Groovy Educator

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss' birthday. This year my class did a home project-Book Reports! On Friday the children shared their reports with each other during our first Book Talk and Walk and then with the class.  They did such a nice job! We also made Cat in the Hat pictures and hats.  Here are the steps on how to make the cutest Cat in the Hat hats ever! Materials: 18x24 inch white paper. 18x24 inch red paper stapler glue tape 12x18 white paper Directions: Measure each child's head with the 18x24 inch white paper.  (These hats are tall!)  Staple to hold in place. Cut 18x24 inch red paper in half.  Fold it so that there are four long, skinny straight strips.  Cut or have children cut. Have students glue red strip to top of had and then leave a white space, glue another red, etc to make a pattern. Brim Directions: Trace circle around base of hat. Draw a 2-3 inch larger circle around this circle.  Inside the circle draw tabs. ...

Calendar is a great time to review math skills.  This year I am using a write and wipe calendar instead of the pocket chart that I have used for years.  So far I like its flexibility... Instead of having the calendar filled out completely before the students arrived, I left it blank and we discussed how to put the numbers on the chart.  Today was August 22nd.  I pretended not to know where to put the twenty-two on the calendar.  Jokingly, I said why don't we put it here (pointing to the square where one should go.  This caught the students attention and they were very interested in this part of the lesson.  I liked making them think and then modeling the problem solving strategy of trial and error. After I told them that today was Wednesday, we determined that the twenty-two had to go in one of the squares in the column under Wednesday.  This helped orient the children to how the calendar is set up.  We decided together, while comparin...

Instead of the "Moo-la" store, I am doing Blue Moments, Blue Day for part of my citizenship plan.  I have the stoplight but do not like doling out only negative consequences therefore, my children can earn their way to the top of the chart for a blue day.  A blue day is an outstanding job.  At the end of the day the children who earn blue receive a ticket for the Star Student drawing. The Star Student drawing is done on Fridays.  Basically the current star student pulls a ticket out of the bag (without looking) and whoever has his/her name on the ticket is the new star student for the following week.  The star student gets to have a star student seat cover (found in the dollar bin at Target), a star student cone to sit on his/her desk, and his or her name up on the star student chart.  The star student is also our line leader for the week.  I think I will also pass out a star pencil or eraser to the star student. Some children have difficulty main...