Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Unit

At the end of the school year I love doing our unit on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Everyday we read from the book and the students work on activities that follow along with the chapters. As I am reading I have my wax warmer on and our room smells like CHOCOLATE! Thank you to Yankee Candle for having a chocolate cake wax! The first day I had the warmer on the kiddos could not figure out why they could smell chocolate while I was reading. Once they figured out that I had the scent in our classroom on purpose one of the students said, " Did you want us to experience what Charlie experiences everyday? We can smell the chocolate, but we can't have any of it!" 
That is not what I was originally thinking, but it was an awesome thought! 

During this unit I put many of the activities into a packet and I allow the students to decorate the cover. This allows them to be creative and show me what they are picturing as I am reading. Some of the covers are well thought out and you can tell they are truly taking pride in making their cover their own. 

Fraction Flags

Today the kiddos had the opportunity to play with fractions and make a cool flag to represent their table group. 

The students were given the directions that they had to pick a fraction. They had to work together with their table group to cut and create their flag. They also had to create a "crest" that had their table number on it. This activity gave the students an opportunity to work on their group work skills. They had to plan, talk, and agree on what they were all going to do. I set them free and did not give any guidance. I wanted to see how they would problem solve and be able to get the activity completed. Some students chose to fold paper, some chose to measure with rulers. It was awesome to see how every group approached this project in a different way. The end results turned out very neat and they are beyond excited to have them hanging in front of their desks. 

Here are pictures of the students working on their flags:

Here are the finished projects:

Motivation Letters

My students will be taking their first SOL Tests this week and I know many of them are nervous. I wanted to try and calm their nerves and let them know they are going to get though this! I hand wrote each of them a letter that they took home with them today. In their individual letters I let them know how proud I am of them, to try their best, and that they are awesome and amazing no matter how well they do! 

Testing Treats

Bring on the testing! 

This week my students will start taking their standardized tests! This is the first time that these kiddos will have to sit and take these exams. It can be extremely stressful! Sometimes after working hard it is nice to have a treat. I am very excited to give these to my students and I know they will all do their best! 

Mother's Day Coasters

Mother's are so important to us and they deserve to have a special treat on their special day! My students made coasters for their moms and every coaster was unique! This project was very affordable and was super easy to complete! Even with 24 students. 

Step 1: Purchase white tiles from the hardware store. The tiles I used were only $.16 each! You will also need to purchase felt. 

Step 2: Give the students sharpies and their tiles! I wrote their names on the back. 

Step 3: I had my students turn their tiles back into me for step 4. They were very excited with how well their sharpie creations turned out! 

Step 4: Put the coasters in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. 

Step 5: Glue the pieces of felt onto the back of the coasters. This will make the bag softer on surfaces. 

Step 6: Tie some ribbon around the finished products and add a cute gift tag! 

Happy Mother's Day! 

Book Clubs

In my classroom the students are involved in book clubs that are organized by their level in reading. I love book clubs, it gives the students an opportunity to talk through books with their peers, ask questions, and think deeper into the text. This year I am having my book clubs create posters that represent their books. These posters are created throughout the entire reading of the books. The students started off by writing a prediction. We made a spot on their poster for those to go. The students also created sections for the setting and characters. For every chapter the book club discusses a summary of what happened. They use the SWBS (somebody, wanted, but, so) strategy. The students all take turns and discuss before hand what will be written down. The students also create questions and write sticky notes while they are reading. These are brought to the book club meetings and shared with the group. The sticky notes help guide the book clubs discussions. The students attach their sticky notes to the poster as well. These book clubs are completely student led. They decide how many pages at a time they would like to read and when their meeting days will be. 

Having the poster holds the students accountable for their meeting time and they are able to show me what they were able to cover and what was discussed! 

Hands On Measurement

My kiddos love anything that is hands on! When it comes to math, this is something I can definitely do for them! This week we were learning about pounds and ounces. The students were able to weigh bags that I created that were 1 ounce bags, half pound bags, and one pound. All of the students were given the opportunity to play around with and touch the materials. The materials will stay in the math center for the whole measurement unit. This will allow the students to play around with the materials when they have a chance.