egocentric, they may not know that other types of weather exist outside of sunny southern California.  This online gallery will enable students to see different types of weather they might not otherwise see.  “Lit Link”: Students will write about one picture they saw from the online gallery using details.   This reinforces their learning while also builds on their writing skills.	http://scijinks.nasa.gov/weather-gallery
2	3a: Students know how to use simple tools to measure weather conditions and record changes from day to day and across the seasons.	Introduce simple weather tools such as a wind vane and thermometer to students.  Explain what these tools do and how they are related to weather.  Set up various stations for students to practice measuring temperature.  In addition, students will be introduced to the classroom thermometer and will be asked to record the temperature they see outside the classroom upon arriving to school each day in their science journal.	“Home Link”: Students will be given a thermometer and will be asked to measure the temperature of a hot liquid, a room temperature liquid, and a cold liquid.  Students will log the different temperatures they find on a separate sheet of paper and return to class at the end of the week.
3	3c: Students know that the sun warms the land, air, and water.	Take students outside to feel the blacktop or asphalt during the morning and in the afternoon.  Students will record how the blacktop feels at both times in their science journals.  After this experience, a discussion will be led on how the sun heats the land, air, and water, influencing temperature. Then, students will create a word map, helping them remember the process of how the sun warms the earth.		Lesson Idea from: California Science by Scott Foresman
4	3b: Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season. Reading Comprehension 2.6 Relate prior knowledge to textual information.	Because students have been learning about different types of weather, I will introduce how specific types of weather are commonly seen in specific seasons. I will first read “Seasons” by Lucy Floyd and will give a general overview of each season. I will ask students to think-pair-share with a partner about things they do or things they see during the seasons I show in the book. I will define season and then will focus on the season of spring.  Students will then get into groups of four and will create a spring collage.  Students will write words, draw pictures, and cut pictures out of magazines that represent the season and weather found in spring.	“Lit Link”: Read aloud the book “Seasons” by Lucy Floyd.  This book introduces the four seasons and shows students pictures of the different seasons.  This will help introduce the different seasons to students before giving the specifics on each season.	“Seasons” by Lucy Floyd
5	3b: Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.	Today students will learn about the seasons of winter and summer.  I will show students pictures of the summer and winter seasons using the ELMO.  Students will then draw a picture of something they would do outside during the winter versus something they would do outside during the summer.
6	3b: Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.	Students will learn about the season of fall and the characteristics of fall.  We will discuss what the weather is like in fall and will think about things that take place during fall throughout the United States.  For example, leaves change colors, leaves fall off trees, farmers harvest crops etc. Students will then watch The Magic School Bus: Kicks Up a Storm.  Students will be asked questions throughout the movie.	“Tech Link”: Students will watch, The Magic School Bus: Kicks Up a Storm. Because students have learned about all four seasons, this video will reinforce content knowledge and will show students different types of weather that exist in each season.  Students will be asked questions throughout the movie to check for understanding.	Magic School Bus: Kicks Up a Storm
7	3b: Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season. Statistics, Data Analysis, and Probability 1.2: Represent and compare data (e.g., largest, smallest, most often, least often) by using pictures, bar graphs, tally charts, and picture graphs.	Because students have learned about weather and seasons, students will apply their content knowledge on seasons to mathematics.  Students will be given data on a city’s rainfall during each season.  The students will create a bar graph on the amount of rainfall in their given city during each season. Students will then compare their city’s bar graph with another city.  Students will be able to see how certain regions of the world and the United States gets different amounts of rainfall during different seasons.	“Other Link”: Mathematics Students will create a bar graph of rainfall in different seasons.  This will help them with their seasons content knowledge while also helping them work on mathematics content.	Bar graph idea from: California Science by Scott Foresman
Culminating Activity	3b: Students know that the weather changes from day to day but that trends in temperature or of rain (or snow) tend to be predictable during a season.	Students will create an illustrated season’s book. On each page, students will draw a picture of a specific season and will write two sentences about the weather during that season.	Assessment Use rubric/checklist

At least 5 Resources: Title, Author & isbn (3 text resources required) other resources may be complete specific websites or literature connections

1. “Seasons” by Lucy Floyd ISBN: 0153148578, 9780153148576

2. California Science by Scott Foresman ISBN: 0-328-24129-6

3. “The Everything KIDS' Weather Book: From Tornadoes to Snowstorms, Puzzles, Games, and Facts That Make Weather for Kids Fun!” by Joe Snedeker ISBN:1440550360

4. www.theweatherchannelkids.com

5.  http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/index.htm

V

Voices
  Throughout my student teaching experiences, I have learned that students have difficulty managing the sound level of their voice even when you list your expectations of the noise level.  In order to combat inappropriate noise and loud voices, I feel it is important to implement a classroom management device which visualizes what level students should be talking. My master teacher uses this system to maintain the voice and sound level within the classroom.

W

Writing Center

  As a teacher, I want to give my students the opportunity to showcase their writing and the work they have completed in class.  It is important for my students to take pride in their work and showcase who they are as writers. This writing center is in my student teaching classroom; students love displaying their work and enjoy talking about the different pieces they wrote.  The writing center is a compilation of all the student's work throughout the year, and on the last day of school, the students take their big "book" of writing home.

X

eXcellent Eggs
  During my student teaching experience, I collaborated with a sixth grade teacher to hatch chicken eggs with my first graders.  This was an amazing experience; we candled eggs, were able to discover what the chick looked like at each stage, and were even able to see the chicks when they hatched. Attached is a link to my egg candling lesson plan with the sixth grade teacher:

https://w.taskstream.com/Lesson/View/8C70D2E792F97D4285253C3DC9427734

Y

Yes!
  I believe there is so much power in positivity, whether it be when interacting with my students, staff, or colleagues.  I continually read up on positive psychology and how it can affect a person.  One summer, when working at an educational and life skills camp, I learned that using positivity before exams and providing your students with a catch phrase to say before taking tests will help boost confidence and performance on the test.  With my first grade students, I always said, "It's time for a test!" All the students would then reply in a whisper, "YES!"  It was so nice to hear them say "Yes" when typically you hear grumbling and complaining! I love the power of Yes!

Z

Zoo in the Room
  During my first grade student teaching placement, we created a zoo of animals and plant life in the classroom.  Because student's life science focused on animal and plant life cycles and habitats, my master teacher and I made sure to have hands-on activities and realia that would connect the content to the student's lives.  We hatched chickens, watched a caterpillar grow into a butterfly (then released the butterflies), and lastly, grew a variety of plants.  The students loved having a zoo in the classroom and journaled about each of the animals and plants growth on a weekly basis.

Here is a picture of us releasing our monarch butterflies that we watched grow!