Rocks and Minerals

I love teaching about Rocks and Minerals.  I have a side table set up with magnifying lens, rocks to sort, charts to help categorize, read alouds for silent reading time... It's such a hands on time.  I wanted to wrap it up in a fun way too.  

My teammate found a Dice Simulation activity from Teaching in the Fast Lane that was about the Rock Cycle, so I decided to buy it too.  I'm so glad I did!  I had tried her Explorer Dice Simulation, so I was already convinced of the process - 6 stations, and at each station the kids roll the dice to see where they would move next.  I printed off the stations, laminated the sheets, and then used bright sharpie to circle the process to get to the next rock.  

my whiteboard example - I love moving around the room to show the kids how to complete it

As the kids went from station to station they needed to record both the process and the rock they ended up at.  We went 20 rounds that first day as they recorded on the included sheet.  This was the Wednesday before winter break, so the kids were VERY ready to be up and moving, using up some of that extra energy.  :)   

found the beads on Amazon - since it's the first year doing this I chose a multi color bead box for $10

The next day we took out our recording sheets, and at each rock station I placed a certain color pony bead in a tub.  On my front table I placed all 6 of the process beads (again, one color per container).  Each student took a pipe cleaner, and walked through their recorded rock cycle, adding the rock bead, process bead, rock bead, process bead, etc.  We stopped as a class every 5 beads and took turns telling the rock story to partners and to ourselves.  I kept track of the amount of beads on the board.  The pipe cleaners held about 31 beads before we decided to call it a day.

Back at their desks, the kids had the opportunity to use the doc camera to share their rock story with the class.  Most of them could share it without using their paper by this point, they just needed to look at the beads to share rock, process, rock, process... It was an activity that I will definitely do again!  

Snowman Ornaments

Every year I like to have my class make something to give their parents for Christmas.  This year I saw a cute idea over on IG to have the kids use glass ornaments and fill them up with marshmallows to create snowmen. I changed it up a bit and they filled it with 2 cotton balls, then used black sharpie for the eyes and a smudge of orange paint for the nose.  It was super simple, pretty cheap, and the kids were so proud.  I will definitely do this again!

Blue Dog Art

I have 4 art docents for my class this year.  It is amazing having so many parents that want to come in and teach the kids about different artists.  Each lesson is about a specific artist, the parents come in, share about the artist, different examples of art, the techniques used, and then the kids create art inspired by a certain painting.

  This last month our art project was inspired by the Blue Dog.  I had never heard of Blue Dog paintings before... so teaching this teacher too.  

  

After learning the history of George Rodrigue, the class did a directed draw of the little blue dog.  Oh, they were so engaged.  Face (circle shape, nose - beaker shape, eyes, ears, mouth), shoulders and front legs, then back leg and belly.  They drew in pencil, traced in sharpie, then painted with blue paint.  

Then they were able to add a background of their choice using crayons.  Some did different colors, some did a certain setting.  But they all popped using the different mediums.  So proud of my kids, so thankful for parent volunteers that make art a priority.