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

Five for Friday...promethean board....books and Mother's Day!

It is time to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 

 

 

This is a great book.......

 

 

 



 

 

and leads into a great activity and bulletin board/display.

 

 

As I was teaching a lesson last week on the promethean board, I told the kids..."a while ago I was teaching lessons on a chalkboard and now we use this amazing thing!" The kids know about sidewalk chalk, and have seen the little chalkboards,  but they couldn't imagine a large one on the wall. Ha! (after all, we had whiteboards in between) Anyway, I have been putting more effort into learning how to use my promethean board and it can really help in advanced planning! For example, instead of writing every detail in sub plans......

 

 

I add specific teacher instructions for those unexpected sub moments!

These set ups take a little time to create, but are worth it. The sheep sort was made a couple of years ago and luckily I remembered where I saved it!

 

Another advantage to setting up a flipchart for each day of the week...

I don't FORGET skills I want to review!

 

 

I presented it this way for two reasons:

1. They are getting very antsy right now and they don't groan because we are only doing two letters.

2. They know that snack is NEXT, and so are willing to do what I want to get to that very important event!

 

A co-worker has promised to teach me how to attach videos and/or music to a page so we can listen and sing a months of the year  or days of the week song.

I know it is probably EASY...baby steps...baby steps...

 

 

 

This time of year is so stinkin stressful!

So tired of working late, working, working, working!

Along with it other WORRIES...

will my leg heal soon....will I have to go to jury duty....are my lesson plans ready....can I pack for ESY by the deadline....

AHHHHHH!

This little quote and picture is a good reminder....

it's allllll good and will get done when it gets done!

 

 



 

 

Happy Mother's Day Mom! If you have Wi-Fi in Heaven....

I love you and miss you everyday!

 

 

 

That's all I got...

 

 

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