Busy Week- The Mitten, Pinterest Snowman, Me on the Map

Burrrr! It's frosty here every morning and only warming up to about 60 degrees during the day and that's only for a couple hours. I know it's nothing compared to Miss W's -15 C, but it's cold for us. Then again, it's winter and it should be cold. I read my class The Mitten by Jan Brett this week. It's kind of funny having to explain "mittens" to some kids. But they're little Californians and it's not part of everyday life. Just as most of my students have never actually made a snowman before. I thought I'd share my mitten activity with you since it was a lot of fun. I haven't done it in quite a few years so I enjoyed it again as much as the kids.

I held the mitten on one side and had a student hold the other side.

Lots of Legs

Watch out! It's going to burst.

I made a giant mitten from bulletin board paper. On the front we wrote the author, setting, character, and problem (getting in those academics, you know). After that, I said, "Now we're going to estimate how many first graders can fit inside this mitten. Who remembers what it means to estimate?" Lots of unsure faces. No one seemed to know. "The mitten is open partway up the side. I want you to open your folder and write down how many first graders you think can fit inside before the mitten tears." Lots of Woohoo!'s! Everyone came to the rug and one by one students went inside. It turned out the mitten held only 8 first graders. (I stopped as soon as it started to tear.) So we did it again until everyone got a turn inside the mitten. It was so fun! And I'll bet they'll remember what it means to estimate next time I ask.

Following the winter theme, we made these pinterest inspired snowmen. I usually have the kids paint snowmen and I cut them out and put them up. But I've done that every year for about 12 years. This was really fun for a change. I had the kids write descriptions of their snowmen using adjectives we brainstormed (gotta get in those academics, don't we?) Thanks to whoever thought this up.

This week we also read Me on the Map, the anthology story in our Houghton Mifflin book. This is how we started.

It's been a fun week. We also read some books about Martin Luther King, Jr. Today we did a bubble map and tomorrow the class will write about what their dreams for the world are.

I also read The Colors of Us and we started a big painting project based on that book. We'll finish tomorrow and I'll post photos over the weekend. I haven't done that in years either since we don't have fifth grade buddies anymore. But this class is awesome and we did it whole class today. More to follow.... Hope your having a great week too!

 Chrissy