Earth Day

I am a big proponent of helping my students treat others with respect. That's not limited to just people, though. We talk throughout the year about different ways we can recycle or reuse items.

In the beginning of the year, we bring in cereal boxes to create our Active Thinking Strategies journals.
















When hot lunch includes ice cream cups (once every 2 or 3 months), we wash and reuse the cups for counting (groups of ten) or the rare occasion we take to use watercolors or tempera paints.

 Last week, we began brainstorming some ideas that are important when it comes to celebrating our Earth. Here's a chart where I recorded some of the students' ideas (pardon my mistake and borderline sloppiness).

We then talked a little bit about what we could do to make our Earth a more beautiful place. We split this up in two ways: a) what we will do and b) what we will not do. I found (Pinterest, of course) a cute little Earth Day Pledge sheet, that I modified a weencie bit and used with my students.

Here's my sample followed by a student who I am so proud of for showing meeting IEP goals on this writing piece!

Annotated. Great phoenetic spelling & ending punctuation!

 

Today, day after Earth Day, we began our day with listening to Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5TwT69i1lU I just love that song.

I looped it for about 8 minutes while the students wrote a few ideas about why they think our world is wonderful. The paper I gave the students was blank, but on the projection screen were a few parts to copy: 1) the quote, 2) the artist, and 3) the writing prompt.
Throughout the day, there've been a couple opportunities to get the writing back out. I love when the students WANT to return to a writing piece (rather than me feeling like I have to bribe them)!

Finally, we painted a globby globe last week (few drops of green and a few drops of blue inside a circle, then twisted colors into each other using a doubled-over paper towel-- some students used the dabbing technique-- some dabbed with paper towel and some with a brush). It was fast… we had like 10 minutes to do it including distributing materials and getting globs on circles. We added to that today, though, some pictures of things that we love about the Earth. I told my students they could use pictures of places or words or even write their own ideas onto the globe. As an extension, some students completed a t-chart of things they already do to help the Earth and what they will start doing to help the Earth. They're super cute and headed out to the hallway tonight! Steal this idea and do it with your kiddos. You'll love it and so will they!

So… it's not just about Earth Day… we could go on and on and on! I hope there's something you can find and use with your kiddos!


I look forward to hearing your feedback and to follow each other for more rich experiences for our students.
Have a fantastic day!


desiree.r.schmidt@gmail.com

Introducing Horton

We all know that just because we have expectations, does not mean they're always followed. I started brainstorming ideas to do some sort of extrinsic motivation. I love the book (and the movie) Horton Hears a Who and I know my students do too! So I went and found a Horton at a second hand store, washed him up, and wrote the following letter.

(I call my students, "Schmidt Sweeties," and my partner teacher is, "Kunkel Cuties."
I teach in a Dual Language school, so I translated it to Spanish too:

The letters are laminated and taped (book tape) onto a journal, which the students write in (at least once) during their time with Horton. On Wednesday, when Horton comes back to school, the student picks one of their journal entries and reads it to the class at the end of the day. They give Horton to me and he and I talk-- of course, I ham this up BIG time. "Horton was calling to me from inside someone's backpack and I had to search and search for him to find out what he wanted to say!" When the student returns Horton, he sits on my LCD projector so he can really be watching and listening for who the best listener is-- that way Horton can tell me who he wants to go home with . Most kids know that Horton doesn't actually speak to me, but they absolutely LOVE the pretending.

One of my daughters was at a birthday party with a couple girls from my class. I just LOVED this one… when I walked in to bring my daughter and visit with the other parents, I saw that Horton was in a little front pack with my listener of the week. She wrote about Horton attending this birthday party. It was a hoot! I wish I would've come up with something like Horton much earlier, but nonetheless, I love it and him!!! Each week, I take a photo of the student with Horton wherever (and whatever pose) they want!

I keep a spreadsheet with my class list in one column and write the date they took Horton home in the second column. Of course, this helps me see who I need to keep an eye out for who's not yet had the chance to see Horton. Some students (after many months) have not yet had him, so I take extra time to work with them and help them do well to be the listener of the week. They're trying so hard. Many weeks it's nearly impossible to choose just ONE.