I have been a little MIA lately, because I have been right here..
I meant to post all about our Valentine's week while in NYC, but...I mean...it is NYC, and there is never a spare second! I love city living, but dang this city was FREEZING! For all of my northern friends, I just don't see how y'all do it! I will stay right here with my sweet {WARM} southern weather!
Alright, back to Valentine's week. Last week flew by super duper fast. You will see why in a second, because I think this post may have a good 100 pictures! ;) {Sorry about that!} I would split this up into several posts, but I can't promise what tomorrow will bring, so I better get it all in tonight! :)
Of course, we were all in a lovey dovey mood, and many of our activities revolved around this holiday. We began the week with our Heart Attack writings. Although we did this same activity last year, it was still a class favorite. They were beyond excited when they saw the conversation hearts!
These turned out precious! I don't know why, but every time I pull out the hearts, their creativity runs wild!
We also worked on some riddle writing to really pull out our descriptive language. We have our PASS Writing Test in 20 school days {but who's counting?} ;) We have our essay structure down and are ready to go, but we have really been working on how our writing sounds. How did we practice this descriptive language? By writing ValenSLIMES!
Most of my kids chose to write to another student in our class. They were all about Valensliming their friends!
Following this activity, we spent time reviewing similes {another way to spruce up our writing}.
We wrote "text messages" to our friends in the form of similes. These kids cracked me right up. Their messages were so cute, and they really put a lot of thought behind what they were writing. I have to say my favorite was: " You are as crazy as a group of monkeys waiting on some bananas."
After last week, they better not have an excuse for lacking creativity. They better knock my socks off on their prompts this week! ;)
On Valentine's Day, we had several special activities. We began by creating our boxes to hold all of our letters from our friends. This year, we used cereal boxes to make I {heart} South Carolina boxes. On the back of their boxes, they wrote their SC Top 10 {Ten things they have LOVED learning about SC History.}
We love our great state!
In math, we have been working on money and fractions. I had planned for the kids to make Valentine's Day pizza, but first, they had to create their order slip. They had a certain amount of money that they could spend, and they had to create an order that was less than the given amount. Then, they had to determine how much change they should receive in return.
Once their order form was set and ready to go, they designed their pizza. They had to choose how they would divide their pizza and their toppings. We had all types of variations displayed and analyzed our pizzas to determine which fractions were represented in our classroom.
Finally, we made our pizzas {in real life}. :) They had to follow their order and design their pizza to represent their fractions.
We finished off our pizza experience by sharing our process with others. We focused on the importance of including even the smallest steps like where to place the sauce and how long to cook the pizza. It helped that they had actually made a pizza a few minutes earlier.
Although many of last week's activities were centered around Valentine's Day, we also kept up with our math and science units.
In math, we are about to finish up our measurement unit {once we complete money this week.} Most of our measurement activities have been centered around football. I really wanted for the students to be able to apply what they have learned during this unit, so we did a little PBL to tie everything together. I was a little nervous about this activity, but I always love what happens when you give kids the opportunity to really show how smart they are! They love it too! Such a great confidence builder.
So.......
Basically, I gave the kids a mission. They had to design a football field for the 2014 Super Bowl. I gave them the perimeter for their field and the distance that should separate each yard line. Then, I gave them a ruler, measuring tape, a poster board, and markers, and they went to work. I know I brag on my kids A LOT, but seriously, they blew me away! I went over how to use rulers to make a straight line from top to bottom, and they used all of the tricks! Check out these super straight, amazingly accurate football fields!
This group below was minutes away from completing the task when they realized they were a little off on their measurements. They had to decide if they could fix the issue or if they needed to start over from scratch. They decided that it would be easier to start over to make it exact. Such a great lesson to discover independently. Proud teacher moment!
This activity will be included in my measurement pack which will be out SOON!
Almost done...I swear!
In science, we finished off the week by learning about different life cycles. They have to understand the life cycle of each classification group. After our instruction, I gave the kids a "test". They had to design a windsock that would highlight the life cycle of their favorite animal and also include the basic life cycle pattern of each animal classification group. Here's what they came up with...
Most chose to use the strips at the bottom to represent the different life cycles and the actual sock part to highlight the life cycle of their favorite creature.
Here is where they are now...
Do you like our display? :) I will be hanging them in our room tomorrow!
If you stayed with me this long, you are amazing! Thanks for following along with our week! Hope y'all had an amazing weekend and are ready for a wonderful week in your classroom! Night, friends!
