Our President Obama Portraits (and Writing)

These are the Portraits of President Obama drawn by children trying very hard to learn not only about the new President but how to make a portrait. It is not easy at all!
After they finished the kids wrote what they thought about what a President does, we have been reading and writing this week on [...]

Obama Portraits

We made some nice portraits watching the Presidential Inauguration. Our school made it really great by being sure all the TV’s were hooked up.
Just a fantastic way to learn history.
Also a great way to get inspired to draw.

From My Son…at four…we learn what a child sees

“Martin Luther King, Junior” by my son at 4, in Answer to “What Can Kids Understand”
When my son was very young he fell in love with watching two videos, The Snowman and Our Friend Martin. Both were daily repertoire pieces for him. I thought the Martin Luther King Jr. video was wayyyyyy over his head.
Luca, [...]

Thoughts on Dr. King from children’s lips to your ears

My class made a second movie set to music we listened to working…then they wrote.Recall they are in 1st grade, and Sheltered Immersion in a CA school trying to figure out why they get Monday home. ( I fixed some small things)
Here is what we have so far… Some 1st grade thoughts….
“Dr. King was important [...]

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today we tried to make portraits of Dr. King and to put his pictures to a clip from Dr. King’s famous I Have A Dream Speech.
It was fun working for 35 minutes to draw a very important leader.
Tomorrow each child will write a sentence or two about this American leader.
We are preparing for our day [...]

Said “Raven”

My class began November with a focus on themes like Being thankful, our “past”, America’s beginnings, our 1st people, immigrant arrivals, the unfolding of our nation.
In our U Pick It time, a box of books used for teacher shared reading, we sit in a circle and children each have a turn choosing from books [...]

We Have A President

Students in my 1st grade were very excited about the election and certainly Election Day proved to be an opportunity to observe the election “in action.” Our school serves as a place to vote. So we got to look in and see the process of “neighbors” making their choices. Wonderful, in action kinds of observations. [...]

Constitution Day 2008

We The People
September 17, 2008. Constitution Day. Wow.
Caroline Kennedy has a really top notch interview with Scholastic on why we need to study and celebrate the Constitution.
I’m not teaching (home ill ) but luckily this is a WEEK long celebration that schools must really attend to if taking Federal monies. Anyone would want to really [...]