12 More Days....

.... and counting.
I know some of you have less (jealous) and some are already done (super jealous!)  And some of you have more (so sorry).  We had an extra day tacked on, thanks to Old Man Winter's harsh treatment this year.  Lucky for us the other snow days were excused by the state.   Anyway, 12 more days.  The kids are so ready for summer.  We usually make it through the morning fairly easily.  The afternoons, however, get antsy.  Time for fun activities and lots of movement breaks.

Over the last few weeks we have been focusing on biographies.  Each student picked a person and researched that person's life.  We have been using Hilary Lewis' Biography Lapbook and the kids are loving it!  They are so much more engaged and interested in the people they are learning about than in past years.   Check out how Hilary uses the unit on her blog Rockin' Teacher Materials.

   

We've also been exploring polygons.  Great fun for those antsy afternoons.  They have loved using the geoboard dot paper and drawing different shapes.  Today I gave them an attribute and they drew a shape to match.  A couple of kids then drew them on the Promethean board (using a dot paper template).  We compared the shapes and discussed how they are the same, but can still look different.

The kids are also having a blast using tangrams to create polygons.  We've been using this site from NLVM on the Promethean and in the lab to help us out.  Once they get the hang of how to turn and flip the pieces they are good to go!

I always find it interesting to see who gets tangrams right away and who struggles to make the polygons.  You can definitely see who the visual thinkers are!  Sometimes they surprise me.

Finally, we made these cute little polygon books I created  "Hi I'm a Polygon".  Each page has a cute little polygon graphic (courtesy of Ashley Hughes).  The kids have to identify the name of the shape and how many sides and corners it has.  I also included a circle.  They then have to explain why it is NOT a polygon.  I'll be uploading this to my TPT store soon.

               

So, like I said...12 more days.  That made today "N" day in our ABC countdown -- "No More Homework This Year!"  Smiles for the kids.  Smiles for the teachers!

Hugs,

Heather