Poetry for Earth Day idea

A big, big thanks to the ladies that commented for the Birthdays Around the World Pack! I was so happy to send this to all three of you and I hope you enjoy!

Last week I downloaded a great little freebie from TpT:

It includes a sweet little poem about our Earth and all the simple beauty it has to offer.
BUT, I did not simply copy the poem and have my kids illustrate the sentences.
That's because we have been working on writing Genius Sentences lately.

So naturally, we used our knowledge and our creativity to expand on the ideas in the poem.
Their job was to take the idea and change it.
Make it fantastically descriptive.
Make it wonderfully thoughtful.
Make it the most amazing poem I've ever read!

They turned out pretty cute.
Just an idea for you.
Happy hump day from Kuwait!
{Is it June yet?}
- Amanda

Some "Smart Art" holiday projects

This cute penguin pattern came from Amy Lemons. 

I made a simple glyph for the students to personalize the penguins.

I whipped up a simple measurement page and then students measured them in centimeters and converted that measurement to millimeters. This worked perfectly with our current Math unit!

Next up:

This snowman idea comes from here.

We created them after reading this cute story.

Actually, we read it on our SmartBoard - thanks to We Give Books, which is a really great resource.

Apparently I live in a desert community where students don't see much snow...haha!

After cutting and gluing they drew some snowflakes, then they drew some more, and then they added the two amounts together to create a snowy word problem. Ta-da!

Tomorrow {our last day!} we have my Oh Christmas Tree! craftivity on deck.

Happy crafting!

- Amanda

Last week fun

Fun or pandemonium? Hmm... Let's just say I'm gearing up for both with some hands-on activities. One I am sharing with you today is a Christmas tree craftivity that can be adapted for a Math or Language Arts extension - a "Smart Art" project. I have included some differentiated activities - story starters, addition and subtraction word problems, and colours practice. Feel free to download it from Google Docs by clicking below - I'd love to see if your students create these :)

It's funny - living in a Muslim country we aren't supposed to really "do" Christmas, but all of the malls here are playing festive tunes and have decorations to the max. Also, every time I say "winter break," my kids say "Christmas holiday time," so I though I'd make it all a wee bit educational :)

- Amanda

PS - Also available here on TpT and here on TN.

Earth Day

I'm sure many of you have seen this idea hopping around the blog world... I'm going to give it a shot on Sunday with my class!

Listen to the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Ask the students to visualize what they hear. Have them illustrate portions of the lyrics using the following file. I separated the lyric lines so each of my 22 students will have one page. If you have more, you could have the extras make "complimentary" art to work with the theme. Or draw the entire song in one scene. Anyway, hope someone can use it! Click the title below to download all 22 pages.

- Amanda

Still crafting!

Today we made our butterfly lollipop holders. They're pretty darn cute, too. What Valentine's Day craft is not cute, though? All those hearts and pastel colours...

All that is left to add is the sweet little treat {for the butterfly's head} and the friendly greeting.

Templates:

Butterfly lollipop gift - main

Butterfly lollipop gift - hearts

On a completely non-teaching related note, a big thanks to Nine West for the great additions to my shoe family:

I took the black pair out for a test drive on Friday night - little too much dancing maybe for four inches. But, come on, how cute?!

Happy almost-Valentine's Day!

- Amanda

Valentine's Day Crafting

I spent way too much of my Saturday morning creating templates and examples for the Valentine's Day crafts we worked on today! I have to say, though, they turned out pretty great!

One of my team teachers had a cute little idea to make paper bag card holders. I saw these puppets

 here and decided to make the giraffe and the bear. I used Word and my good friend HB to make the giraffe template, so that one is not the most professional looking thing...whatever. I printed the templates on coloured paper to make life a whole lot easier! {I love teaching Art but find it stresses me out ha!} Just make sure the kids glue on the words so they don't show on the finished product.





Giraffe Templates:

Giraffe inner ear, nose and ossicones {Yep, I had to Google "giraffe antlers or horns" to find the actual name - ossicones!}

Giraffe head and ears {Not too pretty, but it works.}







Bear Templates:

Bear ears and nose

Bear inner ear and mouth































The last craft we will create is the cute little butterfly lollipop gift that I'm sure you've seen fluttering around the blogosphere lately. We will be exchanging these after randomly drawing names so that each of the grade two classes can participate in a little gift-giving. Fun!

I'm looking forward to reading about all of the other great ideas teachers are sharing about their class Valentine's Day creations! Here's hoping checking out blogs doesn't become an unhealthy obsession...

- Amanda

A Mish-Mash {after a looooong break from blogging thanks to reports!}

Have I mentioned yet how much I love Math centres? I love them. I love finding great activities and seeing the finished products in my classroom. I love the independent learning. I love the chance to focus on differentiation. I love the chance to work with small groups. I try to do Math rotation three times a week {when my 6-day rotation schedule allows for double Math periods}, and I am happy to say that my students are all getting the hang of it. Most of them.

I have a few little friends that are not keen on following instructions or participating in their group's activity, and so I
kick them out have them work in another classroom. I know, I probably shouldn't be doing this. And I'm sure my team teachers don't love having the extra student in their room. BUT, let me explain. We have been working in Math centres for over two months now. I have discussed with the students over and over how we need to act/learn/talk/participate during centres and why. I even have a centre time rubric that I use with them! They all know what it means to get a level four and how to actually get there. I reward great behaviour constantly - I'm big on positive reinforcement. I have taken the few students that {on occasion} refuse to participate and discussed with (there it is again!) them why they are in school, why they should participate, how their behaviour affects others, yada yada yada, blah blah blah. It's the same few students and it's the same conversation. I've even spoken to some parents about this! So, they get a simple worksheet, one I know they can complete independently {like a 100 chart fill-in} and I march them to the next grade two room where they will sit to complete the work.

Fair or a cop out? I'm interested to hear some opinions. {I should add that I ALWAYS tell the misbehavers that I really really really WANT them in my class - that I think they have a lot to learn independently, that they have a lot they can teach their group, and that I KNOW mistakes happen. I stress the second chance factor.}

Anyway. I grabbed an idea from Erica Bohrer's blog to practice word problem solving that works along with my mini-unit on penguins. My group seems to struggle with deciding when to add and when to subtract, so I'm trying to make the skill a little more hands-on. {This despite the fact that we do a simple word problem Every Single Day as bell work AND that I have addition and subtraction key word posters hanging up!} Here is how their super-cute addition problems turned out. Love them!





I will be adapting another idea I found on Kinder Hoppenings to create a subtraction Valentine's craft for the next round of centers. We are going to use cut-out decorated heart "cookies" on a doily on a bright red paper plate.

Click HERE for the word problem PDF I made to match, three per page.



{Watch out, there's another blog coming up  in about.... fifteen minutes!}