Friday, March 28, 2014

SPRING Has Finally Sprung!!

 
YIPPEE! Spring is here! However, it doesn't quite feel like it. We are still having some pretty cold weather but at least it's not that 4 letter word - snow.  Here is our first of many spring projects. It worked out perfect. I had a really cute kite for them to make when this kite just came to me as we were learning about drawing and measuring line segments. The kiddies really loved using the ruler and measuring items throughout the room when it dawned on me that they should draw their line segments on the kites and then fill them in, They turned out really cute and were much easier to do than what I had planned.
 
 
 
I found these awesome eggs on Pinterest one night and then when I went back to them I just can't seem to find where I saw them at. Sorry!! This was one of the easiest Easter eggs we've made. All the kiddies did was use blue painters tape to mark the lines, color it in with sidewalk chalk dipped in water, and let it dry. Once dried I pulled off the painters tape and this is what they turn out to be. So cute and colorful!! I have a bunch of them hanging in the hallway and have had so many compliments on them. If you are looking for an easy egg to make this is it.
 



 
So, here are two more projects we completed this week. Since we are a catholic school we can make these crosses. I gave each of my students a cross pattern and had them color the edges of their cross with oil pastel crayons ( $4.99 for a pack of 24 at Michaels). They then placed the crosses on another sheet of white paper and rubbed the crayons off the cross onto the new sheet. It was very simple to do and they turned out awesome.
 
Now on to our plant unit and a ton of fun planting.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Continents and STEM day!


 
We've been working on our mapping unit these days. It's always a favorite of my classes. I found this project on Pinterest from the Literacyminute blog
 and knew we had to do it. At first I wasn't sure how my firsties would do cutting out the continents so I blew up my copy and they did a great job. Much better than I expected. We also learned the song The Continent Song by Teachertipster on YouTube. It was such a catchy tune my class was singing it all day and all the way down the hall to the lunch room. They were so cute about it and now they can all name the seven continents.
STEM DAY
So have any of your schools been conducting STEM activities? This was the first time our school did it. The kindergarten, first, and second grade classes rotated rooms every 30 minutes and we each had a different activity going on. I found some awesome activities on Pinterest (of course). This is the one we did in my room. How tall of a structure can you build using these tiny cups? (shot glasses but they didn't need to know that) It was perfect for the first time doing this and because we were switching classes all morning. The kids loved it. Some wanted to take the cups home so they could keep building. It was fun and by the end of the day we were all exhausted. TGIF!! 




 
So now on to St. Patrick's Day weekend. As the weather goes here in Chi town Sunday is predicted to be a high of 28 degrees. Perfect for all the parades, huh?! Today was a high of 55 but 2 days ago we woke up to this...
Yuck!! Enough!!
For those who can't fathom all this snow, remember it all has to go somewhere. So needless to say it's melting and sloppy and messy everywhere. Once again, YUCK!!  I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that this is the end of it until next winter. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.


Thursday, March 6, 2014

Top o' the Mornin'

 
St. Patrick's Day is a HUGE deal around here on the southside of Chicago. It feels like the celebrations start on March 1st and runs through March 31st. It's never ending. Here is one of my favorite writing activities we do every year. The kids write about their lucky day.

This is a new one we did this year. The kids wrote about what they would do if they found a pot of gold. I love their answers - buy a castle or spend all the money in Disney World. This project is from Molly over at Lucky to be in First. She has a ton of awesome projects on her TPT sight. 

 
We've also been working on Dr. Seuss projects this week too. My firsties can't get enough of his stories. We went ahead and made these cute cupcakes for him and we listed our favorite Dr. Seuss books on the hats. They turned out really cute. I found these cute cupcakes from Linda Kamp on TPT. Check her out.

 
And finally, this boards sums it up in a nutshell. My favorite second grade teacher came up with this board for our hallway. It's adorable and sooooo true.  
So, the weekend is just around the corner and hopefully so is a little warmer weather so our lovelies can get outside to burn off all their cooped up energy!!