Today is the Lunar New Year also known as Tet which is the biggest holiday for Vietnamese people. It is like everyone's birthday, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. Today is also celebrated by other Asian countries such as Korea, Tibet, and China. In Vietnam, it is celebrated for weeks. I
While everyone just finished welcoming in the New Year, my family and I are awaiting another New Year’s celebration. January 28th is the Chinese Lunar New Year and for my Vietnamese family it is Tết . *This post contains affiliate links* I have been talking to my daughter about the upcoming holiday, so over the weekend, we made […]
Today is the Lunar New Year also known as Tet which is the biggest holiday for Vietnamese people. It is like everyone's birthday, Christmas, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. Today is also celebrated by other Asian countries such as Korea, Tibet, and China. In Vietnam, it is celebrated for weeks. I
These Beautiful New Zealand Crafts for Kids will have you amazed and spellbound by this gorgeous country and it's culture!
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any ot…
Celebrate Chinese New year! This free printable Chinese dragon mask or mask to color is perfect for celebrating Chinese new year! There's also absolutely nothing wrong with playing with this one on any other day!
Pintar con las manos es algo estimulante y divertido para tu bebé. No tengas miedo de poner toda la casa perdida de pintura porqué realmente merece la pena qu
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
To begin our inquiry into celebrations around the world, we looked at maps and globes to see how big the world is. We found Ohio on world, maps, maps of the United States and on globes. We read books to show how people live and do things in different parts of the world. We learned that people speak in different languages, eat different foods, have different homes, and different schools. Yet we all love, have friends, families, and have the same needs such as food, water and shelter. I set up an area where they could explore globes, world maps, maps of the United States, and different types of Ohio maps showing cities and lakes, roads and counties. Paper was available to show what they notice and create maps that they see. They were very interested in the compass rose and how it showed what direction North, South, East and West is. I also set up an area where they could explore continents through clay. Some tried to put the continents together to show the world! The kids practiced reading and creating treasure maps in our sand box by hiding "golden nuggets" and creating a map using the pieces in the sand and also on paper. After studying the maps and learning about how people live around the world, we started discussing different celebrations that the kids in our class celebrate. We have friends who celebrate Christmas Diwali, Ramadan, and Kwanzaa so I decided to focus on those traditions most. We started with Diwali. It is a beautiful celebration of light! One tradition was creating Rangolies out of colored salt and sand. We watch some videos of some being created and the kids were enthralled! Since I did not have colored salt or sand, the kids made mandalas inspired by the Rangolies we saw! I set up an area for them to explore and create their own mandalas using different loose parts. I added a book about mandalas for inspiration. I was amazed at the beauty they created as they used the math concepts of growing patterns and symmetry to create them. I love when art and math come together! They also crated mandalas using our pattern blocks. They even started using the same math concepts at the easel as they started painting mandalas. I let those who were interested create rangolies out of clay and beans. Many created lovely growing patterns on these also! Mandalas started showing up outside! Some friends collaborated to create the largest one they could with the long grasses drying in our garden! We watched a video that inspired the kids to try to create "Human Mandalas!" They had so much fun with this! Light plays an important part of Diwali. It is a celebration of light defeating darkness. One tradition is lighting small lamps called Diyas. Children who were interested, created diyas of their own using air dry clay and beautiful beads. Another tradition is to create beautiful henna art on their hands. We watched a video showing the use of henna to draw these beautiful designs on a hand and wrist. We have seen henna on some of the hands of our friends in the past. The kids thought it was absolutely beautiful and loved watching this! Inspired by the video, the kids created their own henna hands. I found an old map created by a previous class that was so faded the water had turned pink! We decided to freshen it up and use it to create a display that shows these different celebrations and traditions we are learning about and where they originated. We documented what we had learned about Diwali on the computer together and highlighted sight words we had learned. We noticed "they" popped up a lot so we are focussing on that word right now! It is one of the harder ones for them to remember. I then put out samples of our art to show some of the traditions. This was only the beginning of learning about different traditions and celebrations. We learned about Diwali, but have many more to learn about! We will show you what else we learn in our next post! SaveSave
I lapbook, strumento interattivo per imparare Cos’è un lapbook? Si tratta, semplificando le parole, di un materiale tridimensionale concettuale, un...
One week, 6 kids, and a unit study on Afghanistan. What could possibly go wrong?
If you are planning to study the various countries of the world you are gonna love this free world book!
Create this colorful jellyfish art project with just a few simple supplies and easy chalk pastel techniques. A great ocean art activity kids will love to make!
Create a Vibrant Rangoli using Torn Paper and a FREE Printable Rangoli Craft Template! Tearing paper Crafts are great for Fine Motor Skills!
Celebrate the spirit of the Olympics with these Outstanding Olympic Crafts for Kids! Learn about countries, sports and cheer for your favorites!
Learn about the world from the comfort of your home with a printable passport for kids. Let your child explore different cultures and countries with this fun activity.
Learn about France with this France preschool unit! Activities, crafts, food, songs, etc to give your child a taste of France.
? Celebrate Australia Day for kids on January 26th with these FREE Australia Day Coloring Pages. These coloring sheets are fun for all ages.
6 Australian Animal Craft Ideas | Easy Paper Bag Platypus. Not only do I have a craft for you, but I also have 6 more Australian Animal craft ideas to add to your unit studies.
Check out our creative and cute ways to ask someone to dance a memorable and charming experience that will leave a lasting impression.
To begin with I showed my students a PowerPoint to first show them where Australia is on a map, and then to give them a little background about Aboriginal Australian art - and more specifically their dot art style. We also watched this video clip. We talked about how aboriginal Australian artwork contained a lot of symbolism and was often very stylized (like the images of animals). They also often used an 'x-ray style' when painting animals in their artwork. I gave each of my tables a packet of animal silhouettes that I printed off from online (small enough that they couldn't even try to trace) and asked them to select an animal that they'd like to draw. Students then tried their best at drawing the animal silhouette (with no additional details) on a piece of brightly colored construction paper that they selected. Once the drawing was completed, they cut out the silhouette and glued it onto a sheet of 9" x 12" black construction paper. Then the dot fun began! :) Each table got a palette of different colored tempera paints and a bunch of wooden scratch sticks. Students dipped the scratch stick into the paint and then went to town dotting their papers (you can probably get a good 3 dots before you have to get more paint on the stick). Some students really got into the project and committed themselves to working hard to finish it, while others got impatient with how long the dotting process was taking. I'd say it was a 60/40 split respectively. I love this lesson though - and those students that understood that with commitment comes great reward.. were rewarded greatly with their beautiful results! :)
This was the second project I did with my Grade 7's during our "Art of Japan" unit. They designed their own kimono using a version of a bookmark template found here on the Crayola website. Kimonos are the beautiful traditional floor length robes worn mostly by Japanese women on special occasions. They are very expensive (often exceeding $10,000!) and beautifully patterned. I showed students examples of kimonos and then had them sketch ideas for a pattern in their sketchbooks. Image Source Image Source Each student got a blank template (which I modified from the one on the Crayoyla site) showing a very basic kimono with the robe, body and Obi (the sash). There were lots of Obi-Wan Kenobi jokes during this demo...lol I drew my own simple template and then photocopied it onto regular paper. When I do this project again, I would copy it onto cardstock, as the regular paper was too thin, really. I mean, it worked, but cardstock would be better (more sturdy). Draw your design/pattern in pencil then colour in with colored pencils or markers or watercolours. Students could do any type of pattern they wanted- not only traditional. Here's a camouflage pattern below, for example. Draw a little face. Colouring with markers..... Then cut all the pieces out... The Crayola sheet shows how to fold it all together- I also walked around and helped the kids individually fold it. It's quite simple. Here they are lined up and chilling out against the whiteboard. If you have a laminator, I would laminate them to make perfect bookmarks (and to make them sturdier). Ta da! On display with their 'Cherry Blossom' paintings.
Finish this sentence: You know you are a teacher when_____________________________. For me it is you know you are teacher when you get so excited about a unit or activity that you live and breath it. Right now we are studying space. Since this is the first year I have even thought about it since I had astronomy in high school I have learned a bunch! Even more than that the kiddos are so into it! Here are all the things that I am so excited about and wanted to share with you. Phases of the moon book. I used the die cut to make these circles each kiddo had eight to make the phases of the moon. They turned out really cute. It took a bunch of time but they loved putting it together. I have seen that super cute Oreo project but I wanted something a little less sweet and that would last longer! Here is a youtube video I made to explain the project to my kiddos Here is the unit that I created for my kiddos using the 1st Grade Core Knowledge guidelines. You can check it out in my TpT store. Astronomy Unit You probably have noticed that I live for teaching with technology. I like give the students the experience outside of the classroom and for space I clearly am not Ms. Frizzle! I looked up several great videos on Discovery Education. ( This is a resource I could not teach with out!) The best one I found was A Closer Look at Space:Planets. I could not believe what has changed since I was in school. All of these "new" planets. Then what happened to Pluto and his moon? It is so interesting. This video told us all about it! I have included a ton of space fiction and non fiction in our featured books. I love books! I am such a book worm but this one of the times that the iPad is the best thing ever! Space apps galore! Here are a couple great ones. But honestly there are tons and most are free! My kids are so fired up about space and so am I. I looked for the planets in the sky on my way home from work last night! Then I told everyone who would listen about it. This brings me back to you know your a teacher when____________________. LOL. Next week we will finish the gas giants and then learn about stars! I created a really fun homework assignment for this you can find it here. I hope to ask the school community to loan us some telescopes and have a star night sometime soon!
In our geography studies this year, I have been updating and adding to our printable collection. Today I have a few new and updated printables to
Teaching kids about our world, geography, maps, and more. Kindergarten Social Studies Lessons made easy #kindergarten #socialstudies
6 kids, 1 mom, pretending to be in Morocco all week. This could be interesting.
Use this free Norway mini book to help your kids learn about a Nordic country in your homeschool with a simple activity.
Make these impressive 3D Salt Dough Maps with your kids to learn about and explore geography and landforms in a tactile, hands-on project!
5 fun free printable travel games for kids, especially designed for travel by train. Traditional pen and paper games to play
Documenting my mother's very successful pickle making process.
Learn about the ancient traditions of Samhain, the Celtic New Year.
Looking for ways to create more classroom organization? Try our Preschool Labels for the Classroom! These preschool center signs are free, functional, and fun to use for kids!
