“Opening Books” in Mari’s Kindergarten/First Grade Class (Room 5)

The kindergarteners and first graders in Mari Brockhaus’ classroom have been focusing all year on three categories of books: fiction, non-fiction, and biographies. The students studied one category at a time, with each category containing a significant writing project. Because of the wide range of writing skills in a kindergarten/first grade classroom, students chose to either do some or all of the writing themselves or have their parents take dictation for them. Through these writing projects, the students learned basic writing conventions, proper use of capitalization, and ending punctuation. Using the “Handwriting without Tears” program, they worked on developing and improving their handwriting skills.

The fiction component of their expedition centered on the books of children’s author Arnold Loebel (author of the “Frog and Toad” series).  During this phase of the expedition, the class learned about the different parts of a book (cover, title page, table of contents) as well as the structure of a story (beginning, middle, end, characters, and setting). As they read each of the Frog and Toad books, they discussed the main themes (such as courage, friendship, perseverance) and related the stories to their own lives. Not only did the children read many of Mr. Loebel’s books, but they choreographed and performed a dance about one of the Frog and Toad stories, and, as a group, wrote a biography of Mr. Loebel. They also took on the role of children’s author and together as a class wrote an entire Frog and Toad book! The story takes place on Halloween night and features vignettes (complete with illustrations) about Frog and Toad trick or treating at each child’s house. It’s a joy to read!

The biography component of their expedition began with their research of Arnold Loebel and continued with books about other interesting and important people.

Two particularly interesting biography subjects were Pablo Picasso and Harriet Tubman. But the most interesting subject of all was themselves. The children wrote their own autobiographies! They initially brainstormed what they like to know about people (with a few questions thrown in by Mari), then over the course of several weeks, they answered these questions about their own lives (miscellaneous facts, opinions about things in their current lives, and predictions about their futures). With the help of Mari, Mary Grace (their fabulous student teacher), and many parent volunteers, each child’s responses were compiled into a full-length story (13 to 17 pages long!). The children then carefully created illustrations for each page depicting the main subject on that page. When all of this work was complete, they each created a book title, illustrated a title page, and bound the book … their very own autobiography! On the special Expedition Night at which they presented their autobiographies to their parents, their pride and enthusiasm over these books was palpable.

The final component of their expedition -- non-fiction -- focused on the birds of Green Lake. This phase of the expedition got the children up and out of their classroom. They went on six field trips, three to Green Lake and three to Discovery Park, to go bird watching! Expert bird watchers joined them on each trip and helped them spot some of the special birds that are native to our area … chickadees, Canada geese, bald eagles, mallard ducks, swallows, even a dove. In addition, they helped to plant shrubs at Discovery Park that will enhance the bird habitat there. Back in the classroom, each child selected a specific bird of Green Lake to research and report on. Their reports covered such facts as the bird’s characteristics, habitat, and migration patterns. The final book produced by the class is a compilation of these reports, complete with illustrations for each bird. It is titled “My Family’s Guide to the Birds of Green Lake” by Room 5, and it is a guidebook you don’t want to miss!