Butterflies and Fractions

Is it really only Tuesday?? I am trying my very best to keep my kiddos' attention these last few weeks, but it's been a bit of a challenge. They are tired of being tested. I am tired of testing. Many of them are just D-O-N-E. And can't say that I'm not daydreaming about being poolside... :)

I am trying to squeeze in as much as possible these next couple of weeks, and I am sad to say that I had to shorten my Eric Carle unit to almost nothing! Instead of the big unit I usually do, we are using his books to learn about the moral of a story. Each day for a mini lesson, I am reading one of his books to my kids and we are discussing its moral. They are loving it so far! We are recording our morals in our little "poof" books. Here are some samples from last year...

Yesterday was an unofficial"Butterfly Day." We tied in fiction and nonfiction books, which the kids LOVED. Here are the books we read...

 To illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly, we used pasta!

We will continue with our moral journals this week using Eric Carle books.

Today we started reading

Alexander hopes that his friend drops his double decker ice cream cone in Australia, so to make him have a better day we made him Fraction Sundaes!

You will be able to find a template for our Fracion Sundaes in my Fun with Fractions Pack that I am finishing.

I will be posting it to my little store soon :)

Eric Carle & Butterflies!

First, I have to say that Teacher Appreciation Week has been fabulous! Our wonderful PTA has provided snacks, Sonic drinks, lunch, breakfast and other goodies for us! And my kiddos have showered me with sweeeeet cards, flowers, gifts and TWIX :) 

Okay, onto my unit :) Two weeks ago we did a unit on Eric Carle. He is one of my favorite authors!! I love the lessons and morals that he teaches, and I just looooove his artwork! :) We were able to integrate so many subject areas during this unit. Love it!

For reading, we read several of Eric's books and discussed the moral of each story. We recorded them in our "poof" books.

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar a few times for fluency. I split the kids into three groups and they practiced and presented a reader's theater. So cute! The kids also sequenced the story on these cute caterpillars that I created.

In math we worked on story problems with the foods the caterpillar ate (forgot to photograph!!!) We also made Mrs. Carroll's Fractionpillars! They are so stinkin' cute!

In science we learned a lot about butterflies (and many other insects). We read a lot of nonfiction books about them. We created this cute life cycle illustration using pasta!

(I have NO idea why this is loading sideways! I have tried to fix it like 8 times and it won't! Sorry!)

For one of our writing projects, we read The Mixed Up Chameleon. I love the moral--just be yourself!!! I had the students write their own mixed up stories and illustrate their new, mixed up selves! They were adorable!!

**I did not include the illustrations because I used the students' photographs for part of their illustrations. If you do this activity, take a photo of each student, and then they can add animal characteristics to themselves! My students LOVED this activity!**

Eric Carle week is one of my faves, and I think my students really enjoyed it as well!!

I hope everyone survives their last few days of school! I am counting down!!! TEN DAYS :)