Slice of Life Day 12 Teachable moments

The digital literacy conversations continue...

When texting I love using emojis! It helps to put into context short quick responses. Sometimes I even use them as a response. No words💬! I love💓💗💖Emojis! 

Today I had a conversation with my first graders about using😃. They have just discovered emojis. Being a first grade teacher I know new things are exciting and they lead to great teachable moments. Today the use of emojis became a teachable moment. 

We began by talking about the use of pictures to support writing. We then moved onto the questions "What is a comment?" And "Why do we leave a comment?" Students answered that comments help writers add to their stories, give compliments and share connections. 

We have discussed in depth this year what is feedback, why do we give feedback, how do we use feedback. Students conference giving feedback and helping each other add to their stories. 

We discussed "How do emojis support writing?", "Could emojis tell your whole story?" And "Is a emoji by itself a good comment?" Students came to the conclusion that if they were going to use emojis they would also need to add words. 

I continue to tell myself teachable moment teachable moment. Tomorrow we will continue our conversation about comments and emojis.  

Slice of Life Day 9 - Connections created by the Classroom Slice of Life

Today's Slice is again about the great things happening in my classroom because of the Classroom Slice of Life. During the first 10 minutes of  the morning students were writing their weekend news, adding to our first grade shared Today's Meet and commenting on Slices of life posted over the weekend. I over heard a conversation between two students that would not have happened if not for the Slice of Life. May students have connected with each other. They share their love of family member and sweet memories of family members that have passed.
One student was looking throughout the weekend Slices of Life and came to Jakob's slice with a  picture of his grandpa. The student said, "Who?".  Jakob said, "That's my grandpa." The other student said, "He looks amazing!". Jakob said, "Of course he does he was in world war!" 
After this, several students joined in a conversation about post they have written about family members past and present. What a sweet moment! 

Slice of life Day 8 - Seeds

Today I picked up some seeds! I thought about how amazing it is that a tiny seed stores all of the energy to start a plant growing. I thought about all of the happiness one little seed can bring. How one tiny seed can provide food all summer long and if you can all year. I thought about how in this busy life we may forget that things so small can be so powerful! Today I am thankful for seeds and there awesome power!

Slice of life Day 7 - They Don't Get It!

They don't get it
I cheer the Slice of Life
I explain how I am amazed that I have written each day
I say ITS WRITING FOR 31 DAYS!
They don't get it
I cheer the Classroom Slice of Life
I explain how my students are growing as writers each day
I say MY STUDENTS ARE SO INSPIRED!
They don't get it
I cheer the comments
I explain how the comments come from other writers from all over
I say THE COMMENTS KEEP ME GOING!
They don't get it
I cheer my blog and the students Kidblog
I explain how the blogs connect with others near and far
I say CHECK IT OUT!
They don't get it

But you get it!

Slice of Life Day 6 - Lucky

Getting in the car one sunday afternoon my husband said, "Was that a kitten?" I looked around, "Where?" He said, "It just went around the side of the house!" To my surprise he jumped out of the car and ran around the side of our neighbors house. I went around the other side and across our neighbors deck came running a momma cat with a kitten in her mouth. She stopped and we stared at each other. Her eyes were wide with panic. The kitten wriggled out of her mouth and tried to run. The momma cat tried desperately to pick up her kitten. I walked towards them and the momma cat panicked and ducked under the deck leaving the kitten. She hid under the deck eyes still wide. I caught the kitten and the mom dashed across the yard jumped onto a neighbors fence and took one final look at her kitten. I felt bad for taking her baby! At the same time I knew the next day forecast predicted temperatures below zero with snow.

I looked at my husband and said, "What do we do now?" That night my husband and I were talking about what we would do with her. We already had a fourteen year old cat. Then I overheard my husband call the kitten "Lucky". 

It was all over... He named her Lucky!

Well as you can tell by the pictures... we kept the kitten. She was so tiny when we first got her that she fit in the palm of our hand. She is now five months old and just learning about counter tops. I compare this to a child starting to crawl. You have to go around and kiddy proof everything. Well, I am now finding myself having to kitty proof the house.

She certainly is a lucky cat!

Slice of Life Day 5 - The Drive

This post was inspired by my drive home tonight. 
The moon was full as I passed by snow covered fields.

Full.

Gleaming.

Shining across the field of snow.

Chasing me until the fields end.

The quiet crunch of winter.

Peaceful.

Slice of Life Day 4 - Authentic Writing Pieces

The Slice of Life became my mini lesson today. These authentic writing pieces have become such a powerful model for digital writing, commenting and citizenship in my classroom!(and it is only day 4!) In the classroom we have thought about how the the title of a book helps us as a Reader. Today I asked my students, "How does the title of your post help you as a writer?" 

My students came up with 

• A creative title helps you get readers to read your post.
• A title connects with others and you might make a new friend. 
• A great title gets you lots of comments and feedback.
• A creative title makes people want to read your other post or writing.
• A regular title can get you feedback to help you make a more creative title.

I asked, "What makes a great title?"

A great title 

• is creative
• makes you wonder - A really great title makes you have lots of wonders!
• matches your writing
• can come from a line in your writing
• hooks your reader

We then went to a Classroom Slice of Life blog and read all of the recent titles. As I read students commented "Thats creative", "Oh lets read that", and "I have been to Disney". One title received lots of wonders and hooked the class. The class begged please, please, please can we read The Only Pizza shop (Not In The World). We read the post. At the end students clapped and cheered! We had a great conversation about what was the authors message and left a comment for the author. Thanks Avah and Darby Creek Writes for your amazing posts and inspiration!

On only the forth day I am so happy that my class and I have joined this writing journey!