Construction work is fun!

It has been a long time since I posted! Life got in the way! I was sick and then my car got stolen! Yes you read that last one correctly!

Standard measurement is difficult for firsties!! They understand nonstandard but they just have a bad time with standard. So I decided that I was going to make it real life! So they were construction workers! Did they have a blast!! 

First, we started our day off reading two books about construction and did a Venn diagram! We read Pete the Cat Construction Destruction and a book that I wrote!

We talked about nonfiction and fiction! They loved it!

Then we constructed our opinion writing pieces about being a construction worker.

The afternoon is when they really had a blast. They built structures and measured them. They did place value and time centers with the construction theme!

It was just an awesome day all around! Below are more pictures from our day!

Measuring Penguins!

Today, we read the book, Tacky the Penguin in ELA. The focus today was central theme. I chose this book because I love the thought of the author. This book teaches such a valuable lesson. 

Click to go to link on Amazon for this book:

Tacky is an odd bird but he is a brave bird who protects his companions. So he is also loyal. The central theme of this awesome book is everyone is unique. everyone has positive qualities and everybody has a purpose. This is something many of the kiddos today need to learn. Just because you are different does not make you a bad person or unworthy. it is often times the one who is different, who will be brave enough to do what needs to be done!

Penguin Directions:

In honor of the central theme, my kiddos made penguins but they were not ordinary penguins. They were "tacky" penguins or odd birds. They were to choose one piece of colored paper (8 X 11). They cut that into an oval. Now, i do not allow them to draw the oval, they are to just cut. This makes it their penguin. All of the penguins are different, not cookie cutter penguins. Once they have the oval cut out, they receive a small sheet of white paper. This is their belly. They cut a smaller oval out of the white. Once these are glued together, they took another sheet of colored paper to make the wings. This can not be the same color as their body. Then they took the scraps from one of their friends to make the eyes, and scraps from another friend to make the beak. Finally we made the feet. The feet are a little tricky. To make the feet, take a quarter sheet of paper, fold the bottom right hand corner over until the two sides touch. Then cut the extra off. This will make the paper look like a triangle. Hold the triangle on the crease and cut two small triangles out of the paper. Then cut on the crease and voila, two feet are made. 

Here are a few of the finished penguins:

Measuring:

Now for the measuring. We will be using cubes to measure or penguins. We will measure their heads, feet, beak and wing. Then we will measure how tall they are.

Here is the recording sheet: click to download!

My kiddos had a blast making these penguins and practicing their measuring skills. Here are the finished products!

I will end with my favorite measuring video! I love tis video and so does the kiddos!!!

Happy measuring!!!