This dual purpose bag will serve as a place to stash portfolio items that the kids have created in the classroom as well as a place to glue what they have learned.  It will also keep the fire marshal off of my back by reducing the amount of paper stapled to my wall.

I wish I could take credit for the idea of the bag, but I can’t.  The idea originates with http://tiny.cc/Rk1n9 by by Karen Simmons and Cindy Guinn.  These two teachers do magical things with paper bags.  They cut them apart and use them to create “backpacks”, dioramas and more.  The science C&I department of my school district introduced me to these at the last staff development.  They also gave us many ideas of what to put on and in the bags.  I left their example at school (and refused to go and get it over the break).  So, while I can’t take credit for the idea, I can take credit for the organization of the content on the bag.

The science TEKS ( http://tiny.cc/hUjxF ) in our district are supplemented by district specificities.  These are the details that the TEKS fail to give us.  For example, the TEK may say, “The student will compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on each other for their basic needs.”  The specificity would then say, “The student will learn that animals depend on each other in the forest.  For example: Food chain starting with the sun.”  Following the spirit of the TEKS, the specificities give teachers the freedom to teach that as they wish in their own classrooms.  Using the general topics and the specificities, I organized my Forest Ranger bag.  Each general topic has its own Thinking Map.

Thinking Maps are a wonderful system of graphic organizers (http://www.thinkingmaps.com/httmexam.php3).  They take the idea of the graphic organizer to the next level by asking the students to chose one based on what information they are organizing and the best way to organize that information.  In first grade, they are still learning the different Thinking Maps so the teacher selects the map rather than the student.

When you look at a paper grocery bag, you can see that the bag has sections based on the way that they are folded.  When you open the bag, the bottom forms a rectangle.  As you look at the open bag, turn it over so the the opening is setting on the table and the bottom is facing you.  This is the way that the bag will be handled forever more.  The rectangle at the top will need to be cut on three sides: both short sides and then one long side.  Now the flap opens and continues to give access to the inside of the bag.  Fold the other side over (the side the manufacturer intended as the opening) and glue the bottom of the bag closed. Now, you have a pyramid or a really angular ice cream cone.  See pictures here: http://flickr.com/gp/10816768@N08/p487g0 .

All sides of this bag will be covered with information.  I sat down yesterday and did the entire bag over the course of three NCAA March Madness games (Go Duke! Go UNC! Too bad, A&M, but we’re not really surprised). In my classroom, we’ll do one section per week as the kids learn to control the information.  

The sections of the bag are divided thusly: Food Chain (tree map), Temperate Forest Biome Model (construction paper), Tree Riddle (brace map), Life Cycles (flow map), comparisons between insects and arachnids (double bubble) and amphibians and reptiles (brace map).   

All of the information will be gathered from field experience and then charted on large pieces of butcher paper in the classroom.  First graders have a terrible time writing as small as they would need to in order to fit the information on the bag.  So, I will type the information they give me and then ask the kids to cut and glue information in the correct place per thinking map.  I gathered the information from these sites:  http://tiny.cc/UuQGT and will use that base information as a guide for the student learning.  If they miss key points, I’ll make certain to bring it up somehow.

I am really excited to start this unit and see how my ideas are interpreted by my students.  Feel free to use the ideas here, but please give credit where credit is due!   

The fourth week of school we studied the 5 senses as part of the science curriculum.  I gave the kids a sheet with the ASL finger spelling alphabet printed on it.  We talked about how people who are deaf communicate using their hands. 

Fast forward two weeks.  S’ Mom and I are having a conference to address his behavior and his lack of academic skills.  S has trouble focusing, understanding what he is reading and with the weekly spelling tests in addition to the communication issues.  I shared with Mom that the speech teacher is interested in adjusting the time that S spends with her.  Mom shared with a startling behavior: he has been using made up hand gestures at home to try to talk to his parents and his sister. 

He had taught his mom and sister the ASL fingerspelling alphabet and it was posted prominently on the refrigerator.  When he became frustrated at home and couldn’t force the sounds to come, he pointed to the letters on the paper and signed out words.  He was also creating one and two hand signs to try and communicate with the family.

There are moments in teaching when you just know that the next thing that comes out of your mouth is going to make or break the hope that the student or his parents have.  I was about to suggest something risky and something outside the box for a child with normal hearing who is part of a bilingual program.  

When Mom paused, I jumped in. “S is very smart and very intelligent.  He is trying anything he can to communicate with us and we need to give him every tool that we have to help him do so.”  I told her that we could use sign language here at school: for everything from spelling lessons to circle time.  I loaned her two books and showed her how to use them.

We outlined what I would expect from him: the use of basic signs for please and thank you, you’re welcome, hello.  These are basic signs that communicate the niceties that S often forgets to use.  I also wanted him to be able to finger spell all the spelling words each week.  I would ask him to sign the letters rather than writing the words in a paper and pencil test.

The next day, armed with a stack of books and the hope that this would work, we started the Community Circle with the news that S would be using these books to learn signs and that he would be using them to talk. The kids were very excited about this and wanted to learn them as well.   I think that for them, learning sign language is as normal as learning English while speaking Spanish.  It is just one more tool for communicating.

We have incorporated many signs into classroom routines and I am hoping that this continues.  The speech teacher is very supportive of this new tool and sees it as one more thing we can do to help him grow.

The main difference that I have seen is that S is more engaged during any kind of language arts lesson. He is excited to contribute to Making Words and to play the Word Wall Games.  He is excited to share with the signs what he saw during a science experiment.  When I sign, he pays attention.  When he signs, the other kids “listen” to him in ways that they never did before.

Maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to help S find his niche.