Celebrations across the Curriculum

FREE Leap Day Origami Frog

2012-02-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

FREE- Here's my Origami Frog Pattern and a set of directions to use with children. The directions also include pictures! Use this Leap Frog as a Leap Day craft. Your students can make them and then measure how far they go. They can also try different experiments and use different types of paper to see how they make the frog jump. Enjoy this FREEBIE!

This link will take you to this FREE Leap Day product at my TpT Store: Click HERE to Download your free origami frog pattern.

Take care and happy Leap Day 2012,
Robin

Leap Day in the Classroom 2012

2012-02-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

How will you teach your students about Leap Day this year? Many students are celebrating their first Leap Day and learning about this day will be important to them. Why not make it fun. Leap Day 2012 is February 29th, why not teach a Leap Day craft and lesson in your classroom? Glyphs are great tools to use with your homeschooler and in the classroom. This Leap Day, use a leap frog glyph in your classroom as a craft.

Begin the class with a little physical exercise. Talk about animals that leap and let your students move around and imitate those animals. Think about frogs, kangaroos, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and more. Talk about the meaning of the word leap.

Then teach your students about Leap Day. Here are some ideas to get started.

Leap Day Facts

Every four years is a Leap Year.

The last Leap Year was in 2008.

Some of your students may have been born during the Leap Year in 2008.

February 29^th is Leap Day.

Some children are born on Leap Day.

These children have a birthday every year, but they can only celebrate it on February 29^th every four years.

We add a Leap Day every four years to the calendar because each year is about 365 days and 6 hours.If we miss six hours every four years, then our calendar is off by a day.

Leap means to spring or jump forward.

There are some animals that leap like frogs and kangaroos.

Some toys like pogo sticks leap too.

Get out a calendar and look for Leap Day on February 29, 2012.

Next, you can integrate art, writing, and math in a cinch and have a great take-home project or decoration for your classroom bulletin boards. Just add a glyph.

Instead of putting together a pre-made product like those foam stickers, students make choices based on how they complete a glyph question form. For example, a question could ask students if they know of anyone who was born on Leap Day or if they are born on Leap Year? If they answer yes, then they would, for example, make their leap frog look like it is leaping. If they answer no, then they would make the frog's legs set straight. The questionnaire process continues as the child builds his unique creation!

Frog created using glyph questions

But wait! Didn't I saw something about math? Yes, now it's time for math, but shh, don't tell the students! Learning should be fun and glyphs are a way to make that happen. Student then use a glyph key to analyze their classmates creations. For example, they could look at the Leap Frog's legs and create a graph that illustrates how many of their classmates know someone born on Leap Day. How cool is that? They can even create graphs of each element on the Leap Day Frog.

You can add more math skills and give students two Leap Day Frogs and ask them to complete a Venn Diagram. Even better, ask them to write about their bug, a classmate's Leap Day Frog, or even compare or contrast two Love Bugs.

You can make your own glyph projects for any topic! It's fun. I also have a 17 page Pre-K and Kindergarten Leap Day Leap Frog Project download available for sale HERE for just $3.00.

For first grade through fourth grade, I've also written a 28 page proejct guide with glyph patterns, glyph questions, writing prompts, math graphs, and Venn diagrams HERE for $3.50.

Robin

Teaching Moments: Valentine's Day Idea

2012-02-12T12:33:00.001-08:00

Glyphs are great tools to use with your homeschooler and in the classroom. This Valentine's Day, use a bug glyph in your classroom as a craft. You can integrate art, writing, and math in a cinch and have a great take-home project or decoration for your classroom bulletin boards.

Instead of putting together a pre-made product like those foam stickers, students make choices based on how they complete a glyph question form. For example, a question could ask students if they know of anyone who was born on Valentine's Day? If they answer yes, then they would, for example, add long straight legs to their Valentine Bug. If they answer no, then they would add short folded legs to the bug. The questionnaire process continues as the child builds his unique creation!


Students create their own Love Bugs

But wait! Didn't I saw something about math? Yes, now it's time for math, but shh, don't tell the students! Learning should be fun and glyphs are a way to make that happen. Student then use a glyph key to analyze their classmates creations. For example, they could look at the Love Bug legs and create a graph that illustrates how many of their classmates know someone born on Valentine's Day. How cool is that? They can even create graphs of each element on the Love Bug.

You can add more math skills and give students two Love Bugs and ask them to complete a Venn Diagram. Even better, ask them to write about their bug, a classmate's Love Bug, or even compare or contrast two Love Bugs.

You can make your own glyph projects for any topic! It's fun. I also have a 23 page Love Bug Valentine's Glyph Project download available for sale HERE for just $3.50.

Robin

FRIDAY FREEBIE: FREE Printable Chinese New Year Curriculum Reader and Math

2012-01-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

As a thank you for following me, here is my FRIDAY FREEBIE: PRINTABLE Chinese New Year Curriculum for 1st through 4th grade. It will be free through Teachers Pay Teachers this evening for two hours! Click HERE. Afterwards, it's still a good deal for less than $2.50.

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with this printable worksheet Chinese New Year curriculum for the classroom and homeschoolers for students in 1st-4th grade.

This teacher created Chinese New year packet includes an original teacher written book titled "The Legend of Nian." Nian is the dragon legended to have come into Chinese villages and eat people until the people came up with a plan to scare him away with loud noises and fireworks.

Next the package includes a page of reading comprehension questions.

Then you'll find a math activity where students must solve fractions to save the Chinese village of Fraction. Please check out the preview. It contains the entire package in preview mode. The math lesson allows for differentiated instruction with four fraction levels of the same page in the package. You could also use these levels for the same student as the student works more with fractions. Finally, there is a map of the Village of Fraction that the students will color based on the fraction sheet--This is fun math!

While not in the package, I suggest that you follow up with an art activity. Ask students to create a Nian puppet using a small paper bag. Hurry! Here's the FRIDAY FREEBIE link again: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chinese-New-Year-Curriculum-Student-Reader-and-Math-Fraction-Lesson

Please follow me to learn more about ways to celebrate in the classroom and for special FRIDAY FREEBIES!

The 100th Day of School: Free Printable Ebook

2012-01-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

It's time for some 100 Days of School fun! Do you need some classroom ready resources, free printables, or worksheets to teach about the 100th day of school? You are in luck. For a limited time, I am giving away my printable Ebook that includes free 100th day of school printables and worksheets titled The 100th day of School: Ebook of Fun and One Hundred.

This Ebook uses the 100th Day of School to teach across the curriculum. You can use these 100 Days of School handouts in your classroom or at home.

Students will write, read, research, practice math skills and spelling skills, and even use a few art skills as they celebrate the 100th Day of School. Students will even learn about Benjamin Franklin and the Titanic as they use the 100th day of school as a basis to learn about history too! Please share about this free ebook with your friends and link to this post. Thanks!

{EXPIRED 1/16--link goes to Tpt paid version now} Click HERE to get your free copy of The 100th Day of School: Ebook of Fun and One Hundred

Recommended Resources

China: Celebrating the Chinese New Year in the Classroom

2012-01-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year Curriculum: January is the month for some fun classroom celebrations! The Chinese New Year starts on January 23rd this year. Use the Chinese New Year in your classroom to supplement your social studies lessons with lots of fun classroom activities, crafts, poetry, and more.

Reading

First, we read Chinese New Year by Kate Marsico.

I really enjoy reading books from this Cultural Holidays series. Some of the other books in the series cover Cinco de Mayo, Christmas, Ramadan, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

The reading level is just right for 2nd graders and the book covers many aspects about the Chinese New Year with enough detail to make it interesting for children. I'm one still searching for a social studies book that engages and teaches with more than just a lot of pictures and a few words, so these Cultural Holidays books do a great job to supplement our social studies curriculum.

Art

This year is the Year of the Dragon!!! We learned about the Legend of Nian. Nian was a terrible dragon who, on on the Chinese New year, ventured into villages and ate any person he saw. Soon, the villagers discovered that this dragon was afraid of loud noises and red, so they started shooting fireworks and covering the village with red including red lanterns.

For our lesson today, we used a small paper bag, glue, and construction paper to create our own Nian. The directions were to be creative and have fun.

Writing
To teach about point of view, I've got a great writing prompt to go along with this topic:

Imagine that you are Nian. You are hungry. It's the beginning of the Chinese New Year. You are going to the village for your yearly snack, but something if different this year. What do you see?

Poetry

Let your students make lots more noise when they write couplet and post them on red paper. The Chinese New Year books shares more about couplets too. A couplet contains two lines of poetry that are about the same length. They don't have to rhyme, but it's better if you can make them rhyme. The students should write a couplet about the Chinese New Year, Nian, Red, or The Year of the Dragon.

Let your students read these poems to try to scare their Lian puppets away.

Here's a site with some sample student couplets for your students to use as inspirations: Mrs. Barnes' class poems

Science
Pat yourself on the back. You are really teaching across the curriculum today! The Chinese New Year is based on the moon cycle. Use this resource for your students to learn more about the phases of the moon. The Phases of the Moon.

Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store Chinese New Year Curriculum: Reader and Math Unit here:

Enjoy and Happy Chinese New Year

Mexico: Christmas Around the World Across the Curriculum

2011-12-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

Three Kings Day Curriculum:

We're continuing with our Christmas around the world unit and continuing to read Christmas Around the World by Mary Lankford.

Today, we learned how Christmas is celebrated in Mexico. We had a great time working with maps and exploring arts, crafts, cooking, and music that related to Christmas in Mexico.You can too!

Start your lesson using the portion of Christmas Around the World by Mary Lankford that covers Mexico. It has great information including tidbits on poinsettias and bunuelos--topics we used for cooking and crafts.

You can also watch this video from YouTube that shows scenes for Christmas in Mexico. Be sure to read the description below the video for more information about how Christmas is celebrated in Mexico. The video is from NorthPoleChristmas and is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHSxhW_1fkM.

Next make a few Chrismas crafts. Let your students paint their hands red to make the flowering part of a poinsetta. Here's ours!

Or you can find a picture of a poinsettia and ask students to color it using different shades of green and red color pencils.

Then we had some great fun in the kitchen--you can too-- where this student worked on his presentation skills to explain how to make bunuelos. You'll need a tortilla shell, butter, sugar, and colored sprinkles. It's so easy for kids. Here are his directions. As you'll hear at the end of the video, he hopes it gets lots of hits.

Enjoy!

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Australia: Christmas Around the World Across the Curriculum

2011-12-09T11:23:00.001-08:00

Here's a great unit to integrate social studies, literature, music and the Christmas holiday. I'll add more countries soon, but we're starting with Australia.

Start with this book:

Wombat Divine by Mem Fox

This book shares the adventures of a wombat, an Australian animal as he and other Australian animals prepare for the Nativity scene.

For your students to learn more about the animals of Australia, use Unique Australian Animals' site at http://australian-animals.net/

Then learn how Christmas is celebrated in Australia. Read the Australia section from Christmas Around the World by Mary Lankford. You can supplement this information with a bit of Australian Christmas history at WhyChristmas.com's site at http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/australia.shtml

Be sure to follow the hyperlink to the Christmas Crackers page at http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/crackers.shtml and don’t miss out on the fun Christmas Cracker jokes at http://www.whychristmas.com/fun/cracker_jokes.shtml

(If you’re homeschooling your children or would like an activity to work on during the school break, look into Canadian’s Parents guide for making Christmas Crackers at http://www.canadianparents.com/article/make-your-own-christmas-crackers. )

Add a bit of music to your lesson next. We’ve had fun listening to this Australian children’s song: Six White Boomers sung by Rolf Harris and posted by Beautiful Purity.

I hope your students enjoy this tour of an Australian Christmas.

www.celebrationsacrossthecurriculum.blogspot.com

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Snowflake Christmas Quilts and Integrating Art, Reading, and Math

2011-12-08T11:11:00.001-08:00

Here's a great, easy, and fun activity to do during the Christmas holidays: Create a snowflake quilt and integrate art, reading, and math!

Read "The Quilt Story" by Tony Johnston. (This is also a selection in Reading Street, 2nd grade.)

Next, create your own snowflake quilt. Get red, white, green, and black construction paper. Choose one color for the background. Then folder the other three sheets in half lengthwise.

Cut those sheets in half--you can share the other half with another child.

With the three half sheets of paper, fold each one in half and then in half again. You will have four rectangles. Use the creases to cut out the four rectangles. Continue until you have twelve rectangles total (you will only need eight.).

Then get ready to make your snowflakes. Fold each rectangle in half and then half again.

Finally, make a triangle fold a the edge.

Cut shapes out of your rectangles like squares, hearts, or even more rectangles.

When you're done cutting, open each rectangle. Place them in a pattern on the last full sheet of contractions paper to make a quilt. If you have lots of students, you can place the finished snowflake quilts next to each other to create an even bigger class quilt.

www.celebrationsacrossthecurriculum@blogspot.com

Pearl Harbor Lesson Plan for Elementary Students

2011-12-07T08:03:00.001-08:00

Here’s a lesson for younger students to learn more about Pearl Harbor Day.

Reading

Introduce students to a Pearl Harbor survivor. Take your students to the article in The Gaston Gazette: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/pearl-63351-harbor-army.html

Ask your students to first listen to the video of Jack Leach as he talks to his great grandson’s 2^nd grade class. Then ask them to read the article. Finally, ask them to play the slide show and look for the medals and the Hawaiian dollar.

Reading Guide

What is the solder's name?

Where was he stationed?

What was he doing when the bombing happened?

What did he think was happening?

Why did everyone think Pearl Harbor was safe?

What souvenir did he keep with him?

What would have happened if he got caught?

Viewing

Next, show your students footage from Pearl Harbor day. Here’s a video from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2PDl-wSBLQ posted by dizzo95:

Listening

Finally, end your lesson with a virtual field trip to the Modesto Radio Museum at http://www.modestoradiomuseum.org/radio%20reports%20pearl.html

Allow your students to explore the online museum page and listen to radio broadcasts from Pearl Harbor day.