Painting Pumpkins and Giveaway

Happy Fall Y'all! Last Friday was pumpkin painting time in my room. I thought I blogged about this last year, but I just went back to check and it turns out I never did, at least not with pictures. When I clicked on last years blog entries I saw my New Year's Resolution to use fewer worksheet/pencil & paper curriculum and to more hand-on activities. I was successful last year, but fell back into a more strictly curriculum pattern this year with the pressure from our consultant and new principal. It's gotten to me, and it's BORING! Besides it's not Common Core. So I stayed home today to work on activities, spider and bat units, fun writing projects, etc. Ahhh, I needed this. Woke up at 6:00 so I got up and worked on a sorting activity to practice odd and even. Then I got blogging and.... I've been here since. I'll get back to the school projects in a little while.  Anyway.... I started out telling you about our pumpkins. I begin by showing the kids a bottle of yellow and a bottle of red paint and I say, "We're going to paint pumpkins." They look at me like "What- chu- talkin'- bout- Willis?" (Am I dating myself saying that? Did you watch Different Strokes too?) Then I read the book

 

which tells how primary colors mix to make other colors. We pass out paper, brushes, and paper plates with yellow paint on them. Then I start by showing how to paint a pumpkin shape (it can be round, tall, etc). I tell the kids not to spread the paint around too much. "Leave gobs of paint" I say.

 As the kids finish the yellow, they are to raise their hands so I can put more yellow on their paper if necessary and give them some red paint.

 Then I show them how a very small bit of red can be blended into the yellow to make orange.

I show them all these steps on my sample on the board then let them started.

What I love about this part is how all the oranges or different- just like real pumpkins!

I put them on our drying rack and have the kids add the stem the following day. I cut the pumpkins out and then put out pumpkin patch together. Ta-Da!

 In my class most painting is done whole class. I call kids over in small groups to add details like stems, or hats and scarves on our snowmen. But the main things are done whole class to save time. The "painting rule" that is most helpful to me is that "There is no talking while painting." I tell them that artists focus on their paintings when they paint so "we" will do the same thing. The first time we paint (which is the pumpkins) I do have to take a few brushes away (2 this year). But I tell the kids that I will take their brushes if they are talking and give them back when they can work quietly. So I keep the brushes for only about a minute then give them back. In future projects I rarely have to take away brushes. It just seems to keep the kids focused and they are more careful about handling their brushes so it doesn't end up a fun face painting activity! I love painting with my class and they love it too!

Well, I'm off to try to "Common Core" my curriculum. Wish me luck!

But before I go..... my friend Barbara over at Grade ONEderful is celebrating 500 follower! She's having an amazing giveaway including some items from other fabulous bloggers. If you haven't been over to Grade ONEderful yet, what are you waiting for? Hurry! Click on her button below. Don't miss out on her great blog.

I also update my Blogger Meet-Up post with photos if you want to take a look.

http://www.firstgradefoundme.blogspot.com/2012/09/fabulous-blogger-meet-up-today.html

Hopefully this all made sense. I didn't go back and read it. Thanks for sticking with me through this long post.

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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

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