Relationships! I can not talk or write enough about the importance of these! Having a relationship with your kids is vital to their success and to you having a successful school year!
How do we do this? By creating an environment that is full of trust, love and respect! Believing in them! Letting them know that it is ok to fail! Create an environment in which they are not afraid to take a risk!
One activity I did that I love and gave them the idea that we are a family was out This Is Us wall!
We talked about how our families hang our photos on a wall! We talked about how it made them feel. Some of their responses were loved and respected! Some said it made them feel special!
Then we talked about the classroom and what I expected from them. We talked about my expectations academically and socially.
They then decorated their frame for their pictures to hang on our family wall!
We used kwikstix paint sticks to decorate our frames!!! They are amazing! If you have not used these, you must! Paint in a stick!!! They dry within 90 seconds! They are bright and vivid! They can be used on many different surfaces!
Here they are using their kwikstix on wooden photo frames! The frames are from Michaels.
Can you believe it! The 2019-2020 school year has officially begun! Well, at least it has In Delaware!!! I know there are some of you who do not start until after Labor Day!
Anyways, new year means setting up your classroom! To many of us that means picking new themes, new colors or new items for our rooms!!
I kept my theme and colors this year! I love yellow and I love llamas! My room stayed that but I needed a new classroom carpet!!!
Can I just say, I searched high and low for a classroom rug that I loved! It was not easy! Then I found it!!!!
I know it is not yellow! I know it is not llamas! But you know what it is perfect!! It is colorful! It is cute! It is big! The spots are perfect for my kids to sit on! I found this
KidCarpet.com was amazing! They shipped it immediately! Great communication and best of all what I saw and expected I got! Their selection of rugs are unbelievable! I won’t get a rug for my classroom from anybody else ever again!!
I love my new classroom carpet!
Now here’s the best news yet!! They are letting me giveaway one classroom rug to one of my followers!!! I am so excited to be able to give one of you a brand new classroom rug! One of my followers can win a rug of their choice
It has been a long time since I blogged! I normally blog about what I do with my kiddos or in my classroom!
Today, I am going to blog about wolf packs!
You are probably saying to yourself, wolf packs?
Yes! Wolf packs!
What is a wolf pack?
A wolf pack is a group that:
Work together
Play together
Respect each other
Share each other’s passions and interests
Protects each other
Cooperate
Collaborate
Do you see where I am going with this?
When I was in Dallas at GYTO, Rachel Hollis was our keynote speaker and she called all of us a wolf pack!
We need a pack! You need a wolf pack! Choose it wisely! Respect them! You can’t do it alone and you don’t need to! Your pack does not have to be present all the time! It can be spread throughout the country!
Your pack does not define you! Your pack does not dictate who you are! It accentuates you! It encourages you! It makes you complete!
I love to teach science!!! I love to hear their excitement! I love their faces!!!! First grade science is the best!
Since we just got back from spring break this week, I wanted our science to be very hands on and exciting! I have always loved to do color science so that is exactly what we did!!
Before each experiment, they always made a prediction! They drew what they thought would happen and then wrote a sentence or two explaining their prediction!
First was the Walking Rainbow
Materials
7 mason jars
6 pieces of paper towels (not the brown school kind)
Food coloring
Water
First, place the jars in a row, where all of your kids can see them but where they can stay for awhile and not be disturbed!
Then fill the first, third, fifth and seventh jar with water.
In the first and seventh jar add red food coloring! (You will need about 20 or more drops to make it a vibrant red)
In the third jar add 10 drops of yellow and in the fifth jar add 10 drops of blue.
Fold the paper towels pieces like you we’re making a fan. Add one going from the first jar to the second jar, the second to the third and so on.
Ask them what they think will happen and have them draw it and write about it.
These pictures are what it will look like when you set it up and get there predictions.
These are pictures of the experiment after about 2 hours.
Here it is at the end of the day!
Then I had them draw and write about what actually happened!
The next experiment we did was Rainbow Milk!
Materials
Milk
Food coloring
Qtips (2 per person)
Dish soap
Plates (I used plastic plates)
Pour milk into their plates until the bottom can not be seen.
In the center of the plate, add a drop of red, yellow, blue and green food coloring. Do not put them on top of each other.
Ask them to make a prediction about what will happen if they dip one of their qtips into the milk. Have them draw and write about it.
Here they are just dipping the plain qtip into the milk! Nothing really happened!!!
Now ask them what they think will happen if they dip their second qtip into dishwashing liquid and then dip it into their milk!
Have them draw and write about their prediction!
Here is a video showing what happens! Have them draw and write about the actual results!!!
Here are some pictures of how their rainbow milk turned out!
Aren’t they awesome!!
The last experiment of the day was mixing colors!
We read the book Mouse Paint. We discussed what happened when the colors were mixed together!
Materials
6 cups per child
Food coloring
Water
Place all 6 cups on their desk.
Fill three with water.
Put red food coloring in one.
Yellow in another.
Blue in another.
Then have them pour a some of the red water into an empty cup and then add some yellow! What happened?
Then have them repeat with the yellow and blue water.
Then repeat using the red and blue water!
Have them record their results!
How exciting was this! Not an expensive science afternoon! The kids loved it!
Peeps, peeps, those awesome marshmallow creatures that so many of us either live or hate!!
I personally love them but only the yellow chicks! Everyone laughs at me because they say they all taste the same but I insist they do not!
Since I love them so, chi had my children adopt a peep!
They dressed as doctors. We had to have a sterile environment to hatch our “eggs”!
Once we were ready, they each chose an egg and carefully opened it! They had no idea what was inside! Oh the joy when they saw their peep! They all got a different color and flavor!
After they hatched, they had to fill out a baby book and adoption certificate!
