Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Super heroes, Space, and Spring Fever... Oh my!

I had ONE of those days when things went EXACTLY as planned (sort of)!!  Don't you love those kinds of days?!  It may NEVER happen again, but I will ENJOY this moment.   Usually my Wednesdays seem to get off to unexpected starts... but not today. My kiddos were easy to get out the door and to school....which makes for a good morning.  ( I'm not sure about the rest of you but by the time I get my four kiddos out the door and to school, I feel as if I've already put in a days worth of work and it's only 7:30 A.M.)   Then when I arrived at school... my students were super attentive, and we accomplished so much.  I LOVE those days!  On Wednesdays my students can't escape me as they are with me from 8-12.  On this morning, we have no specials ( music, art, or p.e.)  It can be a long morning, but we get a lot accomplished.
Of course, we are all in the best of moods... state testing is finished, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL again... 83 degrees in March!!  Spring Fever... we have it.... 2 days and counting until Spring Break.

Now that our testing is over we can continue our space unit.  On Tuesday we made our planet foldables.  These can be found in my space unit on TPT. 
 Once the students have labeled their flaps with the planet names and attached a picture of each planet under the flap, they had to write two facts about each planet.  The boys and girls used a page out of their science books to help with this activity.  We also looked at a slide show about the planets.  It's free and fabulous! Here are a few of the pics from it:
This can be downloaded for free HERE.
I use it with my Promethean board.

My students also completed an activity that compares the sizes of the planets using seeds.  Students are given a ziploc bag with the names of the planets and index cards with various seeds glued to them.  There are peppercorn seeds, mustard seed, hickory nut, walnut, and coffee beans.  Students are to work with a group and place the planets in order from closest to the sun to farthest away, and also decide which seeds represent the size of the planets.  This is a great way for students to see the vast sizes in the planets.



Of course since it was so beautiful today, we just had to launch our rocket.  We use this when talking about force and gravity.  It's simply a plastic rocket purchased from a dollar store.  It is filled with water and then air is pumped into it.   







 Tomorrow we will be doing stations with the items from my space unit. You can find it on my TPT store HERE.

Since I'm on  the "S" kick today... spring fever, space... I thought I'd show a few pics of our finished Super Hero writings.  My kiddos just finished them today.  I think they look fabulous.   I know I have posted about this before but this can be found in my TPT store HEREAll the proceeds will be donated to the American Cancer Society in honor of my Mom ( my Super Hero).
I'm kind of partial to this one.... the student chose to write about me.  How sweet, and I was so flattered!

Wall of Super Heroes

I just have to show a pic of one of my "darlins".  She was my hero last night and helped me grade some papers.  Our grades are due Friday for upcoming report cards.
Enjoy your evening!  Thanks for stopping by!!



8 comments:

Lori Rosenberg said...

I absolutely love the Super Hero Expository Essay idea. I must do this with my writing classes. Incidentally, my mom is my Super Hero, too...

Ms. Nicole said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm so glad to have found yours! Looooooooove the superhero writing! This is perfect for my unit! The kiddies will love it!

Nicole
Today, in Second Grade

Jen R said...

hey..u don't have your space unit linked...I tried clicking, bot it didn't take me anywhere :)

Unknown said...

Oops! I have it fixed now. Thanks!!!

Krista

Traci Clausen said...

Those super heroes are adorable!
❤Traci❤
Dragonflies in First

Mrs. Shepherd said...

I absolutely love your blog, and I am your newest follower. Hope you will come by and check out my blog.

Ericashep.blogspot.com

Heather (TeacherBug) said...

Your superhero writing looks so cute, as does your space unit!

Ms. Nicole said...

Hi Krista,
It's me again! I will be posting my superhero writing freebie tomorrow. I also have superhero templates (very different from your own) that the students made to go along with their stories. I was wondering if I could write about your superhero writing activity and include a pic (they are too cute) and a link to your store. I think it is wonderful that you are donating the proceeds to the American Cancer Society and thought I'd let everyone know what a great thing you were doing! Again, I just wanted to ensure that it would be okay to include all this in my post!! Let me know!

Nicole
Today, in Second Grade