Butterflies

Today we started our unit about butterflies and it was a hit! I love how inquisitive my students are about nature and our environment. I am really enjoying teaching science this year.

These are some of the posters I used to launch the unit. I also used vocabulary flashcards to help students develop the academic vocabulary in both languages.

This year I am working on Element 6 of the Marzano Evaluation System, so I usually  have my kids record the most important information in their interactive notebooks.

This way they will have all that information to study for the EOC's (End of the Year Course Exams)

After entering the information in their interactive journals, the students worked on several projects like the life cycle wheel you see above (made with pasta and popcorn kernels). Pardon the tiny shell, they were out of the middle size. The shell represents the chrysalis. 

Tomorrow we will start working on our little books!

If you like the activities you saw, please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Here is the direct link of that particular product: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mariposas-Butterflies-596204

A December to Remember

It is important for me to make the holidays as memorable as possible for my students. On my previous post I told you about Holidays around the World and now I will tell you about our Holiday Week. As a team we chose topics for each day. This year we decided on the following:

                                           Monday - Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer Day

Each day we read the story, watched the movie while eating lunch together, and did some fun projects.

On Monday I painted the students' noses red using face paint. They looked so cute with their reindeer antlers and their red noses!

Tuesday - The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

Wednesday - The Gingerbread Man Day

We started the day reading the story "The Gingerbread Man" and then at the end of the book, the gingerbread man left us a clue. He had us going around the whole school looking for him. We were not fast enough to catch him, but he did leave us a tray with gingerbread cookies for the whole class!!! After our scavenger hunt, we designed and built gingerbread houses. Each kid also had an activity book that went along with the topic and skills learned. 

Thursday - If You Take a Mouse to the Movies (also Party Day)

This day was extra especial. I read the story to the kids and then I set up 5 different centers for them to complete. I usually try to mimic the story (make popcorn strings, snowflakes, etc.), but this year our reading buddies were joining us and we decided to buy them cool ornaments and crafts to complete. These became their gifts for their families. 

 

These are some of the things we made that day. I always make the candy cane mouse to remind them of the story. Earlier in the week, we made decorated gift bags to put all the crafts we were going to make during the week. We also made cards for our family members. 

At the end of the day, I gave them their gifts.

Friday - The Polar Express Day a.k.a my favorite day!!!!!

During this day we wear our pajamas and we have a guest reader come and read the story to the kids.  The guest reader checks and punches a hole on their golden tickets. After the story, they all receive their First Gift of Christmas (bells). My principal requires us to make everything educational, so we make story maps and then wrote about "our adventures on the Polar Express." Once again we ate lunch together and watched the movie. I made them hot cocoa with whipped cream and marshmallows and gave them popcorn.