December Wrap Up!

As I type this, I am curled up on my couch watching a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie called My Christmas Love with my Christmas tree lit up and the fireplace going. Life is good for a teacher on Winter Break! I am also lucky enough to have a break from my graduate classes at the same time, so I finally have a full fledged break for the first time since March. So, I thought I would pop in and share some fun ideas from December.

Christmas Measurement Trees: This was a fun idea I modified for the classroom. The kids were each given a 12"x9" sheet of green construction paper. I guided them through most of the activity, showing them how to measure and draw the straight lines. I did a lot of ruler holding because the kids couldn't understand why their rulers kept moving when they were drawing lines! It was kind of funny. Anyways, once they had all their lines traced, they cut them out. I modeled how to fold the ends and glue from the bottom up. All of the kids did fine, and they all had a good time!

 The concentration on this one's face shows how focused they were on the trees.

They were all so proud of their different trees, and I loved how focused they were during the entire activity, especially since it was the hour before their party!

Rudolph Ornaments: Every year my class makes these ornaments. They are super easy and have changed slightly from year to year depending on the supplies I find. Usually we use brown glass bulbs, but I forgot that I bought clear plastic bulbs on clearance last year after Christmas. I had self-stick wiggly eyes and pipe cleaners, and I found the stick on gems at the Dollar Tree. I shredded up some brown construction paper, and then kids stuffed it in the ornaments. It was perfect for their little fingers! They wrote their names on the back and were done. Super easy!

Easy Team Gifts: I wanted to show my appreciation for everyone who has a role in my students' lives at school, but that can add up really fast! So, I bought these hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works when they were 6 for $5, and made this fun tag to attach them to using Elmer's Glue Dots. Easy, inexpensive, and super cute!

And just like that, it's time for another Hallmark movie! I hope you all have a very merry Christmas!

Troll Day!

Happy beginning of Summer Break (to most of my friends)! This school year just flew by! And while I will take a break any day of the week, I will admit that I wasn't tired of teaching...yet! We have a great schedule at my school that includes 2 week breaks at the end of quarters 1-3. Not to mention the snow days and random holidays. So just when you're needing a break...you get it! I actually think it makes me a better teacher because I'm refreshed and ready to go again for another 9 weeks!

But, anyways...

For our last week, we pretty much stuck to our curriculum. But for one day, we had permission to watch the movie, Trolls! So...we decided to make the entire day Trolls Day! 

Now-don't think for a second that we just plopped our kiddos in front of a TV for a movie! We had some fun activities that aligned with some concepts we had been teaching or reviewing to go along with the movie. Check them out below!

1. Push and Pull Factors

We just recently finished our CKLA Domain study on immigration, and we talked a lot about push and pull factors. So, after the Trolls leave the Troll Tree, we had the kids work with buddies to discuss why they left and why they picked their new home.

How awesome was this sweetie's answer for Pull Factors...the "sweet lackustis!" That would be...the sweet acoustics! She was obviously a great listener! You can download a copy of the activity HERE.

2. Build a Bergen Watchtower

The kids were super pumped about this particular project. It was created more as a team project, but it was very STEM in nature. The kids were given about 100 popsicle sticks, 3 cans of Playdoh, an index card, and 4 little people counters to use as their "trolls." Basically, they had to build a structure that would hold their Trolls on an index card for at least 30 seconds. Easy, right?

Nope.

I wish I could post the pictures of their faces as their elaborate structures collapsed time and time again. I will say that I was very proud of how they persevered, even when met with failure time and time again. A few of the groups did manage to get a structure going, and one group managed to get up to 8 inches. It wasn't anything like what I thought they would build, but it worked!

Here was another attempt. They did get their index card and Trolls on top, but the other structure was about an inch taller.

Overall, they had a lot of fun. They did fill out a response sheet on their structure that included their strategy and a drawing of the structure. You can download a copy of this activity HERE.

3. Hair Up!

This was the activity they were the most excited about. Basically, each kid was given a half a yard of colored tulle, a headband, scissors, ruler, and a ribbon. They had to measure and cut 18 pieces of tulle that were two-inches wide to tie onto the headband. 

They weren't perfectly measured, but they sure were cute. It was a fun activity that incorporated measuring, cutting, and tying, so I won't complain!

You can download a free copy of the activity HERE.

4. Mystery Message

I have never seen my kids solve math problems as quick and correct as they did on this activity. They were dying to figure out what the message was. I really liked how it was self-correcting. If their answer was not at the bottom, then they knew they needed to try again. You can download a free copy for your class HERE.

Overall, it was a really fun day. We do special activities and projects all the time, so the kids are pretty used to it, and there were only minor behavior issues. But...it never gets old to surprise them with some fun learning opportunities! We will definitely be doing it again next year!