Earth Day

Happy Aloha Friday!!

It's been a long, busy, fun week in my classroom.  We have done tons of writing, reading and art this week.

We started off the week discussing Earth Day.  We watched some great videos and read a few books.
Check out this POST to see what they were.

We discussed lots of ideas on how we can help the Earth every day.


This was a great info graphic that I used to start a discussion. (Courtesy of  BMW Manhattan)

I then had my students write 5 things they could do each day to help the Earth.  We have been working on informational paragraphs, so this fit right in.

We then put it all together and created these cute little guys.



This particular class is very artsy and loved making them!

If you would like this template you can download it HERE.

I think this is such an important topic to discuss at any time of year.  Especially here on our little island.

I hope your week was fun and eventful as well, and that you have a fantastic Earth Day weekend!!




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Woven Easter Baskets

Aloha friends!! I hope you are having an awesome week getting ready for Spring and Easter!

This week we only have 4 days of school.  Friday is a holiday here  (Good Friday) so we are finishing up our Easter goodies this week.



I posted a picture of our Easter Baskets we were making on Instagram and I had a lot of requests on how to make them.


It's pretty easy, it just takes time and patience!

The materials you will need are:

-Yarn-About 4 skeins for a class of 20
-Easter Basket Template
-Tagboard or Stiff Paper

Here is a quick video to show you how to make them, along with a picture tutorial.

Click on Template to Download in Google Docs



Weave Over and Under
Leave about 1/2 an inch at the top

Glue on a ribbon border and handle

Fill with Easter Goodies!

My class loved making these and are going to be so happy to see them filled with goodies when they come in tomorrow!!

Have fun making these and let me know how they come out!!



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The One and Only Ivan

Aloha friends!  Happy Springtime!  I have just finished my Spring Break and am headed into the 4th and final quarter of school.  So much to do in so little time!! It should be fun though.

In my last post I shared a list of Favorite Second Grade Read Alouds.  One of the books on that list was The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.


I decided to read it to my class and they really loved it.  I honestly didn't know anything about the book, but decided to give it a read.  I happened to mention to my boyfriend that the kids were just loving it and what it was about.  He told me that Ivan was a real gorilla and he had seen him many times growing up at the local mall near him in Washington.  I had no idea that it was based on a true story! 

We finished the book on Friday and then I discussed with the kids that it was based on real events. When I told them my boyfriend had really seen him they thought that was the amazing! I found a few videos and shared them both with my students.  The first is a bit sad and tells how poor Ivan was all alone in his cage for over 20 years!


The kids and I discussed how his real life was similar to the book and how it was different.  I then showed them the following video that tells about the book and Ivan's real life and his move to Zoo Atlanta.  


My class loved hearing about Ivan's adventures in the zoo and what a sweet creature he really was.  I checked in our library and it didn't have the picture book edition so I just ordered it from Amazon.


I can't wait to add it to our class library.  They will be thrilled about it.  We have just finished up our unit on Opinion Writing as well and I wanted to tie this in.  I came up with this template and thought they would enjoy writing about Ivan or Ruby.


Just click on the picture to download it in Google Docs.  I can't wait to see what they come up with in their writing, which by the way has really improved over the past quarter.

I'm sure some of you already know this story and the background details, but it was really interesting for my class and I to discover so much about Ivan and his story.

If you haven't already checked out my last post on favorite Read Alouds, click on the picture below to take you there.





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