Farm Diorama

This week we worked with the story, "Old MacDonald Had A Woodshop" and talked about farm animals and.  We made a diorama with farm animals and my students loved their 3D projects!  I usually don't show my students completed art or drawings when modeling because I want them to use their own creativity.  But having a completed diorama made a huge difference.  It was great to refer back to the model because a 3D project was a whole new concept and was difficult for some to understand.

Have you made dioramas before?  They are so easy!  I used the bigger sized construction paper and cut it to a square.  Fold it diagonally then cut from one corner to the middle.  Then fold the side over and use glue or tape to make it stick to the bottom.  I used double-sided tape to make life easy!  I pre-made blank dioramas to make the assembly easier.

             

First, students colored their farm animals and barn, then they cut them all out.  Each student had a little paper envelope to keep all their pieces together.  Cutting was the tricky part because they had to remember to keep the stand for each animal!  Needless to say, I had a couple extra copies of the animals for some accidental animal redos!

Next, they colored the scene on the diorama; the grass, mud for the pig to stand in, the sky, etc.  

Lastly, they glued the barn against the back wall and all the animals throughout the scene.    

You can download the farm template here!

 

Math Games

We got to go to a math games training last week and it was so amazing!  Our brains were fried after, we learned about SO many games!  All the games practice important math skills and build strong number sense.  All the games used common things like dice, cards, and dominoes.  I wanted to introduce the rules and routines with a simple activity so we've been using dice to practice "greater than" and "less than."  Students roll the dice and grab the larger number with their left hand (so they get in the habit of putting the larger number on the left side of number sentences).  I stamped everyone's left hand so there wouldn't be any confusion!

Students playing at their table, "Shake, Catch, Hands off!"

My 2 lower students used 1 dice to practice subitizing.

They rolled the dice and said the number.

Students rolled the dice, and used the sentence frames to compare the numbers.  

They said, " ___ is greater ___."  If they rolled doubles they said, " ___ and ___ make ___."

They're talking too which is helping them gain a deeper understanding of numbers!  My students love how much fun they are having with the math games and I love that they are building a strong number sense!

Teacher Appreciation Week

This week was Teacher Appreciation Week and we were all feeling the love!  Our PTC spoiled us and had so many treats and lunch every day.  I got cards and flowers from my students, so sweet!

 

A little gift from our principal, he's the best!  You can never have too many of these cups and I love that it has our school logo!

Our principal also put on "The I.O.T.W.Y.M.B.T.N... W.Z. Contest!"  Throughout the week, there were different challenges and Friday afternoon was the final contest.  Our Kinder team was team BAMF and we took it to the next level!  We decorated the staff lounge and put treats in all the boxes, we had too much fun!  We even dressed up as gangsters for the final contest on Friday (we changed after-school).  There was a lot of friendly competition throughout the week and the Friday contest was so much fun!

                 

A little friendly competition is good for everyone!

Team BAMF won!! Duh!  And we won a gift card for all of us to get lunch, awesome!!

Tablets

I love using tablets in the classroom and my students LOVE tablets too!  A couple times a week, we have tablet time and students work on a specific app.  We used to work a lot on Starfall so students could practice letter recognition and letter sounds.  Lately, we've been using different apps that practice CVC and High-Frequency words.

This is my favorite app!  Students practice CVC words with an adorable turtle in Kids Learn To Read (Lite).  This app is fun because students earn points and play while they practice spelling, blending, and reading!  Even on a tablet screen, the games are hands-on.  They spin the blocks to build the words!

I love how each word is sounded-out at the end, so great!

This is another app that I love!  Students practice HFWs with Parrot Fish in the Learn To Read Sight Words Lite app.  They have to identify and read HFWs in the fishtanks.  The game has lots of animation and different levels!

                    

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this weekend so I browsed through Pinterest to get some gift ideas.  I saw a lot of pictures that used handprints to make a flower pot so I created a card for us to make.  Little handprints and student writing is always so adorable!

We did handprints on the front of the card and wrote our notes on the inside.  Students traced the flower pot template (I just printed one from google images) and I cut flowers using the die cut machine.

We glued the pots and flowers last!  They turned out so cute!  Happy Mother's Day!

May the FOURTH Be With You

May 4th is Star Wars day and the boys in my class are obsessed with the new Star Wars movie!  When I saw Michelle's adorable pencil buddies, I just couldn't resist!  I didn't want to print all the color cards so I looked for some black and white ones and found these cute bookmarks!  I printed them on card stock paper and taped "light sabers" on the back.

Stackable crayons from Target!  Only $3 for a 10 pack, can you believe it?!  I hope your students love these as much as mine did!  May the FOURTH be with you!

Library Helpers

We got a special treat today at library today!  A couple 4th graders come in to help the librarian sort and reshelve books.  They come in during lunch recess, can you believe that?!  After my students checked out their books, one of the 4th graders read a story to them and they were in total awe!  So great for the little ones to hear a story from a big kid they idolize.  And it was good reading practice and a confidence booster for the 4th grader.  What a fun activity for all students!