First grade students are learning about their third animal classification, insects. Characteristics of this animal classification include having six legs, an exoskeleton, wings, and three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen). Using favorite children’s literature, we have explored fiction and nonfiction texts including Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin, Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons, and The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.
After reading Diary of a Fly, students began a new writing project in which they have selected an animal and will create a diary of that animal, highlighting facts about it. We are currently in the prewriting stage of the writing process as students are researching and recording interesting facts which will then be transformed into diary entries. This project emphasizes the writing trait of voice, or the personal tone of the author’s message.
Reading aloud The Grouchy Ladybug connected our study of insects to math concepts of measurement as we explore time. First grade students enjoyed the opportunity to be leaders as Kindergarten students joined us for this shared reading and project as students worked together to create their own ladybug clocks. First graders will continue to working on telling time to the hour, half hour, quarter hour, and minute. They will also be exploring concepts of elapsed time.
