How Will You Celebrate National Crayon Day?
Did you know National Crayon Day is March 31? This year we designed and built boxes for crayons. I did this to get children to think about the shape of solids such as rectangular prisms. First we discussed and built a net for a cube. I had children do this and we discussed the number of faces and if there were other ways to make a net for a cube. Children enjoy this and it supports their math. I bring in boxes that I have cut apart and we discuss different packaging. We also discuss careers of graphic designers and how they design the printed packaging on boxes. In the second lesson, I give students ¾ inch grid paper to draw a box net and cut it out. Next, I tell them they can draw an outline of their net and cut it out. The next step is designing their packaging. I do this lesson in two steps but honestly this lesson could take longer. as they are packaging designers. Many students need longer to create a correct box. Prepare extra sheets of paper.
Here is the lesson if I were to teach it in steps:
Lesson 1: Bring in snap cubes and discuss the number of faces on a cube. Give each child a sheet of paper. I do not give them grid paper, but only a white sheet of paper. I have a few students who figure out how to do this successfully and have them share.
Lesson 2: Review the nets for a cube and show students other rectangular prism boxes. I allow children to look at the rectangular prism boxes as needed. Tell students to use their own crayon box in their desk as an example. I give students a sheet of grid paper to draw their box outline, cut the outline, color, and build their box. I allow them to use a glue stick ONLY after they can fold their box without glue.
Here are some of the students at work!
Below is a net lesson I enjoy that helps discover nets for a cube!
Make These Easy St. Patrick’s Day Treats!
I made these little “pots of gold” in no time! The Dollar Tree had nearly everything I needed. I was looking for some cuter cups, but these worked just fine. I found them in the disposable dishes area. I bought some multicolored little cups that hold about four ounces. The packages I bought had multicolors. I bought several packages and pulled all of the green colored ones out. Then I bought some gold Easter grass and put a little in each cup. Next, I bought some Rollo candy…Who doesn’t love to receive a treat for an occasion. Of course, I attached a cute note about begin worth more than gold and ta-da…I made a cute treat to brighten all of the teachers’ day! I hope you get a chance to do something kind for those you work with, too!
Has Engagement Hit a Slump? Try this!
I’m back at it with worm and ecosystem lessons this year. Because I have a smaller group of students that I taught this time, my lessons were a bit different. Here are my previous lessons on worms and ecosystems. In this case each child did NOT have their own worm, but there was a class worm farm. I did this previously in other teachers’s classrooms, so I wasn’t able to tend to the needs of the worms all the time.
WARNING: If you want to do this start saving your glass jars now. Plastic jars work okay, but I prefer the glass ones because the lids are metal and easier to punch holes in. With plastic jars, the lids are thinner and harder to puncture without cracking the lid. I requested children’s parents send in a jar, but not every child will bring one, as you know. I punctured the metal lids with a very small hole so that oxygen can pass through, and we don’t kill the worms. If you are able, it really does seem to benefit the children more and give them more responsibility to have their own worm farm.
DAY 1: Talk about ecosystems and layers of soil. Have the children make a diagram, color, and label the layers.
DAY 2: Preparing the jar will take one day’s lesson. Before preparing the jar, we had a discussion about the layers of soil and especially discussed topsoil and humus where the worms reside. We put cardboard and or brown paper in the bottom to absorb the water. I also gave them black construction paper and tape to give the worms the illusion of darkness around the jar. Some children make peepholes in their black paper. Flaps seem to work best so that they can flip them up and watch the worms work.
DAY 3: Next, I let them dig up their own dirt this time outside and one child even found a worm this way! It doesn’t take much dirt to fill a jar, but be prepared to know where a bare spot is outdoors so that digging isn’t too difficult. Bring a small shovel or a few to school that children can handle. The $1.25 Tree (now) usually has some of these. You will enjoy finding out which children LOVE getting dirty and which ones don’t! (This is fun to watch!). Leave a few inches of space at the top of the jar. Worms are good climbers you will find. Some are adventurous daredevils and will skydive off the table if you aren’t careful!
I had planned three experiments but found I was only able to have the kids accomplish one experiment and journal about it in each class. I repeated the experiments I did when I had the big worm farm in my initial worm farm post here.
DAY 4: Make friends with your school nurse beforehand. Some children will have a stronger aversion to worms than others. It isn’t always just the girls! Ha! I let the children look at the worms for a short few minutes prior to DAY 1. I told them they didn’t have to touch them and gave them a popsicle stick to move the worm with. I asked the nurse if she had gloves after this experience and had the children put them in a ziplock baggie with their name on it. This way whenever we get the worms out everyone has their gloves if they choose to wear them. This helped most kids, but I did still have one who said she didn’t even like to touch the worms with gloves on.
Experiments: 1. Does the worm like to be dry or moist?
Experiment 2. Does the worm like light or dark? At time of the writing on this post we are currently on experiment 2.
Experiment 3. Does the worm like sound/vibration?
Each time we pull out the worms, I have the children journal about each experiment and their worm observations. They record the hypothesis and results of the experiment. In order for this to happen, the worms have to be put away because they are a huge distraction from pencil and paper work.
On a personal note, I have noticed that the worms are all different and respond differently. Some like to wander off, some like to wrap around children’s fingers, some like to jump around, some stay coiled up. The observation is all very intriguing.
Have a mundane or difficult teacher conference? What a great way to add a positive note and distraction to a teacher conference if you happen to need a distraction.
*In case you aren’t aware, you can buy worms at Walmart in a tiny fridge in the sporting goods section.
Periodic Table with a Twist!
This was my students’ all time favorite project of the year and mine, too! I had them do this project because we started out learning about chemical reactions. I was going to start out with a tournament between elements in which the children had to argue that their element was the most valuable, interesting, or useful. I took this idea from byrdseed.com. The tournament bracket idea evolved into this more fantastic project.
Children chose an element that they wanted to research. I did this with elementary students, so what I was asking of them was pretty advanced! I asked them to find the group, period, symbol, atomic mass, atomic number, atomic structure, and the other elements that they reacted with. They created a rectangle to wear on their chest so that they resembled a periodic table rectangle. In addition they had to dress up like their element. Children created a mini speech from their research explaining the element to parents and the students who visited. I received many compliments about this project! I called it the Living Periodic Table. I love that this name added some mystery since the idea is very original. I didn’t “google it”. The idea naturally came as we were working on research. I arranged the students in the cafeteria in rows and columns like the real Periodic Table. This is why it was called “The Living Periodic Table”. Another added element that I loved was when I told the students they had to defend why their element was better than another element. The children absolutely LOVED this!
“I’m better than you because I’m more malleable,” one metal argued with another.
One more aspect that added fun to this was that the children had to create a button that someone had to push in order to listen to the speech about their element. This idea is similar to when one walks through a wax museum to listen to the exhibit. I had been collecting lids, and the children painted and/or decorated lids to make their button. They could place the button anywhere around their exhibit. Many of the students decided to place it on the Periodic Table rectangle they were wearing. Teacher alert…I had to caution the girls about doing so because I wouldn’t want the button to be inappropriately placed on a girl’s anatomy. Ha! I’m sure you understand!
I invited parents to drop by and listen to their child while we were set up. They were set up in the cafeteria in the same order of the Periodic Table. This definitely made it amusing when all of the radioactive elements were closer together because of doing it this way! They definitely had fun debating about who was more deadly while wearing their caution tape! We didn’t have every element, but we had about 30 kids which is enough to make it work. All who came were impressed. It was a win, win.!
Teachers, if you decide to do this, know that I had children plan a speech that was about 90 seconds to describe their element. We worked on our public speaking skills beforehand. Also, at first I thought I would have to have classes walk through the exhibit in a line, but it really worked for the children to free flow. I scheduled about 10 minutes for a classroom to walk through the exhibit with about five minute for transition. Only children who can’t handle a little independent freedom would need to be supervised. I hope this sparks some unique lesson idea for you!
Hold It in Your Brain!
While teaching have you ever walked the plank with small children? It goes something like this. You get everyone on the carpet with a quiet mouth. Everyone is criss-cross-apple-sauced. Then one raises their hand. Do you call on this one child? You know you could lose the captivated audience but you do it anyway. You call on the one hand.
The child says, “It’s my mom’s birthday.”
I say, “Well, happy birthday to your mom!” It goes down hill from there.
Another child raises their hand. You call on them. “It’s my dog’s birthday.”
Then another child is reminded that it’s his uncle’s cat’s birthday and so on. Before long, you have spent 15 minutes learning about everyone and literally their dog’s birthday. Then someone raises their hand and asks permission to go to the bathroom. To remedy this I began saying this, and it worked so well the first time that I continued using this phrase.
Can you hold it in your brain? I hold my clenched fists beside my temples to resemble holding my thoughts in my brain. It works wonders for self control! I hope this idea is a gift to you!
Shut the Door and Teach
I’m reaffirmed in my stance on math education. I’ve been a math interventionist, math coach, and worked with advanced learners. A few years ago I was working with a gifted learner because he couldn’t get the correct answer to a multiplication problem. He had spent three fourths of the page trying to solve the problem with the box method/area model. With our current math education we teach multiple strategies to learners. You can do it this way, or this way…..or this way…whatever strategy works best for you. Students end up with so many strategies they can’t find their way out of a paper sack! Even when I sat with this particular child and showed him the “old fashioned” way of multiplying double times double digits, he still wanted to gravitate towards the area model. Another child this week was confusing two different strategies and was not able to get the correct answer because of it.
Last week I went to visit a former students who had left to go to a private school. He was excited to show me his sticker collection, his cats, and how he was leaning long division. Guess what?! No 15 strategies to arrive at the answers, and he was getting it right. Why are we making math difficult for students when it doesn’t have to be? At my school by the way, math fact drills are forbidden unless it’s covert. I’m of the ask forgiveness and not permission on the math fact drills. I will continue. Why do we have to make learning so difficult when it doesn’t have to be?
