Monday, December 9, 2013

The Things We Do for Our Class

So in between my meeting and working on my national board paper I so how found time to make these...

I believe in the end there are about 9 dozen. 2 for my husband to take to work and the rest for my kiddos to use at school.

On Tuesday we are going to conduct a little experiment and see what actually would happen if the gingerbread man crossed the river.

On Thursday we are going to read Gingerbread Man Loose in the School and go on a hunt for the ginger bread man. He is going to leave them a plate of cookies at the end.

On Friday students are going to be challenged to build a raft to get the gingerbread man across the river.

Hopefully I made enough!! Lol

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Gingerbread Men Word Work

Here are some of the word work games that I have put out for our Gingerbread Men Unit.


Cookies for Santa Ending Sounds


Check back for more Gingerbread Men word work activities. 

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Flat Gingerbread Man

This is one of my kids favorite activities.  Students take home a small paper Gingerbread Man that they can decorate.  With the help of their parents they decide on someone to send their Gingerbread Man to (we ask that it is someone in a different state).  Then we wait...

The family and friends that receive the Gingerbread Men take pictures of him doing different things in their town and send them back to show the class where they have been.

We post a huge map in the hallway and students love adding their Gingerbread Men and pictures to the map to show where their cookie has been.

Here is the letter to parents explaining how the project works.
Here is the letter that students send with their decorated Gingerbread Man. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Gingerbread Men...Comparison

Day 2 of the Gingerbread Man. Today we read...

Then we made a class double bubble map to compare the 2 stories that we have read so far. You can download the pieces for the double bubble map here.

Tomorrow we are going to read read Stinky Cheese Man and compare it to the Gingerbread Man.  Here is the double bubble we use to compare the two stories. Print the double bubble on 8.5 by 14 paper.



Monday, December 2, 2013

Gingerbread Man

Today we started our book study on the Gingerbread Man.  This is by far one of my favorite units to teach.  The first book that we read was...

When we were done we created a class brace map to look at the parts of the Gingerbread Man.


As part of my science center students can reference the class brace map to create their own.  Get a free copy here.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Pattern Block Turkey

On Tuesday I posted about changing my lesson plan for American Education Week. I thought I would a do problem-solving activity using Steve Metzgers book Silly Turkey Party or doing a turkey sorting activity. But I change my mind again... I found this really cute pattern block turkey activity on Chalk Talks blog. Needless to say I got to school extra early this morning to cut out all of the shapes.

I downloaded the template from Heidi song blog here.

They turned out super cute and the kids had fun.





Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Thanksgiving Word Work

Here is one of my favorite word work activities for Thanksgiving.

Sight Word Turkeys


Download the patterns for sight word turkey's on my TpT site. Copy the feathers on a variety of different colors.  Challenge your students to put the feathers in a pattern.


Silly Turkey Party

Happy American Education Week!!! Tomorrow my school is having it's open house and knowing me I am rethinking my lessons for tomorrow.  So instead of doing our next Talent and Development lesson (which to be honest is boring) I have decided to do something turkey related.  Not only do I want to change my lesson but I am exhausted from our field trip today and can't decide what to do.  Here is what I have come up with so far...

Read Steve Metzger's Silly Turkey Party and do a problem solving activity.  Click here for a free copy of the problem solving worksheet. 

OR...

I can have students work in groups to sort Turkey's based on one of their attributes.  Then have them graph their turkey's.  



I am too tired to decide now. I guess will will pick one in the morning. :-) 

Monday, November 18, 2013

Thanksgiving-Good Reads

Here are some of my favorite books to read for Thanksgiving.

We read this book to introduce our Thanksgiving Family Project.  You can download the parent letter and turkey template here.


I love this book to teach kids about traditions.


This is a great book for counting to ten and back again.


These two books are great for comparing Thanksgiving now and Thanksgiving during the colonial days.  Check out Chalk Talk's Then and Now Sort.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Thanksgiving Then and Now

So each year on the day before we let out for Thanksgiving we do a Then and Now rotation to give the kiddos an idea of how Native Americans and Pilgrims lived.

Popcorn-
We start by reading The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola.  Then we use a double bubble to compare popcorn back then and popcorn now.

You can buy popcorn on the cob from many grocery stores for local farms.  Put it in the microwave and cook it for about 1-2 minutes. Stay by the microwave so you can hear it start popping. I also buy a bag or two of popped popcorn from the grocery store so that the kids can try both kinds.


Butter-
At this rotation students get to make their own butter and then spread it on some bread and eat...  To make home made butter you combine 2 oz of whipping cream, a bit of salt, and a marble in a small plastic container.  Glad containers work the best. Make sure the container lid is on the tight.  Then have students start to shake.  Keep shaking until your butter turns to a solid.  Drain off the liquid and spread it on some bread.


Native American Talking Stick-
We start by reading a book about the tradition of the Native American talking stick.  Then students add curling ribbon, beads, and feathers to a stick in order to make their very own talking stick.

Pumpkin Pie-
Start by reading a book about how Pumpkin Pie is made.  Then students get to test a homemade pumpkin pie.  To add some fun students make pumpkin pudding that they can then put on graham crackers to eat.


You can download my Thanksgiving rotations here.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

My Thanksgiving Book

Here is another Thanksgiving Favorite.

You can purchase this book and the pieces to make each page here.







Friday, November 8, 2013

How Animals Move

I have been hard at work planning my National Board Entry 3 lesson. I have decided to do a lesson on how animals move.

We are going to start by reading an article from National Geographic entitled On the Move.

Then students are going to sort different animals by how they move.  We are going to do this using Smart Notebook Software and students are also going to have paper copies in front of them.


To tie in some writing students are going to write about their favorite animal and how that animal moves.  At the top of each paper will be a shape.  This will help me group students to share what animal they choose and how that animal moves.



We are working on our speaking and listening skills in this lesson so at the end of the lesson students will evaluate how they did listening to others and speaking to their group.  You can download my speaking and listening rubric here.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves

So we have done about 3 of these active retelling activities and my kiddos are getting really good at them.  Here is another that my kiddos loved.



You can purchase the large retelling pieces and the student copy of the flow map here.