Potato Math

St. Patrick's Day isn't just about shamrocks and leprechauns.  My students also learn about Ireland.  We learn about Ireland and its potatoe crop.  During the week, we complete our Potato Math books.  I integrate measurement, estimation, graphing, counting, nutrition, and social studies into this lesson. 

I go ahead and copy, cut, and staple the students' potato math books.  The students color the cover to their book.  I bring in a large bag of potatoes.  The students make a guess of how much the bag weighs and they record their guess in their book.  Next, we use scales to find out the actual weight of the bag and record that information in the book.

The students make and estimated guess of how many potatoes are in the bag.  After their guesses have been recorded, we count how many potatoes are in the bag and record that information.

Next, we guess how many unifix cubes tall our potatoes are.  We also measure the length and width of the potatoes.  I also have the students guess how many potatoes tall they are.  My plan is to add this page to the book, but I haven't done that yet.

Finally, the students complete the last page of the book.  They think of things that weigh more than or less than their potato.                                                                  

Once we have completed all the pages of our Potato Math book, the students write their name on a piece of aluminum foil and wrap their potato in it.  The potatoes go home with a room mom.  She bakes them for our class and brings them back on Friday afternoon.    Sometime before Friday, we make a large bar graph showing which toppings we like on a baked potato (butter, sour cream, cheese, and bacon bits).  On Friday afternoon, we add the toppings to our potatoes and enjoy!

Eric Carle/Gail Gibbons Unit

I absolutely love when Spring comes along because that's when we begin our Living Things units.  I use Eric Carle and Gail Gibbons books to teach the students about living things.  For each topic (bees, butterflies, plants, ocean life, etc.), the students create a page to add to their own books.  I laminate all the pages and bind them together at the end of the year.  It's a great way to showcase the students' writing and artistic abilities.  We usually begin working on the books in March and keep adding to them until the end of the school year.

The first step is to make our book cover.  I show the students a video of Eric Carle explaining how he creates his illustrations.  The video can be found on Scholastic's website or YouTube.
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/eric-carle-author-study

Next the students use small pieces of tissue paper to cover a piece of construction paper.  Then, the students glue on the title of our book and a picture of Eric Carle and Gail Gibbons.  (The first time I made these books, I only used Eric Carle.  I've since added Gail Gibbons.)  Finally, the students glue a Created by/Dedicated to sheet for the inside of the cover.

My example that I made a few years ago. 

A student example

Make a Difference

This year, I was the sponser for the Make a Difference Club at my school.  The students choose one big service project and this year they chose to collect items for children at an orphanage in Mexico.  The students collected coloring books, crayons, markers, and pencils for the children at Casa Hogar Alfa y Omega Orphanage.  I went on a mission trip to the orphanage in January and delivered these items during my trip.  It was such a humbling experience for the students and myself.  The children at Casa Hogar now hold a special place in my heart and I can't wait to go back to see mi familia mexicana.

Leprechaun on the Loose

I read several leprechaun books the week of St. Patrick's Day.  On St. Patrick's Day, I always read the book Leprechaun on the Loose.  It is a cute story about a mischievous leprechaun causing trouble in a classroom. 

While the students and I are out of the room (usually lunchtime), I have someone come in and make a mess in the classroom to make it look like a leprechaun visited.  My "leprechaun" moves chairs around, turns books upside down, messes up our calendar, spills crayons, and whatever else he feels like messing up. 

Jack the Leprechaun also left the students a letter and some "magic dust" for a special treat.  The letter says....

Hello my friends!

Now what do you think?

I was here and gone

As quick as a wink.

I've left you some magic dust,

Mix it with whip cream that's a must.

Add it to your cookie for a special treat.

Remember boys and girls,

Be very sweet!

Love,

Jack

The "magic dust" is Jello pistachio pudding mix.  It starts off white but turns green when you mix it with the whip cream.  The students love it!  They even enjoy cleaning up the mess Jack made.



Getting Organized

I absolutely love organization- labels, containers, color-coding, etc.  I originally had all my theme materials in file folders.  After seeing how a friend organized her materials, I just had to steal her idea.  I have a three-ring binder for each month.

I use pocketed, tabbed dividers labeled with each theme for that month.  Then I use clear page protectors to put my printables in for easy organization.  The pages can be copied through the page protector.  All my multiple copies are just slid in the page protector behind the original or in the divider pocket. 

This system works so much better for me than the file folders. 

A work in progress

This is certainly a work in progress but I'm excited about adding to my blog.  My plan is to add lots of new things during Spring Break.  Check back soon...to be continued....