Art In My Classroom & A Few Other Ideas To Share

Springing ahead is a killer for me. Every year. As if it sneaks up on me and I have no idea it's going to happen.

In spite of my exhaustion due to the one hour lack of sleep, today's post is simply inspiration for my fellow teachers.

All of my art inspiration is from Deep Space Sparkle. This first lesson can be viewed here.

this is my example that I loved so much I hung it up - bad taste, I'm sure

This next lesson can be viewed here. We talked about perspective and read Snowmen at Night. Each student wrote a story to go with their painting about what their snowman does at night. Super cute.

This lesson can be found here. They loved this project. I loved this project. Everyone in the school loved it. My 2nd graders are so talented.

Club Cranium is a cross between ideas I found here and here on Pinterest. Each day when students finish their morning work, they can choose a challenge from the Club Cranium can. They can only choose one and if it's too hard they may no choose another one in place of it. If they don't want to attempt it, they can put it back if they haven't written on it. Once they solve the challenge (by themselves, only asking me for clarification, if needed) they put it in the mailbox. During lunch I check the mailbox and check answers. Correct answers get a punch in their Club Cranium card (more on the cards in another post soon).

In an attempt to be a better teacher, I've created Daily Objectives goals for my classroom. Each morning I write the learning objectives for each subject we're going to cover. We refer to them throughout the day to make sure we're on track. I have the subjects on magnets so I can easily change them around and take them down, when needed.

And last, check out my classroom calendar. One of the classroom jobs is calendar and the helper puts each day's date up for me. They go nuts for this job, although I'm not sure why. I found the idea on Pinterest (but did not pin it because I can't find it) to use Velcro on the calendar for the numbers. Genius! I don't have a pocket chart calendar like most other teachers, so I made do with what I had. I made the calendar numbers myself and laminated them.

I just have to show you my student rewards cards. I just keep forgetting to take pictures. There will be a post soon. They're awesome and the kids go nuts for them (even the boys who don't get excited for anything absolutely love these things)!