Valentine's Day Craft and Writing Prompt

Boy is winter here!! January 12th and we finally got some very cold weather. Totally miserable day outside - rainy, windy, and cold! I am lucky to live on the ocean or we would be socked with snow. On the plus side, snow means a snow day!

So I am in my sweats, on my couch. My 3-month-old is content in his swing and my 3-year-old is playing Dragonland on his dad's Ipad. This is a very typical afternoon for me. And the perfect time for a blog post.

The writing prompt we did was a very common one - "what does love mean to me?" I encouraged the students to think of times when they feel the most loved and the most special people in their lives. I was very proud of what they came up with.

To make it pretty, they did their final drafts inside of a heart on white paper. I then gave them pink, purple, red and white tissue paper. Their challenge was to decorate their paper with little, scrunched up pieces of the tissue paper and glue them down in a unique design on their writing samples. The purpose of the challenge was to strengthen their "alligator fingers." These are the muscles in the fingers they use to write. This is especially helpful for students who have poor penmanship. Since we still teach penmanship in our school, I felt it was important to do exercises such as this to work on forming letters and gaining more control of their pencils - a problem for many students.

I think the finished product came out really cool!

Hall of Presidents

I did this great craft last year for Presidents Day. I printed out 8x10 photos of each of the 44 Presidents from www.abcteach.com and we made "presidential-looking" frames to go with each one. We used remnants of wallpaper samples to create a surround and glued the photos onto the background. We had some great discussions about each President as the students created the frames. We then taped the framed photos up onto the wall in the hallway outside my classroom and named it the "Hall of Presidents."

Soil "Trifle"

I am constantly trying to come up with ways to make lessons more memorable to students. This is one that students from 3 years ago still talk about. In fact, the day I did this lesson, I had an eighth grade student visiting in my room and he still asks about it too!

This lesson was to teach about the different types of soil - sandy soil, loam soil and clay soil.  We then made edible "soil layers trifle." Which, of course, they got to eat when done (the best part!) Just be aware of any allergies your students may have. Some have uncommon allergies that you might not think of - it's not just peanuts anymore!


The ingredients I used:

loam soil - crumbled chocolate cake - you can also use crushed chocolate cookies)
sandy soil - crushed Nilla wafers (or graham crackers)
clay soil - crumbled red velvet cake
silt - marshmallows (or whipped cream)
animal fossil - gummy worm
plant fossil - mint leaf

The students were given their materials in plastic bags, already portioned out and labeled, a plastic spoon for "digging", a clear plastic cup, and an observation sheet. I gave them enough to do 2 trifles - so they could eat one on the spot and take one home to show their parents (and eat after dinner!)

There are also many ways to do this lesson with non-edible items. If your school has rules about using food items for lessons, find materials that are non-edible, but try to keep the colors as close as possible to try to represent the real thing. Here are some suggestions:

loam soil - dirt

sandy soil - sand

clay soil - red/maroon crayons (crushed - easy to do with a sharp knife)

silt - salt

animal fossil - plastic animal figure (easy to find at the Dollar Store)

plant fossil - plastic plant (also easy to find at the Dollar Store - look for packs of little dinosaurs, they have the animals and plants in the same pack)

When we finish science lessons - I always pass out a "self-assessment form." This is an opportunity for students to grade themselves. They are given a rubric with points from 0-4. I find that the students are always harder on themselves than I would ever be on them! 

The scale:

    0 = no attempt was made

    1 = I didn't really try very hard and I need to work harder on this next time

    2 = I tried, but I had a hard time and will keep trying

    3 = I tried and got most of the work done right

    4 - I worked hard and followed all directions

   

1. Did I follow all directions as given?    

2. Did I work well with my partner? Did I give him/her a chance to speak and did I listen to him/her?

3. Did I pay attention and stay on task?

4. Did my product turn out the way I wanted it to?

Painting Like Michelangelo

This was a really fun lesson, the kids had a blast. We began by reading a short biography on famous artist Michelangelo. We talked about and saw copies of his famous paintings. Then we talked about the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel and what it must have been like to lay on his back and paint for hours and hours, day after day, for two years.

Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Michelangelo

After discussion, the kids got to try it out! I wish I could show you the photos I took of the students with drops of paint all over their faces!

Painting the Sistene Chapel!

How did your arm feel after 10 minutes? 20 minutes?

Repurposing Shaving Cream

This is a really fun way to practice cursive letters, printing letters, multiplication facts, etc. It can be used as a whole class activity or as a literacy center. We had so much fun with this lesson.

While the students were out of the room, I sprayed shaving cream all over each of their desks. When they came back in, we did one cursive letter of the alphabet at a time, starting with A. The shaving cream allowed their little hands to move fluidly on their desks, as needed to create cursive letters.

As a bonus .... the desks had never been cleaner!!