Join fans all over the world as we cheer young readers on to discovering and celebrating who they are! Register Here! Register here for the live #BeWhoYouAreDay virtual event with Todd Parr and Fli…
So, lately my kids have been making some really great observations about numbers. They’ve been noticing patterns in our hundreds chart and they’re pros at skip counting {by 5’s & 10’s, anyway ;)} I really want to start adding the concept of odd & even numbers to our calendar routine, but before I started with …
Y'all. I realized recently that I never shared the finished product of our Todd Parr inspired It's Okay to be Different mural. Which wasn't an accident. It's been on my To-Do list to finish this beast (there are still 140 more selfies that will flank the sides of this bad boy) and when I exhaustedly sighed to my buddy the custodian this evening that I really should stick around and do it, he said, "Eh. Go home and put your feet up. Do it tomorrow." He's a super smart dude so I decided to take his advice and work on it later...but share it with y'all today! When you walk out of my art room door, this is the first thing you see, these silly, happy and different faces! I went through the process of just how the kids, kindergarten through fourth grade, created these painted and collaged pieces in this post so be sure to take a peak! Our inspo was this fun and colorful book. This book is short and sweet and perfect for my various age groups. It also packs a powerful message: it's okay to be different! I try my hardest to stress this, self-importance and uniqueness in my art room. All our lives, we are told to fit in, follow along, do whatever it is that Susie is doing that gets her oodles of praise from her teacher. But just how boring would life be if we were all Susies? You're YOU and nobody else...and that's simply wonderful! Not to mention totes adorbs. As the kids finished off their selfies, I started collecting them and laying them out on a huge roll of paper. We happen to have this 12' wide roll of paper at my school which I've pretty much claimed as Art Room Property. I love using it for murals like these so I can just start hot gluing these guys down. We've done several murals at my school (full list with links below) and I've been asked by a handful of art teacherin' types if the kids are ever sad that they don't often get their pieces returned to them. I explain to them at the start of the project that their handwork will be enjoyed by many for a long time (this piece will probably stay up until the start of the new school year and possibly beyond. I really love it!). I also snapped photos of them to eventually pop up onto ArtSonia so the kids will have the chance to share with family in their online gallery. However...I do have this wild and crazy idea. Once I [finally] get all of the pieces hung, I want to snap a couple of high resolution pics and have their work made into fabric on Spoonflower! AND THEN make a dress from it. Oh, but that's a secret. Don't tell los kiddos. Especially not the dude on the top right. He looks like he's having a bad day already. Big Ole School-Wide Collaboratives and Murals are super fun but, not gonna lie, a whole lotta work. I've shared many of mine in the past. Here's a lil list if you wanna take a look-see: Dot Day Collaboratives (a project for each grade level!) Henri Rousseau-inspired Mural Chalked Ceiling Tile Collaborative Magritte Mural The Johnson Elementary Legacy piece Our School Has Heart Mural Gallery of Gratitude Winter Program Collaborative Monet-Inspired Mural Wishful Winterwonderland Mural Warhol Soup Can Mural Heather Galler-Inspired Mural by first grade Whew! And if you just wanna read more about school-wide collaboratives, get yerself here, kids. And when your done clickin' on all them linky-loos, pop over here, check out these awesome blogs and throw a sympathy vote my way, would ya? Until next time, just remember, IT'S OKAY TO BE DIFFRENT*, er, DIFFERNT ;) [diffrent: when you pay a different rent then you and your landlord agreed upon. "C'mon, man. I told you the rent was $50 a night, not $45. Don't be pullin' no diffrent action!"]
Today I'll be sharing why I think substitute binders are so important and what information you should include in your "sub tub."
Social emotional development is SO important in preschool! Preschoolers have such big emotions and as teachers we need to show them how to handle their big feelings in an appropriate way. My calm down unit has so many solutions and techniques to show preschoolers how to calm down and regain control of their body! Included: -How To Set-up -My favorite calm corner books -I Can Calm Posters (with REAL PHOTOS) -I Can Calm Poster Choice Boards w/cards (REAL PHOTOS) -Calm cards (for book ring) -I Can Calm Header and Cards for pocket chart -20 breathing exercise cards -I Can Breathe Choice Board w/cards -Breathing countdown strips -Trace & breathe posters and strips -Yoga poster and cards -Wall push-up posters (3 skin tones) -Calm down kit labels -Calm down journals -Center signs -I Can Calm Down book Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083571810549
A curriculum developer and teacher who designs lessons & activities to teach common core standards in language arts,math & classroom management.
Students will become odd and even experts with these free odd and even activity sheets! Use them for morning work, math stations or homework practice!
I just completed a little art project with our Grade 1 students using Adobe Ideas iPad App. After reading a few Todd Parr books, Ms Kraus...
This post contains the animated short film "Glued." Download the accompanying handout leveled for upper elementary students to teach theme.
Get organized for the new school year with this Meet the Teacher printable. Personalize it on Canva and showcase yourself to parents in a fun and vibrant way.
This diamond tracing worksheet includes multiple diamonds for your preschoolers and kindergarteners to trace and color too. It's great for shape recognition, tracing skills, and fine motor skills.
These It's Okay to be Different activities help elementary teachers create a bulletin board display featuring students' writing and crafts.
Our continuing Exploration through the Life of Jesus Has brought us to the time when Jesus performs another miracle. JESUS HEALS THE PARALYZED MAN. We added NEW CARDS to our DO You Know? Wall. My Expectation is for the KIDDOS to be able to answer each of these by the end of the lesson. We had two new words to add to our WORD WALL. I chose PARALYZED and FRIEND. We reviewed the WORD AMAZED!! Those are important words for the KIDDOS to understand for this lesson to make more sense to them. Our VISUAL Aid for this lesson was literally made out of a box. I cannot even remember what was originally in the box....but, I knew I needed to keep it because of the nice "VIEWING WINDOW" it had. I'm always thinking, could I use "THIS" in Bible Class....before I throw thing away. I Just decorated the box with paper I had purchased at Dollar Tree....The box already had the plastic front, which made it great for a "DIORAMA." The people were copied out of a copyable clipart book, that we have owned for a really long time. The KIDDOS really enjoyed my using this DIORAMA while telling the story. This is the SONG we learned with this lesson. This song was fun to sing using the paralyzed man on the mat that we used for our review game...the KIDDOS loved "LETTING HIM DOWN GENTLY" as we sang the song. The song can be heard by clicking the following link. "Through The Roof" song--by Ronda Duvall Our MEMORY VERSE was Mark 2:12! To hear the MEMORY VERSE song click on this link. Memory Verse Song MARK 2:12 We Added a NEW Card to our GOD'S AWESOME PLAN FOR MAN Timeline!! The Kiddo's TAKE-HOME project was a Quilt and Paralyzed man with yarn on each corner. The KIDDOS could lay the man on the quilt and lower him down. This weeks REVIEW Game was another Dramatization style game. I would have four KIDDOS answer questions from the lesson....They would then go get a corner of the "mat" and we would lower him down by answering more questions from the lesson. Then we would repeat the process until all the children had a chance to be one of the four friends. As you know, the second week of the LESSON is when we REVIEW. It gives me opportunity to correct any misunderstandings. It also, gives opportunities for the KIDDOS who missed class the first week to "CATCH UP." This is the Week we SAY our MEMORY VERSE from MEMORY and We do an ACTIVITY we add to our EXPLORER JOURNAL. This LESSON'S EXPLORER JOURNAL ACTIVITY was a variation of something I had seen....I just made it on my computer using clipart I have purchased. The KIDDOS added ropes to the four friends hands and colored their "movie strip." These will be placed in the KIDDOS EXPLORER JOURNAL. The KIDDOS take home their EXPLORER JOURNAL at the end of a TOPIC. So, this one will stay in the classroom until we complete our Lessons on the LIFE OF CHRIST. We are enjoying our continuing Exploration of the LIFE of CHRIST. I am enjoying teaching the LESSONS and I know the KIDDOS are loving learning about our LORD! Blessings, Ronda
Looking for hands on alphabet activities for your preschool or kindergarten students? These activities are sure to engage them and help them learn letters.
I spent my Saturday morning at a math institute. I got inspiration for a new game to go with the book Even Steven, Odd Todd by Kathryn Cristaldi after playing the game Dino Blast from mathwire.com. Here it is, ready to play on Monday! Enjoy! Click here to download Even Steven, Odd Todd game.
Learn about people who help us through these COMMUNITY HELPERS FLASHCARDS Free Printable from The Teaching Aunt.
Hey, y'all! I just had to share with you a project that we are about half way through: A big ole self-portrait mural inspired by the artist and author Todd Parr! It's a school-wide effort but currently only my kindergarten through 2nd grade students are finished. Once my 3rd and 4th grade kiddos complete their self-portraits, I'll add them to the mural and be sure to share the finished product with y'all. This unit of study has not only involved creating a colorful self-portrait but also color theory and collage. But I'm getting ahead of myself! Let's talk about the inspo: It's Okay to be Different. Do y'all have this book? It's a super short and colorful read that's perfect for the art room. What better place to emphasize our differences and celebrate them than art class, right?! It's a happy read with a great underlining meaning that the kids really love. And I really love the crazy and colorful result! To walk you through the entire process, lemme tell you how we started. With kindergarten and first grade, that meant this color-mixing lesson and a reading of the book Mouse Paint. Kindergarten created these in one class: read the book, did some drawing together and boom! Mixed up some secondaries. I created a more thorough blog post here. A video of the steps is below. My first and second graders earned a party for their awesomeness and we used our color mixing skills to ice our cookies! If you'd like to know more about this, you can watch this short clippie: Once we'd become paint mixing masters, we created these painted papers! The papers had been pre-folded by yours truly, first in half and then a 4" fold across the bottom. This created two squares and two rectangles on the paper. The kids were instructed to use their knowledge to paint three shapes in the secondary colors and in the last shape, they could paint any color they liked. I loved the colorful result! I need this as some wallpaper, stat! Now, in this NEW video, I'll walk you through our collage portrait making process. I throw a TON of ideas at the kids and let them pick and choose and, of course, come up with their own! I feel like the more ideas you give them, the more confident they will feel that they can make any of their wild and crazy ideas come true. Because I see my younger students for 30 minutes, they spent two days collaging and on their final day they outlined in black paint. In the video, I am using brush painting supplies to help the students keep their "paintbrush ballerina" on her tippy toes. Each portrait was different and, of course, that was okay! Y'all better believe I love that crayon hair clip. I wonder where she got that idea...?! What's cuter than a side pony? Nothing, y'all. Absolutely nothing. For my kindergarten and first grade kiddos, I took a different route. After cluing down the head and ears, these kids created their facial features in black paint. I love the variety that they add to the self portrait mural. Cool glasses, bruh. Love how this kindergartener created his spiked hair and glasses, so cute! And there you have it! I can't wait to see what my third and fourth graders come up with to add to the mural. After this mural, we are on to creating realistic selfies as well. What are some of your fave self portrait lessons? If you need some ideas, I shared some here...but I'd love to hear some more! Lemme know below, y'all!
"Simplify, slow down, be kind, And don't forget to have art in your life - music, paintings, theater, dance, and sunsets."...
Do you Didgeridoo? Making Your Own Didgeridoo I think this post needs a little background about myself and my family before I proceed... Our family is from Washington State (in the US), but we are currently living in Sydney, AU. My husband's job brought us here for three years. While here, I have been fortunate
