Mardi Gras Madness!

Ok, ok...I have a confession to make. Before I begin my post on Mardi Gras and all the fun ways I have worked the celebration into my classroom this past week, I need to come clean. Let me preface this confession by saying that I do LOVE Mardi Gras.  You could even say I ADORE it. I shamefully admit; however, that I completely skipped all Mardi Gras celebrations and traditions this year, except those that took place in my own classroom. Not a single parade attended nor king cake eaten (does watching my students eat them count?) . Why?, you may ask. How could you?, you might say. Well....I promise you I have a great explanation.

That's right, I traded the biggest celebration of southern culture for a much more northern and colder environment. And I have another confession...I could TOTALLY get used to this. I have spent the past four days falling gliding gracefully down ski slopes and enjoying wine by the fire. And most importantly, I have not given schoolwork one single, solitary second of my thoughts. Needless to say, it's been great! :) Tomorrow is back to reality for me and back to preparations for our return to school on Valentine's Day! And, as promised, I wanted to take this opportunity to share the fun my class and I had having our very own Mardi Gras celebration last week.

We began our fun unit by reading a few precious texts written by local Louisiana authors. These books were such a fun way to talk about the reason for Mardi Gras traditions. I even learned a few new things myself! Here is one of our favorites:

We then continued our study of Cajun culture by reading a few traditional fairytales and their Cajun counterparts to practice our ability to compare and contrast the stories and their characters. It was such a great way to get my students drawing connections.

 Our favorite? Petite Rouge. Oh. My. Word. Please tell me you have read it with your class! It is possibly the best book we have read all year. I know I sounded ridiculous making a Cajun accent throughout the reading, but my kiddos ate it up!! They were begging for me to re-read the story all week, and I gladly obliged.

In math, we started out our little unit on perimeter by creating our very own definition. First I showed my kiddos the perimeter of various shapes as well as pictures of what was NOT the perimeter of those shapes. Then, using the pictures, I had the kids develop their own definition. It was so awesome to see them create their own knowledge! That was definitely one of my most favorite teaching moments. 

We then talked about how non-standard units could be used when measuring perimeter just like they can be used when measuring length. Next, I divided the class into groups and gave each their very own "king cake". The kids then used Mardi Gras doubloons to measure the perimeter, after making their own estimates first, of course. When they finished, they passed their cake on to the next group and continued the activity until all the cakes were measured. I made the "king cakes" using poster board and good old fashioned crayons.

We used the following recording sheet to keep track of our work. Click the picture below to get your own copy!

We finished our unit with possibly the most FUN activity to date...a King Cake taste test! I found mini-cakes on sale at Target for $5 a pop, so I snagged one in each of the following flavors: cinnamon, strawberry, and cream cheese. I brought them to school the day before our holiday for the kids to taste...talk about positive behavior incentive! My littles worked so hard all day so they could earn their beloved treat. Of course, it isn't all play and no work in Ms. Johnson's class, so we followed up our taste test with a graphing and data analyzation activity. Click the picture below to get your very own copy!

It was a close call, but cinnamon took first place! I made a giant king cake bulletin board to display our data, but after looking at it, I realized it looked nothing at all like king cake and a whole lot like a picture frame. :( I'll have to brainstorm improvements to share next year!

If you're in need of more Mardi Gras themed activities, you can check out my unit on TPT! 

I hope your Monday was extra special! Happy Mardi Gras to all, and to all a good night!!

It's Carnival Time!

Happy Sunday, sweet friends!!

After much inner-conflict, I decided to throw together a little Mardi Gras unit for my dear kiddos. We can't possibly celebrate Valentine's Day while COMPLETELY ignoring the fabulous holiday that is the entire reason for our (much needed) three day vacation next week, now can we?! I didn't think so either! 

So, a few iced coffees and some great Pandora stations later and.... VOILA! 

I present my newest TPT unit...

This unit does not even begin to cover the fun we have planned for next week!! Our agenda includes just a few of the following activities:

King Cake taste-testing and graphing

Reading and connecting to a variety of Cajun-themed books

Mardi Gras float design

and SO much more!!

I will be sure to post all of these activities as the week progresses! If you're in need of some center activities to celebrate this great holiday, please check out my newest unit by clicking on the picture above!

Stay tuned for a look at all of our V-Day and Mardi Gras activities! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Penguins and More!!

Whew! This week (and last) has flown by! I can't believe it is almost Mardi Gras! I definitely feel ready for a relaxing five day weekend! This is a time of year when I am totally THRILLED to be a Louisianian. I must say; however, that today was one of those days that I feel truly blessed to be a teacher. Seriously...some days I just LOVE my job! That feeling makes all those not-so-good days totally worth it!

Last week, our class wrapped up our penguin unit! It was so much fun, and I could tell the kids really learned a lot!

We began our unit by creating a little penguin themed KWL chart. Then, we read a few non-fiction books so we could add to our new learning!

Next, we began our class reading of Mr. Popper's Penguins. Have you read this book with your class? It was definitely one of our favorites! Each day, I read a chapter (or two) of the book and we followed up with a little "accountable talk". My kiddos have gotten so great at holding discussions. They have really learned to talk to one another about a topic and respond to what one another has to say! I have even completely removed myself from the accountable talk circle, to ensure that the discussion is completely student lead. I am so proud of them! 

My littles loved the book so much, we decided to do a little reader's theater with a cute script I found online! You can click the picture of the book above to link to the website . We have been practicing every day and will be putting on a little performance for our parents on Friday. I'm letting my students make the props and costumes all by their lonesome, so I will definitely snap some pics of their creativity! :)

Our most favorite part of the unit by far, was the little surprise we received last Monday from an "anonymous" person. Just like Mr. Popper, we received our very own class penguin!!

The kids could not contain themselves when we got a special knock at the door from the school secretary. The "air holes" poked in the box as well as the words "keep cool" probably gave the surprise a way, but they were excited nonetheless!

 Of course, we had to name the penguin, so I chose four of my hardest workers to pick a name. Then we held a class vote and graphed the data! Our class decided to keep tradition and name our penguin Captain Cook, just like Mr. Popper. It was so funny to see the names the kiddos came up with! Our other contenders were: Ariel, Andrew, and Icy.

When we were done, we displayed our data on yet another penguin, and turned our votes into fractions! We used the recording sheet below to record and analyze our data. You can click on the picture to get your own copy!

Since we have also been studying money, I finally found the perfect opportunity to use the little piggy banks I snagged from the beloved Target dollar section.

 I had just enough piggy banks for each of my table groups, so I set them out and asked students who were doing great work to put various amounts (of my choice) in their piggy bank throughout the day. It provided them with the perfect opportunity to practice counting money, and also motivated them to stay on task!! At the end of each day, we counted the money in each piggy bank as a group and the winners get to "fed" Captain Cook his fish (goldfish crackers). This process basically consists of the winners sitting in a circle around Captain Cook and feeding themselves. Ha!

 Another favorite of this unit was a little activity called the Blubber Glove I got from my dear friend Ms. Thomas over at the First Grade Jungle. My kids almost died when I told them they would be wearing a "blubber glove" today! They kept asking me where I got it from and if it was real. Of course...I said yes ;). It was such a fun way to expand their knowledge of penguins and they got SO into it

To wrap up our unit, we wrote a little opinion piece on whether or not we would want a penguin for a pet. We have been practicing using evidence to support our writing, and it was hilarious to see what they came up with! Their writing has gotten so great throughout the year, and I was very impressed with their work! Some of their writing was so long, it took up three pages! When we were done, we created our very own colorful penguins! Here are a few of my favorites!!

One of the most creative uses of evidence was this sweet little line "I do not want a penguin for a pet because it might make a rookery out of my rock collection!" How stinkin cute?

You can click the link below to grab your own copy of the little writing sheet I created!

I hope this helps!! We are in the midst of our Valentine's unit, and have been working on some great writing pieces! Can't wait to share them with you!

Have a great evening!