Paint, Glitter, and Egypt, Oh My!: An Introduction to Ancient Egypt

My students thought it was the best day ever when they saw that we'd be using paint and glitter. It all started when I came across a map of Africa that was in my drawer from a previous teacher (originally from our gifted specialist). This was not just any map though...there was sand, easter grass, and paint on it! I didn't have all of those materials handy but improvised with paint, glitter, and yarn and knew this would be a perfect way to start our unit on ancient Egypt developing a foundation of the environment and geography of Africa.

The next day I started this activity by giving my students a look at Africa on Google Maps. I asked the students: What can you tell from looking at Africa? What kinds of habitats cover Africa? Where is Africa located in relation to the other continents? After this brief inquiry session, I shared some fun facts with them about Egypt and Africa including the importance of the Nile River. 

Then came the most fun part….paint and glitter! I had already precut Africa and outlined Egypt for my students so they started by glueing Africa to their blue paper, writing their title, map key, and compass rose. While they were setting up their map, I simultaneously squirted paint on the appropriate sections of their map to represent the different habitats. They used q—tips to spread the paint and glued red yarn for the equator. To complete their maps, they used blue glitter for the Nile River and added gold glitter to the desert area. For accountability, my students completed the exit ticket, which I counted for a grade. If you're interested in my exit ticket, it's available for purchase in my TpT Store. 

Happy painting! 

Monday Made It Linky Party (with freebies!)

Happy Monday to you, friends!! I'm back from my weekend hibernation and ready to be a busy beaver again. I'm looking forward to meeting with my two team members this week and am eager to learn from them.

 

My favorite part about Mondays is, of course, Tara's Monday Made It Linky Party! Be sure to join in and/or check out all the awesome projects.

I have four projects (with freebies) to share with you:

1. Porter Patriot of the Week

What student doesn't love to be honored with special activities for a week?! I hope that implementing Porter Patriot of the Week (Porter is my school's name and our mascot is the patriot) will create a sense of community as we celebrate each student. The display in the classroom that I created is where the Porter Patriot of the Week will showcase photos of his/herself. I want to implement Beth Newingham's star student activities:

First, she gives the parents a star of the week schedule for the entire year.

On Mondays the student brings in three special items and photos to share with the class.

On Tuesdays the student reads his or her favorite book to the class.

On Wednesdays the parent writes a letter to the class about a special story involving their child.

On Thursdays a special guest (parent, relative, etc.) joins the student for lunch.

On Fridays the student is recognized by their classmates...I want to do something like [this pin] where the students write compliments to the Porter Patriot.

You can download a Star Student of the Week sign for free in my TpT store.

Be sure to check out Beth's class website to read more details about implementing star student of the week. She has other great resources on her class site too.








2. Boggle

Boggle has been everywhere (it seems)! There have been so many different teacher-created boards like [this one] and [this one] and [this one]...I needed one that was small because wall real estate is limited in my classroom so I utilized the side of my filing cabinet. I don't have a picture of how I keep my magnetic letters organized but it's exactly like [this pin].









3. Parent Volunteer Tote

For my parent volunteers that visit the classroom, I want to have materials handy just for them (Thanks for the suggestion, Nikki!). I was given this tote as a gift (Thanks, Hillary!) and it works perfectly for holding school supplies. The blue paper tray it's sitting in will hold any materials, directions, etc. for the parent volunteer. You can download a blank tote tag for free in my TpT store.










4. Book Ring Calendar

I wrote about my calendar last Monday but have since updated its display. I think it looks more cohesive now. You can download my calendar file for free in my TpT store.











I posted about other projects (freebies included) during the weekend too. Click the pictures to learn more. :)

Have an excellent week!! :)

Classroom Update: Clutter-Free Classroom and Ladybug's Teacher Files Inspired

You know Jodi at the Clutter-Free Classroom, right? What am I saying, of course you do! I don't know where I would be without her and her blog. She thinks of everything!! As I've been a busy bee setting up my classroom (I'd sleep there if they'd let me but my dog might get lonely at home) I am constantly consulting Jodi's blog and implementing her suggestions so that my classroom will run like a well oiled machine and student learning can excel! So on that note, here are three features of my room inspired by Jodi. :)

1. Work In Progress Chart (view Jodi's post by clicking [here] )

Students will place their "work in progress" in their assigned pocket on the pocket chart. I've decided to use this pocket chart because it will help all of us stay organized...I will be able to easily see and check the status and quality of their work and the students won't lose their work in the abyss of their desk. I like calling this chart "work in progress" rather then "incomplete work" because I want the main focus to be on producing quality work, not just completing an activity. 

On Fridays, if a student has work in progress then they will find a ketchup card on their desk when they arrive in the morning as a friendly reminder to check their pocket. If a student does not have any work in progress then they will find a pickles card letting them know they may pick from a list of extension activities. The extension activities will be listed on the pickles board (I made it out of dry-erase poster board) above the pocket chart. The ketchup and pickles concept was inspired by Teach-A-Roo and you can download the cards for free in my TpT store. 






2. Communication Folder and Porter Pocket Chart (view Jodi's posts [here] and [here])

Aren't pocket charts great (sorry about the washed out picture)?! When students arrive in the morning they will place their Homework Folder in their assigned pocket. This system also shows me who is at school and who is absent. They will also keep their Porter Pocket here (weekly folder that is used to send student work, etc. home...Jodi calls it their Thursday Folder because it goes home on Thursdays). I wasn't planning for this to be on wheels but I actually really like the idea...I can wheel it near the door in the morning so that I can greet students and check their folders at the same time and then wheel it out of the way during the day. Then when students are packing up at the end of the day, it can be wheeled to the front of the room where they can easily pick up their folder(s) to take home.

I purchased this pocket chart from MPM School Supplies, and they were wonderful!! I highly recommend them! When I received the pocket chart, the pockets were not all the same size so I contacted them to see if my chart was a manufacture's defect...turns out it was! MPM sent me a new pocket chart, free of charge, and they let me keep the defect one too. Awesome customer service!











3. Anchor Chart Designated Area (view Jodi's post [here])

Jodi wrote a great post for supporting anchor charts so I'm not going to go into my love for them. I have mine set up (as shown with the blank paper) with jumbo push pins to hold the two book rings. As the students and I create anchor charts we will just add charts to the book rings. I'm hoping the book rings will make it easy to flip between charts instead of having to switch them out.

You may also notice the lovely alphabet in this photo created by Kristen from Ladybug's Teacher Files. :)  You can download my Anchor Charts sign, which coordinates with Kristen's bright and CLEAR decor, for free in my TpT store (I outlined the letters in black marker after printing).







Speaking of Kristen, she recently updated her CRAFT Board....I absolutely LOVE it. I love it so much that I took down the CAFE Board I had set up just a few days before (also from Kristen) and put up her new signs.

My board from a few days ago:

My updated board!!:

Don't you just love the bright colors?!! The border is from the $0.88 section of Walmart. I had to move CRAFT to the dry-erase board because all five letters couldn't fit on the bulletin board where CAFE had previously been. Click on the picture to download Kristen's files for free.

Phew, thanks for reading!! I'm going to go sleep for the next 48 hours so my batteries can recharge. I'll be back for Tara's Monday Made It. Have a super weekend!!!!!!

Double Whammy Linky Party

What a week! I hope you've been having fun setting up your classroom/preparing for school and also enjoying the summer!! I've been having so much fun setting up my classroom that I never want to leave! Everyone at school has been so helpful and welcoming...I know I'm in the right place. :)

I'm going to do a double wammy linky party tonight! I hope that's okay. :)

 I am participating in Farley's Currently. Below that I give you a glimpse into my classroom for Brigid's Classroom Tours where you'll see how I've used my Back 2 School Must Haves. A double whammy!

A few snapshots to share:

These two photos were taken at the end of day one. One of my classroom parents, who is also a colleague, helped me arrange the furniture, hang the two garlands from the ceiling, and fix black twin flat sheets (can be purchased separate from the fitted sheet and pillow case from Walmart for under $5) on most of the bulletin boards.

See the cabinets in the back? On Tuesday and Wednesday, I spent time going through everything that was in them and organizing it all. I want resources and manipulatives to be easily available. Jodi at Clutter-Free Classroom would be pleased because now the cabinets and drawers are clutter-free!! I don't have a before picture (it was definitely not a pretty sight) but I do have two after pictures:

Clear labels are my new best friend. I like them because they (almost) blend in, I can use my favorite font on them, and I don't have to use tape (my frenemy). I have the address label ones (as shown on the drawers above) but I also have circle ones. Here are the circle labels on the students' book bins (Target Dollar Spot):

While organizing the cabinets, I found a pair of giant googly eyes and knew EXACTLY where to put them (inspired by a pin)...

Isn't he cute?!

There are more storage areas in the room that I need to investigate but I wanted to setup a few recently laminated items:

Inspired by another pin, I knew I had to create this when I saw it on Pinterest. Doesn't it send a powerful message?

I am also a big fan of those 3M hooks and book rings. They are great for hanging stuff!! AND they seem to stay on the cinder block walls. You can read more about my indoor recess choice board in a previous post.

This probably looks familiar, or exactly the same :), to Kristen's board at Ladybug's Teacher Files. I love her board and didn't want to change a thing about it. I used ribbon from Walmart for the border (this board took almost the whole roll).



Stay tuned for some projects (inspired by this pin and this pin) for Monday Made It!!

Link up with Farley and Brigid's parties, and I hope you have a relaxing weekend!!!

We are Bucket Fillers!

In first grade, getting along and saying kind words to each other is something I encourage and repeat. I'd heard about the bucket filler concept and thought this would be beneficial for our classroom community. The relationships I build with the students and they build with each other are so significant to the classroom environment. And I definitely want those relationships to be positive!!

If you are not familiar with the bucket filler concept, the premise is that everyone has an invisible bucket, and we can fill each others' bucket by saying kind words and using kind actions, which in turn fills our own invisible bucket. The other side is that we are sometimes bucket dippers (bullying). Beth Newingham wrote a great article called Have You Students Filled a Bucket Today? She gives a much better explanation!

I checked out Have You Filled a Bucket Today? from the library and read it to the class. This book was a great resource for introducing the students to the bucket filling concept. We had a great discussion on how to be bucket fillers.

 I created the interactive bucket filler bulletin board  above to help remind us to be bucket fillers. Each student signed our pledge (words from Suesstastic Classroom), and they each have their own actual "bucket" in the form of library pockets with a picture of a bucket (from What the Teacher Wants). During Work on Writing or when they have finished their work, they may write bucket filling messages (template from What the Teacher Wants) to each other. I uploaded the bulletin signs I created to Google Docs if you are interested.

So far, I love the implementation of this concept...the students are all about writing kind messages to each other and recognizing when someone has filled their invisible bucket or dipped into their invisible bucket. I peeked inside their buckets, and they were writing the sweetest messages to each other! I love it too because when I see or hear them not using kind actions or words, I can say, "How can you change your choices so that you are filling ____'s bucket and your own bucket?"

How do you build a sense of community and relationships with your students?

Bulletins

Just wanted to share a quick post on two bulletins I've done this week!

The first is an interactive bulletin I created for our virtual field trips that we are doing via videoconferencing. The tv with the webcam is my attempt at replicating the TANDBERG, the videoconferencing system we are using.

The font for the heading is from dafont and is called Appleberry.

We've already "been" to New York...you can read all about our experience in this post. For the other four trips, I have clues/riddles where the students can try to guess where we are going next! I put the clues in sleeve protectors, and I'll reveal our trips to the students as we approach them. Then I have little blurbs prepared about what the students will have done at each videoconference.

The font for the clues is from Kevin and Amanda and is called Pea Hollee.

Can you guess from the clue above what our second virtual field is?!


The other bulletin I did this week was displaying the students' mouse shapes from our unit on shapes.

The font I used is from dafont and is called DK Crayon Crumble.

Happy Wednesday!!