End of Year Student Gifts

Every year I struggle with what to give my students at the end of the year. I know they will survive if I don't give them anything, but a part of me tells me that I need to anyway! You don't want to spend money on something they're just going to throw away, or a bunch of candy (cuz they definitely don't need it!), and lots of kids always have people signing their shirts with Sharpie or Crayola markers that day and chances are their parents are going to be a tad upset when they get home.

My final decision: Personalized Drawstring Backpacks. This was SO easy (with the right tools :) ) I ordered blank canvas drawstring backpacks from Oriental Trading, bought some fabric markers, had some parents donate some as well, and cut out the students' names from Heat Transfer Vinyl with my Silhouette Cameo! They turned out great!! Tomorrow the students will go around and autograph each classmate's backpack and I can't wait to see the end result!

I will then collect the backpacks, iron them to heat set the marker, and pack them with water bottles and a few snacks and hand them out on field day (the day before the last day of school). I have told my class about this, and even showed them some samples, and they are stoked! I'm glad I'm giving them something they love and will be able to use!

Chemistry

     We are done with End of the Year Testing so why not do a little Chemistry and some chemical reactions to end the year?

     I found this awesome idea for an activity to get students familiarized with the periodic table. They had a blast trying to find the letters in their names! There are only a few letters (like A) that are not represented, so they'll just have to skip those.

More to come!

October Art Projects

Construction Paper Trees

Picasso Frankenstein

Art - Texture

Reviewing texture before doing our Art project! Students had to fill in the leaves with different colors/textures. Fun coloring activity - little prep!

Lego Movie and Science - The Water Cycle

What better way to incorporate my movie themed classroom with art than have them create their own Lego people? They were STOKED! Lego Movie is a favorite of a lot of my scholars and they even begged to make another one.

One of my goals this year is to display more student work. For this one, I had scholars get in groups and re-create the Water Cycle diagram. They did a great job! I used it as an assessment and had them put the water cycle vocabulary where it would go on the diagram, and the arrows, to check for understanding. They love seeing their work hanging in the classroom, and it makes less work for me. :) (I'm all about using my time wisely and efficiently!)

Art Is / Art Isn't

I always do this activity before the first Art project of the year. We make a list of what Art IS, and what Art ISN'T. This really helps them set their own expectations of what finished art projects should look like, and that it really does take time and should be neat, but doesn't have to be perfect. We bring these points up periodically so they can evaluate how they are working. I don't grade them on the perfection of the art, but their willingness to try new things!

Movie Themed Classroom

This is my 2nd year doing a movie themed classroom, and I love it! I'm so excited to incorporate this theme even more in my classroom this year. Here are a few of my bulletin boards that I've set up for the beginning of the year.

 This is the bulletin board for the hallway. Once I get my class list, their names will each be put on a gold star and posted!

This is probably my favorite bulletin board so far.