Ms. K
What You Must Know When Building Spiders with Children
I have repeated these spider lessons multiple years with different sets of children. This year I have had an epiphany! Most years I have handicapped spiders, spiders with missing legs, spiders with too many eyes, children who make the abdomen too small etc. This year I started with the legs. I modeled how to fold the legs first. Fold it down, flip it over, fold it down, flip it over, fold it down, and flip it over. I gave the children two legs to start with. This lets them have something to do to keep busy. Then I pass out more as they are working. Next, I pass out a large piece of construction paper and draw a small circle on the back to show them the wrong way to cut a spider body (abdomen). Then I show them the right way. I tell students to attach the legs to the spider when they have them all cut out. Doing it this way this year gave me a much higher rate of children with spiders that were accurately built with legs and body. Next week is my last spider lesson, so we will see how the finished products turn out!
To read more about the spider lessons go here.
Amazing Spider Web Builder!
One evening, I got a gift! I had been teaching about spiders like I have several times before and THEN…THIS…right on my front porch! I got a front row seat to a spider web creation. Now I get to share it with the sweet children I teach. I was more in awe of the spider constructing such an amazing sight right in front of me. It was almost like fireworks but a work of God’s magnificent creation. Enjoy it with me.
What to Do about Know-it-Alls
I teacher gifted learners at the moment and an advanced math group. When you teach these type of kids, there is a fine line between sharing what you know and vomiting information. I share this with students before it gets to the point of vomiting information. Not only is it a nice proverb speak, it is a tiny bit of history since Theodore Roosevelt shared it. I tell my students that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I introduce this in a type of circle time, they I can refer to it if I notice children becoming know-it-alls or gravitating towards arrogance. You are welcome to the sign also. I am sharing it with you here.
Are the Electricity Police Coming After You?
I have been having a sensitivity to fluorescent lights with my eyes. Not only that, but the green light isn’t pleasing for appearances. I had bought two cute lamps at Good Will for $6.99 each. Then I had a recent visit by the electricity police (the people the school district sends around with clipboards). 🙁 They wanted to make sure I had taken my Christmas lights down (which I had). However, someone was getting rid of their LED lights which I had hung up. The electricity police said that the LED lights were okay. I had them hung up but rarely turned them on because honestly they were underwhelming and not worth the trouble. Next, I decided to invest in some light covers because I thought they would help take the green glare out of the room. They did an okay job. Honestly, they help but are not show stoppers! See the difference. I hung them up today. I’m going to buy more lamps at Good Will. I got the covers from Amazon.
You Need These to Start Your Year Off Right!
Every year I like to have a good supply of Young Living essential oils to help everyone in the classroom to have a good attitude–me included! You also will need an ultrasonic cool mist diffuser to get the maximum benefits from the oils. I ONLY use Young Living because they are the purest. Lemon, lavender, and peppermint help me to stay focused personally, and I believe they have the same effect on my students. In addition, I like to have a bottle of Thieves oil for months where sickness abounds. Before school begins, I clean tables and chairs etc. with Thieves Household cleaner.
Also, who can start the year off without a subscription to Super Teacher Worksheets?! When I need a quick review on a topic, a collection of items for children to do when a substitute is expected, Super Teacher Worksheets “always has my back”. At such a low cost for a yearly subscription, you really must invest. You will be glad you did!
I also use these posters in my TPT store to teach procedures to my enrichment groups. This is when I “push in” to a classroom and teach a 30 minute or so lesson.
Try This Original Way to Decorate Your Chair!
I have been looking at this ugly, 1970s orange plastic chair for years thinking I wanted to get rid of it, cover it or something. I bought spray paint, yet I delayed the painting since I thought it may be messy. Well, I finally committed to wearing old clothes on a PD day.
Since I teach GT, I wanted the chair to be original, so I got some die cut circles and covered the chair. Then I let the painting begin! I chose purple. I’m pretty proud of the end result, but I wish I had taped the circles down better so that they didn’t move when the paint came by each circle. It would have made the lines sharper.
What do you think? Do you like it? Would you paint your chair a different way?
Easy End of the Year Hack!
Do you traipse to the work room at school to grab a spool of bulletin board paper to cover your shelves? This is chore seldom few look forward to except that it is getting one closer to packing up for the summer! I learned this helpful trick from my wise and soon to retire teaching partner. She had a lot of black cloth. These cloths served as easy cover ups for the end of the school year for shelves, bookcases, computers, and the like. No more cutting large pieces of paper from the workroom since these different sized sheets of cloth served to cover just about anything! During the school year, the pieces of fabric worked well to don showcase tables, cover open house tables, or create costumes for children! The ideas are endless. I keep them folded within easy reach during the school year. I just happened to have black, but you could use old sheets or others colors of fabric. This time saving tip rewards you every year!
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!
