Is it REALLY November already?! Let me just say that October flew by with work, life, and party planning! I always throw a huge Halloween party for my girls, and this year...it was awesome! Sooo, even though I have had things to post about, I truly haven't had much time to sit down. I don't know about any of you, but I'm the type of person that is a little OCD and gets lost in the details. I can't just blog about nothing, unless it's a super quick spare of the moment giveaway! Soooo, you're going to get caught up in this post that's sure to be filled with pictures and the business that is my life right now. :) WHERE DO I START?! I'll introduce you to my giant plant and animal cells I created for our hallway! I LOVED how they turned out and they always made me smile as approached my classroom. :) They accented my students' cell labeling projects. These were super simple and quick to make. I just drew them and painted them. The eyes were created from paper plates, at the suggestion of one of my coworkers...great idea! I made the arms, legs, and mouth from black construction paper, and the shoes were a group effort between myself and the same coworker that gave me the idea for the eyes. :) It's nice to have another creative mind around! Here are some samples of the student work that was around my super cell figures! Okay, let's see..what can I show you next? Let's look at what we are doing during our Daily 5 time! Which, I have to be honest...this is the first year that I started implementing Daily 5 into my classroom and I know the "sisters" would not approve! I am still ironing out the details...but for me, it's a GREAT option to incorporate into my weekly Reading routine AND the kids LOVE it!!! This is our small group time. I call up my students in groups of four and five and work with them on various Reading and Language Arts skills. I have even done this for Math, and I have to be honest...it's wonderful! Our classes are typically somewhere between 23-26 students, so to break that down and focus on individual needed skills...goooooood stuff! We also work on our Interactive Reading Journals, thanks to Nicole Shelby. :) LOVE them! Here's a look at our Daily 5 centers... You'll see that we get quite comfortable in my room. Pretty much anything goes as far as where they want to sit to work on what they're doing. These girls are PARTNER READING under my front table. I make sure that they are checking for comprehension after each page. Their discussions are really wonderful...very proud of them! Read to Self...enough said, lol. Tooo cute!! I PROMISE that I didn't make any of them pose for this...I found them like this and of course they wanted to giggle when they saw me with my camera! Love my kids. My girls are a little more serious. :) Word Work...this is done using my Interactive Writing Center. I WILL NEVER not use this! It's working out so well and has really created a great way for my kids to experiment and create so many different kinds of writing! Here's a super small sample of what comes with my center! Word Work... I use our weekly spelling words for this part of the Daily 5. My kids do SOOO much with this one! Three things that we do are use the magnetic letters to spell the words. Another thing that we do is use ABC letter beads to string the letters and create words onto pipe cleaners (this is their favorite...)!! They also have dry erase packs to write one and wipe off their words, while their partner quizzes them. I don't have my Listen to Reading center up and running yet. I'm still working on this one! (I told you it wasn't perfect. oh well! We make it work!!) I'm waiting for my students' stories to be loaded onto a disc and my classroom computers just got fixed this week. This will be coming soon!! Let's interrupt school time with a weekend at the lake... I love my family. I loved my time at the lake...we all know that as teachers, we all need a little R&R! Okay, back to work!! Let's just start by saying that I LOVE technology! There are a couple of things that I can't get enough of...my Smart Board AND my Hovercam! My kids use the Smart Board all the time to do interactive academic games. Learning has become so much fun!! No child should ever say "I don't want to go to school." School is wonderful...here are a couple of my kiddos "playing." Here are some anchor charts that I created during a mean, median, mode, and range lesson. I will be loading a great freebie activity this week that you guys can grab that went along with this. It's SO MUCH FUN!! I also have a great interactive PPT that I did, as well. Tepee TiMe!!!! During our time studying Native American tribes, my kiddos learned about Plains Indians. We talked about the nomadic Plains Indians and their use of tepees for shelter. I create a tepee each year and teach my students about Native American symbols and sign language and how these were forms of communication for each of the tribes. They get to choose a Native American symbol that they feel best represents themselves and then paint it onto the side of the tepee. They LOVE it! I use this as a reward in my classroom. They can't wait to see who gets to go into the tepee each day! We are also working on Native American calendar robes. Here's a peek at my students working on those... PROUD... I spent some time seeing two of my students doing something that they LOVE! One is an avid dirt bike racer and the other is fabulous at 4-H! It was so much fun spending time with them outside of school. I also had a girl from my class travel all the way to the Alamo in Texas to compete in a national shooting competition! Way to go, kids! I think that will be all for now! Be sure to follow me for future posts on what's going on in my classroom. :) I hope you liked my fall "catch up" post! Goodbye for now!! ONE MORE LITTLE THING FOR.....YOU!!! STOP OVER TO MY FRIEND MEG'S BLOG! You can enter an UNBELIEVABLE giveaway that I am thrilled to be a part of! It's five days of amazing opportunities to win some great prizes!
Check out these fun activities from Award Winning Author/Illustrator Jarett Lerner to do at home or in the classsroom. Includes comics, drawing, and more.
Build a Heart Model - STEM activity about heart rates and how blood flows through the body. Engineer a functioning model of a beating heart.
Rubber band helicopters are easy and fun to make. Learn how you can make one a home, and learn tips to really make them fly!
This friendship wheel art project for kids is a great way for kids to get to know each other and learn about each other interests.
Today, I made my favorite crock-pot recipe, Crock-pot Apple Pie. I love this dessert recipe because I get to use my food storage and crock-pot to produce yumminess. You'll need: 5 cups de-hydrated apple 5 cups water 6 tablespoons sugar For Strudel 2 cups regular rolled oats 2 cups packed brown sugar 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup butter Mix apples, water and sugar in crock-pot. Mix all the strudel ingredients in a bowl. Stir 1 cup into the apples. Sprinkle the rest of the strudel on top of the apples. Put on high for about 2 hours, till most of the water is gone. Take lid off for 15 minutes. I love to top mine with ice cream and enjoy.
The kitchen is one of the best places to learn. This post has loads of fun Kitchen Science Experiments for kids to learn and explore!
so it was spring break! whoopie. I thought I would send the kids outside and get some freaking peace some cleaning done. it snowed. and it was cold and windy. Idaho really stinks sometimes. so I thought I had better think fast and come up with some outside games that could be done inside. hopscotch.
We have been experimenting a lot with watercolors lately. Something about seeing the colors mix and blend together is incredibly satisfying! I also love that there are so many watercolor painting ideas for kids out there that are easy and also look stunning. That's a win-win! If you have a little artist on your hands,
Discover the process of dyeing with this Natural Dye Pulling (Tie Dyeing) DIY. This project is great to do with kids and is part of our Kids Lab series.
Holy moly. We may have just found the DIY to end all DIYs.
Try watercolor techniques for children including salty watercolors, watercolor resist methods, and printing. Great for quiet and calming art sessions!
Just turn on the news and you can find dozens of things to worry about on any given day. It's no wonder our students are coming to school with anxiety and fears that are keeping
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
How to turn a lazy susan into a piece of "spin-able" art!
The Monday after Halloween was all about coming down from a sugar high! Before the thoughts pass me by, I wanted to share what we did for our monster week! Throughout the week, we did three
This type of animal fits comfortably into a pocket or pencil case, won't make a peep during class, and is easy to take care of: It doesn't need food or water, and it never gets fleas.
Galaxy Jars DIY, easy way to create a galaxy in a jar and all its wonder in your hands, use tutorial to make Nebula necklaces and other sensory calming jars
Get crafty and learn how to make your own telescope with your kids! Get crafty and build your own diy telescope to check out the stars, look for animals, and more!
A tutorial that teaches you how to dye pasta. Use this to create pasta crafts for kids.
Kids will love using cotton balls to create this gorgeous cherry blossom painting! A wonderful spring art project for kids of all ages. Free printable branch template included.
Looking for a fun way to spice up your Valentine's Day? This printable Adult Cootie Catcher Bedroom Game is just right!
Have you been following along with Sew Ready to Play at I'm Feelin' Crafty? It's a fun series with sewing projects inspired by board games (and other childhood games). Pokemon has been a popular one in the series this year, but I'm going old school - back to basics - the classic board game...
Veronica has a love-themed family night idea for you today, because what else does February have going for it besides Valentine's Day?! Check it out!
Pioneer Living and Cloth Dyeing (Hands-on History)
How to help a speech delayed child | From speech therapy activities to PECS communication boards, we’ve rounded up 32 tips & activities to get you started!
Creating windy day winter sky art is an easy painting idea, science experiment, and fun STEAM project activity for kids or adults.
Cuddle fabric, sometimes called Minky, is a soft fabric that is great for baby items. Get tips on how to work with this fabric as well as project ideas.
Check out how much you can do with a pool noodle! These pool noodle crafts and activities are fun, eco-friendly, and unbelievable.
We are currently doing a short study of the human body. We recently finished up our unit on the Brain and Nerves, and here are some of the activities we did and resources we used.
