Em collected books from our bookroom, I raided my daughter's books, and here's what my classroom bookshelves looked like when we started.
We also transformed our hallway into a "jungle" (thanks to our student aide and Em) that would later be the entrance to our Safari Walk. *SQUEAL* You're going to love it, just hold your horses. :) Our firsties absolutely love, love, LOVED our Safari Walk. Here's the hallway..
and then the magic book fairy (Em) matched each student with a book at their level.
Next, we tabbed our info with tabs that corresponded to the colors of our chart. Here's what the chart looked like. This chart was inspired by a presentation we heard at Reading Recovery last year.
Once all the information had been tabbed, students then had to go back and transfer that information onto the organizer in "note form". They willingly did this after I told them they were like HIGH school and COLLEGE kids. :) After the transfer was complete the writing began and all I can say is WOW. Like fifty shades of WOW and I know we've done shades of meaning, but like Fancy Nancy says, sometimes... there isn't a fancier way of saying it, so WOW it is! :) Apparently, some (well most) of my pictures need to be rotated so I'll have to do a Part 2 post.
I'll leave you with a few pictures of our Safari Walk. We made Safari Hats from paper plates and bowls which was of course inspired by Pinterest. CLICK HERE to see. :) Our classroom desks turned into four person Jeeps. Again, we were inspired by Pinterest. CLICK HERE to see this one.
I'll be back with more later. I hear a crying babe upstairs, so I'm off to my "other job". :)
Three cheers for research!
Your students must absolutely love coming to school each day. you guys make learning sooo fun!!!
ReplyDeleteKelly
I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher
I love it! Can't wait to see how everything turns out! :) Any suggestions of good nonfiction for early readers? I found a series I love (read about it here) but can't afford all those hardbacks to add to my collection.
ReplyDeleteAmanda
A Very Curious Class
This post makes my teacher heart so happy! I love how exciting you made this for the students- from the "safari" to the jeeps, I can only imagine how thrilled and engaged they must have been. Love, love, love everything about this! :)
ReplyDeleteJenny