Saturday, December 4, 2021

A Day to Celebrate Reading and Writing in a Gifted First Grade Classroom

The stars (and glitter) aligned this week in the Navigators' classroom🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠

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🌟We had been studying the Middle Ages for months including the reading of The Knight Before Dawn and Marguerite Makes a Book.



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🌟We had picked a topic and written a research paper in the style of an illuminated manuscript.

The Black Death
We picked topics we wanted to learn more about including the Black Death. 

The Vikings
We used classroom books to find information including If You Were There: Viking Times. 

The History of Numbers
We chose topics of interest and watched videos to find information.

King Arthur
We used a gold paint pen to illuminate the fancy first letter and the margins of our books.

The Nine Realms of Norse Mythology

The Nine Realms continued...
 Some wrote more than one paragraph. 

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🌟We had received a copy of the newly published graphic novel form of The Knight Before Dawn 
and were each taking turns reading it.

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🌟On Thursday we received our "published" compilation of Middle Ages research work. Publishing is an important aspect of a gifted student's education. It makes writing real and meaningful. 

Look at mine!

We read each other's stories. 

We learned from each other. 

Even Ms. Price came in and learned from us. 

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🌟On Friday we had a school-wide Read-In/Write-In Day!

We read our book to the second graders via Zoom.

The new technological norm at school - being teleported to the second grade screen.

The second graders read their research papers to us 
and we learned about the Middle Ages architecture, 
the 100 Years War, Marco Polo, and more. 

The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
Pajama clad, we snuggled up with our stuffies and our favorite books. Some days his choice is Harry Potter.

Powers of Ten
"Mrs. Towne, how many galaxies do you think are on this page?"
"I have no idea. What does it say?"

Young Guinevere by Robert Sans Souci
She has read several books in this series.

Who Would Win? series
This boy is a walking science encyclopedia.

"Hmmm, which book should I choose?"
This girl loves princesses, fairies, and animals. 

Weird & Wacky Inventions
The Navigators have discovered a new found interest - inventions!


Reading and writing buddies
Some days these boys even take their work outside for recess.

At Seabury we embrace the importance of like-minded peers. 

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🌟We finished the day with a look at the invention that changed the world, Johann Gutenberg's Printing Press. 

We have a book for almost everything!


Christmas Music of the Middle Ages
This girl loves music. 

After we read the book about Gutenberg she asked, 
"Do you know who printed the first sheet music? 

Ottaviano Petrucci!"

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🌟To sum up our day of celebrating reading and writing, 
one Navigator's research paper states it best:
(Each paper required at least three important facts. 
Note:  a person's birthday is, of course, 
important to a first grader!)

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. He made little metal blocks with letters on them. He made books easy to make. Lots of people learned how to read. In our time, we have lots of books. You can read, I can read, and everyone in our class can read. I feel great because I can read such fun books. The date of his birthday is unknown. 


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