I found a really great website, blazinglogs.com , that is a big screen view of a crackling fire. During their creative writing I had the fire projected onto the big screen. It turned out to be our longest writing session yet! They were all quiet as mice as they wrote about what snowmen do at night. Later in the week, we invited Mr. Anderson's class over for a First Grade Book Club by the fire!! Oprah has nothing on our Book Club! We all heard the same read aloud, Emmitt's Snow Ball, and then wrote the characters, setting and favorite part on our snack bag. When all students were done writing on their bag, the bags were filled with popcorn and the students were buddied up to discuss the story. We were AMAZED at the conversations the students were having with each other. It was extremely fun to listen to and they were really able to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the story.
