Habitats

One of my favorite projects during the year is our Steve Jenkins animal habitat research project. If you haven't seen any of Steve Jenkins' books... get your booty to a bookstore or library and check them out. They are FABULOUS. He was our January author of the month. He creates beautiful non-fiction books about animals. The kids were completely captivated by his books all month. 

I use Steve Jenkins to teach habitats and study non-fiction text features. My kiddos were in charge of researching an animal. They had to use books as well as the web to find several facts about their animals. We used the NatGeo Kids because it has such a great selection of animals as well as videos. They loved exploring! 

They chose three facts and word processed them to present to the class. I have a whole new respect for computer teachers. Getting 18 seven/eight year olds to type three sentences was TOUGH. 

Anyway.... they turned out great and I just had to share!!!  

Water Cycle Fun!

We have been spending the past month on the water cycle. You might be thinking, "What in the world is taking so long?" . Well... I teach first and second grade science. The first grade teacher teaches social studies to my class and hers. So once a week for 45 minutes we switch classrooms and classes. Since it's only once a week it's taking a lifetime while to cover things. 

BUT- That's okay, because the water cycle is one of my favorite things to teach. The kids get so excited to learn about clouds and all those other water cycle "things".

We have been working from this booklet I created. Click on the picture to see the whole document.

We have done a mini experiment for each stage of the cycle. The kids have been tracking their observations and vocabulary along the way. This past week we did this super fun experiment to model how precipitation falls when the clouds become too heavy. 

They got such a kick out of using the eye droppers to cause "precipitation". Throughout the lesson I heard that magical phrase that every teacher craves to hear. "Ohhhhhh, now I get it!!!" 

That phrase, my friends, is why I teach.

It was such an easy experiment. Just shaving cream on top of water, and blue food coloring in water. Gotta' love pinterest. 

 We have been reviewing our regrouping skills in math over the past week. When we get back from Thanksgiving break we are going to jump head first into multiplication. I am a tad nervous to throw another operation at them so early in the year, but I can't avoid it any longer. I plan on using Amy Lemons' "Multiplication Situations" unit from TPT. I used it last year and my students adored how hands on it was!

LAST thing. 

Last weekend I attended a children's literature conference with some of the teachers from school. It was amazing. MO Willems was the "big" speaker. He is HILARIOUS. Seriously... hes too much. If you ever have the opportunity to see him speak, take advantage. 

  

That's all I've got! Have a blessed and HAPPY Thanksgiving!