Explore Tubs for Objects & Materials {with freebies}

Here are some more Explore Tub ideas! Explore Tubs are my idea of early finisher tubs in Science class for when students finish their Interactive Science Journal page. You can read more about the tubs {here}, see my Senses tub ideas {here}, or my Weather & Seasons tubs {here}. I will change these six tubs out with each unit. I teach four units in Science: Weather & Seasons, Five Senses, Objects & Materials, and Living Things. These are my Objects & Materials explore tub ideas!

While I was doing my yearly plan, I decided to change things up for next year by teaching my Objects & Materials unit (which is usually only about 2 weeks) in April. The reason for this is one of the outcomes is about recycling which fits perfectly with Earth Day and the second reason is a fabulous follower of mine gave me the idea of doing a design project around building a house for the 3 Little Pigs. Well, I just happen to do a writing unit about the 3 Little Pigs in April, so how perfect!! I love when I can make connections between subject areas like that!

*Tub of random objects from dollar store, home, classroom, nature, etc.
*Magnifying glasses (I like these Primary Science Jumbo Magnifiers from Learning Resources)
*Science Sorting Mats from Lakeshore Learning--Students sort the random objects onto the different sorting mats (large/small, hard/soft, etc.).

*Variety of building toys such as Legos, Gears, and Tinkertoys

*Digital camera (an old one I don't use anymore)

*What Can You Build? sign (download here) laminated with dry erase marker. Students can build something out of the toys, write their name and what they built on the poster, and then take a picture of their structure with the poster. This helps eliminate the "I don't want to break it!" when time is up and we can make a class book out of all the pictures!

*Books about the three little pigs: The 3 Little Dassies, Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes, The Three Horrid Little Pigs, Three Little Pigs, The Three Ninja Pigs, Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Fish, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, The Three Little Gators, Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Recyclers, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Wolves

*Three Little Pigs Puzzle from Lakeshore

*Three Little Pigs STEM Kit from Lakeshore

*Variety of materials (tin foil, paper, saran wrap, foam, newspaper, tissue paper, etc.)

*Mini flashlights

*Transparent, Opaque, and Translucent Sorting cards (download here). Students hold the flashlight up to each material to see if it is transparent, translucent, or opaque and sorts the material under the correct heading.

*Earth Day Sorting Game {by me on TpT}--I used sticky velcro dots to make my sorting game. Students sort the picture cards by if you would recycle it, reuse it, reduce it, compost it, or put it in the garbage.

*Books about the 3 R's: Cleaning Up Litter, Earth Day Hooray, Earth Day, It's Earth Day, Saving Water, Saving Energy, Pick Up the Park, Recycling Is Fun, We Need Water, Reusing and Recycling, What If Everybody Did That?, What Should I Recycle?

*Objects and Materials Sorting Game {by me on TpT}--I used sticky velcro dots to make my sorting game. Students sort the object cards by the type of material it is made of (rubber, metal, paper, wood, plastic, and fabric).

*Books about objects & materials: Joining Materials, Wood, Plastic, Paper, Rubber, Glass, Metal, Curious George Builds a House, Rock, The Most Magnificent Things, Natural and Human-Made, Materials

Hope this gives you some FUN ideas to make an otherwise boring unit more engaging for students!!

New Fairy Tale Packs

If you are a fan of my 3 Little Pigs and Goldilocks Reading & Writing Mini-Units {blogged about them here}...

  

Then you will love my two newest packs... Gingerbread Man and Little Red Riding Hood! All of these packs feature the same reading and writing activities, but are adapted for the certain fairy tale. You can use any version of the stories that you have. Each pack includes a book list of examples of the different versions you can find! Check them out at TpT by clicking on the pictures below...

New Books! and Zoo Freebies!

I have no problem admitting it. I have a problem. I buy books. A lot of books. My classroom library is ridiculously full. I love it! My bf doesn't even comment anymore when there's a box from Amazon or Chapters in the mail. I'm just thankful my Scholastic books go right to school. He doesn't need to see those boxes too. lol. I thought I would show you what just arrived in my latest Amazon order. I got some cute new ones!!

When I heard of The Three Little Gators, I knew I had to get it to add to my Three Little Pigs collection. It'll go perfect with my little mini-unit! The book is hilarious. "Then I'll wiggle my rump with a bump, bump, bump and smash your house!" Super cute. Did I ever show you my students' fractured fairy tales? They turned out really cute. I used the story map and writing pages from my mini-unit to create their own versions of The Three Little Pigs. Some titles were The Three Little Horses and the Big Bad Bull, The Three Little Lukes and the Big Bad Darth Vader (yes, he is obsessed with Star Wars), The Three Little Mice and the Big Bad Rat, The Three Little Cats and the Big Bad Dog, and The Three Little Kids and the Big Bad Dad. Too funny!

I have all the Scaredy Squirrel and Tacky the Penguin books, so when each of them came out with a new book I had to add them to my cart right away! I can't wait to read Scaredy Squirrel Goes Camping on our camping day! Should be fun! Happy Birdday, Tacky will wait until next year when I do my penguin unit!

I bought two new school bus safety books that we will read in September when I do my bus safety unit! Safety Dave and Daisy Ride the Bus is a cute book about a boy bring his dog to school for show and tell!

And last up, I bought two new zoo books to go with our zoo unit! These came just in time. Our field trip is on Thursday! We are getting so excited. It's supposed to be a beautiful day! Along with our zoo animal cards, we learn about the types of animals (mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, insects, and fish) and things related to the zoo. I use some ideas from Hope King's unit On Safari: An Animal Science Unit and Melissa Hodson's Off to the Zoo! Unit. I also put together a few pages about living things, zookeepers, animals vs. people, etc. Click any picture below to download a copy for yourself!

If you are visiting the zoo, don't forget my zoo trip reflection freebie I posted last year too. Check that post here. Alright, I'm off to snooze. Enjoy your week!

Here Little Piggy!

During our Writer's Workshop time, we are in the middle of doing a "Three Little Pig" mini-unit. We started by reading many different versions of the 3 pig story, such as "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark" or "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig". Each day we read a story and completed an activity from my new "The 3 Little Pigs: Reading & Writing Mini-Unit". I have included several reading comprehension activities, as well as a few creative writing activities. Click the picture below to check it out at TpT!

I put all my pages into a cute little booklet.

Here are some student samples from my class. On the first day I just read a regular version of "The 3 Little Pigs". We used this story elements mini bulletin board set to talk about a story map, then filled in our own story map with characters, setting, and beginning/middle/end events.

One day we talked specifically about characters and how characters can change (in "The Three Horrid Little Pigs" the pigs turn good at the end). Another day we talked about the setting and described the setting from "The Three Little Dassies". Then we spent a day talking about cause and effect and gave two examples from the story "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig".

After we read "The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark" we used a venn diagram to compare and contrast that story with the origianl version. We also got to do some comic writing by filling in the speech bubbles of the three little pigs and the wolf.

Then we did some writing activities. We wrote an alternative ending to the original story. Here's a few of them:

"The wolf got out of the pot can never came back. And they lived happily ever after."

"The wolf became friends with the pigs. And they lived happily ever after!"

Awww... I have the sweetest kiddos! They all want happy endings!

"The wolf got his revenge and turned the pigs into fried meat."

Oh... maybe not... hehe!

We also pretended to be one of the little pigs and wrote a letter to the wolf. They were pretty cute!

"Dear Wolf,

I wish you would be nice. I would like it if you would be nice. It is rude to be bad. 

Sincerely, the Pig"

"Dear Wolf,

You were a big bad wolf. I wish you can be good. Do not send a letter.

Sincerely, the Pig"

"Dear Wolf,

I wish you can be nice and won't blow our houses down. We want you to be nice for us so we will let you in our houses.

Sincerely, the Pig"

Finally we graphed which story was our favourite and wrote why we liked that one.

Next week we are going to start writing our own fractured fairy tale. I have a story map and good copy book included in my mini-unit. Students will choose different animals to be the three little ____ and another animal to be the big bad ____. Then they will pick three new materials to make their houses. I can't wait to see what creative ideas they come up with! I promise to share some pics once they are all done.

I have also put together a mini-unit for "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". This unit has the exact same activities as the three pigs, but based on different version of Goldilocks. Check it out by clicking the picture below!

Five for Friday on Friday

It's here! It's Friday! The weather is beautiful! :) The sun is shining. And I get two days without my little monkeys... hehe. It's also time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs. Can't believe I made it on time today! Woo hoo!

{1.} On Earth Day, we watched the free movie of the week from Brain Pop Jr. on Recycling. We also watched this cute video on YouTube from Loop Scoops on PBS. Oliver has one minute to reduce a large pile of trash. This was a perfect lead up to our recycle/garbage sort.

We sorted images of common items into the recycling bin or the garbage can. Then we took a look at the items in the garbage can to see if we could reduce the trash further. We talked about composting, reducing, and reusing. You can download the sorting cards {here}.

{2.} Our grassheads are growing! Ok, yes, the grass is growing right on their faces, but it's still growing!! I succeeded! Woo hoo! :) The kids are pretty excited about these little guys.

{3.} This is the first year I have tried a take-home sight word program. I have been using A Teeny Tiny Teacher's awesome pack {found here}. I love her pack! When my students complete all their lists, they get a Sight Word Champion Trophy and Certificate. {You can download my ceritifcate here.} I just had my fourth student complete all the lists. On the other hand, I've also had six kids not bring a single list back. Oh well, what can you do?

{4.} For the last two weeks, we have been reading various versions of "The 3 Little Pigs" and doing some reading/writing activities from my new mini-unit (out sometime in the next week). Today we graphed which story was our favourite and write about why we liked it. Next week will start writing our own version of the story. The kids are pretty excited to start their stories!

{5.} Here's the view from my front door. The snow is finally melting! We can see grass! I don't want to jinx it, but I think spring might be here! Yipee!

Have a relaxing weekend! I'm off to help build the basement bathroom walls! :)