An End of the School Year Project
June 1, 2012
Maria’s First Grade Memories Book
As the last day of school approaches, what could be a more compelling subject for a book than memories of the school year?
Origami Pamphlet with Window Cut out of Pages 3 and 4
Since I have already written posts about using the Origami Pamphlet structure I hadn’t intended on writing a post about this most recent project. But when I looked over the photos I so very much liked the student work that, well, here they are…
Remembering the Turtle
Before I started my time with these first grade students they had worked with their teachers, making lists about activities and events that stood out to them over the school year. They made drawings and did writing that reflected their favorite memories.
Playing Dodgeball was a big favorite First Grade Memory for these students. I remember liking dodgeball, too.
I never get enough of looking at drawings by first graders.
Playing Dodgeball, framed
Cutting a window into the Origami Pamphlet makes the drawing the centerpiece of the book.
Update -oops, as I was thinking that this design seemed more sophisticated than what the average first grader could do, it occured to me that this is the work of one of the teachers, Mrs. Israel.
Each time that I give my lesson on making WOW! designs I am stunned by the inventive variations that the students come up with.
Bold Designs and Great Handwriting
It seemed to me that playing dodgeball, having an in-classroom “camping” experience and, having an ice-cream party were among the most celebrated events of the year. Only one student ranked “bookmaking” as a favorite memory, but I supposed that, while I was there, bookmaking hadn’t actually become a memory just yet. Now here’s one of my favorite drawings….
Mothers’ Day Tea
As usual, but not shown, I asked students to trace their hands on the last page of the book. The traced hand is a great addition to a first grade book because at this time next year each of their little hands will be significantly larger. So, if you are a first grade teacher reading this post and thinking about memory books for your students, don’t forget the hands.
Variations for a Chick
May 14, 2012
Shortly after I finished up making the dinosaur book project I received an email from Mrs. Kelly which said “…this year, we would like to make an informational book about chicks. We will be getting chicks on April 24th. Perhaps I could meet with you to show you some of the writing projects and activities we do with chicks … and you could help us to create a fun book to go along with it. “ It seemed quite natural to let the dinosaur project evolve into a chick project (what could go wrong?)
I thought I could seamlessly transfer the elements of the dinosaur project to different colored papers with chicks instead of dinosaurs, but things turned out to be more interesting than I had envisioned. These teachers (a team of four teachers for about 80 students) had put together a full blown science unit of study.
What a Chick Needs in an Egg
With real eggs incubating in the classroom, the teachers presented a lesson on ”what a chick needs in an egg.” We tucked this info on the left flap of the book.
The students also learned about other animals who came from eggs, such as turtles, snakes, and alligators. They wrote ”who am I” riddles in their writing journals, along with a drawing…
The Who Am I? Riddle
… which they then transferred on to the right inner flap of the book. The students glued down just the top edge of the paper, creating a peek-a-boo experience.
The picture under the flap
It turns out there are many animals that hatch from eggs. I think I learned at least as much as the students .
The teachers also talked about the different stages of development of the chick inside of the egg. We worked together to create images for four milestones of gestation, which the students colored, cut out, glued on across the inside of the pages, then labeled the images sometime after I took this photo.
Diorama inside of the “From Egg to Chick” book
Here’s what the project looked like the day that I left. Like the dinosaur project, there is a book tucked into the middle pocket which will contain student writing. I believe that these first graders will be writing a story featuring a baby chick. I hope that students will draw in a habitat around the chick. On the back side of these papers is a brief “Author’s Notes” page, along with a tracing of the student’s hand.
If you are so inclined to do this project, here are the pages that I created that helped us keep moving along.
Now, with the files safely tucked into this post so that I can find them again, I can relax…
A Fold-Up Dinosaur Diorama
April 14, 2012
Dinosaur book and folder
There is generally one project that I am most smitten by each year. This year’s dinosaur project, which first grade teacher Mrs. Kaveny and I put together, is my star of the season.
Here's the Generic Dinosaur Sample Book that I Made to Show Students
We folded two 11″ x 17″ cover weight papers, a blue paper for the background, and a white paper for the foreground. Using pre-pressed score lines, students folded the sides of the white paper in 4.25″ on both sides, so that the paper closed like a set of french doors. We added a pop-up on the left fold, and cut curvy mountain ranges on the top edge. The blue paper was folded just a bit differently than the white so that the papers overlapped in an interesting way.
Jake's Dinosaurs
For me, the highlight of the project was bonding to our dinosaurs. Students were assigned a specific dinosaur. The librarian, Mrs. Fields, downloaded line drawings of dinosaurs from the Enchanted Learning website then students colored in their dinosaurs. Mrs. Kaveny and I both agreed that no one really knows what colors bedecked the dino’s bodies, so these 7-year old artists used colors at their own discretion. After the coloring was done, I took their drawings home, scanned them into my computer, then copied the image three times, doing some shrinking and stretching, so that I was able to hand back three dinosaurs -a family!- to grace inside of the book.
Of course we needed to insert the research writing. There are two books within this book. On the right hand panel there’s a folded page which contained “fast facts.” In the center of the book there is a pocket which contains another book, which is filled with complete sentences and paragraphs.
Here’s what the pages for the writing looked like in my sample. After the part of the project that I facilitated was done, my time at the school was over, so I didn’t have a chance to see the project completed. Students did the writing and the rest of the landscape decoration with their teacher.
The finishing touch to the book was Mrs. Kaveny’s title for the book, Dino Details. We cut out the title in the shape of a dinosaur egg and made a crack. The students were talking about adding a baby dino on the cover too. Wish I had thought of that!
Royalty Check!
April 13, 2012
Nine years ago Kathy Pike, a seasoned Scholastic author of educational books, asked if I would like to be a co-author on a book that has been entitled 25 Totally Terrific Social Studies Activities: Step-by-Step Directions for Motivating Projects That Students Can Do Independently. I did my work, received an advance, and for years and years that was the last I heard of the book. It seemed to have been shelved and forgotten. A couple of years ago I discovered that it had been published. Scholastic sent me ten copies of the book. It was a thrill to have the book in my hands. Now I’ve unexpectedly received a few hundred dollars of royalty money in the mail. I guess the book is selling…as well it should .
First, let me say there’s nothing fancy about this book. On the other hand, it’s only $9.00 and it’s full of really accessible projects. When I first saw the book I was sad that it wasn’t one of those full color glossy bookmaking books, but when I took the time to really look it I have to say that it’s diamond in the rough. The title references social studies projects, which is just fine, but it’s really a great resource about making books in the classroom.
The picutes in the book are all in black and white, but I still have some of the orginal color photos from my old camera. Here’s a color photo of one of the projects.
I bribed my children into doing the writing and making the images for this sample book as I wanted it to look authentic.
No one asked me to look over the way that the publishers presented the directions in the book, so some of the directions are not quite on target. Here’s a tip: if you buy the book and want to make the Origami Pamphlet you can print up a better set of Origami Pamphlet directions right here.
Here’s another page. I’m showing this because it describes a clever structure, submitted by one of the other authors Jean Mumper. I’ve never made it this one, but I keep meaning to try out.
At the time that we were working on the manuscript Kathy directed me to a group of students who had made this folded circle book. I took some photos which (hopefully) give a sense of the circular way that the pages of this book open.
Folded Circle Book, unfolding
This circle is about the size of a coffee can lid.
Folded Circle Book, folded
The title fully shows only when the book is fully closed.
The first quarter revealed
When each quarter of the book is opened, a picture is revealed, and, as an added bonus, there is room on the folded piece to write a caption. The books that I saw were made with layers of circles so that there are more than four quarter pages to the book.
Folding Circle Book, with pages unfolding more
These folding circle books had some fun sculptural possibilities.
It was a good experience to write my part of this book. It was a real pleasure to get a surprise check many years later. I want to say, though, that the best part of putting a book into the world is that I was able to write a dedication. While my children were young their nursery school teacher and day care provider, Becky Potter, was an angel in my life. There is no way I could adequately ever thank her for the support and care and wisdom my family found in her generous spirit. I was so happy to dedicate my part of the book to her.
