Me on the Map and The Day the Crayons Quit

This week just flew by. I'm finding it difficult squeezing in everything in. I find myself more and more integrating subjects, so I'm able to get two for the price of one.
I've been loving CLOSE reading. I find it's a great way to include Science and Social Studies into your literacy block. I can also have a parent lead a center if I provide them with comprehension questions as a guide. 

This week we started our Social Studies unit - Me on the Map.
We're starting with the largest map, Earth and working our way down. The example shown is of Matty's Continent. Matty's our fictional character taking a trip to his places on the map. 
One of the other activities we are doing with each CLOSE read is working with vocabulary terms. I use vocabulary words, provide the official definition, and a photograph depicting the term. The photos are powerful. I have many second language learners, but honestly I think photos benefit all the children.To really make the term concrete, I've provided the children with vocabulary books. They use this to describe the word in their way. Illustrating the word is also powerful in remembering the new word. Grab this freebie.

Following up our first CLOSE read about the globe, we made these fun globes with puffy paint. So cool.

Just mix Elmer's glue, shaving cream, and food coloring. Dab the paint with a brush, do not stroke the paper. I went ahead and made a rainbow of puffy paint to use with my kids at home. LOVE!

Matty on the Map

This is the unit I'm working from...Matty on the Map if you want to check it out.










 


This week we read the story, The Day the Crayons Quit. You have to read this story with your class. Super cute. If you're working on friendly letters it works perfectly. We brainstormed different items we would color with each of the six colors on the brainstorming page. We used this page to write a letter in paragraph form to a friend. The children circled three different items. 

 At this point in the year my writing philosophy is model, model, model. We brainstormed adjectives to place in the introduction. Then I modeled writing the first sentence in the body of the paragraph. My goal is to have them use an adjective to describe their item. We write one sentence, then I have them share their sentence. For many students I have to remind them or provide them with adjectives. It becomes more of a habit as the year progresses.

The Day the Crayons Quit PowerPoint

We also did this fun PowerPoint mystery picture. It only has 60 numbers, so it was a perfect level for most of my kids. Even so, I still had to sit next to the computer to pause the slide show a few times. The kids loved it, but they kept thinking it was Camilla from A Bad Case of Stripes. 
 




 

The Day the Crayons Quit FREEBIE

We ended the day with this cute crayon box. I LOVE the crayons with the big googly eyes. What great artists I have! I copied the crayon paper on gold construction paper. I folded the box and cut off about an inch off the top. Grab this FREEBIE for your class. I hope you have fun.
Enjoy your new week.