A Moon Good Enough to Eat!

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I remember." ~ Benjamin Franklin

With today's lesson, I really took this to heart!
Today in class we watched a video clip that showed the phases of the moon.  Then, I read the portion The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons that discussed the phases of the moon.  Together, we made book to world connections.  Our connections were very interesting, we even made a connection to various historical events such as the moon landing and Galileo's invention of the telescope.  (This was a great connection to Common Core Standard RI.2.3 which states, Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.)



What better way to involve students, than through their stomach?!  After we read and watched the phases of the moon I gave my students the following worksheet.  (I found this on Education .com)  Click on the image below to take you directly to the site for your FREE download.

 I gave each student 8 Oreo cookies. They placed a cookie on each moon.  We started with the first moon phase, New Moon.  After reading about the phase, we twisted apart the Oreo cookie, placed the part without any filing back on the worksheet, then we ate the rest.  (This was their favorite part.)  We made each Oreo cookie resemble each phase of the moon.

After all Oreo moon phases were complete, I would call out a moon phase for students to find.  After they found that moon phase on their worksheet, they had to color the moon on their worksheet. Then they were allowed to eat the "moon."  (Some of the kids said they wanted to save their cookies for later.  Never thought I would hear those words out of a child's mouth.)

All in all my students LOVED this activity.  I think this one will leave a lasting impression!

Money, Money, Money

I am always trying to find new ways to engage my students.  If your students are anything like mine...read them a good book and they are yours!  So when I was blog hopping and "Pinteresting" (not sure if that is a word or not, but it should be) the other night I came across the blog Thriving Third Graders and was thrilled when I saw a FREE download for an activity to go along with the book Pigs Will Be Pigs by Amy Axlerod.  I knew my students were going to LOVE this activity.  Now I could have sworn that I had this book, but no such luck. I check our school library, but again NO such luck.  I sent an email to all the teachers in the building pleading to borrow the book, but no one had it! BOO! Well...YouTube saved the day! I found a video where a gentleman read the book and the picture were clearly visible. 




Well the lesson was a hit.  My students were actively engaged, enjoyed the story, and we some really great discussions about counting, adding, and subtracting money. Winning!