Calendars

December 21, 2016
Every year we make calendars to help bring in the New Year.  Depending on the year and things going on, I sometimes have my students make these calendars the week before Winter Break, sometimes the week after we've come back.

As a class, we fill out the dates and holidays for each month.  We do 2-3 months each day.  After we fill out each month, the students spend about 5-10 minutes getting started illustrating something that happens during that month. 


Then at the end of the week, I give the students some time to add details and complete the illustrations for each month. 

The students LOVE these and always talk about them hanging up in their homes.

If you want a copy, feel free to get it here.
Andrea Sign

Wrapping It All Up

December 17, 2016
 Some fun Winter themed activities that we've been doing...

After learning all about snowflakes in science, we made these snowflakes that the students could hang at their home - on their tree, wall decor, whatever works for them! 


In math, we learned about how wrapping paper is made up of patterns.  We then made wrapping paper that they could take home to wrap their gifts in.


Before Winter Break, I give the students these gifts of crayons and an activity book filled with things that can help keep them busy over the break (and to help prevent any Winter slide).

Andrea Sign

"Snow" better gift!

December 17, 2016
This year we made snowman magnets as gifts from the students to their parents for the holidays.  This activity only took about 10-15 minutes and they all ended up super cute!! The students all decorated them their own way and then put a picture of themselves where the purple frame is on my example.

I've been searching for the best Holiday gift and I think this is one that I will repeat for ages!! 


Andrea Sign

All About The Wampanoag

November 11, 2016
 When we learned about the Pilgrims at the beginning of this month, we also learned about the Wampanoag tribe.

One activity we did was complete an "All About the Wampanoag" book.  Basically we would read about a new topic of the Wampanoags and/or do an activity with that topic.  Then we wrote some things that we learned about the topic.  

The first topic we do is about their homes.  We complete the note taking page & what we want to write together as a class.  We do the illustrations too.  


We then do another topic.  This time I share with the class what I would write and illustrate but then they get to choose their own facts & pictures to write based on what they learned. 


 If you want a copy of this book, you can get it here.

In the Spring, we have a research unit.  I like to do this Wampanoag book as a way to prepare for that research project. 
Andrea Sign

Two Peas In A Pod

November 07, 2016
Today we read a class favorite and as we were reading we were reminded of our own likes & dislikes. 

After reading, we talked about how Little Pea doesn't like to eat candy.  We then shared one thing we do not like.

We also thought about what Little Pea does like and what we like. 


Andrea Sign

C'est la vie!

November 03, 2016
Each month, I host an after school club.  This club meets once a week for about 30 minutes and we spend time learning all about cultures.  Last month, October, we learned all about the French culture!

We started by learning all about French landscape - how it is known for the beautiful flowers and gardens.  We learned that a lot of people like to chat, picnic, read, relax, and even paint in the gardens.  We learned about once famous painter in particular: Claude Monet, who painted one particular place in France over 200 times!
Add some finger painting, remove the tape, and Voila! 

The next week we learned about the Love Lock Bridge.  We then went on a scavenger hunt around our school for love locks.  We ended up finding some french chocolate at the end of our hunt!

The 3rd week we learned that each country has their own flag.  We then created the French flag.  This year we put our flags on popsicle sticks and folded them on the lines so they looked like they were waving. 

Here are pictures of the ones we made last year (I apologize it is upside down...the flag's colors are blue, white, then red).  

Last year, we did not do the scavenger hunt.  Instead, we talked about the shape of each country and made our own shape of France & got to decorate it however we liked - some kids drew flowers, some drew the French flag [correctly ;)], etc! 


We then ended our learning adventure by making French nutella & banana crepes.  We learned what a crepe is, the different types there are, how they are made, and how to fold a crepe. 

Throughout the month we also learned these French words!
  • Bonjour - Hello
  • Je m'appelle - My name is
  • J'adore - I love 
  • Je voudrais - I would like
  • Au revoir - Good bye
  • Merci - Thank you
  • L'eau - water 


Andrea Sign

Life Of A Pilgrim Child

November 02, 2016
Today we learned all about the Life of a Pilgrim Child.  The lessons we did happened to be an extension of the last post, BUT I have done these as stand-alone activities before.

We started off today by reading some of our favorite Pilgrim books.
If I had a copy, I would have also read the book "Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy" by Kate Waters.

Then we added to our pilgrim boy and girl venn diagram.

We then went back into our character roles that we did as part of our Mayflower lesson which you can find here.  

To refresh your memory: we finished watching the first 10 minutes of Charlie Brown Mayflower Voyage and they are now at the part where they are about to get off the ship & explore the New World. 

I told the students that before they can get off the Mayflower and explore the New World (w/ Charlie Brown), they had to write an expert piece about children living in Pilgrim times.

After they finished their writing, they created themselves as a pilgrim boy/girl.   

You can get the pilgrim writing paper & templates here.
Andrea Sign