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Wow, twice in a week - can you tell I'm on Spring Break? :)
Being on the outside of the Common Core seems to have its advantages and disadvantages. Granted, Virginia claims they are aligned (and some like to tout that it was the basis for common core), but there is a LOT out there that is created for Common Core, which sometimes makes it hard when you don't teach multiplication in second grade or you teach Egypt and China in second and Mali in third!
So, on that note, I decided, based on feedback I've been getting at my stores, to bundle some Virginia products and add on savings to it as well! This is my first attempt at the bundle:
Virginia SOL Map Skills Bundle! For $6.00, you get:
All About Maps printable book ($1.00)
Animal "I Spy" ($2.00) - I love this set and my kids had a blast finding the lost animals!
Geography Visual Vocabulary Cards (in color and in black and white for $2.00)
"Taking a Trip Around the World: Mapping the U.S. and World Features (Virginia edition for $3.00)
As well as my "SCOOT: Virginia Map Skills" (not pictured) that retails for $2.00.
That's a savings of $4.00 when you purchase the bundle, instead of buying them separately!
The best thing about the bundles? Once you buy it, even if I update it
and add more to it, it will still be yours to download at no added
cost. I saw someone else offer that deal and thought what a great idea
that was! Trust me - I am definitely NOT finished yet and each year I
seem to get a different group with different needs, so I sometimes feel I
need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. My pickiness is your
advantage! :)
So, I hope to bundle some other themes as well. If you have a suggestion, please either leave a comment below or email me at youelcm@gmail.com! I'd love to be able to bundle some other items for savings as well, not just for Virginia teachers!
This week, we celebrated Earth Day on Monday with this fun activity from Colleen over at Totally Terrific in Texas.
First, we began with one of my favorite Earth Day books, Earth Day Hooray!
(It was also a nice way to review our place value knowledge!)
Then,we brainstormed ways we could help our planet and recorded them on a chart.
Students then made the craftivity, making sure to write on there ways to keep the Earth clean.
I think they turned out pretty cute and DEFINITELY show my students' personalities! :)
To finish up our study of Geography, I have the kids do a "Create Your Own Continent" project!
If you'd like the project directions, click {here}. It's in Word, so feel free to modify it to fit your standards. It's an activity I've done for several years and they always turn out really cute! :)
This week, we're off to Ancient Egypt, one of my favorite units! Once I get the pages sorted out, I can't wait to share my Egypt and China activity books with you! :)
Whew! What a week! I think the closer we get to the end of the year, the crazier it gets, but I don't remember it starting quite this early!
It's good that my students have been a little distracted by our continent study. I have been so excited about creating these continent boxes! I wish I had an unlimited budget, because I'd have it crammed full of things. As it is, our local education foundation is sponsoring a grant, so I think I might get my wishlist in order and apply!
What I have so far are a few things I've already collected, as well as a trip to Michael's and Barnes&Noble. The animals are from Safari Ltd. "Toobs" or from Schleich (more expensive, I know!) and the books are from B&N. The labels are ones I've had from Dollar Tree and the larger laminated poster back there is from a Postcards Around the World bulletin board set I've had for years but can't seem to find the manufacturer (sorry). The boxes were a great deal at Walmart and are the 15 quart size.
I would really like to add the "Rookie Readers" Geography series - I LOVE those books! They get right to the point and although small, have great photos as well (I usually stick them under the document camera to read to the class). That's on my wishlist. :)
The continent boxes inspired me to go on a search for printable books about the continents. Well, there wasn't a lot out there to choose from, and the best one I saw was written at a primer level with repeated text that wasn't quite what I was looking for.
So, I created my own! All the pictures are from either Microsoft or from public domain. The clipart for the continents are from "Clip Art by Carrie" who has a great pack called "My World Doodles." They're written on a 2nd-4th grade level. (There's a 21-page preview of a few pages from each book on TpT if you'd like to check it out!).
Then, in my search for printable books, I found this.
It's a passport to each continent. How cute is that? Best part? It was a FREEBIE! It was so great to share the boxes, watch a video or two from the wiki page about the continent, read the book together and then fill out where they had been in their passports! Saved me a LOT of time! I love stumbling into things like this. :) Please be sure to check out the seller's shop "Teacher E."
Another thing I do every year to help students practice locating places is create a placemat/poster for them to take home and use. This year, I decided instead of me making 21 of them, it would mean more to my kids (and good practice) for THEM to create the map! Here's my sample (ignore how large the labels are. After I put my sample together, I made them smaller so they wouldn't crowd up the map!). If you teach SOL 2.5 (VA), it has all the components, plus the Native American regions. If you teach outside VA, it's also good practice!
I can't thank bloggers out there enough for sharing their ideas! I found a TON of links from Pinterest and found that these continent boxes are Montessori-based, and found too many to mention freebies of photos. It's on my Geography Pinterest page if you'd like to check it out.
So, they're calling for storms so I guess I'd best be heading out of here and to the safety of home! Click on any of the pictures to learn more about our "Trip Around the World!"
Well, sorta, not really, but it was a catchy title! :)
After being sick for most of spring break (what IS it about our bodies that they're like, hey-on break-let's take all those germs we've been exposed to and get sick!!!), I finally am into school for a few hours to work.
Anyway, in getting my new-found obsession - aka "continent boxes" - sorted with the materials I've found/bought so far (obviously this is going to be an on-going project! Check out my Pinterest page on Geography for more details/links), I'm at a loss for one particular country.
Russia.
Is it considered part of Europe or Asia?
Everything I see says both, or says it's really "Eurasia." Honestly, if I didn't have to teach China after this, I'd just combine the boxes, but I don't think the higher ups who create the standards would want me to teach "Eurasia." Heck, it was hard enough to teach the 5th ocean and get people to accept it! (Southern - it surrounds Antarctica).
I guess its a big debate for me because my kiddos this year are so
concrete, I'm not sure if they'll get its part of both continents.
(Heck, they were surprised that "North America" wasn't just USA or sadly, for some of them, Virginia).
I found this HUGE debate on Yahoo Answers, but it's five years old (and let's face it - that part of the world is a cartographer's nightmare!). It seems that although the culture is mostly European-based, most of the land lies in Asia. Then again, some brought up the point that the farther east you go, the more Asian the culture is. *sigh*
I'd just skip it, but I'm also putting together a Powerpoint/SMART presentation on each continent. Not to mention, the anal organized part of me wants to figure out what box to put my resources in!
So, I'm asking for the professionals' help (the teachers!).
Do you think Russia should be considered part of Europe or Asia?
Please comment below and let me know what you think in your professional opinions!
Yes, I know, I can teach both....or I could do as one person wrote "Russia is Russia - it's not part of anything" Hah hah. Not.
That kind of thinking is what has my kids thinking that the USA IS North America! :(
So, we are beginning our unit on maps and YIKES Easter is so stinkin' early this year, I decided to combine the two.
Since we are on another *sigh* S-word day, I've been mostly doing...well, nothing pertaining to school. Shame on me! Slept in, spent some time giggling over funny stuff on Pinterest, playing with the kids, and reading an actual ADULT book (guilty pleasure!). The "oh crap, wasted most of the day when I could've been catching up on what's in my schoolbag" hit me this evening. :(
So, I wanted to share with you the brainstorm I got for my lack of attention to the calendar/holidays, since you know, we JUST celebrated St. Pat's Day and I never got a letter out to my parents requesting eggs.
I stopped by Walmart and grabbed some of the large eggs for my kids.
Each of my students has a number for mailbox purposes and for my sanity - it makes it much easier to find out whose paper is missing! So, I plan on numbering the eggs and handing each one of my kiddos a map of the room and instructions on how to find their egg (which I will be diligently hiding during lunch). I even created a post sheet for those that find their eggs first, where they have to practice using the cardinal directions.
I intentionally left the map and cards blank. I'm waiting to go in my room and actually mark off how many steps east, west, etc. I also wanted to draw the map - or have the option of the kids actually drawing the map and coming up with their own symbols - when I was in my classroom. I just don't trust my memory lately. :(
I just love these bunnies from mycutegraphics.com! So, if you'd like to borrow the idea, click {here} to take you to Google Drive, where it's a PDF.
I'm off to complete another idea, this one inspired by Pinterest and have my students follow directions using habitat maps and plastic animals. Promise I'll share it when finished! :)
Well, kinda. Just trying to plan out my Geography unit, taking in consideration one of my kiddos will be missing half the week AND we have a (potential) wintry mix on the horizon....soooo....should she miss learning the standards on places (continents/oceans/Great Lakes/rivers/mountains) or map skills?
Normally, I would just plug on, but this particular sweetie, she's special. She struggles with concepts and since it doesn't quite matter what order I teach it in, I'm trying to think what she would have a harder idea grasping. She's MUCH better with the concrete, so I figured I'd go with the map skills first.
So, I am getting a little lost with my Pinterest page and what I have so far...and of course, have been inspired to make a few different activities in lieu of the season - an easter egg hunt where they have to use map skills - and looking at the clock ticking away....YIKES!
Also, wondering why I have to rewrite things each year. With each class. Oh wait, that's right - with each class. Do you have classes like that? My lovely ones this year would not be able to quite handle what my former kiddos have accomplished. Sad, but true.
Know what's even scarier? ONLY TWO MONTHS OF SCHOOL LEFT! Okay, the child in me is happy, but the teacher side is doing some major flinching - maybe even an eye twitch!
Taking deep breath. Okay.
Anywho, hopefully later in the week I will post some of the ideas I've created/borrowed, and share!
In thanks for reading my ramblings, wanted to highlight a few new blogs I've found that have some awesome ideas! Please go check them out if you haven't already! :) Also, be looking for a "Spring Break/Easter" sale coming soon to both my teacher shops! Never mind - decided to start it on Monday for you early Breakers! Hope you can find something you can use!!!
*TpT will allow me to have the sale for 4 days up to 20%, so it'll be April 1-3.
*However, hit Teacher's Notebook up for 25% off from March 25-April 7!!!:)
