Animal Groups Writing with Rubric Freebie and Legally Blonde

I have been off the radar for the past couple of weeks! You are just going to have to hang with me while I tell you what I have been doing the past couple of weeks. The freebie is below. I have been helping my daughter's high school drama program with the musical Legally Blonde. This is my daughter Olivia's last show with the Page Playmakers. It was a bittersweet moment on Saturday when the curtain closed for the last time. My daughter Emily also went through the same program. Our whole family has been involved with this program for seven years! My husband has built light towers and sets and I have created and designed costumes. It has been one of the great joys of our lives. We have had the opportunity to get to know Olivia and Emily's friends and to make some great friends ourselves. I can tell you from first hand experience that there are wonderful teenagers in our world! I love all the kids I have worked with. I found out they need the same things first graders need: hugs, encouragement and adults that care for them.

One of the favorite numbers from this show is Bend and Snap check out the Broadway version and put some snap into your day!

My first graders have been busy learning about living organisms. We are writing a fact book as a take home project but it can be used as a class project as well. We went to Lazy Five Ranch for a field trip. This place is amazing! You ride around in a wagon pulled by beautiful horses and you get to feed and view the animals up close and way personal! Why even one buffalo took a liking to me and licked my leg. Oooooooo but cool at the same time.This is a picture of one of my sweet little boys feeding a buffalo. If you are ever in North Carolina be sure to check it out. I always love visiting Lazy Five!


You can get The Animal Groups Fact Book here on Google Drive. I am really working on getting my first graders to use their brains when writing. The rubric has a place for the children to draw a smiley face if they used their own brains and not their moms and dads or shh....Google! We have been learning so much about animals it would be a shame, shame to get the information from someone else. The book is two pages back to front and the children write about six different animal groups.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to tell you all what I have been up to! I was just savoring these last days of high school with my daughter. She is off to college in the fall! Thanks for sticking with me. There are more freebies on the way!

Let the Sun Shine In!! Art meets Science

I love to take any opportunity I can to blend art and science together! We have been studying the solar system for a couple of months. We have focused a lot on the phases of the moon. I wanted to work in some lessons about the sun since we depend on it for life..an important detail for us all! This is a lovely simple activity that uses coffee filters, water and washable markers. We used warm colors like yellow, orange, red and I threw in some pink for extra brightness. The children color the coffee filter with the markers. This is one of those activities where more is better!! They rarely hear more, more. Coloring the coffee filter. Coffee filter after it was sprayed with water. We sprayed them at our tables and then went out to play. The filters dry very quickly provided they are not absolutely soaked. You may want to write the children's names with permanent marker if you are planning on leaving them somewhere else to dry. These photos are after the filters dried. We glued them to dark blue paper for contrast and then each child wrote some facts about the sun. We talked about absorption as they watched the colors move with the water. They were fascinated and many of them just sat quietly and watched the colors blend on their coffee filter. This activity also makes a nice display for a bulletin board if you need one! Enjoy this version of Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun, Mister Golden Sun from The Giggle Bellies. I love it!

Solar System Art The Sun and the Moon

We have been learning about the solar system, the phases of the moon and the sun in my class. Our art teacher collaborated with us to help our children create some wonderful art using the moon and the sun. The children used white crayons and blue water color paint to create a crayon resist background. They each had a white circle for their moon that they of course wanted to cover with craters!

The suns were created in a similar fashion using a circle for the sun but the children colored the sun with yellow crayon. They outlined the rays with a black crayon and then used orange and yellow water color paint.

Our art teacher also used the lessons to teach the children about warm and cool colors. These are easy to make and they look great. I hope you can use this idea in your classroom. Enjoy,

Solar System Song

This is a sweet calm song that lasts around four minutes. It has a calming tune that will bring a few moments of peace and learning in your busy classroom. The song has facts about sun and the planets of the solar system.

Moon Phases : Nasa Kid's Club and The Moon

It seems that we all teach the phases of the moon  to engage children with the natural cycles of the earth.  For many of us it can be a challenge to help the children understand all of these concepts especially since many of these ideas are not concrete yet in the children's minds.  We have our children do a moon phase calendar and one of the first lessons we do is:  Your Moon is My Moon.  The children need to understand that we all see the same moon.  It is always entertaining when the kids first start doing the calendars and we begin to compare the various drawings.  When I gently point out to that little honey that he cannot see a crescent moon when the rest of us saw a full moon...and then he finally says, "Well my Mama said it was a crescent moon!" I have to smile.  We talk over and over about looking outside and actually looking at the moon! Most do their calendar but every once in awhile some honey will say we just looked at the computer I think how sad for that one.  For our children to find their place in the world they really need to be in tune with the world they live in.  Along with getting the children outside to look at the moon I also use NASA Kids' Club for enrichment and meeting technology standards.  There are many games at the NASA Kids' Club site featuring a lot of familiar characters such as Buzz Lightyear
and Elmo.  There is also a Name that Asteriod game. These activities are very engaging and I feel sure that everyone will enjoy them.  I also found this excellent article by Astronomer Cathy Imhoff  The Moon | Scholastic.com 
to help teachers with facts about the moon.

Force and Motion Dollar Tree Science

I recently presented at the North Carolina Science Teachers Convention while presenting I shared some ideas for science that can be done with items from the dollar store. I found this item at the Dollar Tree to teach force and motion. The little lady bug has a zip pull in it so it is a great example of stored energy and to boot that little bug has a magnet in it. The honeys are totally fascinated by this fun toy. Here is a video to show you what I am talking about.I hope you can find these at your local store. I used soup cans and I have four lady bugs that I plan to place in a center. There are different colors of bugs at the store. I also plan on including different sizes of cans some with ridges, some without ridges and some cardboard tubes so they can experiment with magnets and attraction.

Ten Days of Technology for First Grade Day Three Rocks

I have shared two ways to teach math using technology in my earlier posts. Well it is time to rock now. This is great website to teach the Rock Cycle in your classroom. There are lots of animations and the honeys can create a rock collection on line. How cool is that? I love rocks. I'm always schmoozing the geologists at the science convention. I hate to say it but you can get free rocks when you bound up to the table and say something gushy like "I just love rocks!" to a bunch of rock hounds. My honeys in school know I love rocks and they are always bringing me some to look at. Well rock on my friends and check out this website!