It's Pumpkin Centers Day!

This is definitely my favorite time of the school year. I love how much you can teach the students using realia (real life objects). During our pumpkin centers yesterday we measured, inspected, weighed, wrote, and read about pumpkins and their life cycle. According to my students...It was the BEST day ever!!!! LOL...okay, they always say that when we have fun activities!

Tuesday afternoon, after the students left, I set up our classroom for pumpkin centers day. I created their pumpkin activity books they took with them while rotating to each center.

The first center we had was the "Pumpkin Inspection Station." Here the students inspected the outside and the inside of their pumpkin. They got to "dig" deeper ;) They also got to label the parts of the inside and outside of a pumpkin.

The second center was the "Sink or Float" center. Here the students made predictions and tested their hypothesis. The observed which side the stem was facing too.

The third center was the "Life Cycle" center. Here the students got to read books and use the life cycle cards I made to figure out the stages. All of these activities are found in my "All About Pumpkins" unit on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-about-Pumpkins-791709). - This lesson also comes in Spanish. I use both at the same time to help my ESOL students acquire the social/academic language.

Here are some pictures:

These are the pages I put inside their activity books. 

As part of their morning work, my students had to decorate their book covers.

I used flash cards and posters in both English and Spanish to help my kiddos acquire new vocabulary in both languages

After rotating to all the centers, we had McDonald's Lunch. The first grade teachers ordered Happy Meals for our students. They were so happy with their Halloween Buckets! 

After lunch, we tasted different pumpkin products (pumpkin pies, pumpkin seeds, etc.)

We then work on some art projects. I let the students use the seeds and pulp from their pumpkins.

Here is an examples of it (the top part is where the students glued the real seeds and pulp):

 

To finish the day in style, we carved a pumpkin! :) 

This year we decided to have pumpkin centers day with our 5th grade reading buddies. It was the best idea ever since I didn't have any parent volunteers and I couldn't run all the centers on my own. We were able to complete everything in one short day! 

More and More Bats!

Today we continued learning about bats. We actually focused more on nocturnal animals. We read books about bats and owls facts and then we completed an interactive Venn Diagram as a class. It went along with the books. After we completed the Venn Diagram, I gave them their independent activity; which was the same Venn Diagram but in paper.

This is the independent activity they had to complete after. I have it in both English and Spanish.

This is a free product in my TPT store. If you like it, please click on the links below.

PS- I have not yet figured out how to add the "pin it" button. I like the one that you hover over...so if you know how to do it, please teach me (step by step directions, please!) Thanks so much!!! :) 

English version: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Comparing-and-Contrasting-Owls-Bats-Venn-Diagram-939717

Spanish version: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Gratis-Diagrama-de-Venn-939787

It's a Bat day!

Today we had our annual Bat Day. It was so much fun and the kids loved all the activities we did. Especially the Predator/Prey game we played!

I started the day by reading Stellaluna by Janell Cannon and we had some worksheets to go with it. I put all those worksheets plus the ones I created for my All about Bats Mini Unit that I sell on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-About-Bats-Mini-Unit-933296) inside the "All about Bats" book that you see in the picture below. Then, we watched the movie and compared and contrasted the movie/book.  After, we read our Scholastic News magazine and more books about bat facts.  We also watched some videos on Safari Montage.




Here you can see the books I read, the Scholastic News, a puppet made from construction paper and a lunch bag, and the book we made to keep all of our worksheets together.

These are some the activities I have in my All about Bats Mini unit on TPT

This is my wonderful class rocking their bat masks!

Here we were playing the Predator/Pray game with Mrs. Johnson's class.  We, Mrs. Johnson and I, scattered tiny colored sticks all over the ground. The students (predators) had to collect as many as the sticks (prey) as possible. The had to make sure they were not dropping them because another predator could come and take them.  After collecting the sticks, we went back to the class and graphed their findings. We talked about how some colors were easier to find than others (camouflage). It was a great and fun learning experience!


Tomorrow we will continue learning about bats and more nocturnal animals. We will complete a interactive Venn Diagram about the differences and similarities of Owls and Bats. I cannot wait!

Fire! Fire! Fire Safety Week!

I love this time of year! We get to do some many fun and educational activities. On Monday we started our fire safety lessons and today we became Jr. Fire Safety Marshals! I am so proud of how much my students have learned during these past two days. It makes me feel a little better knowing that they now know what to do during a fire emergency.

These are some of the things I used during my lessons:
(You can find all of these worksheets, badges, and certificates in my Fire Safety Mini Lesson in my TPT store)

For this lesson I used vocabulary cards (both in English and Spanish), vocabulary games (in both languages too), worksheets, books, and a PowerPoint presentation about fire prevention.

I read several books about fire safety and showed them a video on Brainpop.com.

After I quizzed the students and they earned their Jr. Fire Marshal badge, helmet, and certificate.  They were so proud of themselves!!! It was a great learning opportunity and we had a blast!





Here are my wonderful Jr. Fire Marshal's!

Spiders! A fun October Activity

Every year our reading buddies, Mrs. Wilbur's fifth grade class and my class, have our annual Spiders' Day. It is such a great activity and our students love it! Not only do they get to learn a lot about spiders and their life cycle, but they get to eat chocolate covered spiders! YUM!!!! This year we are going to have our Spider Day on Thursday. We can hardly wait!

Here is what we do:

We start by reading "Spiders" by Luke Kindley which is a great book about Spiders' facts.

Then, the students have to write a paragraph about spider facts using a graphic organizer for informational text. You can get this free resource by clicking on the link below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Graphic-Organizer-for-Informational-Text-608119

After the students have written the paragraph, we have them create a spider web using a paper plate, yarn, and the spider life cycle graphics (you can find those at my TPT store). ;)

Have the kids cut slits around the plate. Then give them a big piece of yarn and have them cross it around the plate.

After, have the students glue the graphics and draw the arrows (sorry my arrows are going counter-clockwise...I don't know what I was thinking and I don't have another paper plate at home ;) )

When the students are done writing their informational paragraph and creating their life cycle wheel, we let them make their own chocolate covered spiders!!!!

For this activity you will need: a large bag of large marshmallows, chocolate syrup, small M&M's, and pretzel sticks.

Enjoy and have fun teaching and learning!

Best regards,

Maria Okraska