Polar Region Finale

I don't think I have mentioned that we have been studying the Polar Regions.  I love teaching children about these extraordinary areas of our planet!  This year I found Penguin Party Pasta!  This adorable pasta can be found at The Pasta Shoppe.  Penguin pasta was too good to pass up, so I grabbed a bag and started thinking about what I could do with it.  I thought it would be great to end our study of the Polar Regions with a Polar Region Luncheon.  The penguin pasta would be the main course.  As the date came closer and closer, I realized I did not have enough pasta to feed all 23 students and any adults who may be tempted by the smell.  Off I went to the store and to my horror and dismay they were out of the cute little penguins, but they did have Woodland Pasta.  Well, the grizzly bears and moose looked just like polar bears and caribou to me, so I added them to the penguin pasta to have polar animal pasta!  We had two crock pots going- one with pasta and one with sauce.  Here's a picture of the dueling crocks!

We also had Blizzard Salad; fruit salad with mini white marshmallows and coconut, very yummy and made by our classroom assistant!  For vegetables we served baby carrots, cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes, or as I like to call it, Caribou Crunch.  (I initially planned to have short veggie kabobs which we would call Veggie Inuksuk, but that plan fizzled.)  Last, we had Arctic Seal Cakes for dessert.  Very yummy and awfully cute.  

                                    

                                    

These little cuties were made from white cake mix (nope, not from scratch), white frosting, coconut and two chocolate chips for eyes.  Don't they look like baby arctic seals?  My students also thought they looked like polar bear cubs, ermines and arctic foxes!  They were so tasty!  We all ate together in the classroom (instead of the cafeteria) and it was a really nice time.  While we all visited I heard my kiddos talking about the polar regions, the food we were eating and that our classroom assistant and I are "good cooks".  Pretty great way to put this unit to bed.  

Writing Assistant- Spaceman!

Anyone who teaches first grade knows that spacing can be a problem when they are writing.  Of course, I advise students to use a finger space between their words, but this is tricky for some writers, especially left handed writers.  That's when I came up with an idea...Spacemen!

We used popsicle sticks and painted them green.  Then we used our glue sticks and coated the green sticks with green glitter.  Last, we glued one google eye on our sticks.  They looked like this when we were finished.

We had a lot of fun making these cute little guys.  Here is a quick shot of one Spaceman in use.  

  
Whenever we are working on our writing projects, my students take out their Writer's Checklist and their Spaceman.  You know how those little ones love their tools!

Click here to view my post on Writer's Checklists!

I'm enjoying this lovely week off and hope all of you are, too!

The Mother Ship Has Abandoned Me

I suppose it was inevitable.  It had brought me such joy- surpassed every expectation I had.  Never, ever let me down.  But a mere 14 minutes ago, the Mother Ship closed its doors.  Shocking, but true.  My beloved, local Dollar Tree closed today.  I went to the store, bought about 10 more checker boards (they are so darned handy!), bought the rest of their beads (400 for $1!), grabbed some great contraction cards, used my last Dollar Tree gift card and tearfully said goodbye to the lovely Dollar Tree ladies.  How is a teacher to survive?  During the tearful exchange I shared with the lady in aisle 3, she told me there was a lease issue and they MAY reopen in about 6 months in a nearby location.  Well, this information is the only thing keeping me going.  Six months will be tough, but I loaded up on all my favorites today so I might just make it through.  If this 6 month thing is true, then I should be able to start restocking my classroom in August.  Keep your fingers crossed for me, bloggers- I hope I can make it.  They say the first step is to admit you are powerless.  Well, I am and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I love you, Dollar Tree and I don't care who knows it!

Please offer a few moments of silence out of respect for the mother ship that has left us for the time being.  And please, please think of me anytime you visit your own Dollar Tree. 

All good things come to an end.  Hopefully this end is temporary. 

Thanks for sharing my pain.

Origami March of the Penguins

Hello Bloggers!  Today I want to share with you a find from the internet.  My students and I began our Polar Region study last week.  The preschool at my school often does a penguin unit at the same time as our Polar Region unit.  My first graders really liked making the origami bats we made in October, so I thought it would be fun if we made something to inspire the preschoolers during their penguin study.  I found a great video of Michael LaFosse teaching penguin "storygami".  Michael tells a clever story of three penguin friends as he folds paper making the penguin.  The story is a great way to remember what the next step is in the folding process.  I loved it!  Please find the link below.

Click here for Michael LaFosse's penguin storygami!

I told the story to my first graders while folding the penguin and they were so excited to try it.  We decided to make an origami penguin mobile for the preschoolers.  It was fun to hear them repeat the story parts as we folded our penguins.  They were very proud of their work.  I found a wire hanger (don't tell Joan Crawford) and did my best to shape it in a spiral.  Then I pulled out my old glue gun and glued string to the penguins.  One dollop of glue on the hanger held the penguins to the "mobile".  When it was done it looked like penguins marching in a line - do you remember that scene from March of the Penguins?  My little first graders were so excited to present it to our preschool teacher.  They even asked it we could put it in our gift box.  The preschool teacher loved it!  She was really impressed with their work, even though she is not teaching a penguin unit this year.   Ah well, good intentions!  Here are some pictures of the mobile. 

We used black/white and gray/white paper for our penguins, but you could use some fun colors to make festive penguins! 
Hope you are doing something fun this weekend!



Add the Apples!

My Dollar Tree betrayal went beyond my last post. While I was there I found some great erasers. I usually start the school year with a brief apple unit.  I put together this little math game that I will use next September.  I thought I should post it now, because I will never remember to post it next fall!  

Adorable and just $1.00!  I put together a quick apple tree mat with some free clip art. 

                  Click here to download the apple tree mat!

Students will "roll" the apple erasers on the mat and add the apples that landed on the tree to the apples that landed off the tree.  Quick and easy!  I'm working on a few more posts that I hope to have up in a few days.  Enjoy the last few hours of our break!

Have A Heart Valentine Math Station

Happy New Year!  Can you believe the holidays are over?  Well, almost- we always have Valentine's Day!  Here is a little math station to work on addition and subtraction facts.  I was perusing the dollar section of Target -don't tell Dollar Tree about this little indiscretion, I swear it was the first time!  I found some festive little ice trays, adorable hearts and plastic heart containers. 

You can hear it, can't you?  It's practically jumping off the screen saying, "Here I am!  Turn me into a math game!"  That's pretty much what I heard in Target.  First, I added numbers to the ice cube trays (2 for $2.50).

I took some of the small hearts and put them in the larger heart containers. 

The students will toss 2 small hearts into the ice cube trays.  The students will use the numbers to make a fact and then complete the fact family.  Students could also practice 3 addend addition!  Short and sweet- no pun intended! 

 



Money Sudoku

Hello Bloggers!  I'm sure you have all had a pretty hectic few weeks so I have a little Christmas gift for you...Money Sudoku!

I was at the NCTM conference in Atlantic City in October and saw the neatest money activity.  It was a sudoku game played with coins.  Besides the great logic, reasoning, and planning skills that emerge from this kind of puzzle activity, it is a great way to help young children identify coins.  Instead of buying the game, I thought I would make one myself. 

I created and laminated the board below.

Click here to download Money Sudoku board.

Once the board is laminated, I used my hot glue gun to glue on some plastic coins in various places.  Then my board looked like this.

I made 6 different boards with varying degrees of difficulty. 

 I wrote a number at the bottom of the board to correspond with the envelopes (the gold 5 X 7 size) that held the coins necessary for solving the sudoku puzzle.  Mine look like those pictured below, but I made some cute labels for you to put on your envelopes.   See download below.

Click here to download labels!

This is what a finished set looks like.  Your set will be better with the label.  To begin this activity I am enclosing the coins the students will need to complete the sudoku.  As they get better at this kind of brain teaser, you can make it more challenging by supplying more coins than necessary for solving. 

***IMPORTANT TIP- When gluing the coins on the laminated board, make sure you leave heads and tails showing to help students generalize the different sides of the coins!

It was a lot of fun making this game and I hope you enjoy it!  Have a wonderful, restful, well-deserved break!