Week 5 of ESY.....Making a Shark

Here is one the projects we did the last week of ESY/Summer School! This turned out to be a fantastic project.

Materials:

construction paper
paper plates
scissors
glue stick
marker


1. Fold a paper plate in half.

 

2. Cut the teeth out.

 

and open the plate...presto!

Shark teeth!

 

 



3. Fold construction in half. Draw and cut out the shark body.



 

 

4. Draw on the eyes. If you have the googly eyes, those would look great!

 



 

5. Glue the jaw on the underside of the shark body.



 

 

6. Cut out a triangle for the fin. Fold it as shown and glue.

 

 

 

We read the book Smiley Shark by  Ruth Galloway

Try this one out next time you read a shark book or study sharks. It is great fun and they can play with it also.

 

Later,

 

 

Paula

Reward Good Behavior....Pirate Style

I have had a slow start this school year. Printers not working, copy machine stalling out, laminator issues...none of this is any one's fault, it is just a steady stream of blockades.

Today I am sharing my positive pirate reward system that I have slooooooooowly put together!

First I changed my classroom expectations to be shorter and more to the point. I borrowed these from Cindy Golden, author of The Special Educator's Toolkit.

Hallway expectations are posted  and removable, this makes it easier to display and review with students just before they walk out the door. I do this EVERY TIME.  Now they tell and SHOW me what it says.

I found this punch card on Teacher pay Teachers. Unfortunately, I cannot locate it to give the seller credit at this moment. The treasure boxes are marked with a star as the students shows positive behavior during their school day. When the card is full, their pirate moves up 2 steps on the treasure map.

The students choose and color a pirate to represent themselves on the map.

This map is on the back of two file cabinets sitting side by side. The pirates have magnets on the back making them easy to move.

At the top of the map is the Treasure Chest.

This has been a fun and motivating way to reward behavior. The treasure is composed of a wide variety of objects mostly coming from yard sales and thrift stores. There is only one of many of these items, so students are allowed to choose their favorite  and it is placed into a bag with their name. This gives them a more tangible goal.

I hope this gives you some new ideas, please comment and let me know some of your ideas,

Paula

Rainbow Fish Story and Art Project

Another week has come and gone, it is time to link with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

I would like to thank Doodle Bugs for this opportunity to share my thoughts with more fellow teachers.

This week we are camping by the sea. We read the book, Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.

Even though most of the students have heard this book before, they were excited to hear it again.

Next, I presented the accompanying art project.....

Having visuals to represent the steps of the project is very helpful, some children don't enjoy art projects and it gives them an idea when it will be finished. However, EVERYONE loves the glitter part of the project !

Students color the head, fins and tail of the fish.

They glue on the multi color scales (construction paper) and one silver foil scale.

Last, the fun part!

Of course I didn't get pictures of it. I used some cardboard trays (recycled from our lunch program) to contain the glitter. I  had two kids at a time...there is no need to tempt fate!

They put glue on the tail and fins of the fish, and sprinkled on the glitter.

I love how creative kids are, their fish are very unique!

Our bulletin board isn't complete yet, there were a few absent on Thursday. 

Happy 4th of July!

Paula

Camping classroom......the schedule.......checking in...and more!

Each student picked out a t-shirt and it was labeled with their name. 

They place their shirt in the tent as they come into the room.

I purchased this game in a camp unit by 1-2-3 Learning through Teacher Pay Teachers. This unit is awesome, lots of ideas and easy to assemble activities.

   

The clothespins make it more fun than the usual markers.

The preschool teacher down the hall had these cute pigs in the hall!

We will be camping by the sea for a couple of weeks. This theme is always fun! There will be more to share later,

Paula

2014 Camping Classroom...Stations

Our summer school theme is Camping! First, we are camping with dinosaurs. Kids love dinosaurs! I am linking with Doodle Bugs Teaching:

The students have a variety of objectives to work on so we are splitting into small groups and calling it the "Station Rotation". Note: This is my morning session, a MUCH smaller group compared to the afternoon session.

The chart helps the students be more independent, I ring the bell when it is time to switch. Initially I was going to use pictures to represent all the stations, but realized this would be much simpler! 

This chart is my guide, so I don't have to think so hard!

The stations are marked with matching construction paper.

Here are  the stations:

Blue

motor and sensory skills

The rug is from a thrift store and the pins are made from water bottles with gravel to weight them slightly.

I really really want a ball pit ! I think the kids would get a lot of good from it.

Red (the picnic table)

math skills and games

Green (the tree)

reading and writing skills

Yellow

free choice reading

There are still some bugs to work out of the system, but the first week went pretty well.

Later,

Paula

Five for Friday....June 20, 2014

Summer school is here!  Time to share with Doodle Bug's five for Friday link:

ONE

It was difficult to get back into the swing of things.

I returned to the camping theme because it was too much fun last summer! We will be camping with dinosaurs, by the seashore and if time...at the zoo.

TWO

We are house  hunting. It is exhausting, exciting and frustrating! We actually made an offer, but someone else jumped in and offered more. I can see there will be many ups and downs. Anyway! Alaska is a lovely place to wander around in......

I love the green!

THREE

We had a successful yard sale! 

FOUR

I repeated this art project. It is a simple, fun to break twigs, you can't use too much glue, and great scissor skill practice kind of project.

I changed up the campfire this year, a friend gave me this cool tin, we cut out a circle of flames, lined the sides and put real firewood in the middle.

FIVE

I changed my hair color! Instead of darkening it in a vain attempt to cover the gray, I lightened. It was a process, my hair was resistant, but the hair dresser was persistent and she got it done!

I'll be back in a few days to share more about our classroom set up and activities!

Later Gator!

Paula