Each year I struggle to come up with a holiday gift for kids to make for their loved ones. Though I have made some successfully cute gifts in the past, this year I found myself in an especially difficult predicament. No money to spend on crafts (it can get expensive, you know) and no time left to make anything!
My partner and I went scrambling, and when you need inspiration, there is no better place to look the internet. We found these cute paper ornaments, and simply added our own touches to make them our own.
We found the idea here: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/paper-drops-664201/ . Instead of using construction paper, I went to a craft store and purchased a book of scrapbook paper. It was on sale (score!) and some spools of ribbon. The paper was strong like tagboard. I cut it into two inch wide strips of 12" and 9 1/2", like the website says. Since the paper was only decorated on one side, I had the students decorate the plain sides of the paper. They decorated the longer strips with pictures, and patterns. They wrote a heartfelt message on the shorter strips. I walked around stapling the paper and ribbon into the heart shape. The students then dipped the edge of one side into glue and then into glitter. Tah-dah! Beautiful, classic, and meaningful! I got some really wonderful feedback from parents too!
Cost: $10.00-$15.00
Time: 30 minutes for the whole class to complete +drying time
So to start my first official blog entry on teaching, I chose to write about an idea my partner and I created. This is a group project, pop-out learning board. A learning board is a bulletin board but people who walk by can learn from it!
Students worked in groups of 3 or 4 and were assigned a planet or element in space. The groups created their action plan, and organized themselves and what they would need. They had to do research about the planet/ celestial being. When they were finished, they got to paint and create their part of space. For the planets, we used various circle sizes (we used a garbage can for Neptune/Uranus and then went larger and smaller from there.) After drawing the circle, we drew another circle around it. This extra part was used to tuck and staple when we were making the bulletin board. Students who had comets/stars/meteorites got white paper and decided how they would look. While the students studied pictures of planets to decide colors, the teachers typed up the information learned. This insured spelling accuracy and neatness.
After all pieces were done it was time to create the board, we tucked in the extra paper and stapled the under part of the planet/sun. We would stuff recycled newspaper into each planet, and staple up the sides as we stuffed. We added the other space elements and facts to the board. Lastly, we included a little sign saying "You can learn, but please don't touch!" This is a favorite among students and passing-by parents!
This project took about 1 class block of time to organize and research facts, and one day of painting (not including drying time!)
For the learning board/groups:
*Sun
*Planets
*Dwarf Planet(s)-We chose to only do Pluto
*Moon(s)-We chose to only do Earth's moon
*Asteroid belt
*Stars
*Comets
*Meteorites
Extras: In the past, we have needed extra groups, so we have done Space Exploration Facts (and an added spaceship) and once I had a student who wanted to do aliens, so he researched some myths/sightings.
Postin' for the first time!
Hello! My name is Nikki Rozakos and I'm throwing my hat into the teaching blog world...I have been an internet scavenger since my first year teaching, 6 years ago..but lately the world of teaching resources has literally gone viral! Anything you could ever want is out there (and it's probably a better idea then you had in the first place!) Discovering Pinterest was the final straw. I see so many ideas, and I have some of my own to add, but no home base for my idea to start, live and grow. So voila-Teach n' tech! I will comb the internet searching for the latest and greatest (not to mention cutest!) teaching ideas out there and even add some of my own.
Welcome!
Nikki
