Memorial Day!

Hey! 

Remember me?!

I'm that teacher who hasn't blogged in weeks! 

For those of you who are familiar with "end of year teacher tired"...enough said.

I have a quick little post to share a few of our Memorial Day activities. If you haven't seen my Memorial Day pack, you can check it out here. File it away for next year:).

The kiddos created these awesome directed drawings! Aren't they adorable?!

Next up, informational writing along with this mini book that is included in my Memorial Day pack! The kiddos love getting to take their own book home.

We finished up the week with this cutesy craft to go with our writing! 

Happy Friday! This tired exhausted teacher is off to relax!

How-To: Artsy Spring Trees

Spring is definitely here! 

To help celebrate the beautiful weather and brighten up our classroom, we created these "artsy spring trees!" I saw something similar on Pinterest, so thank-you again, Pinterest. The best part...they are COMPLETELY student created! I didn't prep any of the pieces for them and let them get as creative as they wanted! I did get some initial moans and groans from the kiddos about having to cut out all the pieces. Most of the kids wanted me to cut out the trunk/branches for them. I told them they were the artists:). 

Here are step by step instructions on how we created these "artsy spring trees."

Step 1:

Most of the kiddos decided to draw a template before cutting.

Step 2:

Glue down the tree.

Step 3:

Cut slits in a strip of green construction paper to use as grass.

Step 4: 

Glue down the grass over the tree.

Step 5: 

This step was definitely the most difficult for the kiddos. The kids will need to cut three different sized circles and layer them. I gave each student three different colors of construction paper. They will need to create 6-8 layered circles for the tree.

Step 6: 

Glue down the layered circles.

Step 7:

Glitter time! In case you are wondering, no, I don't let my firsties put the glitter on themselves:).

Here are some examples of our finished products!

They are full of personality! My little artists definitely enjoyed this project!

Happy Friday:)!

Busy! Busy!

Hello, it has been a while! I feel like my lil' blog has been neglected the past few weeks. What that really means is that this teacher has been super busy! Busy is good, right?! Here's an update of the happenings in room 16!

March is one of the busiest months of the school year! We have The Young Author's Faire, The Art Faire, Open House, and let's not forget about St. Patrick's Day! Here is what my class submitted for The Art Faire! 

We started with a canvas and painters tape.

Finger painting!

Beautiful! 

Here's what it looked like when we removed the tape:)!

Did I also mention it was also safety month? Here is our decorated door for the door banner contest. 

I loved the way it turned out!

We also celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a few projects:

I'm in love with directed drawings-such a fun way to teach step by step instructions!

Lil' leprechauns!

I tried a new project this year...watercolor spray painting! The kids had a blast! It was pretty simple...plastic stencils, paper, and water-color spray.

Yes, it does make a mess:).

Artists in the making!

We also had Open House this month! Here are a few things I had set out for the families {along with lots of the kiddo's work}.

Before my kiddos headed off to spring break, they received a VERY special surprise! A local pediatrician's office sponsored each child in my class and brought them all Easter baskets! The kids were ecstatic!

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my spring break!

A Seuss-tastic week!

It has been a Seuss-tastic week here in room 16! Here is my Five For Friday!

Meet "Teacher 1!"

In honor of Dr. Seuss day on Monday, my teacher besties and I dressed up as Teacher 1, Teacher 2, and Teacher 3! Teachers like to have fun, too! The kids absolutely loved it!



I made these really fun cupcakes for the kiddos! They were also a big hit! Who doesn't like cupcakes with cotton candy on top:)?

We also made Seuss-juice! It was very simple to make: kool-aid, sugar, and Swedish fish candies.

Cat in the Hat directed drawings! Directed drawings are a great way to teach kids step by step instructions:). I thought they turned out great! 

Artists in the making:)!

Spring is in the air! Since we've been having all this beautiful weather I thought it was time to brighten up the classroom with some spring art! St. Patrick's day is about a week away...so I decided we'd create these beautiful rainbows! They definitely made our grammar lesson a little more colorful:). After the kids created their rainbows, they came up with a list of adjectives that described their rainbow. Then, they picked their favorite adjective and wrote it on a sparkly gold coin! Stay tuned for more St. Patty's Day fun next week!



Happy Friday!

Gettin' Creative!

Spring fever is in full force in room 16! I've really had to pull out all the teacher tricks to keep the kiddos engaged and out of trouble:). I blame this beautiful weather we've been having:).

I only have a couple of things to share with you. I didn't take many pictures this week. Shocking, I know. The spring fever must be getting to the teacher too:). 

The Young Authors' Faire is here! I have a few advanced kiddos in my class that I knew would be able to work independently....and create something awesome! Normally, I do a class book with my kids to submit to the Young Authors' Faire. We just weren't at that point yet this year. I gave my advanced students the task of creating books while I continue to work with the rest of the kiddos on their writing skills. 

The kids created books about the best parts of them. Some of the things they wrote about were so adorable! They each picked five things to write about and then used the iPad to photograph each of these things. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the final product. I promise to snap a few pictures next week! Here are a few pictures of the book making process.

 

The kids were so proud of the finished products! 

We also spent the week learning about Chinese New Year! We watched a couple short video clips on the traditions of Chinese New Year, read books, and created these awesome dragons! The dragons were a two day process. We painted on the first day and put everything else together the second day. The kids were super creative. There may or may not have been flying dragons all over the classroom! I like to call this controlled chaos:).

 

 

Happy Friday!