Elf Glyphs

On the website www.mathwire.com/glyphs, you can find this elf glyph pattern for your students to cut out and build according to the elf glyph legend.  My grade two colleague, Beatrice, found this great idea on the internet and had her students do them.  They turned out really well. 

Crepe Paper Snowman

My colleague, Beatrice, made these large snowman that covered the height of their bulletin boards.  She used crepe paper, cut up, scrunched and glued to cover the snowman.  They used colourful strips of fabric to finish off the snowman with a scarf. 

Remembrance Day

We use pastels to create a field of poppies for our bulletin board.  I give the students tracers, big and small, to trace poppies to their construction paper.  I give them instructions to outline the poppies and add lighter colours to the center and blend with their fingertips.  The results are impressive. 

Emotional Pumpkin

As part of covering the health curriculum, a colleague of mine suggested this fun Halloween related activity.  Each student cut out four identical pumpkins.  As a class we listed all the different emotions we could think of.  We talked about how to handle those emotions and the cause and effect of them.  They decided which four emotions they wanted to portray on their pumpkin.  Folding them in half, we glued them together to create a 3D pumpkin that we could hang above our desks.  Once everyone was finished, I read them the story called, "Mouse Was So Mad". 

Fall Scene Using Painters Tape and Paint

We used painters tape to mark tree trunks on the page, and to frame out the picture. At the bottom of the picture, using a sponge tool, we added various colours to represent leaves.  Once the paint was dry, we peeled back the tape and drew in some black lines on the trunks to make them look like birch trees. 

Thanksgiving Turkey's

A colleague of mine had her students use oil pastels to create a turkey scene.  They turned out very well. 

Celebrating Fall

To ring in the fall weather, we cut out leaves and made according style arms and legs to hang above our desks. 

Henri Matisse Art Lesson

I started out my art lesson by reading "Matisse" by Laurence Anholt.  There is a series of books on famous artists that Anholt has produce ... you must check them out as they are very well done.  Once finished, we talked about making our own stained glass art.  I used a die press to punch out flowers on 11"x17" construction paper cut in half.  Cutting out brightly coloured tissue paper, students were able to glue the tissue down around the flower cut out and successfully glue the back side of the stained glass.  We hung them above our desks to celebrate what we learned about Matisse. 

Ten Apples Up on Top

At the beginning of the year, one of the first activities I have students do is "Ten Apples Up On Top".  I pre-cut the apples and give 10 to each child.  After reading the story by Dr. Seuss, I have students draw their face at the bottom of the sheet and glue the apples upon their heads, then write the numbers from 1 to 10 on the apples.  This is a really quick way to see who knows their numbers. 

Our Enormous Stories

  

I introduced some stories to my students that involved pulling a vegetable from the garden.  Some of the titles included the "The Enormous Potato", by Aubrey Davis, "The Gigantic Turnip", by Aleksei Tolstoy and "Kumak's Fish", by Michael Bania.   They had to create their own version of this story and they had fun with it.  Our bulletin board show each of us pulling on a watermelon!

"The Three Little Pigs"

A colleague from my grade one cohort had this good idea that I was eager to use in my classroom.  She had a net design that the students cut out and glue over a kleenex box.  Drawn on one side was the straw house, another was the stick house and lastly the brick house of the "Three Little Pigs".  We used glue guns to glue on the straw, we went outside to gather sticks and coloured the brick house.  I gave them finger cut outs of the three pigs and the wolf.  They had to retell the story to their grade five buddies using as much expression and story as possible.  The results were very good.  They enjoyed building their house and were excited to take them home.  An additional language arts activity we did was a readers theater version of the three little pigs. 

Butterfly Shape Poems

My students brainstormed words associated with butterflies and then placed a tracer of the butterfly outline underneath their white sheet and wrote the words of their choice on the outline.  They turned out wonderfully.  We also used markers to colour coffee filters and wet them to blend the colour.  Using a pipe cleaner, we twisted it into the frame of the butterfly body and antenna.

A collection of stories written by the students about themselves

My students answered the following questions about themselves.  On their good copy they drew a pictures of themselves with their family.  We collected them and then bound them as a collection.  They were each allowed to take the bound collection home for one night and then passed it on to the next person in the collection.  It was a fun and easy way to get them to write about what they knew. 

A collections of stories written about themselves

Pablo Picasso Mains Aux Fleurs

I introduced Pablo Picasso last week to my students.  I read "Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail", by Laurence Anholt.  I googled Picasso and was able to show them a variety of paintings he created, including some from his "Blue" and"Cubism" period.  I showed my students the original of the "Mains Aux Fleurs" and tried to recreate it with construction paper.  In Picasso's original he used only the primary colours, but I let my students use bright spring colours.  I gave them ideas on how to create flower types and I was pleasantly excited with what they came up with.

Potato Leprechaun

My students made this potato body leprechaun to hang from our ceiling.  I was given this pattern from a colleague which was found in Monthly Happenings from The Learning Works Inc., March Issue.  I have no idea what year that would be, but the pattern gives you an idea so you could create your own. 

My new leprechaun

My friend Wendyle Gillis and I constructed this new leprechaun for my classroom.  He is more realistic than the leprechaun stuffy I was using. He stands about 10 inches tall. 

Leprechaun Traps

I tell the students that they must build their traps at home and bring them in the week of St.Patrick’s Day.  We are attempting to catch any leprechauns that might be sneaking around.  I, of course, spring their traps the night before St.Patrick’s Day and leave a picture of the leprechaun at their trap.  I also leave behind gold and green sprinkles, shamrocks and chocolate money.   I dump some of the desks and chairs, and make the room look like the leprechaun made a mess of our classroom.  I pretend, in the morning as they arrive, that I slept in and haven’t been to my room to unlock it yet.  I’m wearing my jacket and holding my purse and bag, and when I pull out my key, I tell them to be very careful as there may be a leprechaun caught in their trap.  They go wild when I open the door.  Have fun with this!