STEAM Lab Pumpkin Patch 2014

I've always loved using pumpkins in the classroom. This year I again bought 40 pumpkin from my local Walmart for the STEAM Lab pumpkin patch. This year, in an attempt to add a little more math and science, we created a "baseball card" for each pumpkin.

Using Google Drive, these pages were printed and posted in the hallway. They have been a big hit! I'm already thinking about how to improve them for next year.

I have a Pinterest board I use for inspiration. Several of the push-ins were bought last year on clearance. Instead of paining, we used colored tissue paper and a glue/water mixture. I find it stays nicer than the paint and it makes it easier to have 18-22 students participate in the decorating process.

So, here are our pumpkin creations.

The pumpkins were auctioned off during the Halloween Howl. I am still waiting to hear the total raised, but it was a big hit!

Fifth Grade Owls

 Every year I end up wrapping up a project the last days of school. Every year I swear I won't do it again. This year was no different!

My fifth graders won't have STEAM classes next year, so I decided to end with a ceramics project. After consulting Pinterest, I decided on this one. We followed the tutorial.

Days later, I loaded the owls in the kiln. It was my first time running the kiln without help.

Thankfully, all came out okay! The original plan  had been to glaze and refire. Due to time constraints, we used acrylic paint and a spray finish.

We were painting up until the day before school was out.

It was more than a little hectic, but I was thrilled with our owls!

 

 

 I'm working on a mini grant for next year that will allow me to do a ceramic project with each of my classes next year. I'm currently researching ways to make ceramics work with the other letters of STEAM. I'm brainstorming ideas involving 3D printed rolling pins. Fun Times!

Hall Pass

I saw this earlier in the week and meant to participate. My Google Reader Account is now full of Hall Passes! Such a great idea!

P- Product

My favorite product in my store is my (Math) Operation Snowball Fight.



My class still asks to play this as a review during math centers. I  am a big fan of the self-checking QR codes!

A- Area

This corner of my room is my favorite. In fact I just moved the carpet over so that it faces that direction.

What I like about it:

The quilt on the chair was part of a service learning project I did as an undergrad for my honor’s thesis. The class voted to have me keep the quilt so I could repeat the project with future classes. Since then my future classes have donated quilts for media centers post-Katrina and raised $3,000 by auctioning quilts for Haitian Earthquake Relief. 

The frog chalkboard was a class auction gift a couple of years ago. As I’ve mentioned before, the principal let me paint the rest of the door with the chalkboard paint. I post a question of the day for my students to answer. The kids still get a kick out of writing on the door and we’ve done it all year!

The curtain was one of my projects this summer. It is actually half a fitted bed sheet wrapped around a tension rod. (I got the idea from this pin.) I tied it up with two pieces of ribbon and had instant no-sew curtains. I used the flat sheet as the background on my bulletin board. (see below)

The flowers are a recent addition, but daffodils from my Irishman make me smile!

S – Signal

I was fortunate last year to take a slightly extended maternity leave. My sub started the year and I took over mid-December. For the most part it was great. There was one habit though that made me crazy.

My students had been trained to use the finger signals when they had to go to the bathroom. As in hold up one finger or two depending on….well….you know. I couldn’t handle it. To me that falls in the category of TMI.

Then I found this on Pinterest. The link here is for free printable classroom sign language posters. What I love most is that they are based on real sign language.

My students use sign language to ask to go to the restroom or to get a drink of water. When they raise their hands, they use the sign language to let me know if they have an answer, a question, or a comment. 

They have small individual posters for each sign or the one page overview. I used the poster machine to enlarge the one pager, but I may go back to smaller signs and post only those we use regularly.

To transition between activities I try to incorporate a brain break. I posted about a few of my favorite websites for transitions last week in this post. Also pictured here are even more free brain break resources. (Link 1 and Link 2)

S – Sanity

I used to live for reading blogs during my lunch break. Everyone at my school takes a working lunch alone in their classroom. Now that I have a student teacher in my room with me, sitting at my desk reading blogs might be considered a *tad* antisocial!

Other sanity savers: audiobooks from the library on my phone and photos of my kids posted behind my desk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now I’m off to read some of the other posts with a cup of tea and a cupcake from Costco. Yummy!

Links to Make You Boogie

I have a reputation at school for being a bit techy. I have loved following this linky the last couple of weeks, so I thought I would join in with a few of my favorite finds.

Up first is a website I use quite a bit for transitions. Need students to clean up from one activity and get out supplies quickly? ClassTools.net Timer is the answer.



What sets this one apart is the music. There is a drop menu of songs to choose from. Need a quick tidy? I recommend 57 seconds of Hawaii 5-0. Not long enough? Watch the kids scramble when you play 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Mission Impossible.

I keep saying I am going to try this with my husband. I wonder if 5 minutes and 37 seconds of Star Wars is enough time to do the dishes?

I also use this timer without the music for timed math tests. I enter my time and project it on the screen so students can track how much time is left as they work.

My other new favorite find is a bunch of YouTube videos perfect for a brain break. I found Koo Koo Kangaroo on Pinterest. The Irishman looked over at me while I was watching Dinosaur Stomp one night.

He couldn’t believe I was going to show that to my class. I did. They LOVED it. We have bookmarked all the Koo Koo Kanga Roo Dance Along videos, and we take a dance break 1-3 times a day.

Some of the favorites:

No Crust

LMNOP

A word of advice – the dance along videos are best for the classroom. One of the other third grade teachers did one of their regular videos by mistake and couldn’t figure out what the fuss was about.  I have them bookmarked and choose a student to decide which one we will dance to when we need a brain break.

What is your favorite site for a brain break?

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My  big project for the weekend was to set up a Facebook page for my blog. I'd love it if you would follow me there! I just read about posting freebies for Facebook followers and I hope to try that out in the next couple of weeks.

Five for Friday

 

TGIF! I’m linking up again this week with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday. It was a busy week!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I found “Edible Idioms” in this book from Scholastic. I’ve done them for the last several years. My student teacher did it with the class last week. They came out better than ever!

 

Piece of Cake – Bowl of Cherries – Go Bananas – In a Pickle – Cut the Cheese – Hot Potato – Hard Egg to Crack - Cool as a Cucumber - Spill the Beans - Top Banana - Peas in a Pod - Bringing Home the Bacon - Apple of My Eye

 

 

The used construction paper scraps to fill their plate with idioms. I love it!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I found these printables from The Teacher Wife that I used to make Valentine’s for my kids’ day care classes.

 

In rereading it I found that she taped the hearts onto the glow sticks. That would have been much faster than the hole punching I spent far too long working on. Oops!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Also from The Teacher Wife was the Love Pox. I was at Michaels the night before looking for heart stickers. I found one sad little package left on the shelf, but it worked perfectly. I will be spreading the Love Pox again next year!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

My class had a breakfast party for Valentine’s Day. The room parents came in and made fresh waffles. We started the day with fruit and waffles and Valentine’s. I LOVE breakfast parties. I also love waffles. It is a win-win!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

My husband delivered these daffodils to school on Valentine’s Day.

 

My fourth grade teacher had us memorize the poem “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth. When the Irishman and I were dating, I went to visit him several times across the pond. In Ireland and then in England when he was in uni, we walked through the daffodils reciting the poem. I love flowers with meaning!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Happy Friday!

 

Have a great weekend!