We did do a couple of cool things this week and last week that I wanted to share because I thought they were kind of cute ideas. I get so excited nowadays when I don't get ideas off Pinterest because I can claim it myself! Haha.
First off, we did a short heroes unit where we talked about what makes a real-life hero and what heroes we know of. We did all kinds of thinking maps on it, then the kids used their ideas on what makes a hero to create their own heroes... we did three but I only took pictures of two of them and they are so funny looking! They had to trace the shortest member of the group and then use words and illustrations to show what a true hero is. You just have to look at the pictures of their heroes—one is apparently a firefighter (the bearded one) and the other one is a policeman in a cast.
We also did past, present, and future heroes later in the week but I forgot to take a picture of them. I put them in groups and gave each group articles on a past hero (Abraham Lincoln or Gandhi) and a present hero (George Bush or Barack Obama) and they had to pick out important facts on each. Then they made a three-column chart (a column for past, for present, and for future) and added pictures and facts on their people. The future column had a picture of them and what they planned on doing to be a future hero. They were cute! My students always surprise me so much when I only give them a few directions and let them take projects in their own direction—I always end up much happier with the end product and get much less irritated about them not perfectly following my directions. Plus they're learning to be creative and independent :).
Something else that we worked on in the past couple of weeks in social studies was black history... we talked about Martin Luther King, Jr. and what he did for our country and how much of an impact his “I Have a Dream” speech had. The students created their own “I Have a Dream” thought bubbles with their pictures. I love it when they use their own pictures on things—I think it turns out so funny looking! I made a sort-of bulletin board for them to share with those that walk by the classroom and I've gotten a lot of compliments on them!
Our 100th Day of School was Monday and we had a blast all day long using 100! My favorite activity that we did was with the book 100 Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes. I had the students get into three groups and count out 100 Froot Loops. Before doing so, we talked about the best way of counting them out so that they wouldn't lose track of what they already counted and the students decided that it would be best to put them in groups of 10. As I read the story to them, I would stop every time the ants wanted to get into new rows (if you've never read the book, they start out in 1 row of 100, then get in 2 rows of 50, 5 rows of 20, and 10 rows of 10) and have the students show me what it would look like with their Froot Loops. Since we are currently working on fractions, we talked about how how the “ants” were in equal groups and what fractions we could make up. The loved it! They especially loved being able to eat Froot Loops after (I'm a freak about germs so I made them throw all the Froot Loops away from the activity and I gave them all clean ones from the box haha)... and so did I!
In other news, I have been asked to be a guest speaker at the Elementary Education Club at my alma mater (I was the president last year so I am super excited to go back... even though I still live in the same town lol) and I am supposed to give tips to some future tips. I need help getting ideas on what to talk about! Help! :)
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