The Teaching Reef: New Units, Some Traveling Photos, May Currently and A Thank You To AllThe Teachers!

Well we have been very busy in my classroom learning about the 7 continents. On Friday, we started to get our travel on! We made a craft from some of the 7 continents. In order to fully get the traveling experience we had the children make traveling suitcases. Here is what they looked like. They put stamps where ever they wanted on the front. Then we put Velcro on the top so they could open and close their suitcase to store all their traveling souvenirs.

Then the children made a Papel Picado to represent Mexico in North America. Papel Picados are colorful paper banners that are traditionally hung in a Mexican marketplace. The kids loved making these.

We are completing our travels and passports this week so I will be back with more craft pictures (some needed to dry over the weekend). The students are also tracking their thinking, summarizing nonfiction and learning how to answer questions from the text. This is all done in there traveling binders. Once they are completed I will post how all of that is organized. I'm really proud of the work they are doing. Let me just tell you that the thinking my students have been doing during this unit is AMAZING! They are definitely thinking like third graders. LOL- I tell them this all the time to get them ready for the next grade.

Okay so on to my new units. My unit about idioms (When Pigs Fly) Has been such a success (thank you so much) that I got to thinking about alliteration. I thought how could I create something that was the same but different. As I was thinking I came across a book that I had purchased at one of those Scholastic book sales, it is titled Superhero ABC written by Bob McLoed. If you have never read this book before it has TONS of alliteration on every page and the superheros he creates are truly his creations. NOT ANY heroes/heroins are the famous ones we already know all about. The reason why I like this is because kids need to see how authors create things from scratch- not changing what is already thought of. It inspires better creativity if you ask me. Anyway if you haven't read this book before you can check it out by clicking {here}.

So back to my new unit...... there is a lesson that requires the students to make a superhero alliteration page using a letter from the alphabet which connects from the literature mentioned above. However there is also a lesson that teaches the students how to make alliteration poems better known as tongue twisters. Of course I couldn't resist the urge to make a little craftivity to go along with it, so you will find one in the unit as well. You can check out the unit below.

I have also been working on a little foldable craftivity to celebrate the end of the year and reminisce all the things you have taught your students this year. I wanted something fun but educational and purposeful to end the year so this is what I came up with. The lesson is called Reflections From A Great Year and can be customized for each grade. It is an accordion style book that has the students fill out different pages from things they have done throughout the year (there are 8 different pages). I am in love with the mirror style cover that goes with the theme of reflections. Take a look below.

Well as some of you know I just got done having a sale to celebrate Cinco De Mayo. However I also want to celebrate all the teachers out there so guess what? I am having another sale for only 2 days to give some love to all of the fellow teachers out there. To be honest I just couldn't resist (I just love a good sale) and I know that every penny counts so.....happy shopping. Isn't the sale sign cute... it is from Erica Broher's blog!

Here are some of my favorite units that are one sale right now. If you click on each image below it will take you to my TpT listing so you can take a closer look by viewing the product preview.