What is in milk? A cow :) Mrs R how do they make strawberry and chocolate milk? There aren't pink cows Mrs R :)

Rain Forest

My students are still playing with the Valentine Shaker, so I made another one for the Rain Forest.

Get yours here: Rain Forest Shaker

So in my description of the spinner I use small counters of a frog, snake 

but I have no idea where I got them.  :{

My container broke and I put them into a bag.

I searched on line without any luck.

There is a photo of the bag on my website 

http://www.kinderpond.com/rainforest.html

but it doesn't really show anything lol

I also made the Rain Forest Spinner as well, as we are still playing with the Valentine one!

Get yours here: Rain Forest Spinner

I don't know why these are so popular :}

Rain Forest

We are spending the whole month in the Rain Forest.

Our LG (Learning Goal) is to name the 4 layers and some of the animals that live there.

To my K-1 group I read this book:

Our Trip to the Rainforest

Student Version

Then with the 2nd-3rd group I read this one:

Our trip through the Rainforest

Student Version

On day one, after we wrote our LG, we brainstormed things we knew about the Rain Forest.  However, when we shared some of our thoughts, one of my 5th graders said 'zebra' most of the others looked right at him and said ummmmm... no they live on the Savannah. 

Then I read The Great Kapok Tree.  We shared things that we heard that was in the RF.

Day 2

We began our journey by recalling the 4 levels of the RF.  We made a new page in our science log with the layers.  We began our trip with the forest floor. 

The K-1 group learned about tarantulas.

The 2-3 group learned about iguanas.

The 4-5 group learned about a tapirs. 

I printed off slips of paper with facts on them.  The students read the facts and they condensed them down to fit in our bubble maps.

Plants: From petals to roots

So the froglets in K-3 created a drawing like this one.

Parts of a plant and the needs.  K-1 were flat.  The 2nd-3rd were flaps.

In K-1 we do a little "dance" for lack of a better description.  To review the parts of the plant, we make a circle with our arms over our heads and say "Petals," then we flick our fingers at face level for "seeds," followed by hands out at our sides for "leaves," next we put our arms tight against our bodies for "stem," finally we stomp our legs apart for the "roots." I really need to get a video of my students, they are so cute!  Even my ELL children can do this with ease!


We reviewed the different parts of the plants.  It is very difficult for them to realize that the "fruit" of the plants, don't necessarily have to be a fruit :}

So to begin this activity, we added these cards to the pocket chart.  I had them blindly pick the cards from a container.  They had to decide where it went.  They did have the answers on the back too. To leave this lesson, while the chart was full, the children had to name one of the foods under a heading.  For example, I would call on a student and say please tell me a seed.  They would go to the chart and pull off one of the seed cards and tell me the name of the seed card they picked.  It got harder and harder when more and more cards were gone.  I had two ELL children left and they just had to find and point to one but not name it.

We tasted the parts of the plant:

 The names in the boxes are the student's choice of their favorites.  The names on the outside were what they didn't like. We ran out of time for our non-favorites lol

 We did Plants: Need:Have:Are:Give.  Then we researched more and I "Shared the Pen" and we added facts.

Dollar Spot: Froggy Style

My Friday Find!

So I was at the Dollar Spot at Target.  I immediately saw these frog baskets.  I picked up one and counted to see how many were there... who was I kidding?  I bought them all! lol

I also bought several key chains and then discovered that they were $3 each, so I only got the dolphin one.  I put theme words on keychains for my students.

Measurement and Dental Health

My students really loved using this Teeth Unit to measure items.

by: First Grade Teaching

www.first-grade-teaching.com

www.first-grade-teachers.blogspot.com

I hung the graphics around the room and the students took their recording sheets around with them to write down their answers.  

To begin our unit, I have the children write down our LG's (Learning Goals)

These are the words the 4-5th graders brainstormed:

We made teeth in our Science Logs.
The K-1's picked the cards and told the group
if it was good or bad.

We did talk about eating things in moderation as well.

We made a "Have you lost a tooth?" graph

 Here is what we did with the 2nd-3rd graders

 Stay tuned for my new measurement resources and what I will be using in April.

Spring

Check out my unit Spring Has Sprung

The students can't get enough of these games!

Bunny Shake Up

This version is all about money. 

 They are labeled with amounts and the children 

need to say what coins to use.

Ex. $0.23 students will say 2 dimes and 3 pennies

(try to stress that they need to use the largest coins possible.)

Bunny Hop- matching cards

Rabbits matching cards.

Singing in the Rain matching cards

Counting Ducks Dominoes

Carrot Fill

This easy game, where the children roll a number cube
and count that many carrots.
To make it more difficult,
I add more game boards :}

Flower Cube Roll

I include a matching cube for the children
to roll and graph which flower they get.
You could play that they can roll 10 times and stop or
I have them roll until two rows are filled up.

There is a second sheet is where they total up their rolls and
then they have to add them together.

Flower Shake Up
Yes I have two versions going with different themes.

This version is all about solids and liquids.
We just finished up our unit on them.
I label the bottom with an "S" or "L"
Children must name a solid or liquid.

Dust Bunny measuring

Bunny Pairs

Carrots

Carrot Tops

Chicks

Mini-Ducks

Rainhats