Books We Love

Are you a book hoarder????? If you are a teacher then I know your answer is a big fat YES!!!!

(You'll actually have to click the link below….my button isn't linking)

As teachers we are always on the look out for new stories to add to our collections. I am linking up with Kindergarten Smorgasboard  (Thanks Greg for hosting this link up!!) to share some of my favs and learn of some more from other great teacher bloggers. Here are my picks:

I am a huge fan of ANYTHING Mo Willems!!

From Elephant and Piggy…...

 

To Pigeon……..

To Trixie and Knuffle Bunny…….

Right down to his other not so familiar titles. (This is great for opinions.)

More recently I have been introduced to this adorable story by Eric Drachman.  I LOVE it and the kiddos do too!! (Its great for showing how character feelings can change.)  Thanks so much to my good friend Andrea Creating Readers and Writers for introducing it to me!!

Well, I could go on and on as I am sure you would be able to.  Leave a comment below and let me know some of your favs!!

Gravity Falls! (and a FREEBIE!!)

When we came back from our Christmas Break we dove right into learning about Gravity.  One of the activities we did was to paint with gravity.  The kiddos used a paint brush and put a dot of paint at the top of a sheet of paper.  They were then able to actually watch Gravity work.  They LOVED this lesson.  I highly suggest trying it.  Here are a few photos of our fun!

Welcome to Gravity Falls:

 

Each kiddo only had one color of paint. We started with our own papers adding a couple of paint drops onto preprinted dots.

Then we passed the papers to our neighbors and they added different color dots to the new paper.  The papers were continually passed until they got back to the original owners.  It resulted in a colorful waterfall picture. (which I failed to take a snap shot of…..)

Gravity pulled our dots straight down.

We also discovered that if you accidentally tilt the paper the dots change direction.  So we decided to go farther with our exploration. We got blank paper and put the paint dots in random spots on the paper then started twisting and turning them.

They were so engaged the whole time!  If you want to try this activity with the waterfall paper just click  the link below.
Gravity Falls

If you like this activity you can get it (and much, much more) here:

Force, Motion, and Gravity Unit

Have a great week everyone!

Quick Organization Tip

Happy New Year! I am very organized on my computer, but my classroom is a different story.  There.Is.Stuff.EVERYWHERE!!! 

One of my resolutions is to become more organized (and not so much of a hoarder in my classroom.) However, as I mentioned above my computer files are very organized. To start the year off I just wanted to share my quick computer organizational tip with you.

I keep my computer files colored coded by subject/grade. 

Its simple to do. Just follow these steps below:

When creating a new file look at the top bar then

Then it will open up into a drop down menu. Next, 

And it's just that simple!  I hope that my tip can make your computer a little more organized!  I am off to learn better organizing tips for my classroom!

Christmas Card Wreath (A little late)

My daughter and I waited for cards to come in and then got busy!! We made wreaths (I am a little late on this) but for next year here is a quick, cheap, and easy way to display all those holiday cards. All you need is tape, a wire hanger, and cards.

First we laid out the cards in the pattern that we wanted them to be displayed.

Then we used scotch tape to tape them to the back of a wire hanger.

  

Then we added decorative bows.

 Super easy and super cheap!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!