Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Road to the White House – A Virtual Field Trip

The third and final presidential debate is coming to town in just over a month. With the first debate this week I thought I'd pass on a great resource for teaching about the debate process in the classroom.



 


My class was fortunate enough to get to participate in the "Road to the White House" program at Lynn University in person.

  


(I might be a little partial. The handsome Irishman interviewed in that clip is my husband.)

The university has posted his “The Road to the White House – A Virtual Field Trip” for 3rd & 4th Grade on their website. It includes lesson plans, printables, and ideas for teaching about debates in the classroom. He has even linked it to Common Core Standards. It is worth checking out!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Seat Sacks for Under $1

I saw this link on Pinterest last year and loved the idea. I bought a few to use at my reading table and they worked well. As much as I love Home Depot though, I was not crazy about the orange logo in the middle.

This summer I bought a class set for 77 cents each.

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Then I consulted my mom and grandmother for ideas. Most people would have come up with a plan first. I like to pretend I live on the edge. (Just kidding!)

I ‘d thought about covering it in fabric. I thought about spray paint. In the end I used acrylic paint and painters tape. It was in my (non-existent) budget.

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It took 3 coats of dark blue to cover the logo. I also bought stampers from Michaels and added accent polka dots.

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I had 20 of these things spread out all over the room and went around assembly style stamping each color.

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Here is a finished product in front of my inspiration scrapbook paper. I love the polka dots!

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I’m happy with how they came. I’d had this project on my to do list for months!

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The seat sack is just the right size to hold the student’s independent reading book and other small items. They are usually lower on the chair because some of the students didn’t care for the knot of the apron to sit at the top of the chair against their backs.

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We have to stack the chairs at the end of the day, but it is easy to slide the empty apron seat sack into the desk for the next day. I’ll count this one as a success!

Taking it Seriously

I have a REALLY long idea list saved on Evernote with blog ideas. (Many mentioned in the post below!)  I'm going to give it a go and try to post at least once a week. Wish me luck!