Clean It Out & Clear It Out

Do you have over-flowing files, extra school supplies, and containers of craft supplies? Hopefully this blog post will help you want to get a jump start on cleaning out your classroom and clearing out the old! That is exactly what I plan on doing this Summer. 

My colleagues know how OCD I am and they think my school closet is very organized.  However, I knew it could look better and it drove me nuts that I had so many mixed matched containers. I had a variety of tubs with extra school supplies and many containers for my craft supplies. So, I bought these shoebox containers at Target 5/$5.39. I have started making a container for each item (tape, markers, velcro, yarn, chalk, etc.) Then, I'm going to add a label to the front of each container with velcro. 

I also have oodles and oodles of files that I had previously organized by month. After having to dig back and forth through files to find materials when I want to review, I've decided to organize everything by skill. I bought 16 big containers at Target and I am going to label each tub by skill. Next, I plan on putting all my paper files into binders. Then, I'm going to put all my games related to that skill, along with the binder, into 1 container. Finally, I'll add a label to the front so it'll be easy to identify the skill one I'll be able to house everything I need in 1 container. Here is what my "before" picture is. Hopefully it won't take too long until I can take an "after" picture. :) 

                                                  

Below are the labels that I am putting on the front of all of my containers. They go along with my polka dot themed classroom. :) You can grab these FREE labels by becoming a Facebook follower. Just click on the picture below. 

As you are going through your files, think about the clothing rule: If you haven't used it in a year or two, get rid of it! At least that's my motto since I can't handle clutter. Do you have any other suggestions about how to keep your files and materials organized?

   

     Summer is here and time to dive into the OCEAN!  

     What a perfect time to study the ocean and beach!   We'd like to share some of our favorite activities in our ocean/beach thematic unit.

     When starting a new unit of study we begin by building a “community” bulletin board.  Everyone in the class contributes in creating the habitat.  For the ocean, we start with  a blue background and add large clumps of seaweed for inspiration!  Step one involves brainstorming all the living things that might be found in  the ocean.  Next, each student is given a white piece of paper with instructions to completely fill it with their drawing.  We found they have success if they first draw their “creature” in pencil and then color it with crayons or colored pencils.  When it is complete, they cut around their drawing and all the pieces are stapled to the blue background.  When the board is complete, the whole class says, “It’s alive!” as we marvel at our beautiful ocean scene.

     

This is a close-up picture of a small part of the bulletin board.

 Parent participation is always welcomed throughout the school year. Early on, we send a letter asking parents if they would be willing to share their talents, hobbies, skills, and professions with our class.  This is always optional but the parents love to be part of their child’s learning experiences.  When our ocean unit starts, we are amazed to find life guards, fishermen, boat owners, snorkelers, scuba divers, etc. all willing to come in and share!

For example, one parent brought in all the gear necessary to go scuba diving and snorkeling.  We pushed back the classroom furniture to clear a large space.  The students had fun putting on the flippers and snorkeling gear.  They even tried carrying a air tank and discovered it was quite heavy.  They pretended to go scuba diving with the carpeting being the ocean floor.  We placed some large seashells around for them to pick up.  What an experience!

     Ready for a GOOEY slightly smelly hands-on Experience?  Bring in a whole large fish from the grocery store (yes, with the head still on!) and use it to look at the body parts (bones, gills, fins, eyes, etc.) The boys LOVE this!  It is great for  generating describing words (ie. smelly, slimy, and slippery!)  We then do a rubbing placing paper on top of the fish and rubbing a soft pencil over it to notice the scales.  Have the students write what they learned about a fish! This activity can only last a few days of course! 

     As we continue to study about the ocean many discussions pop up which lead into writing projects for the whole class.  Here are a few of the class book covers we use to motivate our students.   

       In making the cover for The Message, use a piece of colored cardstock and cut the bottle shape out before laminating.  Here’s the tricky part….as you are SLOWY laminating, slip a little piece of paper in so it will be somewhere near the middle of the bottle. You might want to STOP the laminator so you can slip the word under the film!   (We wrote the word HELP on the note.)  We talk about why someone would send a message in a bottle and what it might say. Then they’re off and writing!

    In making this book cover, Deep in the Sea, put aluminum foil  around the porthole to give it a metallic look.  An ocean scene appears in the center of  the porthole showing the  bottom of the sea.  Remember to cut out the top part of the porthole before laminating so the clear film will give the feeling of a piece of window glass.  Place a blue piece of paper as the first page of the book so it will appear blue behind the porthole.  We talk about submarines and other types of diving boats that would have portholes to view the ocean.   The kids just love looking through both the bottle and the porthole when looking at their class books.  (Helpful hint:  If you don't put your name or classroom number on the cover you can replace the students' writings each year and reuse the covers! Time saver!!)

       Do a lot of Read-alouds with Ocean books to build background knowledge.  Students can write either fictional stories or non-fiction mini-reports about what they learned and what they saw (if you happen to live near an ocean!) or could see in the deep blue sea. Use your imagination!  And of course, most everyone has seen Finding Nemo so they have that for a reference point!  

This DOWNLOADABLE file contains a class book cover and 3 styles of themed writing paper.  Click {here} to find it! 

   We conclude our thematic study with individual ocean scenes.   Each student is given a piece of blue tag board.  Students either make new sea animals or reuse the ones they stapled on the community board.   Green construction paper is used to make their seaweed.

BEFORE gluing anything each student should draw a wiggly line at the top of their paper for the waves and a line about 2 inches from the bottom to create the ocean floor.  Once students have all their pieces,  they are ready to add the REAL sand and shells to their paper.

    SAND:  We have found the best way to manage the sand is to use a box to contain it. The paper is "painted" with white glue using a paint brush.  Place the blue paper into the box.  Students  scoop up some sand and sprinkle it over the glue. Lightly shake off the excess.  Place the paper on a flat surface and add REAL shells (use small ones and LOTS of glue!).  You might want to limit the number of shells (3-5) you give to each student as they will go crazy with the shells!  Elmer's glue works well and dries clear.   Sand and shells can be found at any craft store.  There is usually enough sand and shells to do this many times in the coming years so the cost is fairly minimal.   Glue on the sea creatures and their beautiful ocean scenes appear!  This art project is something they will treasure! 

     After studying about ocean life we have a “celebration”!  It was NOT a party as we can only have 3 parties a year.   However there is no limit to the number of  “celebrations” a classroom can have!!  We serve blue jello in clear cups with gummy fish.   Fish sticks, small popcorn shrimp and clam chowder round out our Ocean “celebration” meal.  

(You can see our ocean community bulletin board in the background.)

                              Here is a FREE game you might enjoy using with your Ocean studies.  

It comes with EDITABLE cards so ANY content can be added: sight words, math facts, your choice!

Beach Time Game FREEBIE with EDITABLE cards

Visit our website for other Ocean-themed ideas!

A Fun Tactile Activity

The school year is winding down and everyone is anxious to get to some summer fun. This is a quick, easy, colorful, minimally messy activity with modeling dough that works great whether you're still in class and needing to get the wiggles out, or you're looking to make some fun summer memories. I tested this activity with my nephews and we had a blast!

What you'll need:
Flour
Water
Salt
Food Coloring
Several Bowls
Plastic Wrap

Optional:
Cooking Oil
Rubber Gloves
A Mixing Spoon



Step 1 - Grab your Recipe for Homemade Modeling Dough
For this activity, I took an online recipe for baked Christmas Ornaments and adapted it. You may already have a baked ornament recipe that you like, but if not I'd recommend either of the following:

Wikihow: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Christmas-Ornaments-with-Dough
Allrecipes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ornament-dough/


Step 2 - Make the Dough
Use the recipe of your choice and follow its directions for ingredient amounts. Mix together the dough until the ingredients are just wet enough to form a ball. DON'T do the kneading step yet. When mixing the dough you can use a spoon, however I prefer using my hands. I feel like a get a more consistent dough that way. If you choose to use the hand-mixing method, I recommend you rub your hands with some cooking oil first. It'll save them from feeling all salty and dried out.

Next, break the dough into smaller balls, one ball for each color you'd like to make. I decided to go with the 4 primary colors so I broke the dough into 4 equal parts.

Now it's time to add some color! Add your food coloring to each ball and then knead each individual ball according to your recipe directions. The different recipes I looked at recommended 10 minutes. Now I know 10 minutes is a long time, but it's well worth it and here's why: First, kneading is an important step in making the dough the consistency you need for modeling. Second, it saves future messes, because once the color is kneaded into the dough it doesn't rub off on anything else! Warning: When you initially add the food coloring to the dough, you may wish to wear gloves to prevent the food coloring from getting on your hands. However, once the coloring is worked into the dough (through the kneading), the dough absorbs the color and doesn't get on anything else. Hooray!

Once you're done kneading the dough, wrap each ball in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until ready for use.


Step 3 - Let the Creativity Begin!
Now it's time to turn your kids loose to have some fun! My nephews liked the different color choices and decided to make some monster faces.

Special Notes: 

• The dough might be a little sticky so you may want to put down some protective plastic. Or, they can make their creations on top of wax paper for easy transfer to the baking sheet.
• These art creations will need to baked later, so you'll want to make sure the kids don't make them too thick.

Step 4 - Baking the Dough
After all the creativity has happened, it's time to bake the dough. Cover a cookie sheet in tinfoil or wax paper, place your students' creations on top, and bake according to your dough recipe. If your students' creations are thicker than a cookie, it will probably need a longer bake time than recommended. At that point you'll just need to watch the dough carefully and take it out when it's done. As you can see from the pictures below, the color isn't diminished with baking.

Step 5 - Enjoy!
Once your students' creations have cooled, they are ready to be shown off to the proud parents (for display-not eating!).

I hope your students have as much fun as my nephews did. I'm a very biased Auntie, but I think these monster faces turned out pretty cute.

Cheers!

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DIY Magnetic Frames: "Class-Up" Your Classroom Whiteboard!

My classroom has two ginormous whiteboards that cover the length of two of my walls. It's a lot of whiteboard space. More than I need, really. So this past year, I started using picture frames to help break up the space and focus students' attention to certain sections of the board, like my reading group schedule for example. The frames also added a little charm and uniqueness to the room.

So here's how I made them:

First, I went to Goodwill and bought a few cheap, framed pictures. (The ones I bought were each less than $5.) I tried to choose ones that had "real wood" frames so they would last longer.

Next, I removed all of the artwork, glass, staples, and paper, so I was left with empty frames.

Then it was time to paint the frames. I used one color of semi-gloss spray paint to help unify the variety of the frames' shapes and sizes.  I propped up the frames on some wooden blocks and sprayed two coats onto the fronts and edges. For a more "blingy" look, try using a high-gloss paint--I think a glossy black on one of those fancy guilded frames would look totally cool.

After the frames were dry, I hot-glued magnets around the backside of the frames. You need some strong magnets for this. I used thick, disc-shaped magnets that have a strength rating of "6."

You can buy packs of 50 of these magnets at craft stores like Hobby Lobby.  The number of magnets you'll need for one frame depends on its weight, but I ended up using at least a dozen magnets per frame.

Once I added enough magnets so the frames wouldn't slide down the board, I was finished! I use these frames for morning messages, math group assignments, reading group schedules, you name it.

Don't forget to stop by my blog, The Thinker Builder. Have fun building!

Teaching On A Budget

Hello! This is Crystal McGinnis from Mrs. McGinnis' Little Zizzers. I can't believe that school has just ended and I am already beginning to think about next year. I just made one of my weekly summer trips to The Dollar Tree to see what goodies I could find for my kindergarten classroom. I am always amazed at all of the fun items that I can get for just a few dollars. I also love that I can keep going back and I usually find something new each time. Here is what I came home with.

 

 

 

I purchased these plastic plates to use as dry erase marker boards during my small reading groups. My students use pieces of felt as their erasers. These work perfectly because they can be rinsed off in the sink. They came in a pack of 4 for just $1.00.

I found these adorable baskets at The Dollar Tree. I will use these as my student's book boxes this year. I think that they will work to keep their individual leveled readers in. I loved that they took up very little space and they had the cute handle. These were $1.00. They had blue, green, and pink.

I found this blue tray, and I think that I will use it as a sorting tray in one of my math centers. Students can sort coins, counters, blocks, etc. I also found these jumbo dice. These will be perfect for my math center and all of the dice games that we play.

 

 

 

My kids love to "read the room." I purchased these jumbo glasses and sparkly pointer for my kids to use during this activity.

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite units to teach is my insect unit. I purchased this bug catcher, net, and tweezers set at The Dollar Tree. I would love to have a class set of these.

 

This beach ball was also just $1.00. I wrote numbers on it to use as a number recognition game. Students will toss the beach ball back and forth and say the number that their hand lands on.

 

 

 

 

 

 I love, love, love these jumbo fly swatters that I found. I will use these during my "swat the sight word" game. I will place our sight words on the floor. I will call out a word and the first person to swat the word is the winner.

 

 

The last purchase that I made was this popcorn tub. I thought that this would be perfect for our sight word "pop" game. Students place all of the sight words in the popcorn tub. They draw out words and read them one at a time (with a partner). If they can read the word, they get to keep it. If they draw out the word "pop", they must put all of their words back in the tub. The person with the most words at the end of a set time is the winner.

 

 

 

If you are like me and you need to teach on a budget, you should visit your local Dollar Tree store.  

 

If you would like to see more of my teaching ideas, you can visit my TPT store by clicking here.

 

End of The Year Gift Idea

Well we have another month of school here and it is time to think about end of the year gifts. Because I am at a new school I can give the same thing I gave last year. I figure it was a big hit then so it should be again! Right?!!!

Not only are they a fun gift, they are super easy to get together. I Bought my students each a beach ball, a crazy straw, and a package of Kool-Aid. Together with the "Have A Kool Summer" card they were perfect. 

Students were given time to get their beach balls autographed by other students in our class and then they took them outside at lunch to get other kids to sign them.

Have a great end of the school year and soak up the sun!!!

Cheers,