3D Landform Maps!

My students LOVE making these fun 3D landform maps each year. Now let me just tell you- I am always wiped out by the end of the day when we make these- but they really are a blast and so meaningful to make.

I first put the kids into groups of 3 or 4. Then, they used a landform map in their Social Studies book to sketch where the mountains and deserts are located. This just helps them get a start when they begin painting the plains on the map.

After they have an idea of where the mountains and deserts are, they paint all of the remaining area green. This shows where the plains are located. (The hills and rivers are placed over top of the green paint in the next few steps!)

Next, we used blue yarn for the rivers. We obviously didn't add ALL of the rivers but just some of the major ones- Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, Columbia.

The mountains were the most tempting item to add to the map! The kids were just about drooling as they glued them down. Just a quick note- if you remove the wrapping before gluing the kisses down, they stick better!

Marshmallows were used for the hills, gold glitter for the desert (I've used brown rice in the past but the glitter stuck MUCH better!) and goldfish for the oceans.

Each time the kids added something new to the map, they also added it to the key on the right. Their maps also included a title, compass, labels for the oceans, and a box to sign their names. I am so proud of all of the hard work that my kiddos put into these maps! They were rewarded with some of the extra snacks which they were THRILLED about =) So fun!

If you'd like everything to make these 3D maps, check out my product below by clicking on the image.

If you are looking for other engaging landforms resources, check out my Let's Explore Landforms! {And Bodies of Water} unit. This unit compliments the 3D landform maps perfectly!

Happy teaching!

Life-Size Famous American Projects

This past Friday morning, I was in a panic trying to think of a project for my students to create on the famous Americans that we've been studying. We had parent-teacher conferences the night before so I didn't have much time to prepare anyting. (That's my excuse at least!) An idea hit me at the last moment and I knew my students would love it! I decided to have my kiddos make life-size famous Americans using butcher paper and construction paper. I wanted them to do some writing as well so I thought that each member of the group could be in charge of a box or bubble showing what that person said (Wise Words), did (Amazing Action), thought (Thoughtful Thoughts), and a trait to describe him/her (Terrific Trait). To be honest, I was a little nervous about this project at first because I'd never done it with my students before and it was going to be a little crazy, but it went so smoothly! Their creations turned out absolutely adorable and it was such a meaningful and fun project.

I first put the kids into groups of 4 and assigned them a famous American. Our six people were Abraham Lincoln, Harriett Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., and George Washington. One person from each group laid down on a large, white piece of butcher paper while another student traced them. They cut the person out and then began using contruction paper to turn it into their famous American. My teammate, Kristin, has this great skin-color construction paper so we used that for the head and hands. I let them use books that we've been reading so they could look at the pictures for ideas of what they looked like. After they finished creating their person, they worked on the boxes/bubbles. Here are some pics of our finished famous Americans:

I love Abe's beard and bow tie!

It's hard to tell in the picture but Susan B. has ruffles around her neck and wrists!

Doesn't this look just like MLK?!

Sojourner was given patches on her dress and glasses... so cute!

Harriett has patches and some fringe on her dress =)

I LOVE George's curled hair and hat!

 Here are some close-ups of faces and the boxes/bubbles:



This project was amazing for me to watch. The kids worked really well together and were so creative! I love how these look in the hallway and best of all- it was SO easy! If you'd like to make these famous Americans, you can download the boxes/bubbles {here}.

Another resource that you can use when teaching about famous Americans is the new product I just posted called My Book of Famous Americans. This product allows your students to create their own non-fiction book complete with a table of contents! They will love being a real author of a non-fiction book. Plus, it's a great way for you to assess what they've learned.

To create the books for your students just print double-sided, fold down the middle, and staple. My students absolutely LOVE making books like this. To see more views of the book or to snag your copy, click on the picture below!

Main Idea Madness and Then/Now Freebie

Happy Sunday everyone! I am having such a hard time finding time for everything so I apologize that my posts have been pretty few and far between. I wanted to share a couple of things with you today. First up, I have a FREEBIE for you! This past week, my students learned about how life in the past is different from life today. Two wonderful books for teaching about life in the past are:

Then and Now by Heather Amery

 

If You Lived 100 Years Ago by Ann McGovern

 

 

On Friday, my students did a T-chart partner activity to write and illustrate what life was like in different areas: shops, streets, railways, schools, family rooms, country, beaches, kitchens, garage/smithy, bedrooms, transportation, communication, clothing, games, jobs for women, and jobs for men. The kids worked in groups of two and really had to "synergize" with one another. Here are some pics of my kiddos hard at work =)

 

 

 

I gave my students copies of pages from the books to help with their ideas and illustrations. These turned out really great! I mounted the finished products on construction paper and hung them in the hallway. Check them out!

 

 

Don't you just love 2nd grade illustrations? They are too cute! If you'd like to download your FREE copy of these T-charts, just click on the image below. Enjoy!

 

 

Next up-- I am so excited to share the "Main Idea Madness" unit that I created. We've been using this unit over the past couple of weeks and it sure is helping! In the past, teaching my students about main idea and details is always a struggle. It is just such a hard concept for them to understand. My favorite part about this unit is that it starts out pretty easy and builds up to more challenging activities. In 2nd grade, students have to be able to identify the main idea of a text as well as the main idea in each paragraph of a multi-paragraph text. Whew! That's hard! After using the activities in this pack, they are beginning to understand =) Woo hoo! This unit is packed with reading passages, graphic organizers, and meaningful activities for your kiddos. If you'd like to check it out, just click on the image below!

 



 

Have a great week!

 

 





Ready...Set...Vote! {My Classroom Election}

It's been a while since I posted and it feels good to be back! Today, we had our classroom election and it turned out to be TONS of fun. Last week, my kids decided that they wanted a class pet for our room so I told them that we could get a fish. We decided to make our two "candidates" a goldfish and a beta fish. (I had my fingers crossed for a beta fish because they are easier to take care of!) Over the past few days, my students have been working hard researching their two choices, making campaign posters, and registering to vote. Here's a few pictures of my students getting ready....

Registering to vote

Working on campaign posters

Campaign poster
 

Completed posters hanging in our classroom
 

Yesterday evening, my teammate Kristin and I decorated the 2nd grade hallway to get the kids excited when they arrived in the morning.

 



During the day today, the kids went out in the hallway one at a time and cast their vote for our class fish. They took this very seriously (it was SO cute!) and then got an "I Voted" sticker when they came in. Here's a few pics of the kids voting at the polling booth:

Casting her vote in the ballot box

This little guy wore a tie today for the election... so sweet!

 

After everyone voted, we tallied the results to learn our winner.... the beta fish! It won 21-3 =) We made a bar graph from the data, wrote about what we learned from the graph, and then read a book called My Teacher for President. Our last activity of the day was a fun one. The kids made their own page called "If I Were President..." These pages will be compiled into a class book for the kids to read and enjoy. Here are some of their creative ideas for how they would make the world a better place if they were president...

"Kids would only have to go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays." =)

"Finding jobs for people and signing good laws."

"Making a public garden for other people."
 

"Planting more trees."

"Giving people more jobs."
 

Our class book

What a fun day we had! I'm exhausted but really want to stay up and watch the election coverage. It should be an interesting night! Even though the election is {almost} over, I wanted to let you know that if you are interested in any of these activities, my election unit is on sale through tomorrow for 50% off. Just click the picture below to see what all is included.

Well that's it! I'm off to watch the election coverage and cross my fingers for our school levy that is on the ballot. Have a great night!

 

Election Connection Linky Party!

Is it just me or are you tired of all the election campaign ads, phone calls, and mail? I guess it's that time of year, though, and the election is just around the corner. I'm so excited to be hosting my very first linky party and I hope you can join in! The Election Connection linky party helps hook you up with products and ideas for teaching about elections and our great country in your classroom.

If you would like to join in, link up a product or idea for teaching about elections/presidents/USA. If you write a blog post, be sure to use the image above. That's it! Have fun =)

The unit that I created and am using for teaching elections this year is called "Customize Your Own Classroom Election!" This unit allows you to create your own classroom election about a topic of your choosing. Editable documents included are ballots, tally charts, and graphs. Also included are voter registration cards, campaign posters, ballot box ideas, and much more. To check it out, just click on the image below!

Letting Go of "Pretty"

I have a confession to make... I am a bit of a perfectionist. Okay, more than just a bit. I love to see things neat and organized. My favorite aisle in Wal-Mart is the one with all of the bins, drawers, and tubs. Oh the possibilities! When it comes to teaching 7 and 8 year olds, however, things aren't always so neat and organized.

This past week, I planned to teach my students about timelines. I always start by asking them what they notice about the word (hoping for someone to say that it has two smaller words inside). We talk about why people would want to use timelines and the different kinds there are. Next, I read the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This book lends itself to teaching about timelines because the events in the story are in order by the days of the week. After reading the story, the kids put the events in the story in order on a timeline. While this is a great introduction to timelines, I started thinking that I need to go deeper with this skill. Just placing events on a pre-made timeline didn't sound all that challenging.

My friend Jen, who teaches 3rd grade, suggested that my students could put their birthdays in order on a timeline. I thought it sounded like a great idea and tried to think of different ways to make it work. I thought about typing up a pre-made timeline with all of the months in order and evenly spaced apart. Then, they could cut out cards with each child's birthday and picture on it and place them in order on the timeline. Wouldn't those look so nice in the hallway?! The more I got to thinking about it, though, I realized something important. I really need to let go of "pretty". Even though these timelines would look nice and neat with their even spaces and typed out months, I wouldn't be asking very much of my students. So instead, I decided to just let go and leave it up to my students. I would have them work in groups of four at their tables and they could make their timelines any way they wanted, with any materials that they wanted. I let them choose from butcher paper, sentence strips, computer paper, anything. I did give some guidelines that they needed to follow such as: the months had to be in order, they needed to somehow make them evenly spaced, and they needed a line to place the cards on. The kids were really excited about this project!

As they started working, I noticed that all of the groups were doing their timelines a little different from each other. Some were taping sentence strips together, some were gluing strips of butcher paper together, but they were all making timelines.

I saw problem solving (one student asked if their group could use a yard stick because they couldn't make a straight line, another group realized that they didn't have enough paper for their timeline when they ran out of space by September). I walked around and gave them support but didn't just jump to solving the problem for them. I let them work it out and see what they came up with. By the end of the activity, my class had successfully made 6 timelines. They weren't totally perfect, neat, or "pretty", but they were MEANINGFUL. I realized that the kids had learned so much more by creating their own version of a timeline. I was so extremely proud of them.

 

I plan on hanging these in the hallway tomorrow at school. When I look at them, I will remind myself to keep letting go of "pretty" and keep striving for the most meaningful activities possible!