Christmas Tree S.T.E.M

Every December I dread...I mean D-R-E-A-D putting up my classroom Christmas tree.  I hate sorting the branches, attaching them to the pole, fluffing, etc, etc, etc!  

Now, before you call me the Grinch, I LOVE Christmas time!  I love decorating my house and my REAL tree. I love sitting next to the tree with only the Christmas tree lights on.

Last year as I was dragging my Christmas decor and tree out of storage, it hit me!  I am  not going to put the tree up this year, my students will as a S.T.E.M  challenge!

This week I started math time by throwing all the parts to the Christmas tree down on the floor.  (Yes very dramatic like!)  I had students visualize the shape of the Christmas tree.  And share with them their challenge.  

Groups rotated to this as a station during our Guided Math time.   It took them a bit to figure it out and at times our tree looked a little funny! 

However, at the end of Guided Math, the tree only had 2 miss places branches. 

This activity taught my students...

1. The importance of  developing a plan first

2. How to listen to every one's ideas

3. How to effectively communicate our ideas

4. We shouldn't all do our own thing.

5. How to work as a team.

I will NEVER put together another class Christmas tree again!  The learning benefits are amazing and as an added bonus, I don't have to put the tree together!  Now, how do I make beginning of the year classroom set up a S.T.E.M activity?

Frest Start to a GREAT year!

I started this blog several years ago when I uploaded my first products to TPT.  When life got busy as my daughter got older, I began blogging less and less.  Two years ago my family went through one of our darkest times and blogging was non-existent.  At 12 weeks into my second pregnancy we were given devastating news.  Our child had Trisomy 18 and was not expected to make it past the second trimester.  We trusted God's plan for us and continued through pregnancy knowing our son would not survive.  At 33 weeks he passed and we had a stillbirth.  The next two years our marriage was rocky at best.  I was depressed and didn't realize it.  My husband had developed panic attacks and was suffering from anxiety, which led to self medicating with alcohol.  Fast forward now... we are happier and healthier than ever!  GOD is so good!  One of these days I will blog all about that time in our life as I do think now part of my purpose in life is to share God's faithfulness during the darkest of times. 

However, today I am SO happy to be back to the blogging world and to share all things school with you guys!  I love to share and to get inspired from ALL the amazing teachers out there.

2018-2019 Classroom Tour

Several years ago I transitioned my classroom over to a flexible seating classroom after being inspired my some great teachers in my school. I will NEVER go back!

When my students ever the classroom, they choose each day where they sit. I love giving them choice and control over their learning. 

You will notice LOTS of blank space.  I believe in adding to my walls with my students throughout the year. This way they are more likely to use the resources that we hang up. 

I do not have a traditional desk either.  My husband built me this L shaped top to sit on top my two plastic drawer towers.  This is where I keep my computer.  Then, I work at the horse shoe table with my kiddos.  I don't know about you, but I NEVER had time to work at my desk.  It just became a spot to pile up stuff.

Below the "Your Mindset is Everything" we put up all the quotes we learn for Growth Mindset.

Construction Day

Our room and teacher were briefly transformed for the day! 

We have been really struggling to understand nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  Something we need to have solid for second grade.  So today, we were second graders under construction.

One of my student's dad works for a construction company and let us borrow some supplies to transform our room. 

To start the lesson off, I pulled out my "tools."  Students had to name the tool that I held up. That was our noun.  Then, students had to list things that the tool could do. These were our verbs.  Lastly, students had to describe the tool.  These were our adjectives.  We did this activity whole group for three different tools. (saw, tape measure, and a hammer)

Next, I had giant bricks with either nouns, verbs, or adjectives written on them.  Together as a class we sorted these brinks and build 3 different walls.  A noun wall, a verb wall, and and adjective wall. 

Next, it was time for our centers.

At the first center students had to color code their blue prints. I printed these on larger paper and rolled them for a more authentic look. ;)  Students had to color code the nouns, verbs, and adjectives in the sentences. 

At the second center, students had a pile of real rocks with words written on them.  They had to sort the rocks next to the correct construction vehicle. (Noun, Verb, or Adjective. Sensing a theme here?) Of course we had to wear our helmets!

The last center students had to BUILD sentences with nouns, verbs, and adjectives. I wrote nouns, verbs, and adjectives on large Duplo blocks.  I also color coded the nouns, verbs, and adjectives to make it easier to sentence building. 

Students had to pick one of each. Then, they would place the words on the floor and write the sentence directly on the floor with a Vis-a-Vis marker.  We call this floor graffiti. Students love it!  I had students wear safety vests at this center. 

My students had a blast during our construction day!  Most importantly they were engaged and the learning was tied to a memory. I am confident now that my students have a good grasp of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Bring on second grade.