Boats, Shapes, 50's day and Thanksgiving oh my!

Many moons ago, I went to grad school and received my Masters Degree in Math, Science and Technology in Elementary education. Yes, that is what we now know as STEM. I've had my thesis in a file to be published on TPT for about 4 years. I can't seem to part with it. I don't know if I will ever have the guts to put it up there, fear of rejection maybe?, although my professors loved it. It was months and months of research and work... It was 13 years ago, maybe one day I will be ready to share all that hard work. 
In the meantime, I have a much smaller scale unit that I just did with my class for Sink and Float. I'm just testing the waters (pun intended) with this one.

This unit will take you anywhere from 6-8 days depending on the time you have for science. I currently have it listed for 40% off. Head on over and grab it now! We had so much fun with this little Will it Sink or Float? Elementary STEM Unit... I hope you like it!

 Also this past month we got to do one of my favorite math activities of the year.... Geo Panes from my Common Core Geometry Unit. 

 

First we build and record. I use gum drops I find at my local grocery store. They hold up great in the soapy water.

Students choose which shape they want to dip into the water.

As you can see, it creates these great panes of flat bubbles for the faces of the shape.

I've recently updated this unit, I added a template for creating my dear friend Miss Poly Gon for you and a smaller version for your class. You can also just get the template for her if you don't want the whole unit--How to Make Miss Poly Gon

 This is the first year we decided to celebrate the 50th day of school. We had a lot of fun with this day. My teammates found so many free ideas on pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. (That's me over on the left--trying to be Too cool for school, lol)

Here's my Too cool For school partner.

This year for Red Ribbon week we had a decorate your door contest. My sister created these adorable graphics and i just love them. I decided to use my Candy Corn in Disguise. "I mustache you to be healthy"

Here is something easy and FREE. After reading several Pete the Cat books, I decided to do a directed drawing with my students. Using the document camera I walked the class through the drawing step by step. They then wrote to describe him.

As we  head on into November, we will begin learning about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. I think it's important for my firsties to understand how life long ago, children long ago, etc... are different than things are today. I created this unit to help my students compare and contrast differences and similarities between themselves and Native American and Pilgrim Children. There are a variety of Venn Diagrams and Double-Bubble Maps to choose from, depending on your preference.

Thanksgiving Comparisons unit

Thanksgiving, Fact Families and Winter

So, like all of you I am teaching my Thanksgiving Unit this week. We have 3 1/2 days this week--so that's about all I have for my whole unit. (I snuck in a couple of days last week). I am so lucky to have ALL of next week off--so no complaining.

I had to cut my unit in half, but I think I'm hitting on the key parts.
Part of our Curriculum is to compare Life Now to Life Long Ago. I would say the Thanksgiving Theme fits right into that standard.

We started with Learning about and describing the Pilgrims.

We planned and wrote 3 sentences about the Pilgrims. We did the same for the Native Americans.

The Next step was to Compare. I gave each student a "bubble" to write on. They wrote a fact about either the Native Americans, the Pilgrims or both.

They then attached it to the double-bubble map.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product--ughh! I will add it tomorrow.

We also used the scholastic Virtual Videos of the Pilgrim Village, Wampanog Village and Mayflower.
I really liked these videos and so did my class.  They kept asking--Are those real Pilgrims?

We are also learning about Fact families and related facts. After our regularly scheduled lesson, we made these cute Fact Family houses. I let each child pick their own "family member" for their house.
It was super easy. They folded the corners, put the 3 numbers in the roof top--and then wrote the facts. 2 addition and 2 subtraction.  It was a great way to extend the lesson and see who can do the facts independently.

I love working ahead and knowing I am prepared. My team and I mapped out the whole 2nd quarter in math so I know what I am teaching every day from now through January 22nd!
I decided I needed to also be that prepared in Language Arts as well.
so I began working on the Common Core standards and Winter/holiday Writing.
I finished my mega Writing unit: Writing in a Winter Wonderland.
It's aligned to common core and has 120 pages of all the writing you could possibly need from November 26th to January 31st (maybe longer)

Preview--this is just a little of what is included

Book Recommendations

Planning for Writing an Opinion Piece

1 example of Common Core Alignments for grades 1-4

Narrative Prompt Cards

Winter Writing--1 page of "Arctic" Themed Informational Writing

1 example of a Book Cover

Take a peek and check it out at TPT here!  and last but not least I found this great blogger exchange going on at : Teacher blogger Exhange   Check it out!

Hispanic Heritage Celebration and Thanksgiving

It's finally cooling down her in S. Florida. This is exactly why I love living here. (I usually forget that when I am sweating in September) But today the weather is pretty close to perfect.

Another Perfect way to end my week was with celebrating the end of Hispanic Heritage Month with a Project Celebration.  My class was able to choose their own country and project. We had everything from Flags to Flan and Photo Albums to Maps.  Each child stood before the class, shared their project and what they knew about the country. We had many parents come into listen and share in the festivities following the presentations. 

Puerto Rico

Costa Rica

Peru

Spain-Flamenco Dancer

We had a great time learning about so many different cultures and countries.

In other news, I have finished a new Mega Writing Unit for Thanksgiving!

"Thanksgiving Comparisons 

{Integrated Writing and Social Studies Unit}

Aligned to Common Core Grades 1-4"

There is so much in here I could only fit about 1/2 of it into the preview. 83 pages packed with Graphic Organizers and Thanksgiving Writing Stationery.

Stop by TPT or TN and Check it out!