Social Studies Interactive Notebook

I am SO excited to share this with all of you.  I have such a passion for teaching Social Studies content, and as I have lamented before, it is sometimes so hard to make this information accessible to my students.

So my answer?  An interactive notebook! My students have always had a Social Studies notebook, but this is a way to make it much more organized and meaningful.

My first experience with an interactive notebooks was through my awesome friend a colleague, The Lesson Plan Diva who uses them in her classroom.  I thought the idea would be well adapted to Social Studies, and I was right!  I used the curriculum from Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade to design this notebook.  I've been using it in the classroom and the kids love it!  My favorite part is the information is organized now, and the students can reread about what we have studied. 

Grab your copy HERE! Leave a comment to let me know what you think!

Here are some pictures of the notebooks in action:

 

 

 

 

 

Magnet Madness

Physical Science is always a little more difficult to teach in the lower grades than Life Science, however the kids usually are really interested in our magnet unit!  Kids are fascinated by magnets, and usually have had some experience with them before getting to school.  I usually open my unit by allowing some exploration time with Magneatos. (If you haven't seen these, I highly recommend them, they are great for a hands-on science or math lesson).  We will then record some of our observations on a chart, and form some questions. 

It was difficult to find good hands-on assessments and activities for 1st graders that had to do with magnets, so I created this unit.  Head over to TPT and check it out for yourself!

After alll...you're my wonderwall :-)

Welcome back!
We have had a restful summer, spent pinning a lot of good ideas on Pinterest!  This Wonderwall was one of the great ideas, so we brainstormed how to incorporate this into our classrooms.  "I Wonder..." charts are so useful to engage student learning, but we liked the idea of having one reusable chart, instead of having to keep up with several charts all year.  So we created our own......

Ta-da!

The speech bubble die-cuts were purchased from The School Box (split a pack with a buddy because there were way more than were needed).  We put them inside a cheap frame from Ikea.  We left a mostly blank piece of paper instead to write what our topic is, or tape a picture of what we are introducing.  The plan is to use dry erase makers to record the students' thoughts (for upper grades you could have the students record their ideas themselves).  A quick and easy project, put together for less than $10!

Shedding our Shells

At the end of each year I read The Hermit Crab to my students. As I read we discuss how they have filled their Kindergarten shell with what they have learned and now they need a bigger shell in First Grade to fill with knowledge next year. We brainstorm ideas together of what kind of things "filled our shells" this year (what they learned). Then I give each student a paper plate to paint with water color (which they LOVE....we don't get to do much painting anymore;) And then I give them pom poms, scraps of paper, stickers, buttons, basically anything you can find to glue on. Then I give each student writing paper to write about what they learned in Kindergarten. It's so cute to see what they come up with..things I may have even forgotten about. Finally, I have a little template of a hermit crab they cut out and I staple to the paper plate (it's a hard copy...I don't have an electronic copy...SORRY!) But it's super easy to do. So if you're looking for a good end of the year activity you might want to try this!

A HUGE Thank You!

So this year when all the office, nurse, custodians, cafeteria worker appreciation days came around I found myself panicking to get thank you notes to everyone. I mean where's the time!?!? So I came up with a template for students to draw a picture and write a little note to everyone and was going to just paste them on Poster Board. But my wonderful para came up with an adorable way to display the notes. I forgot to take pictures of the custodian broom she made out of poster board (so cute) and a tray made out of poster board for the cafeteria workers. I did snag a picture of the one for the nurse (the picture below). Everyone seemed to love them  and the students really enjoyed personalizing their own square.  So if you're looking for an easy way to give a big thank you this is the way to go! To download the thank you card template for FREE click HERE! What other ideas do you have for thank you notes? I would love to hear!

Angry Birds/Angry Verbs

I found this great idea on Pinterest! My students loved using their favorite angry birds characters to practice verbs! Click here to find the Angry Birds templates. I had each student chose their favorite angry bird, colored it, and paste it on paper. Then they had to write sentences using verbs and then they highlighted them. And tada Angry Verbs!

Earth Day Everyday!

Earth Day is such a fun Holiday, especially getting to teach the students the ways they can love and care for our Earth.  I decided to use some of the Natural Resources Unit that I made for Science to help teach my students about Earth Day and wanted to share a freebie with you guys!
Click here to snag your freebie.

Click here for the entire unit!