I originally saw the idea for a Book Tasting on Pinterest. The link took me to a Flickr site, but with no further explanation of how the teacher used this in her classroom.
I thought it looked like a fabulous idea! It engages students and gets them to read, what could be better?
So, I decided to make my own Book Tasting Menu. Once students have filled out their menu, they will choose their favorite of the 3 books and write a quick review. Once students reviews are written, they will be posted in the library. We are going to use this during our summer reading program, Reads and Seeds.
If you'd like a copy for your classroom or library, you can download a copy HERE! If you download it, I'd love a comment on how you're going to use it! Or let me know how it goes with your students!
2 weeks ago the Hills was lucky enough to have Creative Discovery Museum come and host a Family Art Night!
Creative Discovery Museum
They brought the materials, and we provided the workers (teachers), tables, and families!
I manned the Collage table. Students were encouraged to add pieces to a picture of our school mascot, then they could make their own collage egg to take home.
Of all the pictures I took, I didn't get one of the group collage! We are going to have it hung in the office. I'll get a picture and update the post!
Thanks for everyone coming out for Family Art Night!
Tomorrow Parkridge Medical Center is putting on our second annual Science Fair for the students in grades 3-5. We didn't want our K-2 students to feel slighted, so today was our first Health Fair.
The Health Fair covered the topics of: 1. Physical Fitness 2. Heart Healthy Living 3. Healthy Eating Habits 4. Dental Hygiene 5. Body Hygiene 6. Hand Washing
I tried to get pictures and video of each segment.
Physical Fitness by Mr. Burney
Mr. Burney started by giving us 4 tips to living a longer, more enriched life.
1. Eat healthy
2. Gets lots of sleep
3. Be happy
4. EXERCISE!
The fourth one is the one that he focused on. Exercise is important because it helps blood flow through your body and keeps your heart healthy. Here is an activity where we checked out heart beat before exercising, and then after. The students were to run in place for 20 seconds.
But it's not all about one's heart rate. Exercise should also test your mind. In this video, Mr. Burney gives the students a task with the stacking cups.
Then they had one last challenge:
*Phew* That was some workout! Thanks Mr. Burney!
Heart Healthy Living by Mrs. Overton
Mrs. Overton shared how important it is to keep our hearts healthy. She began by having the students make a fist, then study it. Did you know that your heart is about the size of your fist? I'll wait for a moment while you check it out for yourself...
Then she told my students that she wanted them to make a hypothesis about what would happen if we started exercising. Would there be a difference between a heart in a person who is resting and a person who is exercising?
Of course, as soon as she said hypothesis my students' eyes brightened because we know all about making hypothesis!
My students hypothesized that the heart would be beating faster after exercising.
Of course we had to test this, and I was the guinea pig. First we tracked my resting heart rate- 70 bets per minute. Then I 'exercised' for a minute. (I cranked up some music and danced around the room. Thank goodness no one had the camera for that!) My heart rate after exercising was 110 beats per minute. Our hypothesis was proven correct!
Healthy Eating Habits by Mrs. Custer and Mrs. Blowe
No picture, but good video! Our wonderful Lead Math and Reading teachers shared with us how to make sure we are eating healthy foods. First we created a tally chart of how many people were already eating healthy.
How wonderful is it that they included our math topic into the lesson? Love it!
Did you know that the Food Guide Pyramid has been changed? I didn't either! Now students can track their healthy foods by just thinking about their plate. Check out Choose My Plate.gov for more details!
The best part of the lesson was when Custer/ Blowe told the kids that there are 3 types of foods:
1. Go!
2. Slow!
and 3. Whoa!
GO foods are foods that give energy and vitamins. They are healthy foods that are good anytime.
SLOW foods are foods that are ok to eat sometimes, but not all the time,
WHOA foods are foods you need to stop and think about before eating. These foods are not healthy, full of sugar or fat, and fill up your tummy so you won't feel hungry to eat healthy foods.
Here's a little video of the lesson. Click {HERE} or watch it below.
Dental Hygiene by Mrs. Hughes
Mrs. Hughes introduced the lesson by sharing with us a little experiment she conducted at home. She used apples to illustrate the importance of dental health.
This apple was part of the control group. This apple was treated well and not damaged by gross germs or too much sugar. (just go with it)
This was the experimental group. This apple was damaged by having too much sugar which caused a cavity. Gee, I wonder what happened to the inside of the apple after being damaged with a cavity?
Oh my goodness! The cavity caused the apple to turn brown and tender!
I guess this goes to show, we should make sure to eat the right foods and treat our teeth nicely by brushing and flossing regularly to make sure that our teeth don't become brown and tender too!
(Mrs. Hughes also shared an awesome video, but I left the website at home. I'll post it here tomorrow.)
Body Hygiene by Mrs. Barnes
We've talked about taking care of our bodies on the inside, but what about on the outside? Mrs. Barnes reiterated how important it is to eat healthy foods because it keeps your insides healthy, but it also helps your skin, hair, nails, and vision. Past that, physical hygiene is also about making sure that your body stays clean. It's important to wash your hands throughout the day to kill germs and it is important to take baths or showers regularly to wash away germs and odors. Just like not cleaning your car can cause rust and decay, not cleaning your body can cause disease and sores. I know we don't want that!
Hand washing by Me! This was originally to be taught by Nurse Burney (our wonderful school nurse, and Mr. Burney's cousin) but she was out sick today. So, each teacher was to teach this lesson to their class during the time Nurse Burney would have been in their classroom.
I actually didn't have to do much, it was my class that taught me! Did you know that you shouldn't eat right after you sneeze into your hands? Apparently sneezing spreads germs and if you sneeze into your hands, the germs will be on your hands! So I had my students walk me through washing my hands properly, and we all practiced washing our hands in the bathroom. Fun times!
Thank you, everyone for sharing such wonderful information! Let's do this again next year!
We finished our math unit on measurement and took the test yesterday. Instead of starting the next unit, on time, I decided we needed a day of Exploration. My students have amassed a lot of information from the beginning of the new year till now, so today was a day to process what they had learned. I set up 5 stations.
Station 1: Fact Family Review.
Students used Dominoes to create fact families, 2 addition problems, and 2 subtraction.Addition and subtraction strategies have been a reoccurring theme in the math units this year. Knowing fact families helps students see that numbers are related.
Station 2: Money Dominoes
Students practice matching coins with their denominations. This was one station I stayed close to. If a student got confused, we recited our Money Rhymes.
Station 3: Weights and Balances
This was the most popular station. Since we worked on measurements and weights in the last unit, this seemed like a fun...er...educational activity. Students were given a balance and some different objects to compare. They also had a recording sheet that included finding 3 things that were heavier than something else, 3 things that were lighter, and 4 things that were equal in weight.This was another station I stayed close to.
Objects included crayons, coloring pencils, plastic counting chips, the tv remote, a candle, and unifix cubes. Once I explained that they were to take turns, things went a little smoother.
Station 4: Making Numbers
Students used number cards and unifix cubes to make numbers. Students picked a card and created the number using cubes, then had to draw what they created on a recording sheet. In unit 12 we worked on place value, so this was a good review.
Station 5: Flippin' for Addition
Students played a flip 'em and add 'em card game. Pretty simple. They flipped two cards, added the two numbers, and recorded the problems and answers.
My students had a good time, and I have recording sheets that give me some data on what they understand and what I might need to revisit. Overall, I think math was a success. :)
But it wasn't just a big day for my class, Kindergarten celebrated their 100th Day today! Their count is a little different from ours since they have 2 weeks on phase-in at the beginning of the year. Today they celebrated by having a 100 Day Parade!
By my count, we are really one Day 104, but today was our 100th day celebration!
To ensure maximum celebration time, first grade decided to swap math and small group reading time. So, we did our small groups in the morning and saved math for the afternoon.
Their 100th day writing activity was a My 100 Day Book. Students were to create a picture of themselves in 100 years. We took it a step further and wrote about what they did in their very long lives. We made a list of different occupations to choose from, but one occupation made my soldiers laugh. I told them I wanted to be a performer when I grew up.
Soldier- Mrs. Delk, what does performer mean?
Me- Like on Broadway. I want to sing and dance, and everyone would want to come see me! I'd be famous!
Different soldier- Mrs. Delk, you can't do that! You're already grown up!
Me- Don't talk to me. You're totally killing the dream.
Yet another soldier- Mrs. Delk, don't listen. I think you can do your dream.
I always knew I liked that kid! :)
Well, my soldiers had a good time writing and drawing about their future professions, and no one killed anyone's dreams.
Our 100th Day fun officially began after lunch, during our rescheduled math time. It worked out well that we had already been practicing grouping numbers up to 100. This activity was great practice!
I'm also impressed with what everyone brought in to sort. Most brought in cereal or candy of some sort, but one soldier brought crayons, and another brought beans. I brought mini marshmallows and stickers for anyone who needed any extra. It was a wide assortment of goods!
We started by sorting what we brought into groups of 10. We had to make sure we had a perfect 100!
After sorting we had a 10s swap! We went around the room trading a set of 10 for a friend's set of 10. The candy was a popular item, even after I explained that we wouldn't be eating it. After a few rounds of swapping, it was time to glue! And remember, EVERYTHING has to be glued, otherwise it wouldn't be 100!
The end results were colorful, and tasty (looking)!
Students also used number grid to see how many times their name would fit inside, and they followed directions in coloring a number grid to find the hidden picture. I'm not going to give way the picture answer, but if your child is in love with 'furious fowl' then you should check out {THIS} site!
This is from one of the blogs that I follow. You can find their link on the right side of this page. 1+1+1=1.
