Ninja Turtles (Student Blogger: Noah K.)

I like teenage mutant ninjas turtles because one has two swords, one has a long stick, one has nunchucks, and one has two knives. The master has a tail. It is very long. The master is a mouse. The fighters are turtles. They like pizza. There is a girl in the movie. They live in the sewer, and it has some computers in it, and it is awesome!

The Best Day of Writing Ever

Ralph, like many first graders, feels like he has no stories to write. When it's time to write, he asks to sharpen his pencil, get a drink of water... he wants to do everything but write! His teacher tells him that "stories are everywhere!" yet he is still skeptical. His friend Daisy helps him see that he DOES have stories to tell, that things happen to him all the time! He ends up sharing a silly, but action-packed story with his class about an inchworm that he met at the park. By the end, Ralph learns that he has tons of stories to write, that stories really are everywhere!

After we finished the book, we brainstormed some titles of real (and pretend!) stories that we could write.

Then, the kids headed back to their seats to start their stories, and I. Was. Amazed. 

So amazed, in fact, that I took a video of our class hard at work. They didn't even notice! They were so focused. When it was time to clean up for snack and recess, they were not happy with me! I promised to let them keep working on their stories tomorrow. :) 

Here are a few stories that I got a quick peek at...

Check back tomorrow to see what other stories these first graders have to tell!

Gymnastics (Student Blogger: Leila)

My name is Leila and I do gymnastics. I can do a pull over on the bars, cartwheel, splits every way, and lots of other things. I go to practice two times a week. I have a lot of gymnastic leotards. One is black on top and pink on the bottom, another one is pink and green, and there is a pink and sliver one too. The bars are my favorite event. I want to go to the Olympics one day.

Ninjago and More (Student Blogger: Jalen)

Ninjago is a pretty awesome series. It has Nindroids and all sorts of Ninjas.  Every episode it gets cooler.  Maybe you should watch it one day.

Fish Tale (Student Blogger: Katherine)

Hello! I am glad you are here! I wanted to tell you how I got two fish! One of them is Rudolph. He's from the North Pole at Santa's workshop! The other fish is Elsa because she is blue. She's from Pet Smart! I got Rudolph a year ago on Christmas. Rudolph is orange on the body and tail, but he has a teeny tiny spot that's blue on his tail. He's a betta and he's friendly to me. My friend, Kate, thought Rudolph was lonely. Last week, we went to Pet Smart. And guess what! I got a new fish. I named her Elsa. When I introduced her to Rudolph, he was chasing her and not being a good host. I hope they can become friends. The End!

Lion Dance (Student Blogger: Cedric)

Hello. One time I went to the mall for a Chinese New Years celebration.  While I was waiting for my friend Jershon I watched the Lion Dance.  There were lots of different colored lion costumes.  The lions were moved by having two people. The person that controls the back legs has to lean over and have a flat back.  The head person holds the head and can move the mouth, eyes, and ears. After the dance, I got to put on one of the lion costumes! It was AWESOME! Would you like to try on the Lion costume? 

All About Asia: Our Class Paragraph

Huge accomplishment this week— these first graders worked together to write an AWESOME paragraph about Asia and some of the animals that live there. Over the past several weeks, we studied the giant panda, the Indian peafowl, and the king cobra, and we watched some videos that included information on other Asian animals, like the red panda, the tiger, and the orangutan. But my favorite source for what went into this paragraph? Some kids did a little research at home on their own!

Miss Kloczko, did you know that the orangutan is endangered, too, just like the panda?

I LOVED having first graders come up to ME to teach ME things they learned at home!

The kids worked in pairs on Monday to write sentences about animals from Asia. Then, on Tuesday, we spent about 45 minutes tearing and rearranging and rereading and revising to make our paragraph perfect (with a few exercise breaks sprinkled in, of course!) and I was so impressed!

Read our finished version, and see the illustrations below!