"We're Jammin......"

It feels good to really start to feel the rhythm of my classroom and to start to put my own twist on things. As stated in my previous blog, we are studying the text "Me on the Map" using materials provided by the Georgia Common Core literacy units. I found some great resources on other blogs and while thinking about how can I bring the story even closer to home I have decided to add the version "Me on the Map...of My School." Next week we will complete foldables that are similar to the ones found on this blog http://finallyinfirst.blogspot.com/2011/02/me-on-map.html . Then the week after that we are going to create a version that takes the students through the "street of their school," down to the seat of their chair. We are going to use a school map as part of our foldable and I will take pictures of the students in the different locations. We will move from the street of their school, to their school, to their hallway, to their classroom, to their chair. The foldable will be rectangular and we will focus on writing one complete sentence for each page. I am very excited to add this additional layer to the unit study and also the idea that this will further deepen the student's understanding about locations, maps, and their place in the world. After four weeks of school, it feels good to feel my creative juices flowing again and not just spinning around to the dizzying rhythm of back to school beats.