Plants and a Sale!

As we gear up for open house (yep... only a few weeks from now), we have begun our plant and animals unit! I like this science unit because it is filled with experiments, investigations, projects and research :) All my FAVES!

We kicked off this week with the parts of the plant, what they need and how they get it. I made a quick anchor chart with the kiddos. I drew and labeled the flower and tree. The kids drew the pics for what they need :)

After we do the anchor chart the kids make a similar version in the science journals. We also added this sheet to our journals to compare the two types of plants! Click to HERE download!

We began our first experiment...

After reading a few books and comparing the roots to straws, stem to a freeway, and leaves to a factory the kiddos were ready to make their flower flippers!

Its like a giant flip book! The kids and I come up with sentences to describe what it is that each part of the plant does. Then they choose the way that they like the best and write in under the plant part!

Add a little tissue paper to the center of the flower and tad-ah! They are resting on the carpet momentarily, but soon they will be up on the wall... I just have to bring myself to take down their amazing Cat in the Hats!

A directed drawing lesson that I did with them for Dr. Seuss' Birthday! They did such an amazing job :)

We will finish up plants next week and dive into animals! I can't wait :) 

In honor of the holiday weekend I am participating in:

Get 20% off my favorite 5 products! It's going to be hard to choose... You'll have to hunt for them in my TPT Shop! Have fun :)

Happy Saturday!

America Rocks and It's spring Break!

The last couple of weeks at school have been CRAZY! Hence, the lack of blogging... But I wanted to share what we got done!


We spent a whopping 6 weeks (yep, you read it right) on my I Love America Unit! I L.O.V.E. this unit! And my kiddos always do too! I stuck to my traditional unit (you can read more about it HERE and purchase it HERE) with the Top Secret Investigation and study of symbols, monuments and heroes. This years' posters and presentations were classic :) I just love their drawing of the Bald Eagle!

But this year I added a little extra... My new school is just jumping with kiddos that love the arts. And the teachers, including myself, aim to please :) So this year I purchased a musical form Bad Wolf Press called American Symbols. Have you ever used one of their musicals? They are SUPER cute and soooo easy to put together.

Anywho... I assigned each kiddo a part, sent home lyrics and music, made "costumes", and spend 10 min every day for 4 weeks practicing! It was a blast! We did a dress rehearsal for a neighboring class and a big morning production for our parents. Since I had never done anything like this before, I had NO idea what to expect, but it was AWESOME! Here are some pics from out big production...

I made hair bows for the girls and bow ties for the boys :) These were paired with plain white t shirts!

dollar tree plastic tables cloths make the perfect backdrop :)

And of course... an American Flag cupcake cake for their cast party!

 I also added a new lap book. My kids and parents really enjoyed the keepsake-ness of the apple lap book, so it was only natural to create one for this unit too. It was a little much to do the whole 6 week unit,a lap book and a musical... But if I was strapped for time... a lap book would be the WAY TO GO! It takes about two weeks and its all done! Great for teachers that are short on social studies time :) Here are a few picks of a finished lap book:

If you haven't done your America Unit yet and are looking for something easy and quick, you can pick up my lap book HERE!

I love my class, but I am SOOO glad to be on spring break! There are a few pinterest projects waiting to be done :)

Have a great Monday!

Let's Go Shopping!

Hi All!

Sorry for the hiatus... I'll get to that later.

But first Shopping! I L.O.V.E. to shop and all my kiddos know it! So, what better way to culminate our double digit addition (without regrouping) unit than with a little shopping!

Over that past few weeks I have been collecting empty food containers and boxes. I wish I had taken a picture of the giant pile of clean, I repeat it was clean, trash sitting in the corner of my room. And about half way through collecting it took everything I had not to cancel the activity because I couldn't take the trash any more!! But I pushed on and it was well worth it!

After three weeks of working on double digit addition (our math program spirals, so each unit takes longer than a normal text book) I set up our classroom store with all of the "goodies" the kids brought in.

All of that was sitting the the corner of my room!! Bananas!! LOL

 After I set up the store I tagged each item with a small round sticker that had the price. Most things needed to be less than 44 cents so the kids wouldn't need to regroup, but I stuck a couple of sevens and fives in anyway!

Each table of items had a generic label so the kids could fill out the receipt. I matched the colored price tag dots to the colors above.

Because I have 21 kids, I had 7 cashiers/check-stands, 7 customers, and 7 courtesy clerks. This way there were 7 groups of three and they could all easily switch jobs when the time came. But you could do what ever works for you. 

 The cashiers' desks were along the front of the room. The clerks stood nearby to return the merchandise and the shoppers made their rounds. They could buy only two things at a time, but it could be any two things they wanted! I had one kiddo who wanted desperately to make a meal out of his goodies (chicken and pasta) and was so upset when someone purchased the chicken before he could! lol

After the kids found their two items they checked out at their cashier. Since the cashiers hold onto the receipt it was important that they went back to the same cashier every time!

 The cashier wrote down the generic label (dairy or snacks...), the price and did the addition. Then to practice counting coins the customer counted out their money and gave it to the cashier.

The cashier double checked the amount and then yelled "CHECK" aloud so I could run by and make the double check on all of the math! Then the clerk return the food to the store.

 Most kids got to shop three or four times before we switched jobs. Each student got to do each job and we were done in a half hour!

It was a ton of fun and a great way to end the unit! My kiddos LOVED it. 

If you are thinking about doing a store in your room HERE is the receipt that we used. Run it back to back and give each kiddo a half-sheet!

And a little non-school fun... I spent my long weekend on a trip to Walt Disney Words Resort...

I had to take a few extra days off, but my husband and I had a blast... and boy was it nice to get away!

I'll be back soon with a new lap book! See you then!

Marshmallows and Valentines! (freebies!!)

So MIA much...

I know, I know... life is BUSY! Plus I have been sick with something for the past week and now my kiddos are passing some other strain of ickyness around class; I've had 6... yes 6! out every day for the last week and a half! Fingers crossed I don't get their bug!

In any case, we have been trying to make it work. And last week we worked on our expository writing by investigating marshmallows. My kiddos LOVE marshmallows. I swear they eat them by the handfuls when no one is looking, lol!

We started with a Marshmallow investigation. I love doing these.. we do them with pumpkins, apples, and soon we will do it with popcorn! Sorry about the phone pics...

The kiddos filled out their own version of the chart...

The whole goal of this week was to work through the stages of writing: pre-write to final draft. We tackled a part each day after our initial investigation. Here are the sheets we used to get us through the week :) Click on any of the images below to get the docs!

It really was a ton of fun.. I wish I had gotten a pic of them savoring every bite of their one marshmallow! It was hilarious!

Okay onto Valentine's Day... My kids have been buzzing about Valentine's Day since February 1st, so I am happy it is finally upon us!

I decided to go with a movie and snack this year and forgo the party... but we still have some fun Valentines activities planned :) Here is a center we plan to do:

A long E word sort-

We will be filling in the rest of the centers with activities from my The Day It Rained Hearts pack on TPT!

Have a great Sunday!