Oil Spill Experiment!

 After reading A Tale of ANTARCTICA by Ulco Glimmerveen and OIL SPILL! By Melvin Bergen,have students reach into a bowl of colored water and vegetable oil to pick up a sea animal toy. Then have students wash up and come back to write about their experience! 

You may hear, "THAT WAS AWESOME!", or "THAT WAS AWFUL!", or "Icky, Disgusting, EiWWWWWW! It is a great group experience to allow students to feel the effects of oil on their skin. Then they imagine how terrible and deadly the slick, gooey, black sludge must be for sea animals and plants that endure or succumb to Oil Spills. 

This opens up a great discussion on Ecology and Conservation and what they can do to help prevent Oil Spills. Melvin Bergen suggests writing letters to congressmen and women to let them know that we want to see laws passed to make oil transportation safer. This is a wonderful Language Arts extension and a great introduction or review of Letter Writing. Students can also Reduce, Reuse & Recycle to help decrease the demands on fuel. 

Just AWARENESS of the Earth and its creatures and the effects that can be felt, both positive and negative are a huge eye-opening lesson for our littlest Global Citizens.

Holidays Around the World ORNAMENT PROJECTS 8 Countries SET 1

These 8 Projects representing 8 Holiday Customs from around the world can be hole punched and hung on a piece of yarn for display in a Christmas Tree or anywhere for any Holiday.

This set is the perfect compliment to the Holidays Around the World KEEPSAKE BOOK at Silly Sam Productions. 

The book and ornament sets can make a wonderful keepsake gift that can be saved and displayed each year during our winter holiday times. 

Native American Culture Unit

Exploring Native American Culture

 Each year we introduce our Native American Unit with a beautiful story retold by Tomie DePaola called,

The Legend of the Bluebonnet.

 Students decorate Tipis with Native American symbols.

 We read a huge collection of Native American stories. We discuss the Native American cultures and notice the different kinds of dwellings, clothing and tools that are used. We find the deep underlying themes throughout the stories like, family and nature and respecting the Earth. We look at the incredible artwork and how so much of it is inspired by nature. 

 Students color Thunderbirds with crayon and then paint over them with water colors, much like Native Americans may have used berries and leaves to make colors.

Native American Culture Unit FREEBIE

Here is a FREEBIE with my list of favorite Native American Children's Books and some activities and projects to go along with what the children learn from the stories! I hope you enjoy this little collection. 

THANKS TO GLITTER MEETS GLUE FOR THE BEAUTIFUL NATIVE AMERICAN CLIP ART REPRESENTATIONS!

Fall Leaves Window Project

I love this Fall Project! Have students collect leaves of different sizes, shapes and colors. Arrange them on a sheet of wax paper. Sprinkle crayon shavings, I actually have a special cheese grater just for crayons. Then cover with a top sheet of wax paper and have an adult iron over the top sheet, melting the colors all around the leaves. Looks awesome in a window!

The b d confusion is something that every new reader goes through. Some go through the adjustment quicker than others and some readers may have some developmental or visual issues that really make these letters a challenge. 

When I introduce this lesson, I ask the kiddos what sound they hear at the beginning of "baseball" and "drum".

Then I ask them to imagine that they are stepping up to the plate as a batter. We even stand up and act it out. 

I ask them what they need 1st in order to be ready to hit the ball. Sometimes the response is "a ball". This is great, so we have 2 students come up and act out a batter with a ball thrown to them...without a bat. A wrong answer actually works great here! They laugh and then correct the answer.

We then draw the lower case b and say, 
                 "First the bat: Then the ball"

Next we imagine playing the drums. What does a drummer need first? 
                  "First the drum: Then the sticks"

Draw the drum and sticks.

Then have students hold up their thumb hands facing each other. Trace the left thumb down, saying 1st the bat. Trace the remaining fingers in a circular motion, saying, Then the ball.

Trace the right fingers in a circular motion, saying, 1st the drum. Trace the thumb down, saying Then the sticks. 

Of course we also put those thumb hands together to make a bed. Point out the b as the first sound in bed, and the d as the ending sound in bed.

I always show them all the tricks, you never know which one will be the best trick for them!

Another one is that lower case b is inside of a capital B.
Lower case d is backwards from the capital D.

Whatever works! :)

Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives activities

CARING & COMPASSIONATE CLASSROOM

This is how we start the year off so that every student can feel Safe, Important and Appreciated in our own Caring Classroom!

We start with a group experience meant to start a thoughtful discussion about WHY we have rules.

Then Students brainstorm together to think about WHY we come to school and what RIGHTS we have when we are there.

 Next Students brainstorm together to think about WHAT rules we should have to be sure that everyone can *BE SAFE *LEARN & *BE HAPPY. 

Then we Color-Code the RULES to coordinate with the RIGHTS.

Any time a student breaks a rule, they look up at our poster to identify which RULE was broken or the category it would fit in and the coordinating RIGHT of another that was infringed upon. This has been such a powerful and effective way for students to realize how their behavior, rushing, or words, etc. can affect their classmates. It creates such compassion for others as we review our RIGHTS. We stress how every student deserves these things when they come to school and we all will protect those RIGHTS for each other. 

We do this whenever necessary, and it is hardly ever necessary.

Bill of Rights-Constitution Classroom Management System

The posters, lessons, group experience and discussion questions can be found in this pack at TpT in Silly Sam Productions.

I would like to offer 5 Sets for FREE to the first 5 people that respond here.

If you are interested please leave me a comment.

The first 5 can email me at sillysamproductions@gmail.com to receive their FREE copy.