Teaching Main Idea & Pumpkin Seed Estimation

We started working on main idea this week. Before we ever look for main idea and details in the text, I always bring a bag of stuff to show my kids. In my bag I had a hair brush, hairspray, a flat iron and a comb. We discussed what the bag was all about. They got it immediately! It was all about fixing my hair! The kids drew and labeled the items and then wrote the main idea of the bag.

Today we did one more example together with car wax, window cleaner, a shammy, and a sponge. The main idea was washing the car!

Next, we gave each table a bag. As a group, they had to draw and label the "details" in the bag, then come up with the "main idea" of the bag. They did awesome!!! We were sure to use the terms "details" and "main idea" over and over again when they shared :)

Main Idea: Fixing and building things

Details: pliers, screw, screwdriver, wrench

Main Idea: Painting a picture

Details: paint set, paintbrush, paint bottle, painting

Main Idea: Caring for a dog

Details: dog food, leash, treats, dog brush

Main Idea: Baking cookies/muffins

Details: spoon, measuring cup, mix, bowl

 

Other ideas for bags that we used:

 

Mailing a letter: paper, pen, envelope, stamps
Going to the beach: beach towel, sunglasses, flip flops, sunscreen

Watching a movie: popcorn, DVD, remote, soda
Making Kool-Aid: pitcher, sugar, spoon, Kool-Aid packet

 

They LOVED this activity and did a fabulous job! We will start finding the main idea and details in text very soon!!

 

This afternoon we put our kids in groups of 4 to estimate the seeds inside their pumpkin! As you can see, we had circles for groups of 10 and circles for groups of 100. The kids had a blast! {The teachers were exhausted afterwards!}

 

 

 

TG I{t's almost} F!

Pumpkin Investigation {FREEBIE}

Our kiddos had a BLAST doing our "Great Pumpkin Investigation!" I had every intention of photographing this activity, but Amy and I were SO busy monitoring and helping and just doing basic crowd control :) {Thank goodness we had our volunteers to help, too!}

Last week we sent home a note asking if parents would like to/were able to send a pumpkin. It was not required. But honestly, Amy and I couldn't afford buying 15ish pumpkins {keep in mind we are team teaching and have 45 angels!} We have AWESOME families! We ended up with enough pumpkins for there to be groups of 2 or 3 max!

For our pumpkin investigation, the kids had to estimate or predict, and then test the following questions....

• How many lines does your pumpkin have?
• How much does your pumpkin weigh?
• How tall is your pumpkin using unifix cubes?
• What is the circumference of your pumpkin {in inches}?
• Will your pumpkin sink or float?

They did an AMAZING job! And they were so excited!!

Tomorrow we are estimating pumpkin seeds inside some of those pumpkins! The kids will work with their tables to do so.

Here is the record sheet our kids used during "The Great Pumpkin Investigation!" It's just one page, so you can save some trees :) :) Click on the picture to download your copy!

 

And don't forget to pick up a copy of my Pumpkin Glyph!

A Peek at Our Pumpkin Glyphs!

Yesterday our kiddos made their pumpkin glyphs! They did a great job! We used the glyph page from my TpT store. However, we did not run the copies included in my packet. We wanted the craftivity to go a little quicker, so we pre-cut the pumpkins, stems and mouths for them {they cut out their own eyes and noses}. Then they wrote about their glyphs. I think they turned out pretty cute!

 

 

 

Today we looked at everyone's glyph and the kids tallied the information {how many boys, how many girls, students' ages, etc.} Then they answered some questions about the data! They did an awesome job!

 

Here is a peek at what's included in my pumpkin glyph mini-packet! {There are 3 glyph pages to accomodate grades 1-3}.

 

 

TGIF! Have a great weekend!

Pumpkins! {Pick up your pumpkin glyph!}

This is a short post to just show you a few things we've been up to this week! We started our pumpkin unit! I love this time of year!!

We started reading The Life Cycle of a Pumpkin in our basal. The kids love it! It has great photos, and really allows us to work on nonfiction text features! Next week we will write pumpkin facts!

To follow up with our apple unit and introduce our pumpkin unit, we compared and contrasted apples and pumpkins...

 

 

We reviewed adjectives...

 

We illustrated the life cycle of a pumpkin {from seed to jack-o-lantern!}....

 

Tomorrow we are going to make and write about our Pumpkin Glyph Craftivity!! Be sure to pick up your copy in my TpT store for only a buck!



 

Next week we will continue with pumpkins! We are going to do Abby's pumpkin seed activities and lots of math and science with pumpkins {including measuring height & circumference, estimating the lines of a pumpkin, seed estimation, weighing, sink or float test...lots of fun!}

Fun With Plants!

This post is a week or so overdue, but I figured I would share it anyway :) We learned all about plants, something I always love to teach! I love that it can easily be extended with apples and pumpkins!

I really like the way our science book teaches plants, and I was able to make a plant journal to accompany it! It would work for anyone, even if you did not have the same science series as we do :) You can pick up a copy for cheap HERE or by clicking the preview picture below: 

 

 

As we came to new vocabulary words in our books, we added them onto the leaves on our bulletin board:

 

 

 

Plant Experiment:

We started our plant unit by being scientists. We decided to do a little experiment to see which plant would grow the best {and to learn what plants need!} I bought a 6 pack Dianthus plants from Lowe's and cut them apart. {Be sure you pick a plant that needs lots of sun!}We gave Plant 1 only sun, Plant 2 only water {we kept it under a dark can}, and Plant 3 got sun AND water. The kids made predictions about which plant would grow best and why. The kids observed the plants everyday and wrote their observations in their plant journals {there is a section at the bottom of each page in the journal for observations!} Here is how our plants ended up after about a week and a half or so...

 

 

 

 

**Be sure if you do this experiment that you let the kids hold each plant! Plant 1 became SUPER light, and Plant 2 became SUPER heavy because of all the water :) It lead to a great discussion!**

 

Day 1:
We discussed our schema and what we want to know about plants. We also made experiment predictions.

 

Day 2:

We read about, discussed, drew and labeled what plants need.

 

Day 3:
We read about, discussed, drew and labeled the parts of a plant.

 

Day 4:

We read about, discussed, drew and labeled the life cycle of a plant.

 

Day 5:

We read about, discussed, and wrote about why plants are important in our lives.

Day 6:

Made these cute flowers to show 5 facts we learned about plants:

 

 

Last week we finished our Apple Week. We did pretty much the same things we did last year {no time to photograph or blog about it this year because of Parent/Teacher Conferences!} The next couple weeks we will work on our pumpkin unit! I am so excited!

Disappointed :( Let the voting begin {again}

So, I got a disappointing email today.. There was a glitch with DonorsChoose... And we were not fully funded {like we were originally emailed}. I will just leave it at that-it's a long story.

 

So I am asking for my awesome followers to take a second to vote each day {they had to repost our project as a new one, so we are out the votes we had already received, plus 2 or 3 days of new votes we could have gotten}. We are disappointed, but hopeful. Vote here at this link:

 

http://www.limeadesforlearning.com/teachers/view/521906/default/877757

 

Remember, you can vote once per day per email address. And you can use your Sonic sticker codes, too.

 

Thanks for your support!! Please leave a comment with your email address if you've been voting; I'd love you repay you with a product of your choice from my store!!

WE'RE FUNDED!!!! {Thank you, Linda}

YOU. GUYS. I got THE most exciting email today!!!

 

 

I don't know if you can read this, buuuuuut....

OUR PROJECT WAS FULLY FUNDED!!!

Limeades for Learning just started yesterday, and we were hoping to get enough votes to get $600 funded from Sonic {and then we would have to hope for $141 more in donations}...

 

But a very generous person named Linda donated all $741!!! Can you believe it? Words cannot express how grateful Amy and I are. We are so excited, and in awe at how someone could care so much to help our classroom get much needed technology. Our students are so excited to be receiving 3 Kindle Fires! And all because of one good, kind, generous person who we may not even know.

Linda, we wish we could tell you in person, write you a card, or just show you how appreciative and grateful we are for your kind and generous donation.

THANK YOU.