Easter Show and Tell

Tonight my Kindergartener had such cute homework.  His teacher gave each child a plastic egg.  They had to fill the egg with an item and then describe it giving three clues.  Then, on Friday when everyone has their eggs filled they will read their clues and the class will take their guess.  Too stinkin' cute!  I love it, so I made it a bit more cutsie.  Click here for the family page explaining the assignment!  Enjoy!

Poetry Month-Fractions of Me!

One of my co-workers had this fabulous math book with ideas and it had this in it.  I love doing this project in April because of poetry month and during our fraction unit! My students make a rectangle in their math journals and draw lines so they end up with 6 boxes. They have to decide what makes them up. Since it's cut into sixths here is an example...1/6 of me is a daughter, 1/6 of me is a soccer player, etc. They fill all boxes as a prewriting activity.  Then I have a final copy paper that they fill in and write sentences abot what makes them a whole.   Next,  they create arms (sentence strip), hands from the ellison machine, they create pants/skirt, and cut out a head. They always come out so cute!!!

Recyclebot

This is one of my all time favorite projects!  My second grade team last year had our students make a Robots out of Recycled materials for Earth Day.  It was super cute and the kiddos had so much fun.  I got this idea from my niece when she was in kindergarten when they were studying the letter "r".  We then had our school come vote for their favorite robot.  The winner from each class won a Terracycle item in honor of Earth Day.  We had the kids vote because our school budget was also that day.  The kids went home with a sticker son their shirts that said, "I voted today, Did you?"  It was a reminder for parents to vote!  This was a fantastic display in the second grade hallway and it even made it into the newspaper! Click HERE for the parent letter.

What can we do with all of these eggs?

 Well the boys and I got out our Easter items and we had tons of plastic eggs.  I was thinking we should make something out of them, so that's just what we did.  I made a grammar center for my classroom to review all of the skills they have learned so far.  Since I am on maternity leave I will have to wait to use it next year.  My boys wanted to get in on the action, so I made a game for both boys.  My 5 year old wanted me to write addition facts and he had to match them up to their sums.  Then my little guy had to match up the correct letter with each other.  Here are some pics of how they came out!

Do you have any ideas what to do with plastic eggs?  This is super easy and CHEAP!  You can get 24 eggs at the Dollar Tree and you can also find an Easter basket there.  Click HERE here to get the Recording Sheet!!

Calling all Authors!

I love doing Author Studies with my students and some of my favorites are Jan Brett, Steven Kellogg, and Eric Carle!  That's why I was so excited yesterday when I found a fabulous book at The Christmas Tree Shop.  The best part about it was the price...$2.99.  Can you believe that?!  It will be a great introduction to many author studies.  This is how each author in the book is presented.

Check out a classbook cover for Kevin Henkes on TPT.  I use this for the cover of a packet while I am doing the author study on him and then I laminate one copy and make a classbook of my students' writing during the study.   I also made one for Marc Brown.  Click here for an Eric Carle Worksheet that you can use to compare different books that are read during your study.

Is your school GREEN?

About three years ago I discovered an awesome organization called Terracycle.  It is an organization that uploads items that would normally go to the landfill and makes them into new products.  The concept is wonderful.  It helps eliminate waste as well as earn cash for my school.  It's a win, win situation!  To get started visit their website and sign up for brigades that fit your school's needs.  My school is currently collecting juice pouches, chip bags, Elmer's glue, gum wrappers, tape dispensers, and writing instuments.  We have bins in our lobby for the non-food items and a container in our lunch room that I won through Donorschoose.org.  I will be blogging about that soon!  Last year during April in honor of Earth Day we gave away Terracycle items through a raffle to our student body.  You can find their products at Target, Wal-Mart, and their website!  They are super cute and well made.  Our biggest brigade that we collect is juice pouches and to date we have collected over 32,000 pouches.  Even though it's only 2 cents per item it really does add up and help the environment!  Check it out!  Is anyone else's school involved with Terracycle?  If so, does your school do anything neat with it?

Watch these YouTube Videos!!

Terracycle YouTube 

Terracyle YouTube #2

Our school has been so awesome, we have gotten 2 awards from Terracycle and the frame is made out of old Capri Sun pouches!!  A shout out to Gill Franklin who collects, organizes, and ships all of the juice pouches, chip wrappers, and cookie wrappers!! You rock Gill!! 



Bump Board

Bumping someone in my classroom is an ultimate favorite for my second graders.  I reserved a small section of my bulletin board for our "Bump Board".  In the beginning of the year I tell my students that I am looking for four super star papers.  Work that is neat, their best work, and of course has their name on it can be in the running to go on our Bump Board.  Once I choose 4 papers I call each child up to hang their papers.  They are so proud as their classmates clap and their masterpieces get to hang proud!!  Then, whenever I come across a paper, test, writing assignment, etc. that is fabulous I call them up and they get to bump someone off.  Before implementing this we talk about not getting upset when their paper is bumped off and to be a good sport.  I have been using this for the past 3 years in my room and have never had a negative issue with it.  It is super easy to implement and it doesn't cost anything to make it. 

Here is a picture of mine...

Bump Board Sign