Our Community Construction Project is causing a lot of excitement this week during first grade social studies. Before spring vacation, the class learned about the concepts of needs and wants within…

We learned about Russian architecture, and Sebby (especially) just LOVED the Russian Orthodox churches---especially St. Basil's Cathedral. He devoured every scrap of information we could get about it. So I thought and thought about how we could possibly make our own onion-dome models. The only ideas I could find online were just 2-D or involved modeling clay, which I didn't have on hand (and didn't want to buy). I spent hours trying to think of a solution, because I just felt like we HAD to do this. Finally I found instructions for making these paper ornaments, and I thought the beads and curls on top of them looked sort of like Russian Orthodox crosses: This type of ornament is pretty easy to make, but it did take much trial and error before we really figured it out. Our biggest problem was trying to use wire and ribbon to lace the strips of paper onto. It was just too slippery and the paper wouldn't stay put. Once we started using pipe cleaners, it became MUCH less frustrating for everyone. Abe and Seb were able to make the "domes" with no help from me (after the first ones). Malachi could help me fan out the paper and choose the beads and slide them on. Daisy just watched and TRIED to do things. :) So, we just made a bunch of the round paper ornaments on pipe cleaners with beads on top. (You can slide the papers up and down the pipe cleaners to adjust the curvature of your domes.) We left long tails on the pipe cleaners so we could string them through the toilet paper tubes to form towers. Then we taped the towers on top of boxes to make the cathedrals. Abe's model I think these models turned out really awesome, but I should point out that for Sebby, their accuracy was not really sufficient. He first of all really wanted to make his favorite dome, which he calls the "Peppermint Dome" (you see it prominently in the picture below): One of one-million depictions of the cathedral that Sebby drew I told him we didn't have a way to make horizontal stripes, only vertical ones, and that would have to be close enough. He tried steadfastly to come up with a way: but he wasn't satisfied with this, so he reluctantly conceded that point. Then, he was unhappy with the shape of our (mostly spherical) domes. They did not, as he pointed out several times, have the characteristic of "convex, then concave" that true onion domes exhibit. (Neither do the domes of the Taj Mahal, which makes them less appealing, Sebby opines.) We had another book which showed how onion domes were constructed, with vertical struts inside and overlapping shingles on the outer supports. Seb tried to construct a "true" onion dome using this book as reference, with the result below: This looked good, but it was very time-consuming, and Seb was unable to come up with a way to cover the outside so it could be decorated. So, in the end, he settled for the original version. And he did try to stay as faithful to the real colors as possible (though he was forced to adapt them somewhat). He also made a taller support to more accurately depict the middle gold dome. And he was pleased with the results. But he couldn't help saying to me wistfully several times, "I wish we could have made REAL onion domes for our models . . . " Poor guy.

The wise man and the foolish man-March Week 1 Come Follow Me, Individuals and Families! Fun lesson and craft to share the Wise man and the foolish man story from the scriptures! Week 1-February 25- March 3rd-Fun Activity As promised this month for the March Come Follow Me for Families and Individuals I am switching...Read the Post

It’s THAT time friends. Time to cut, peel, detach from, take off our pajama pants, brush our unkempt hair, and smear on the lipstick (who are we kidding) chapstick. Back...

These free community helper sort and classify mats are so much fun for kids learning about people who help us! These mats come in two styles, blank mats

Teacher friends, Looking for a fun (and educational) way to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day with upper-elementary students? It’s typical for students to begin losing focus in the classroom, especially during holidays. Real learning does not have to go out the window just yet, you just have to mask it such a way where it doesn’t quite seem like learning

Hi! I had mentioned committing to posting my centers each week but I have been on the struggle bus with my blog lately! Some of these cen...

We love playing and learning using a pet theme!! This week for "Camp Mom" we'll be sharing playful learning activities each day based on our favorite pets- dogs, cats, fish, etc. We'll also be sharing even

Today is a lovely simple idea. We will be using a tracing page that has bubble like letters to make a collage! Items that will work for a collage: crepe paper (as displayed) sequins small

Hello Everyone! Thanks for stopping by to take a peek! Today I worked on updating our beginning of the year social studies unit, "Me and My School."In this unit we discuss the purpose for rules, who the leaders are around us, what some good rules are, what happens when we don't follow rules, etc. One great book I love to use during this unit is David Shannon's "David Goes to School." If you don't have this book yet, it is a must! Kids love this book and can totally relate to the cute little main character, David! This little unit has some poetry, some thinking maps, a group anchor chart to make with your kids, and a quick little craft connection. Here are some pics.  A poem for our Poetry Folders! Anchor Chart Have kids make their own David. A simple circle pattern is included in unit. Let them go from there!! :) For your free 18 page mini unit, click here!! :) I hope you can use some of these ideas! Next Stop? "Me and My Community!" Coming right up!! Thanks for stopping! As always, if you need anything, just holler! Leave me a message or e-mail me! Till then, look for the joy in everything! Joyfully! Nancy

Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite books! It is so motivational and inspiring and talks about the ups and downs of life. This is a favorite writing craftivity that I like to do with students after reading and discussing the book. Materials Needed: paper plates tissue paper cut […]

We started a new unit in math this week on length. I *love* teaching measurement- it's so much fun and interactive and the kids always get into it too! In kindergarten we focus on nonstandard and comparative measurement. We watched this fabulous "Sid Science Kid" clip about measurement and then put the ideas to practice! I had a student lay on the carpet and we talked about lining up the edges of our "unit" without leaving spaces. The black towers of cubes are laid down so that my volunteer would know where she needed to line up her feet next. Then, as kids always are- they were curious about how many cubes our carpet was long. They could have gone on ALL day measuring with them! The next day I had my students work with their table groups to compare pieces of string. Each child had a piece of yarn. The brown yarn was the piece that we compared against. We are really working on using language such as "longer than" and "shorter than" and being able to justify our answers. I found this fabulous page from Maria at Kinder-Craze and my kids practiced independently using it. It was a hit! I love how simple it is and it's a quick check for understanding. Hopefully I will be back to you this weekend with the rest of our week in Math!

Remember me? Sorry I've been so neglectful. But I'm back for Five for Friday tonight. I can't say I've been doing anything very impor...