The Crayon Box That Talked

I know as a teacher, we have soooo many favorite books! I am always saying OMG! That book is my favorite! I can't help it! I love books!!! I will buy books all the time! It is so important to immerse our littles with good, quality literature.

So, on that note, I use this book every year to teach the kids that we are all unique but we must all work together to get anything done and to accomplish anything. You can not do it alone!!! I have been reading this book for 20 years. I just had to order a new one because my original book, the one I bought 20 years ago finally fell completely apart and scotch tape and staples could no longer keep it together!!! 

What book is it you ask?!!

It is The Crayon Box That Talked! It is written by an amazing man named Shane DeRolf! He is the founder of that amazing website, Big Word Club!!!

I always read this amazing book then we discuss what the author is trying to tell us! What is the central message! Then  I share the quote with them before we hang it up in our room!!!

click the quote for a free copy for your classroom!

My kids and I then take giant crayons made out of bulletin board paper and we decorate them with everything that we love. We then make a giant crayon box out in the hallway. This crayon box depicts the diversity in our room yet symbolizes that we are all a family that works together to create a harmonious environment in which we are all happy and successful!

Of course we end with a reading of the poem, The crayon Box That talked!

Click on the poem for a free version for your classroom!

Learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!

I can not think of a more important unit to be teaching this year then this. The way our world has been lately, it is so important for us to teach the students the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his Dream!!!!

Throughout the years, I have gathered so many books about this great man and I always find more! My absolute favorite is the book, My Brother Martin written by his sister, Christine King Farris!! My book is signed by her and it is one of my most prized possessions!!!! If you do not have this book, it is a must have. Just click on the book below and it will take you to the Amazon link!!!

So after we read this book, we get right into discussions! I love how they absorb all that we are talking about! They are truly amazed at how the world once was!

To teach them about how we are all different and all the same. I always use a brown egg and a white egg. This depicts the skin colors of my class and it shows how they are different color on the outside but we are all the same on the inside!!! This is so memorable!!!

Then we read a little book to take home and then we do one of my other favorite activities, follow me to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This activity is a no pencil activity. They all get the same amount and same size paper. They have to cut as I cut and glue as I glue. Then they can add their own details!
Here they are! I must say I love how each one is unique!!!!

I created a new sign for my light box for this day! My kids loved it!

What an amazing day! It is days like this that I am proud to be a teacher!!!

Matter

We are now starting our new unit in Science. I love this unit. The unit is Solids, Liquids and Gases. To begin the unit, we start to talk about Matter and what is Matter!

In order for the kids to understand the three forms of matter and see that you can have all three forms together in one spot, we make root beer floats. (solid is the ice cream, liquid is the root beer and gas is the foam)

The kids loved this activity and they left understanding the three forms of matter and couldn't wait to go home and tell their families all about our day!

Happy New Year!!

I can not believe that it is already 2017! Our Christmas/winter break seemed much shorter then usual this year!

When we returned, we had to celebrate New Years together!!! So I got all of my kiddos hats, beads and blowers! We had to watch the ball drop, count down and of course yell Happy New Year!!!!



Then of course we had to make ourselves with our blowers and write about our goals and New Year Resolutions!! 

So from our little classroom in Delaware to your..... Happy New Year!!!!

Polar Express Day

I know that it is January but I totally forgot to post about our Polar Express Day! This is one of the best days of the year! 

We started the day off by reading the book, Polar Express and talking about it!

This year, the entire first grade went to the MPR to watch this amazing movie. We has set the chairs up to look like a rain and we taped bells under their chairs.

They kids got to wear their pajamas to school and we had hot cocoa nad candy canes during the movie!

The kids loved it as well as the teachers!

Here are some photos from the day!