hello spring

A lot has been happening over here. We have been busy and in need of a much deserved spring break. Here is a glimpse at some of the things we have been working on. In Texas it's rodeo time so we spent some time learning about cowboys and Texas.

Making text to text connections with Armadilly Chili and The Little Red Hen 

We made chili pepper patterns. I love this activity I got from April Larremore over at chalk talk.

We made this little cowboy craft followed up by the writing prompt, Every cowboy needs  . . . boots. The kids painted their boots using water colors.

We read Armadillo Rodeo and talked about the story elements.

In February we had fun learning about the Winter Games. We compared the summer games to the winter games.

Then we graphed which Olympic sport is your favorite and talked about the data. I passed out white boards and let the kids write along with me.

For writer's workshop we learned what a biography is and started writing Olympic athlete biographies. My kids loved writing about Gracie Gold.

We made a circle map of winter Olympic sports.

We brainstormed words that describe Olympians. We used this circle map to help write Olympian list poems.

Olympian list poem.

When we come back from spring break we are going to continue learning about weather and landforms.

This reader can be found in my landforms unit.

the wild west

I'm on spring break and loving it! In March we always learn about our great state. We spend time talking about the state symbols, important people, the capital, cowboys and cowgirls. It is one of my favorite units to teach. Here is a freebie for you. I had the kids roll out a snake using play-doh then measure it with cubes. I followed up with this recording sheet. You can grab it here or just click the picture below.

We read Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett and talked about the story elements using this story map I made on a giant boot.

After reading many books on cowboys we organized all our new leanring with this cowboy tree map.

This was our pocket chart activity for the week. We spent time learning about cowboy clothing.

 For word work we worked on making Texas words with magnetic letters and stamps.

 We made many western themed class books that we have been reading in class.

We learned what cowboys wear and why. This is our circle map of cowboy clothing.

We learned about Texas regions and the types of landforms in each region.

 

 

I added many updates to my wild west unit. Go check it out here.

  

wild west unit week two

This long weekend has been so nice. I really needed a break . . .

We finished up my wild west unit. We had so much fun learning about cowboys and all things Texas.

Here is a look at week two! 

We read this adorable book and then completed the writing, "Every cowgirl/boy needs ____ boots."

Here is the craft we made to go with our writing. They water colored the boots.

Then we graphed who had cowboy boots and analyzed the data on their recording sheet.

This was my favorite activity. We read armadilly chili and made our own chili in a crock pot. They thought I was the best cook ever. (I used chili in a can!) We completed the chart using interactive writing. Then they each completed their own how to writing.

We labeled the cowboy and cowgirl to build oral language. While doing this they each completed their own brace map.

We having been working on writing to inform and at the end of the week they were able to publish their own Texas book. These stay in the classroom for everyone to read.

Our bulletin board with all our crafts we made throughout the week. The bluebonnets, and rattlesnakes are from Chalk Talk.

We also made chili pepper patterns. This idea is also from Chalk Talk.

Check out my wild west unit on Teachers pay Teachers.

comparing stories

We have been working on comparing stories and making text-to-text connections. To go along with our Texas/Western theme I picked The Little Red Hen and Armadilly Chili. Here is our venn diagram we completed as a group.

Then they each completed their own venn diagram below.

click to download below

Then we made red hens and armadillos.

The red hens are from Mrs. Larremore at Chalk Talk.

The armadillo patterns are from my wild west unit on TPT.