Currently - Ice and Polar Animals!

Hooking up with Farley (I think I'm #322??) for December's Currently on a snow ice day where schools are closed.  I'm not thinking this is going to be a good winter - normally, our ice/snow days come in late January, early February.  December is almost unheard of!  Hopefully, we'll not miss so much we're extending the year!

So, first.....

 

Hah hah - I think all that above is pretty self-explanatory.  Our ice storm came on Sunday to central VA, which closed churches all over and set schools 2 hour delay.  In our rural county, though, with as many backroads as our buses go on, PLUS we have 2 campus-type schools while they are rebuilding from the earthquake, it closed us today.  Not that some of us aren't sneaking in to get some work done :)

I'm trying to get those little things done that didn't quite get done this weekend/Friday afternoon before I left school, like helping my team with simple directions to use StoryJumper (love that site) and getting my units ready for January.  Please don't groan - I normally don't work quite that far ahead, but this year, we are joining my in-laws in Florida so no "working break" for me this year, so I have to have everything ready for January when I leave December 20 for break!

I have this wonderful parent this year who LOVES to book bind.  I don't mind doing it, but it's so time consuming!  She is able to do it at work, and has been creating my Number of the Day booklets, binding together author studies, and I hoped to get her my Polar Unit together. 

Last year, I created this fun unit to study animal life cycles and adaptations, as well as some geography, and focused on Polar Animals.  At the end, it was an absolute mess to bind together!  So, this wonderful parent has offered to do it ahead of time for me, so the students work out of the booklets.  I am so into that!  However, as you know, it's getting everything together that can sometimes be overwhelming as well!

But, it did let me get it organized enough to put it on TpT!  I hope you'll check it out.  It's 24 days of lessons about the northern lights, geography of Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, animal adaptations and life cycles, migration of whales - you name it!  

I love when you can get into a unit and the kids are equally enthusiastic!  Some of my kids from last year still talk about it!  :)

So, here are a few pics of what I'm talking about.  It's a 100+ page unit containing links, virtual field trip via Google Earth, nonfiction passages, animal diagram pages, life cycle pages, etc.  Throw in some science experiments and scientific method to round it out!  Click on the pics to take you to see more (the free preview includes the 24-day unit plan!).

 

100 Days, Northern Lights, Fossils, and More!

Quite a combination, eh?  Well, we started Monday with a 2 hour delay thanks to ice and we ended the week with a 2 hour delay for snow flurries/freezing temps.

Because of our snow days, we had our 100th day (originally last Friday), this Wednesday.  The good news was the kids had a BLAST!  Bad news was, I was stuck PALS (reading) testing the entire day. :(  However, the assistant who was in my room had fun with the kids and they behaved well for her, so all in all, a good day!

My daughter had a special one hundred day shirt that was actually not too hard to make....if you'd like the template, click {here}.  I can't guarantee the spacing is accurate, but I think it turned out cute!  I just printed it on one of those sheets that goes through the printer and is a t-shirt transfer.  I think you can find those at Walmart, Target, or Staples. 

Because I was not in the room, I don't have very many photographs.  Actually - I have one, and that's what I hung proudly outside my room.  If you'd like to see more 100 day festivities, please check out my Pinterest page!  There are so many great ideas out there, I didn't have to reinvent the wheel!  The picture below is some of my students "100 dots" artwork and their "100 creations."  They also had to do things in 100 seconds, measure 100 centimeters, had a special 100 day snack (which they used their hundreds chart to count out), talked about what they wanted 100 of/didn't want 100 of.  Mine was 100 meerkats :)  NOT 100 spiders!  Too many legs!!!

With our Polar Habitats/Unit, we studied fossils on Monday and created some on our own.  I pinned the recipe I used for the dough, and then added food coloring to the student fossils (shells pressed in the dough).  We let them dry for the day on the windowsill and the students took them home the next day.  

On Tuesday (no picture) we studied icebergs and glaciers and answered the question, "Does Ice Float?" (it does).  Even in salt water!

Wednesday, of course, was the 100th day.

Thursday, we had a blast learning about the Northern Lights and created our own, using pastel chalks (borrowed from the art teacher).

Friday was  a day of rest.  Just kidding!  Friday was another 2 hour delay day, so we didn't get quite as far as I'd like (and we were still trying to catch up from last week - we only went 2 days!).....so no spectacular thing unfortunately for Groundhog's Day, other than reading one of my favorite books, Groundhog Gets a Say, as well as predicting whether he'd see his shadow tomorrow.  (I think it's unfair when two holidays come in one week!  Help!).  

 

We also studied polar bears and filled out our charts and diagrams.  At some point, I WILL finish putting together this polar unit and post it for you to see!  I've really enjoyed using the polar animals to study habitats, adaptations, life cycles, and throwing in maps.

Oh!  How could I forget????  We also received our gingerbread from Christine's Gingerbread Project at Sugar and Spice.  What a great way to discuss diversity, learn about new places, and geography skills!

So....whew...wish I could rest some this weekend, but my daughter is now a budding cheerleader with her first game on Saturday (our local Parks & Rec) and my son has a sleep study on Sunday/Monday. :(  We're trying to figure out exactly what's going on with him.  He's had an awful time this year falling asleep in class....we're not sure if its his absence seizures, sleep seizures, sleep apnea, or....which is apparently the "unfixable one"....a sleep disorder where his internal clock is set from 10pm-8am every morning (yeah, think about what my reaction was when the doc asked if he could go to school at 10am every day and the school would be responsible for filling in the gaps!).

But, not to end on a downer note --- don't forget about the SUPER SALES this weekend at Teacher's Notebook (can't wait to see their new design!) and Teachers Pay Teachers!!!!! :)

Back to Work!

I shouldn't say this - I really shouldn't, but.....a 4 day weekend was almost too much.  It was super hard for me to get motivated on Monday night to go back to school.  Maybe it was because it was so close to Winter Break.  I don't know.  I just wanted one more day.  However, it was good to get back into the swing of things.

It also didn't hurt that my kids LOVED the ideas I did today for abbreviations.

Also that we are still ongoing with our Polar unit.  Today was the last day that we were "in" Antarctica.  Tomorrow we head north to the Arctic Circle!  Bye bye penguins, leopard seals, and Southern Ocean!  We ended our time there looking at Discovery Earth.  Neat place to visit.  If you haven't been there, it's definitely recommended!  They have video clips about the different areas of the world.  

We also did a science experiment I got from "Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears." (see previous post).   It's about how the snow compacts to ice and that even though Antarctica only gets 3 inches of snow a year, because it never gets above freezing...it never melts.  Each year the previous year's snow gets compacted (pressed down) into an icy layer.  You can do this experiment with snow.  Our snow has melted.  We did it with marshmallows.

I wish I would have thought to taken pictures!

Let's just say that 10 mini marshmallows flattened (10 years of snow) gave the kids a good impression of what it's like!

So, on to abbreviations.  Everything seems to have a polar theme, doesn't it?  I love it when themes go together so well!  I am still loving this unit!  

I had these speech bubbles I bought at Walmart at the beginning of the year, knowing I'd find a use for them.  Well, I did today!  I made a "master list" of common abbreviations, including math ones I knew my kids would get to later this year, and wrote each one on a speech bubble.

I handed out the speech bubbles at random.  The kids had to look at their bubble so if I said a word and they thought it was their abbreviation, they were to stand up and silently (like a cartoon) show their speech bubble like they were talking.

It's the quietest I have EVER heard my class!!!!

Again, not thinking and not taking pictures.  I will try to take some tomorrow (they want to play it again) and add it to this post!

The next big "hit" was playing an "I Have/Who Has" game with abbreviations called "Shh! Don't Disturb the Sleeping Bear!" (Teacher's Notebook)

You can click on the picture to find it on TpT.

I'm introducing this one tomorrow:  "Waddle It Stands For" (Teacher's Notebook link)

I'm hoping it's just as big of a hit.

Click on any picture above to take you to my teacher store to download.  I am trying to work on the speech bubble idea and get it finished so I can add it to this post as a freebie!  Make sure you check back later this week when I *hopefully* will have it up!

SNOW DAY!

Woo hoo!  In central VA, I have to tell you - ice gets us out of school more than snow.  However, we had a BIG storm (for us) come our way yesterday afternoon, which resulted in a 1pm dismissal and...well, originally a 2 hour delay than a closure for today!  Wow!  I thought as I got the final call around 8ish this morning.  I'll put it to good use (and of course, immediately went back to sleep until my diva woke me up asking where her snow gear was from the night before!).  

As you can tell, it's already starting to melt...even though the temperature is barely above freezing!

I am TRYING to use my time wisely.  Of course, I also find working from home VERY distracting.  I mean, the house is a mess (it usually is with 6 people in our household, but I am usually too tired to deal with it), so of course some sweeping and cleaning was in order.  I tried to multi task and think of things as I was scrubbing a sticky part of the floor where (I think) pineapple juice was spilled the other day but of course, no one remembers doing it!  Then of course there was the mad dash looking thru the house for boots for my son, snowpants for my daughter (the boots are now on the Walmart list - found some hand-me-down snowpants for both of them)....then of course, I get caught up in this show called "Catfish" on MTV where they help people meet up in person who've met on the Internet.  Of COURSE they're running a marathon on it today...and I've never seen the show before!  

Does this sound like your life?

So now I kinda have some peace and quiet.  Kinda.  The 12 yr old has two friends over and after playing in the snow, they're up in his room playing/watching Xbox.  My daughter is busy trying to annoy them, despite my best efforts to distract her.  Currently it's watching Brave on DVD on the "big" TV and offering popcorn. :)  Sort of working.

So....I didn't post last week.  I always try to at least once a week.  I still crack up that when I look at my archives, I blogged more last February (the shortest month) than any other month!  Speaking of which, I have a "blogiversary" coming up soon!  

I will tell you the truth - I have been up to my ears in foxes, polar bears, leopard seals, and penguins - and LOVING it!  

Our next 3 Science units are on habitats, life cycles, and animal adaptations.  I decided this year to incorporate it with a polar animal unit.  I also have the added bonus of introducing Antarctica, the equator, and the Arctic Circle for our upcoming map skills later this Spring!  There is a TON out there about penguins and polar bears.  Lots of teachers seem to do polar animal units around this time of year (and who can blame them!) and they seem to center around those two animals the most.

But of course, I wanted more.

Found this great website created by (students?) Ohio State University called "Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears."  GREAT RESOURCES!  Nonfiction texts (in all levels), e-books, science experiments, ideas, and more!  

I created two wiki sites on Antarctica and the other on the Arctic Circle.  It's kind of grown into a monster (the unit).  I'm still creating as I go.  I think I'll be posting it sometime in February or March when it's finally done! :)  I wanted to include leopard seals...and there is NOT a lot of kid stuff out there about leopard seals.  I also wanted to include arctic foxes, since our mascot is the fox, and other animals as well (narwhal, walrus, etc).  We also looked at Mt. Erebus (because a volcano in Antarctica is pretty fascinating!) and the different poles.  

I have had the best time researching and creating - and I can't seem to stop!  I think it's the nerd in me. :)  I mean, we'll be covering camouflage, animal adaptations, migrations (with the whales), life cycles, creating are/have/live charts, labeling the different parts of the animals....I even created a Google Earth "tour" of what we're studying!

So, as you can tell, I'm keeping myself busy!  Be sure to check out the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bear site - we'll be doing the blubber experiment as well as the glacier/iceburg experiments as well!

Off to get "snowed in" again! :)