Animal Research Projects

I have been so proud of the 2nd grade for their hard work over the last several weeks! I thought I would share some of the great work they have produced.

First, the students picked an animal that they wanted to research. We then used a class set of Ipads to do our week-long research. I used the following paper found on TPT:
I had them research 5 different topics for their animal: habitat, body, diet, life cycle, and a fun fact. After the week of research, we began our animal pyramid. We completed a triangular diorama a day. On day one, they wrote about the animal's habitat and then illustrated the animal in it's habitat. On day two, they wrote about the animal's body coverings and then drew a diagram of it with important parts labeled. On day three, they wrote about what the animal eats and illustrated. On day four, they got to pick between life cycle and fun fact for their final part of the pyramid. The final results were so good I decided to display them on tables outside my room.

Click here to see instructions for putting the pyramid diorama together: Pyramid Diorama (triarama)

Here are some of our completed projects:

We followed up our animal research by studying food chains. The students completed a Who Eats What food chain worksheet and then made a stacked food chain collage. It was challenging, but so very worth it. When you see the final results, I think you'll agree!

Birthday Party Fun with Elmo and Friends!

It's been a long time since I have posted. When school starts I tend to get tunnel vision. The things I had so much time to do during the Summer become few and far between. My son, Easton, is turning 2 tomorrow and we had a little get together at our house today. While surfing the net over the last few days and trying to find creative ways to decorate for the party, I came across some  poms to make. They turned out so cute and are so easy that I had to share. I made these the same way as before with the exception of the size of tissue paper I used. I then created the faces with construction paper and just taped them on. Easton was so excited when he saw the Sesame Street characters hanging from the ceiling!

We plan on taking them down and putting them up in Easton's room so he can see Elmo every day.



One last picture before I leave...a picture of the birthday boy with his Elmo cookie cake!

Pom Poms Galore!

I have been trying this school year to lower my start-up costs. My newest endeavor was to make the pom poms that teachers are using to liven up their ceilings. All it took was 2 packages of bright colored tissue paper (they need to be rectangular), fishing line, and scissors. First, I got out 8 pieces of tissue paper and laid them as even as I could. Next, I accordion folded them from the short side and tied a piece of fishing line in the middle to secure. And then, I cut the ends to make them curved.

The next step is the easiest. You just pull the tissue up and apart until the pompom forms. Start with the top and pull apart half of the tissue and then turn it over and do the other half. The hardest part is pulling the tissue hard enough that it separates and doesn't leave a gap in the middle. The good thing is that even if you rip a little, you usually can't tell once it is finished.

I'm so excited! I can't wait to get these hung in my room!

Let the cleaning begin!

Well, the day is here! Today is the day that I look forward to the least when it comes to teaching. It is time to get organized and ready for a new school year. By the time June is here every school year, I get so anxious to start my summer that I throw everything up on the counters and give it no thought until NOW! The beginning of my school year always starts like this.....

Yep, that's my classroom! If that's what you call this unorganized, disastrous mess that I walked into this morning. Now I get to spend the next few weeks sorting through, cleaning, dusting and pretty much doing everything that I should be doing at home. Needless to say, my family will not be seeing much of me in the near future! So the pretty decorations and all the great ideas I got off of pinterest will have to wait. Hopefully I will have some  pictures to post of a beautiful, neatly organized classroom very soon! For now, I thought I would share some of the things I put on my classroom walls last school year.

Let the cleaning begin!

Trying it out...

Hi everyone! I have decided to get off of pinterest for a while and try out some of the great ideas that I have pinned over the course of the summer. First thing on my to do list are the classroom organization ideas that I have gotten off of the site. Due to a low budget, I thought I would start with some projects that allow me to re-purpose some of my old, tiring decorations in the room. I saw this great website featuring ways to use printed paper to liven things up. So here I go, with my old coffee cans, clothespins, and craft sticks. All I had to purchase for this project was a package of decorative paper and some modge podge....Here's how they turned out...