Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Craft

I'm all about making learning fun and integrating subjects. I decided to take a science lesson about the life cycle of a pumpkin and turn it into an art project. I came up with this 3-D life cycle of a pumpkin craftivity. Plus, it makes a perfect "non-Halloween" craft for all your students on Halloween and an even better table decoration for Thanksgiving.

Swing by Sweet Tea Classroom to learn more.

Thanks,

Robin Sellers

Watermelon Festival Craft: 3-D Watermelon Life Cycle Craftivity

Create a 3-D Watermelon craft when you teach about watermelons, life cycles, or plants during your science units. This craft is perfect to reinforce the topics taught during this science lesson and it works well as a science center too. 

Learn more about this watermelon craft at my blog {HERE}.

Thanks, 

Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

3-D Life Cycle of a Christmas Tree Craftivity

I've been busy creating more 3-D Life Cycle Science Crafts. Just in time for Christmas, I created this 3-D Life Cycle of a Conifer Craft. It's a super way to teach about life cycles and it works really well for a science holiday craft that all students can participate in. 

Head on over to Sweet Tea Classroom to learn more.

Thanks, Robin Sellers

Earth Science Glog

My class’ new unit is focused on Earth Science. 

One of the activities we are working on is our Earth’s Materials Glog project.  My students are using books like Rocks and Minerals and Usborne Geographical Encyclopedia, as well as websites like http://www.kidsgeo.com/geology-for-kids/ and kid-friendly search engines like www.factmonster.com to find information about a material they chose.  Some of the earth’s materials they have chosen are: clay, gold, granite, diamond, pearl, ruby and sapphire.  When they finished with their research by the end of this week and then they will use http://edu.glogster.com to create a glog about their material.

Stop by my blog – Raki’s Rad Resources – for more Earth Science ideas.

Life Cycles for Kids - 3-D Life Cycle of a Frog Craft

Are you ready to make your life cycle unit fun... and cute? If so, I have the answer. Here is my latest: a 3-D Life Cycle of a Frog Craftivity. Head on over to Sweet Tea Classroom to learn more about this frog life cycle activity. See Ya There!

Thanks, 

Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

A Fun Way To Teach About The Water Cycle: Water Cycle Craft

I'm all about making learning fun, and here's a water cycle activity that I came up with for making teaching the water cycle a fun thing for students. Here's my 3-D Water Cycle Craft.

The best thing about this water cycle craftivity is that just like the water cycle, it repeats itself. Your students create the water cycle cloud and you can display it from your homeschool or classroom ceiling. Turn the cloud around in a circle and watch the water cycle repeat itself.

Head on over to Sweet Tea Classroom to learn more!

Thanks,

Robin Sellers @ Sweet Tea Classroom

Arctic Animals Are Amazing!

Hey bloggy buddies!
I just finished an Arctic Animal pack! It's the same style as my community helpers, ocean, zoo, etc.

Here it is at my TpT and TN store!

Fern Smith's Swat ~ A Great Vocabulary Game!

SWAT FLY SWATTERS! 

These fly swatters were on sale 3 in a bag for a $1 at the Dollar General. I loved them so much I asked the hubby to jump in the truck and come on a quick 'field trip' with me! I bought 7 bags for $7, then I bought the ribbon at Wal*Mart for under 6 bucks. The basket was old and kicking around in our garage, so we cleaned that up and added the left over ribbon ~ ta-da! I'm feeling kind of crafty now! :)

To play SWAT, have the students write their vocabulary words on separate index cards, spread them around the top of the desk & let the games begin! They stand up & I called out each definition and then they "swat" each word. I also make up fill-in-the-blank sentences, opposites & "what comes first alphabetically?" etc. 

My students love it & it allows them to get their wiggles out!

I Would Love For You To Come Follow Me! :)

Fine Motor Skills Dinosaur Activities for Pre-K

Hiya, It's Robin from Sweet Tea Classroom. If you know me, I'm big on fine motor skills for the little ones. I created this dinosaur themed activity for all who love to teach about dinosaurs. My main goal was to create an activity that promotes fine motor skills in a fun way.

Plus, special education students and students with autism often need help developing fine motor skills and I think that this activity is a good fit too.

Learning Center Folder

This is a super way to teach color recognition as well as get students to work with letter and word recognition. Why just teach one topic when you can teach more at the same time, right? Integrate fun!

Here's how it works. Let your little ones paint a set of clothespins. Paint one clothespin for each letter in the words for the colors that you'll use. So you will paint three red for R-E-D. We used tempera paint cakes. This is one of my school art supplies must-have items. Forget the jars or even the... gasp..powder. Use tempera cakes. I found these at Lakeshore--yep...I'm close to a store too. Lucky {and poor} me!

Then add the letters to the clothespins with Sharpie markers or any type of permanent marker. You'll need to do this step or for my homeschool mamas, this is a super way to let older siblings help. 

Now, what the kiddos will do is match or clip the clothespins to the stegosaurus that is the same color. Older kiddos will match the letters too. Notice how I left the letters off of the orange and yellow clips. This is for students who will have difficulty matching the letters too. 

One student can work on this dinosaur folder center or you can make a dinosaur train for a small group activity. Place the dinosaurs in a circle and put the clothespins in the center.

This is a perfect way for little fingers to work with fine motor skills as they clip each clothespin to the dinosaur's back. Plus, they'll have fun learning. You can find out more about this activity at my teaching resource store {here}

Be sure to swing by my blog too! You can find me at Sweet Tea Classroom at www.sweetteaclassroom.com

Thanks, Robin Sellers

Soaking Up Math

As this is my first post, let me take a second to introduce myself.  My name is Heidi Raki and I teach grades 3 & 4 at the International School of Morocco in Casablanca.  I also write a blog called Raki’s Rad Resources where I give out tips for teaching English Language Learners, Technology Integration, and Using Board Games in Your Classroom, as well as lots of cool activities that I do with my own kids and a bunch of freebies thrown in for the mix.  Please feel free to stop by and see what I’m up to at Raki’s Rad Resources, but first, scroll down for a cool integrated math and science activity.

This is a cool activity that combines science and math.  My students did this last week and it was a hit!  We got in all of our math and added in some great science observations all at the same time.

Step 1:  Collect a variety of items, including: rice, beans, corn and potatoes. Choose some items that will expand when soaked and some items that won’t.  (My class also did pasta, but it made for a stinky classroom – so be warned if you choose to use pasta, they look cool but they don’t smell cool.)

Step 2:  Have students weigh each item and record the weight on a table. 

Step 3:  Place each item in a bowl and cover with water.  Let the bowls sit overnight.

Step 4:  The next day, strain all of the items and and have students   re-weigh the items. 

Step 5:  Talk about why some items absorb water and others don’t.

Grab this free sheet to use with your class – exclusively here at Tips for Top Teachers.