2 Day Week!

A little late, but here is what the kids did last week! Monday was MLK so we did MLK stations all day, and Thursday was Western Day (which we celebrated all day Thursday). Tuesday and Wednesday the kids did different western themed stations in math, reading/writing and we talked about Stephen F. Austin and Texas in socials studies.

Math - The kids did 100 chart hidden picture graphs (which they always get so excited about!), graphed which Texas pet the class would rather have, match nickels with their amounts, and practices counting out dimes and matching them with amounts.

Hidden picture graphs

Graphing our favorite Texas animals

Most of the kids wanted an armadillo!

In reading and writing, we read a book about Texas landforms and talked about what different parts of Texas look like.The kids sorted letters, words and sentences that had to do with Texas, put western words in alphabetical order, did a western crossword and made their own wanted posters!

All Around Texas book

Texas word, letter, sentence sort

Putting western words in ABC order

In science, we talked about soil and how different things need different soils to grow. We looked at some plants from Texas and their environments and talked about the types of soil they might grow in.
Wednesday, the kids did a sorting page for things that need soil and things that do not need soil.

Sorting what does and does not need soil

In social studies, we talked about Stephen F. Austin and put a few of his life events in order on a timeline. Then, the kids filled in some sentences about Texas and we made Texas salt dough maps! This is hands down one of my favorite parts of our Texas week! This year, instead of painting the Texas' brown and green, we painted them to look like our Texas region map.

The kids picked one person at their table to be the writer. The writer filled in the blanks after we wrote them together on the board. The sentences they had to finish were:
1. Our state is ________ (Texas).
2. The capitol is ________ (Austin).
3. The capitol was named after ___________________________ (Stephen F. Austin).

Our unpainted Texas'

MLK Day Fun!

Today was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I would abbreviate, but the kids insisted on saying his whole name all day long :) All day we did different math, science, social studies and reading and writing activities that had to do with MLK.

This morning in math, we had 2 different groups going. One group did an MLK color by number while the other group did a roll and color to equality dice addition game.

When we came back from rotation, we read a book before doing a science experiment. Our book was called Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport. I think the neatest part of today was having the kids refer to each other's kind words as "big words" among themselves in the classroom.

                             

Once we finished out book, we did a science lab with brown and white eggs. Each table had one white egg and one brown egg. First, we colored our papers to show what the eggs looked like on the outside.

After coloring our eggs on our paper, I chose one person from each table to crack the white egg, and one person from each table to crack the brown egg. Don't worry! We talked about the importance of not getting egg anywhere on our tables or things and washing our hand IMMEDIATELY without touching anything so we wouldn't get sick. They did great! :) I however spilled egg on the floor by my desk. OOPS!

After cracking the eggs, the kids drew what the insides looked like ... exactly the same!

We talked about how people are like eggs. We may not all look the same on the outside, but on the inside we are all exactly alike.

After our science experiment, we made Freedom Bells! The kids each colored a picture of MLK, the letters MLK and the word "freedom". Then, they glued that and a little poem onto a cup that I put a bell strung on a pipe cleaner. They turned out pretty cute!

After our bells were finished, it was time for lunch. When we came back in the afternoon, we watched part of the famous "I have a dream" speech from the March on Washington. I've never heard our room so quiet as the kids were listening to everything he said in the 5 minutes we watched of the speech.

Our afternoon stations were making an equality heart, making dream necklaces, writing about a dream we have, making a foldable Martin Luther King, Jr. for the writing to go inside of, and putting MLK themed words in alphabetical order.

Coloring equality hearts before painting hands on them

Cutting out different parts for MLK foldables

Putting words in ABC order

Writing about a dream they have

"My dream is to be like Martin Luther King, Jr."

Putting peach and brown hands down on our hearts

Our finished equality hearts

 Today was one of the most fun days we've had this year! The kids got to make so many cool things that went right along with what we were talking about and helped to reinforce everything we learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. What could be cooler than that?! :)

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!