Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Joys of Lesson Planning


My mornings and evenings are now filled with at least 2 hours of lesson planning now and I am quickly learning how to type EXTREMELY fast. 
I sent two pictures to my mom....one of my desk with all my teaching materials before the sun had come up....and one with all my lesson planning materials on my desk as the sun was going down:) Needless to say, planning is a huge part of my day!

The kids are learning about natural habitats this week and today I read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" to them and had them pretend they were on the bear hunt as well. I always amazed at how much they love getting to be a part of a story and how quickly they are engaged through dramatic play. We used the story to talk about the natural habitat of a bear and then discussed other animals and where they live.

I had them do hand motions for going through the water and going through the mud...(some of my students GREATLY need this kinesthetic engagement and they were quite into it). 

I then had them get out their journals and I used the opportunity to develop writing skills. They wrote at least 2 sentences about what THEY would do if they were on a bear hunt and then they were allowed to illustrate it. I couldn't help but snicker to myself at some of their ideas. One of my students wrote, "I went on a bear hunt! I had to cross a field of glass to get away from the bear." Don't ask me where one would find such a thing as a field of glass but aparently...they are OUT there! lol 
Yes, we are having a lot of fun in first grade reading;) 

I have some ideas I'm mulling over, about how to create a bulletin board that will tie in with the natural habitats the students are learning about...maybe one of my next blogs will have a picture of the finished product!:) 
 Now, I must finish planning for the little 
ones that belong to these backpacks...
(and who are barely bigger than these 
particular backpacks) :)




Ta-ta for now from the land of a lesson planner.

3 comments:

  1. Big smile. I think I'm one of your biggest fans. Love you.

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  2. Thank you maggs!! You make me smile!!:)

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  3. You know I never understood the cubby-hole thing. Like, I'm pretty sure my backpack was twice the size of the cubby and it always fell out. Oh well. Oh and I'm pretty sure there was a bear out there walking across the Broadmoor golfcourse whilst we were all golfing...so it wouldn't take too long to go on a bear hunt. Love your blog btw.

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