Grinch Day

It was Grinch Day this past week in 1-Thomson! During Reader's Workshop, we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss and discussed how characters can change in a story. We also discussed the lesson, or moral, of the story.

R.L.1.3: Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story using key details.
R.L.1.2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Later, during Writer's Workshop, our focus was "How to Make the Grinch Grin".  We started with a brainstorm of the things that could bring a smile to the Grinch's face.  Some ideas included taking the Grinch to the movies, teaching him how to swim, or reading a fairy tale with him by the fireplace with a cup of hot cocoa!    

From the first graders in 1-Thomson, Happy Holidays!

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, Mrs. Thomson's class, Miss Klipfel's class, and Mrs. Higgins' class worked together to write and illustrate a magical fairy tale...

Our focus in reading and writing has been fairy tales and fairy tale elements. Over the past few weeks, our three classes collaborated to author and illustrate our very own fairy tale.  We randomly selected which part of the story we would be in charge of.  We were very excited when we were assigned to the ending of the story!

  After the writing was complete, each class was assigned to a part of the story for illustrations, and using Drawing Box on the iPads,we created some beautiful illustrations for our story's beginning (written by Miss. Klipfel's class)!

Please enjoy our final product of The Princess and the Pearls.  Our three classes are very proud of their hard work.  

You may download our fairy tale on any electronic device to add to your digital library or you can view our book as a PDF for reading or printing on a computer.

Option 1: Add The Princess and the Pearls to your digital library.

Click on the link: The Princess and the PearlsThen click on Download.

Option 2: Read The Princess and the Pearls in PDF form by clicking here.

*Don't forget to tell us what you think!  Please leave a comment for our class to see.*

Gingerbread Man Fun!

Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!  This past week, was Gingerbread Man week in 1-Thomson.  Our study of fairy tales is currently underway and there are so many great versions of The Gingerbread Man to read and discuss!  Many of these tales are fractured fairy tales, or versions of the story that offer a humorous twist on the original version.  The children particularly enjoyed the fractured tale, The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka.  Ask them to tell you all about it!

As the week went on, we read many other Gingerbread tales, including The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst, The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone, The Gingerbread Man: Loose in School by Laura Murray (my personal favorite!), and finally The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires.

All versions of the story offered unexpected twists and turns, with interesting representations of the Gingerbread character.  After reading each story, the children compared and contrasted the different tales, and wrote about their favorite one!

Common Core Standard: 

R.L.1.9: Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in a story.