Sunday 28 April 2013

Spring Art


It seems as though we have had all four seasons in the last week here in Calgary; it snowed last week, today is 20 degrees, I think it also rained a little while ago. So confusing, especially trying to teach seasons.
Anyways, we did a "spring" art project that turned out cute. As always, took step by step pictures and put on the SMART board.
Making different shapes we created this person, I cut out the umbrella, the kids made the rest.
Then we tore and glued ripped pieces of tissue paper, in different shades of blue for the background. After we modge podged it.



Mrs. Dunn

Friday 26 April 2013

Gingerbread man story- Better Late then never


Well, this happened a long long time ago. And I meant to post about it, but didn't. And now it is spring. I suppose better late than never right?

So we did a super fun story writing activity based on the book:
Basically, we rewrote the story, but what was unique about this was that we used mapping skills (with a map of the school) to see if we could find him, and so after writing each page, we would go in search of the gingerbread man in that location.

 Title page, sorry for the blurry, I laminated and bound the books so the shine didn't quite work out.
 Beginning of the story. this was VERY scripted.
Here is where we used our social studies map skills. I copied a school map into the story, and before we wrote each page we went to see if the gingerbread man was in that location. Then we would come back and write and colour that page. This is a great way to make things interactive and get a little DPA in there too!

WARNING: I may have built this part up... a little too much... like ooo I think I saw him run past, we need to be super quiet so he doesn't run away. We also found notes that he left us in each location. I built this up so much to the point where when we got to the library children thought they had found him, and someone said they say him run past the library window. Why is this a bad thing you may ask, keep reading to find out.


We then made missing posters just before going to the office to look for him. We brought our missing posters to the secretary to see if she had found him, which by chance she actually had.

Here is the reason for the warning. The children were expecting a real, live, running, talking, singing, dancing, magical gingerbread man. And we found... a paper laminated copy. Needless to say, there was some seriously disappointed faces. What a let down.
Anyway, all in all it was a fun story writing activity. Although I know the season is over, if you are interested for next year, here it is to purchase:

Friday 5 April 2013

Teaching Basic Mapping Skills


I find my students have a lot of difficulty understanding where we live in relation to the rest of the world, so I made these nesting maps out of different sized tin cans so they would all fit together.



We started with our school, and then put it into the Calgary container and so on. I used whole brain teaching to talk about each one, so we mirrored as we went and then the students taught each other. I think we are moving closer to understanding. I really feel that this skill is developmental, so I continue to look at different ways to present the concept throughout the year.

Mrs. Dunn

Tuesday 2 April 2013

Let's Get Acquainted Linky

I am linking up with Flying into First Grade for a favourites linky party.!

Favourite Place to Shop

Hmm, well I think clothing wise I would say probably dynamite, but I'm actually not a huge shopper so that's about all I can come up with.

Favourite TV Show

I really really love this show. Like A LOT and I watch it over and over again, including all the bloopers I can find on youtube. So amazing.

Favourite Sweet Treat

Peanut butter confetti square. Because it is peanut butter, and marshmallows and I could eat a whole pan if given the chance.

Favourite Food

Lasagna, and most things that are Italian like. MMM cheesy, meaty noodly goodness.

Favourite Restaurant

I'm not huge on eating out, but when we do one of our go to places is an Indian Restaurant called Tamarind. So yum.
Mrs. Dunn