Book Review Take 2

Amanda and Her Alligator is a fabulous, light-hearted book as are most books by Mo Willems. If you haven't read anything by Mo Willems for children then you are missing out on so much fun and laughter with your kids and students. I'll probably review other books, but I really just wanted to let everyone know the wonderfulness that Amanda and Her Alligator is. If you are looking for the meaning of life or a really complex plot, then don't read this. But if you are looking for some laughter and to enjoy reading about a sweet friendship between a little girl and her stuffed alligator then look no further. I read this to my class this week, and it's the cutest cross between a picture book and chapter book I have read in a long time. I sorta think I enjoyed it more than my students, because I understood all of the jokes and humor that maybe they didn't quite catch (but they still laughed and wanted their own stuffed alligator by the end of it). This book has everything I hoped for: just the right amount of humor, tenderness, and great pictures all rolled into one.

Seriously...I could write a book about this cute book, but I think I did a pretty good job not giving away the plot. In a nut shell: cute alligator belongs to cute little girl...they have too much fun together and now I want an alligator.

Until the next pickin'

Mrs. L



It's a Small World After All

I know. I get it. I really do. It's not called an apple a month, it's an apple a week. I know. But, (yes, an excuse is coming your way) I've been extremely crazy busy. Right after my last post, my sister had her baby (almost 3 weeks early), and I was there until school started. And then of course the beginning of my school year was CRAZY busy, but now I am back in business. I'll be posting a couple times a week in order to make up for the month I was MIA.

Today, I'm going to just tell you about a really fun history/geography project to do with your students. I've done this two years in a row and it's a blast! (Could be literal too, I suppose) And it's *drum roll please* BALLOON GLOBES! At the beginning of the year we spend some time just learning where the continents go, how many there are, what and where the equator is and just some general map skills. After a few days of discussing and learning about the globe, we create our own!

What you need:
blue balloon
black sharpie
world map reproducible

Each student is given a balloon. This project is all about taking turns! I pair my class up into groups of 2 and they take turns. One holds the balloon, while the other works on the balloon. First, they take turns using the sharpie marker to draw their equator on their "globe". We then cut out each of our continents out of the world map reproducible. Students then take turns gluing their continents on the correct spot on their globe until it's all complete. Make sure they hold each piece on for 10-15 seconds so it will stay on. Then voila! You have a super neato globe (For the next 3 days or so) This is great for 1st-3rd grade. First grade requires a lot of assitance and help finding the right location, but really is fun and worth it!

I'll try posting again before the weekend!

Until the next pickin'
Mrs. L