Valentine's Day Shelf Work

I wanted to post a few pictures of some of the shelf work that the kids did during the month of February.  This is work that they do independently or in a small group while I am either working one-on-one with a student or with a small group.

For this activity the students had to draw three "love monsters" and then add those three numbers together.  This also helped the students practice writing out addition sentences.

This work was called "Roll and Draw a Love Bug".  I did this with my students last year and they loved it.  You and a partner each get a sheet of paper and take turns rolling the die.  For each number on the die you are told to draw a particular part of your "love bug".  The first person to complete their "love bug" wins!

This wasn't exactly a "Valentine" shelf work activity, but it was something my kids needed practice with in math and since it was pink I just went with it.  The kids had to make pink gum drops out of Play-Doh to complete the ten frames.

This was another shelf work activity that was a game for two people.  Each person would roll the die and then add ten to whatever number they rolled.  Then the person would find that number and cover it with one of their colored tiles.  The first person to get all of their colored tiles on the board wins!

This shelf work activity required the students to use red and pink colored pencils to color a heart picture.  The heart had numbers written around it and every section that had an even number you colored pink and every odd section you colored it red.

This shelf work had students fill in the missing numbers out of this 100s chart.  Since there were hearts on the chart instead of simple squares the kids were much more excited about doing it!

This is a game that I have several different versions of (depending on what time of year it is).  It is a two player game.  Each student rolls three dice and adds the three numbers.  Then they cover the corresponding heart with their color tile piece.  The part about this game that the kids love is that you can "bump" your opponent off if you roll the same number.

Since Valentine's Day is on the 14th we practiced tracing, writing, and spelling the number 14.

This shelf work was a simple color by number.  My girls really liked this one.

For this shelf work activity the students had to color certain numbers different colors to make a heart.

Since I have students for two years my goal is to get 2 rotations of shelf work for each Holiday so each student will get to do new shelf work each year.

Christmas Lights

I know it is embarrassing that it is the 10th of May and I am going to do a blog post about something we did for Christmas, but I really wanted to write about a cute craft we did so here we go!


Since our building is the oldest wooden structure in our county we often get visitors on the weekends that are doing local tours and things like that.  So for a local Christmas tour I wanted to decorate our room, but I wanted it to have a personal feel to it.  I found the idea at the blog here.  I didn't have a template or anything so I basically just came up with it as I went.

First I took black construction paper and cut it into rectangles. to make the top of the light.  After cutting out all the rectangles I folded them in half.

Then I attached the black rectangles to the light bulbs that I had made out of several different colors of construction paper. I tried using glue at first, but it wouldn't stick well so I used tape.  I taped only one side of the rectangle to the light.

Then I used a pen to write the children's names on the lights (one letter per light).  I wrote their names in pen and then had them trace over it with glue and then add glitter to it.  The kids were SO excited about getting to use glitter because we NEVER use glitter (I have 31 kids!).  

After the glue/glitter dried I took some yarn and cut a piece long enough to where it covered the length of the name with a little extra on each side.

Then I folded the top part of the black paper over the string and taped it down.  

We hung these from the ceiling all around the room.  They looked so cute and I could just kick myself for not taking a picture of them all hanging up!  Oh well the kids got to enjoy them hanging in our room for several weeks and then I let them take their names home when we got out for Christmas break.

Police Department Visit

Today our local police department came to the school to teach the children about what all the police department does.  The entire school got to participate (except for the preschool as this was during their nap time!) and it was so interesting!!!

This board had several pictures of the different types of police officers as well as the different vehicles.

One of the police helicopters landed on Capitol Park.

This kids thought this was amazing!  It was so cute to see how excited they got!

We got to meet one of the dogs from the k9 unit.

This is a robot that is used on the bomb task force.

A detective had the students touch a piece of paper and then showed them how he could see their finger prints.

We learned that the police department has several helicopters used to be army helicopters.  I believe he said this one flew in the Gulf War.

I am so thankful for our police officers not only for keeping us all safe, but for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come and teach my students.  It was a day that my students won't soon forget!

Veterans Day

At The Capitol School we have chosen to be in school the day of Veterans Day so we can have a special day to teach our students about our Veterans.  I feel it is very important for our students to meet local Veterans and learn about the many sacrifices they make for our country.  This year we had one of our student's grandfather come and talk to us about his time as an Army Ranger.  The students were amazed at his stories and really learned a lot.  

Showing the students pictures from his many deployments.

The students really liked getting to look at all the medals!

This year I wanted the students to make some sort of craft (I try to fit in crafts as often as possible!) that we could keep in our room to remind them of what they learned on Veterans Day. While looking on Pinterest the weekend before Veterans Day I found a blog where an entire second grade made an American Flag out of paper rings.  You can visit the blog here.  We had just covered patterns a month or so prior to Veterans Day so I thought this would be a great math project.  I knew my students would be able to do this, but I had no idea how fabulous it would turn out!

I LOVE the finished product!!!  It fit perfectly on this blank brick wall in my room.  The students were so proud of themselves.  I think the fact that it is HUGE really impressed them.  I nailed each strand into the ceiling (having my classroom in the oldest wooden structure in Tuscaloosa county came in handy!) and other than being completely covered in dust and whatever else fell from the ceiling and causing the teacher from upstairs to come downstairs and make sure everything was ok (she could hear me hammering away!) it was pretty painless.

Veterans Day 2012 was a wonderful day of celebration.  I am so thankful for all the men and women that have served so that we can live in this great nation......I truly felt honored to teach my students about them!

2012 Lantern Festival

This year the Hill/Box cluster was able to host our second Lantern Festival.  To read about our celebration last year check out the blog post about it here.  We learned so much from our celebration last year and I believe this one was the best yet!  One thing we changed this year is that we were able to order "lantern making kits" directly from Germany.  I was able to put the together for the students.....with only one minor injury......in case you were wondering, yes a glue gun will burn a hole in the end of your finger!

We did change this one part of the lanterns.  The kit came with tall candles that you placed down in the bottom of the lantern.........the thought of big lit candles hanging down in a lantern being carried around by 27 kids ages 5-7 didn't seem like a good idea so instead we hot glued these little candles down to the  bottom part of the lantern......and fortunately no lanterns, grass, trees OR kids caught on fire during the night!

The children decorated the sides of the lanterns which were made out of parchment paper.

This is the final product.  The kids had wooden sticks that had a little hook on the end so they could carry them around.

We borrowed tables from the library and covered them with white paper and let the kids decorate them.  The kids loved decorating the tables and really felt like they had a part in preparing for the Lantern Festival.

Our plans were to eat dinner together first and then walk around Capitol Park with our lanterns, but the one of our local news teams showed up and wanted to film us so we quickly gathered all the students and changed plans!  We gathered around a fire pit, lit the lanterns and then made a lap around the ruins while singing some of the traditional German songs we learned.

After we walked around the park we all came back inside and had dinner together.  It was so nice getting to spend time with all our families and learn about this wonderful tradition!

Our PTA was selling Boston Butts and chickens with a white sauce so that was our meet for the evening.....it was really yummy!

I believe everyone that came had a nice time.  This is a new tradition that I hope we will be able to participate in for many years to come!