Messy Room~ Visualizing Activity

Between dissecting pumpkins and going on a leaf walk, we have certainly been busy first graders this October. Even now, as I sit down to write another post, I have so many more things that I would like to share with you. *Sigh* However, there are only so many hours in a day.

I found our activity in reading today to be one of the highlights of my week, and I know my students would agree. This week we have been working on visualizing. I read various poems, they listened, and then we discussed what they were seeing in their heads. It all culminated with some Shel Silverstein today. I find him to be quite humorous and a truly wonderful poet.

I read his poem entitled Messy Room. First I had my students listen to it a few times. Many of them closed their eyes so that they could focus. Then we went back to our desks, and I continued to read and re-read it while they drew what they were seeing in their heads. I am including the poem because it is quite humorous. There were many gales of laughter during the fifteen minutes that we spent doing this.

Messy Room

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

His underwear is hanging on the lamp.

His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,

And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.

His workbook is wedged in the window,

His sweater's been thrown on the floor.

His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,

And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.

His books are all jammed in the closet,

His vest has been left in the hall.

A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,

And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

Donald or Robert or Willie or--

Huh? You say it's mine? Oh dear,

I knew it looked familiar!



Lessons from the Bible

One of my favorite things about the Bible is that no matter how well you know it, there is always more that you can learn from it.
This brings me to last week's lesson. We studied the life of Joseph. Typically I think of two things when I think of Joseph.
1. He had a coat of many colors. (Not so deep truth.)
2. He was a type of Christ. (Deep truth.)
And both don't seem to effect me that much. I'm not saying these truths couldn't be applicable to me, they just don't have a huge impact on me. I mean, I think it's cool that Joseph helps to save his family when there is sereve famine, and how this shows us the Lord, but that's where it ends for me. But I'm not writing this story off.

... If you are still reading, I'll tell you my WOW moment from last week.
It is this: Joseph trusted God.
That's it. So simple, and yet so profound. This man found himself in some severe circumstances. He was sold into slavery, he was thrown into prison for a crime that he didn't commit, he interpreted dreams which sometimes meant that there were tough interpretations to share with others... and yet, in his life, Joseph didn't waver in his trust for Christ. He wasn't perfect, I know. But so many characters in the Bible start off strong, and end with not-so-wise decisions. Joseph is characterized by his trust in the Lord. And look where that took him. He was able to store up food because of his reliability and faithfulness in service to Pharoah. He helped to save the beginnings of the tribe of Israel. He was used by the Lord because he trusted the Lord.

What a great example for my students and my own life. Oh that I could trust the Lord for even just a smidgen of how Joseph trusted him. May this impact my life today!

Teaching til Heaven

We find ourselves in a good groove these days in first grade... a student asked me today if I was going to teach for the rest of my life, to which I responded emphatically "Yes!"
She asked, "Even when you die?"
I said, "Well, actually, I think when I die, I'm just going to want to spend time with Jesus."
Another student chimed in, "Well, what if when we all died and we're in heaven together, you could be our teacher!"

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed with love for these sweet children every day. Teaching goes by extremely fast, and I know that this is directly related to how blessed I am in this classroom. 

I write today because I just had to share some of the read alouds that we have recently embarked upon. If you have an elementary child, you could check any of these books out at your local library, and they would thoroughly enjoy them!

First, we read Mirette on the Highwire by Emily Arnold McCully. This is a wonderful book that emphasizes the lesson of perserverance. My students hung onto every word.

Today we looked at Joseph had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback. This book has some pretty amazing illustrations. The illustrator crafted each page piece by piece. I just discovered this book this week, and it is already a favorite of mine. The moral of the story is quite fabulous as well!

Recently we had a guest reader introduce us to Stellaluna by Janell Cannon. This is a beautiful story about a bat. It looses its identity for a little bit and gets confused. This story had them laughing and intrigued.

Happy Reading!