Earth Day Insects

Happy Earth Day!

I wanted to share one of my favorite earth day projects.  I heard this great idea from an artist in one of the education groups I belong to.  Using red or brown clay, you have the children create an insect (real or made-up. . . by the way - letting them "make" one up will help those who have limited ability - they can claim their squishy lump is a special kind of insect! It saves face.).  With this project do not worry about how much it looks like "something." 

Let the clay insect air dry (do not fire them!!!).  Once dried, let the children take them home to put in their gardens and yards.  OR you could put them in the school yard or garden. Over time, these little insects will disintegrate back into the earth.  I absolutely LOVE this!  Since it is air dried, rain will slowly (or fast depending on where you put it!) take layers of the clay off.  I like to tell the children that clay comes from the earth.

It is a great way to teach students about how some things decompose and return to the soil and others do not.  You could make an insect out of plastic and have the children put both in their yards to observe (or outside your classroom).

This is super easy to do and soooo cool!

.

 You can also put your Earth Day insect in an outside planter to observe.

 I give each student a lump of clay.  The brown clay stains less than the red clay.

 

One student made a lady bug.

 Pencils are great for making marks and designs.

 Pretty darn cool. . .

 Looking a lot like a caterpillar.

 Look at that snake's face!  Yikes!  A perfect thing for the garden!

 A snail!

 Butterfly!

Fly Guy Math

This is a fun activity for math.  First, I taught the children how to draw Fly Guy.  He is a very simple figure to draw.  Next, I had the children draw bugs with Fly Guy.  They had to write a math sentence to go with their drawing.  The room was a peaceful quiet as they joyfully created Fly Guy.

Here's how to draw Fly Guy:

 Step One: Draw a good sized circle.

 Step Two:  Draw a backwards C for the other eye.

 Step Three:  Draw a long thin U for his body.

 Step Four:  Draw two dots for the eyes and a nose shaped like a water faucet.

 Step Five:  Draw a u for the mouth.

 Step Six:  Draw another u and add teeth!

 Step Seven: Add the legs - one is a line out with three little line toes.  The other leg is the number 7 with three little line toes.  Add an arm - curved line up with little line fingers.  Now, add the first wing which is an oval shape.

 Step Eight: Add the other arm curved line down with little line fingers.  Add the other wing behind the first - it is like a J shape.  Add a line on the first wing.

 Step Nine:  Add the antennae.  Two curvy lines with tiny dots on the end.

 Step Ten:  Now for the most important step!  You will add what artists call "hatching".   It is those straight lines along the edges of the eyes (see above) and around the body.  Add a few on the top of the eyes.   Ta Da!  Fly Guy!

Too cute for words!  Love Fly Guy!

The "Living" Dollhouse. . .

So dang sweet, it is!  It could be called a large fairy garden but I love calling it the "Living" dollhouse because I put dollhouse dolls and furniture in it. 

Here's how I did it: I used a large box that I cut down to just 6 inches tall.  I lined it with a plastic trash bag and poured in potting soil.   Next we built a pathway with stones, planted flowers, grass seed (not yet sprouted), added wood stumps and a way we went!

Don't you love the mushroom/fairy furniture?  Found it on Amazon on clearance!  Score!

Shhh . . . I put a vacated wasp's nest in as a carpet!  Ohhh - so fun!

I think is so rich and full of live to provide a dollhouse setting that has flowers and grass growing and elements of nature.   We will continue to add to this dollhouse "landscape" until school ends. 

Learning links:  Next week I will begin telling stories with the little dollhouse people to demonstrate how to spin a story with these props.  We will discuss the beginning, middle and end of my stories.  I will offer storytelling for the children to do for the class much like a puppet show.   Finally, Thursday and Friday I will ask the children to write about it.  It is a full vibrant experience to take to paper.

Feedburner Issues!

Okay, I think my feedburner has a life of its own.  If you are on my feed - you might have noticed two old posts emailed to you recently.  I did not send those.   It is really odd!  I have no idea why or how that happen! 

So dear blogging friends, have you experienced such a thing?  I welcome any suggestions on how to stop it from happening again!  It would be such a drag if it kept doing this. . .

Little Fairy Garden Habitats- Part One

Last week I had each color family create a little fairy garden for their table as a part of our study of plants.   I told the children we will be building the garden weekly.  This week we planted flowers in our gardens.  It was great as the root system in the flowers were so huge that the children could clearly see the parts.

 Each group filled their saucer with potting soil.

 They worked together to fill the saucer to the top.

Scooping out the dirt was the big deal. . . 

 I told the children to create a little walkway for their mini-garden. 

Each group received flowers to plant.  

Stay tuned as this week we will be planting grass seed and . . . . well. . . you will see soon!

"ake" Word Family Art Project

I know I have posted this before but it is so worth posting again.  I did it a bit differently this time.  It is a "Suzi McMahan" project I love!  And better yet, the kindergartners love it! 

Word families are great for young readers as it helps the children find patterns in words.  This not only helps reading but spelling as well.  The "ake" word family also reinforces the "silent e" concept. At this time of year, this becomes an important concept as reading begins to explode in the classroom.

I tell my students that sometimes "e" is a polite fellow and can be very quiet.  When he takes his place at the end, he lets his friends do all the talking.  He is the kind of fellow that always lets his friends go first.  When he is polite - his friends say their name! (His friends are the vowels.)

For example:  cake  - sweet "e" is quiet as can be so his friend "a" can say her name! (long vowel sound)

Here is a link to Cherry Carl's "ake" family pdf!  This pdf has some good reinforcement of this word family study.

 Step 1: Draw a large rectangle on the bottom of your paper.

 Step 2: Draw a smaller rectangle on top of the first one.

 Step 3:  Draw a smaller rectangle on top of the middle sized one.

 Step 4:  Add frosting!  You can use a half circle (called scallops) or curvy lines.

 Step 5:  Add more frosting!  Dots, zigzags. . . 

 Step 6:  Make the snakes!  Make an S.

Step 7:  Draw another line to enclose the S.  Make five to six snakes.  

Write an "ake" family word inside your snake.

 I tell the children to use at least five colors.   Cut out the cake and the snakes.  Glue the snakes on the cake!

Teaching Truth Cards

 "I love the truth cards. They are exactly what you say they are: truth. 

They are a true inspiration to me."    - Theresa

 This sweet little deck of 60 inspirational sayings about teaching are business card size.

• Every morning, pick one card to reflect upon. 
• Pull one at random when you are feeling down and out.  Trust you will get the card you need at that moment.
• Use the deck as journal prompts for reflecting on your teaching practice.
• Post the cards that move you deeply on your mirror, on your desk at school -- wherever you will see them.

You will receive a PDF with the cards ready for printing.  Make a set for you and another one for a colleague as a gift!  You can make as many sets as you want!

(You just can't sell the cards in any form or context!)

Sampling of the sayings:

"Children hear your inner state over your words."

"A student’s behavior is never personal."

"Good teaching cannot be reduced to a technique.  

It comes from the heart of the teacher."

You will receive a digital download of the 60 cards, instructions for making your own deck and suggestions on how to use them.  This download  is only $14.99 - a real deal when you can make unlimited sets from that one download! 

$14.99