Friday 24 February 2012

Ultimate Sharing!

So this week and last week I started to increase the incentive for Sharing time in my Grade 1 classroom.  At the end of each day five students are allowed to share something they brought from home.  This is an optional activity as our school believes in primarily reading homework in Grade 1.  Students must write in their Sharing book.  At the beginning of the year I suggested that they write a maximum of two sentences using what I call "Grade 1 sounding out."  This has worked well until I noticed that my students were turning in work that was not as wonderful as I had hoped:)

Using the Ultimate Homework Model suggested my Whole Brain Teaching in the Model Classroom, I developed Ultimate Sharing.  The goal is 100 points.  All students must participate at least once to earn the ultimate prize - a super fun game of our choosing.

1 point for Sharing book completed using neat printing.
2 points for Sharing book completed using neat printing and a because clapper.
3 points for Sharing book completed using neat printing and a because clapper, as well as a Sloppy Copy (rough draft).

Before each student presents, the class claps and cheers or "Oh Yeahs" for the student as each point is awarded!  So far we have 40 points and the quality of writing and sharing has gone way up!!


Thursday 2 February 2012

Groundhog Day Genius Ladder!

My class and I have started writing daily Genius Ladder paragraphs this week during our opening activities!  Here is what we came up with today.  I thought it was true genius.


Genius Paragraph: I see a furry groundhog not looking for his shadow.  He is a lazy groundhog.  He doesn’t want to look because he is watching T.V. and eating leaves.   Groundhog is going to get in trouble!!!!

Extender Sentence: I see a furry groundhog not looking for his shadow.

Spicy Sentence: I see a furry groundhog.

Blah Sentence:  I see a groundhog.