First off, sorry to everyone who has emailed or commented here lately. My week was beyond crazy so I didn't have a lot of time for blogging....

In 1959, Friedensreich was a guest lecturer in Hamburg, Germany. For his presentation, the artist drew what he thought was the world's longest line. Using paint and markers, he started at the bottom of the wall, and continued the line around all four interior walls of the lecture room. Friedensreich had the help of two assistants in completing the line around the lecture room with the guests observing. The three continued the line overnight, using candles as light since the power was shut off. The next day, the public caught wind of his work and went to see the line in progress. Friedensreich Hundertwasser is an Austrian artist who is known for his use of lines in his paintings, drawings, and prints. The lines in his work display movement and unique personality. I like to show Friedensreich's work when revisiting the element of line with my 4th grade students. In his screen print, "Irinaland over the Balkans," I point out how lines were used to create the texture of the land and movement of the image. And now onto the project! It's a simple one requiring few materials and is easy to work with when pushing a cart or teaching from a an unconventional area (like the gym or library) Materials you will need: -10.5" x 16" white paper -12" x 18" colored paper (for frame) -Pencil -Markers (I use Crayola) I start the project with identification of lines. I show the students the different types of lines, as well as how the thickness of the lines can change the depth of a picture. Here are a few handouts I use with the project (many were borrowed from Pinterest, so I claim no ownership over these printouts): Have your students choose an image of their own to for their project. Make sure the students draw their picture to fill the space! Final note: Make sure students only use dots of glue when attaching the project to frame paper. If students use too much glue, all that hard work will bleed through the paper.

We had a "sweet" time in science today with our big idea on the properties of matter and exploration of reversible and irreversible change. After talking about all the things that represent reversible change, and all the things that represent irreversible change, I decided to surprise the students with a sweet science treat. REVERSIBLE CHANGE... First, I brought out a container filled with Skittles and we made our observations. We noticed that the Skittles were arranged and layered by color. We talked about the pattern of colors in the mason jar. After finishing our observations, I picked up the mason jar, flashed the class my best evil smile, and gave the jar a really good shake... GASP! All that hard work of separating two big bags of Skittles by color, and then carefully layering them in the mason jar for today's science was gone! Now, we had a hot mess of Skittles without any color pattern whatsoever. I asked the students if this was reversible or irreversible change. The answer was unanimous... REVERSIBLE CHANGE! The students explained to me that I could pour the Skittles out, separate them by color (again), and then layer them in the mason jar. They were absolutely correct! IRREVERSIBLE CHANGE... Next, I took a few of the Skittles and dropped them into a glass of water. We observed what happened to the Skittles over the next several minutes. The colors from the Skittles were beginning to spread out into the water, and the Skittles were turning white as the colors dissolved away from them. Once again, I asked the students if this was reversible or irreversible change... and once again, the answer was unanimous... IRREVERSIBLE CHANGE! The students explained to me that I could not remove the colors from the water, put the colors back on the Skittles, and then make the Skittles and water like they were before I dropped the Skittles into the glass of water. Spot on! I couldn't be prouder of my second grade scientists. Of course, once we were done with our exploration of reversible and irreversible change, we got to enjoy our sweet science treat... the Skittles.

Graphing and Data Analysis in first grade can seem daunting but it is actually a really fun math concept because it is so visual. Kids "get ...

Addition and Subtraction Themed Word Problems (within 10) You asked for it and I aim to please! This is an ALL NEW set of 200 themed addition and subtraction word problem practice sheets within 10! Tell me more, please! This packet currently contains fun and engaging practice sheets! Each sheet is like an all-in-one math lesson. For each sheet the student will read the problem (or have it read tot them) and display their answer in a variety of ways: ten frames, picture, number bond, number path, and number statement. You can choose to place these sheets into a math center, use whole-group, or for follow-up practice sheets. This packet requires very little prep for you! Simply print the sheets and that’s it. Inside the file: -100 addition word problems -100 subtraction word problems Themes Included: Animals Apples Beach Cupcakes Dental Earth Day Fall Frogs Insects School Sports Zoo Easter Space Christmas Farm St. Patrick's Valentine's Winter Spring Summer Halloween Thanksgiving Ocean Pets Do you have additional packets like this one? Yes, I do! See the links below! Sums/Differences to 10 Sums/Differences to 20 Sums/Differences to 100 Sums/Differences to 200 If you have any questions at all about this packet please email me at [email protected] Visit my blog Little Minds at Work Follow me on Facebook

An awesome start to the school year for Mount Holly Middle School! Over the summer, MHMS received and processed many new books for our...