Polar Express 2019

Image from here.

Last year, I turned my classroom into the Polar Express. Last year, I was also teaching first grade.  Since I'm in third grade this year - and in a new classroom, I decided to change it up a little bit.  I wanted every scene from the book hanging up in my room.  I thankfully had parent help creating the scenes and hanging them up.  (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!)  The students helped with coloring and painting.

I read the book for them in the morning - and they pointed out every single scene while I was reading.
During the movie, they would shout out, "Mrs. Lynch! That scene is over there!" and they would point to that scene.

We had a great discussion afterwards where we compared book and movie. "Why wasn't that in the book?"  "Why is Pennywise in the movie?"  "Where are his friends in the book?"  The questions kept on coming!

Without further ado, here is a tour of my room:

The first two pictures are actually one - I just couldn't get it in one photo since it wrapped around the corner!

The wolf scene was one that I made last year.

This was made last year (by my co-teacher.)

I made this last year as well.  It was cut into two pieces to fit on the sides of my Promethean Board.

Again, I had to cut this picture to fit on the sides of my Promethean Board.

I ran out of space in my room so I had to put these two scenes on top of each other.

My favorite. 

I also have a video tour which you can see here.  When you watch the video, you can see how I set up the rest of the room - especially when it was time to watch the movie and enjoy our snacks! 

They enjoyed themselves today! :-) 

Have a wonderful holiday - no matter what you celebrate!

Happy New Year!

Lincoln, Valentine's Day, & Chinese New Year

Image from here

I definitely agree with what is written on the image above. 

I want my students to know as much as possible! (History, math, science, social students, etc...)
I want my students to have power - the power to make good choices and  the power to inform people of what they know!
I want my students to respect everyone.  I want them to treat others the way they want to be treated!  I want them to understand and respect different cultures, religions, and holidays.
I want my students to be happy!

Well, I can certainly tell you my students have been happy the past week!  They have been learning a lot and they are having fun while doing it!

Let's start with Abraham Lincoln.

In guided reading groups, we read A Picture Book of Abraham Lincoln by David Adler.  We also watched a video on Discovery Edu on Abe Lincoln.  My goal?  To recreate this cute writing craft I found on Pinterest!  I did it 2 years ago but unable to last year due to numerous snow days!

The students recalled facts which I wrote down on the Promethean board for them.  The end result?

This wasn't all we did!  I also found this ADORABLE idea!
I had some fun with this!

For my students, I put a patriotic hat on their head!  Here is one of my girls!

And one of my boys!

Follow up activity?  Write about if they are taller or shorter than Abraham Lincoln! Illustrate with a picture.  :-)

I'm hoping to get to George Washington tomorrow.  (Last week was NUTS: No school Monday, snow day Tuesday, Chinese New Year celebration Thursday, 2 hour delay on Friday!)

Valentine's Day:
I previously posted about our Love Lamps that we made.  That afternoon we had our Valentine party.  My students helped me make decorations earlier that week.  (And before you ask, yes, I found the idea on Pinterest!)  Check it out!

Classroom door

Classroom door from the other side

Closet door

Of course we talked about being kind to others as well! :-)

Chinese New Year
I LOVE Chinese New Year!  Last year, my students made a HUGE dragon!  Check out my post here!  This year, we did 2 simple (but fun activities!)

First off, we read several Chinese New Year books.  I apologize for not posting the books but the names escape me and I'm writing this from home.  We also watched 2 Chinese New Year videos.  We discussed how Chinese New Year follows the Lunar calendar.  This BAFFLED their brains!  Lots of really great questions were asked!  After answering them it was time for some fun art projects!

Project #1 - firecrackers!

Step 1: Painting 112 toilet paper rolls!

Step 2: Gluing on the yellow borders.  (They were given long strips of paper which they had to measure in order to fit around the tube!)

 

Step 3 - threading red ribbon through the holes and tying it.  My co-teacher and I helped with this.

Step 4 - Add gold ribbon.  (My co-teacher cut and curled the ribbon and then gave it to my students to put through the holes.)

Step 5 - hang up around my room!

Yes, I FINALLY took down their Christmas lights in order to put up the firecrackers!

One of my students asked me if these were real firecrackers!  I said, "No honey, we're not allowed to do that!"  By the way, each student had 7 toilet paper rolls.

Project #2 - cute dragons!

Step 1 - trace, cut, and glue colored hands together

Step 2 - color dragon head and tail

Step 3 - glue head and tail

Step 4 - add Popsicle sticks!

My sample!

We paraded up to the office with our dragons AND firecrackers!  They loved it!

Educate my students - CHECK
Make sure they have knowledge - CHECK
Students have power to inform others - CHECK
Respecting others - CHECK
Happiness - TRIPLE CHECK!!!!

Yes, we've had a successful week!
Until next time! :-)

Stacey

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Happy 2015!

Tomorrow I go back to work after a wonderful and relaxing winter break!  One of the things I had intended to do was update my blog!  There were 2 things that I wanted to post about!

Next to our classroom door is a space about the size of our door.  I decided to decorate it for the holidays.  This is what the kiddos and I did!

I found the idea on Pinterest! :-)
My kids and I really enjoyed making this and hanging it up.  We're not looking forward to taking it down!

For the past 2 years, I have done a Holidays Around the World unit.  For the most part, I use this bundle from Rachelle Smith.  I don't have pictures of it but we turned into a book this year.  I used these pocket folders with fasteners from Staples. They turned out to be absolutely ADORABLE! The kids were excited to take their books home!

I had looked at all of the holidays and when they're celebrated.  I taught them in order from earliest holiday celebration to the latest celebration. Hanukkah was one of our last 2 holidays which I did on purpose.  The day after learning about Hanukkah, I enlisted our guidance counselor / cooking guru's help to make potato latkes with my kiddos!  It was fun! Check it out!

Cracking eggs

scrambling

stirring

Let's get those latkes in the pan!

I can't even begin to tell you how good my room smelled or how TASTY these latkes were!

Yes, every last latke was eaten!  All but one student LOVED the latkes!

Time to get ready for tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!
Stacey