Sophie and Sadie's Scholarly Site

Now that  my summer is winding down, and I will be back to school in another week, I have found TONS of crafts to make from “recycled” items on Pinterest, and   I am  busy trying  out some of these ideas as possible art projects in my social studies classes. For instance, I found directions for making beads made from old magazines and catalogs, and I created a  beaded bracelet. Because I am always looking for ways to make abstract ideas tangible, I am thinking of making “ friendship” bracelets  during our study of William Penn and the Quakers settling Pennsylvania. Did William Penn actually use old magazines to  make and trade beads with Native Americans? Uh-mmm, sources say  “No,” but one of my goals this year is to bring in more creativity into my lessons while making my lessons a bit more real, and so making and trading beads to create bonds of friendship  as a tangible reminder is a good thing.

Here’s how I created this simple project:  I  cut strips of an old catalog into thin triangles.  ( The wide part  or base was about an inch in this project). Then, I rolled the triangle from the wide end to the smaller  end.  I  added a  little dab of glue ( I used Elmer’s), took a finger and smoothed the glued end,  and voila- a bead. I let the beads dry.

After the beads were dry, I trimmed a few just to make the look a little more uniform. I used  twine to thread my beads and did a spritz of shellac to make it a little more permanent and give my creation a glossy finish.

And here’s my bracelet- nothing fancy but pretty nonetheless:

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you’ll share some ideas with me on my Pinterest boards.

This week I’ve started setting up my classroom,  and this year, thanks to my obsession with Pinterest, I have decided to add some personalized touches to my classroom.

Here are some of my recent projects  inspired by some of my pins.

You can download this  wonderful poster from eighteen25. Lots of great ideas there.

Here are some new projects that I have worked on this week.

and a few previously posted.

Check out my classroom boards at Pinterest for the inspiration for these and future projects.

Because Christmas in July is here, the NEW SCHOOL YEAR can’t be too far behind so it’s time …

to avoid the television because the “back to school” ads like this classic are in full force!

Why not celebrate and think of happier times?  My memories of  Christmas in my classroom are all good ones, and by the time December 2011 rolls around, the nationwide heat wave will be in the past, and I’ll be dreaming of a White Christmas.

Actually the day after Christmas, we got SNOW here in SC. Nice to think about when the temperatures are 100-plus. All the more reason to stay indoors and check out some COOL ideas.

Charity over at The Organized Classroom Blog is celebrating Merry Christmas in July. Charity has put together some activities from several great blogs showcasing the BEST ideas, and let me mention  that they are all FREEBIES!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

After blogging about My Back To School Best , I decided that I need to upgrade my frog. I found this Kermit doll along with this book at Amazon along with several other Muppet characters. For a little frog, Kermit has a lot of dreams, or at  least he did back in the original Muppet Movie. Kermit ( actually this is Jim Henson singing the words of Paul Williams) said it best. Have a listen just in case you forgot:

The Muppet Movie

This has always been a song  that makes me think of  why it’s okay to be called a dreamer:

Have you been half asleep and have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound that called the young sailors.
The voice might be one and the same.
I've heard it too many times to ignore it.
It's something that I'm supposed to be.

So I am going to encourage my kids this year to be dreamers. Kermit will be our mascot of sorts. He will represent what we want to take hold of ( as in More Than Anything Else).  He will be an example of someone small who has big dreams that call his name, and he will be our model of someone who explores the world around him and beyond to find that dream.

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,
and rainbows have nothing to hide.
So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection.
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Thanks, Kermit for reminding me that it’s okay to dream.

As much as possible in my social studies classes, we learn and work together in teams and small groups.

WHY? TEAM-BUILDING BUILDS BRIDGES!

The challenge here was to build a bridge of pipe cleaners that would hold a textbook. The only materials were two desks, masking tape, and the pipe clears. There was NO TALKING allowed

This group of girls worked quietly and efficiently to build their bridge in less than 10 minutes. Another plus with  that class of kids happened naturally:  When a group completed the task, the entire class  ALL applauded and celebrated. WOW!!!

Another Bridge Built

Sometimes you can rethink an activity into your theme or subject matter  and make  it a cooperative game or task. In our camping unit, we used the beach balls to do the traditional over and under. It was a challenge because it was a windy day!

Beach Ball Over and Under Relay

Just about any activity can be made into a cooperative one- tasks can be divided among the group or steps can be given as roles in the group.  Third- fifth grades love this stuff because they want to be social.

But they are KIDS so sometimes we play games  just for fun as teams, too. Playing and working together is important as well as learning to accept defeats, being a good sport and also be a  gracious winner. You don’t  “just earn” how to do this if you don’t play  any games where there are winners and losers. There must be a balance if you play games in your class.

My best classes over the  20-plus years I have been teaching  are the classes that we live, work, and play almost as a family. We support each other, get along well, and have a caring atmosphere. Sometimes these relationships happen naturally  like the group in the pictures above, but most often, teambuilding really must be an on-going  DAILY effort  starting from Day One. Here’s a new favorite of mine used at the end of last year with a group that built relationships over the course of that year to be like our school family by school’s end.

“THE LIFEBOAT”

We   did this activity at the end of the year as a part of our  2-3  week unit based on camping and the book Week in The Woods  by Andrew Clements. I used the Lorenz Publications team and game books throughout that unit. They are awesome books to develop these skills and can be done very often with no special materials.

How To Do The Lifeboat:

I put several old blankets on the ground. All 20 of my students stepped into our lifeboat. I explained to them that we wanted everyone to be rescued, and that if the lifeboat capsized or sank, we might all possibly drown or freeze ( Thank you Hollywood for the movie Titanic!).

Everyone had room and was comfortable, but then I explained that the lifeboat was leaking and so there would be less space. I folded one blanket in half.

It began to get a little more crowded. Our lifeboat began to lose more air…The blankets were folded again.At this point, I was only a spotter ( and you must have several children to have that role).The kids actually thought how they could save room.  ( One or two  girls wanted to piggyback!). It was interesting and fun to see who became the leaders and who were the thinkers and problem-solvers. It was decided  that everyone must  stand on one foot, balance, and hold tight. And that is exactly what these kids did in order to “survive”.

Once  someone lost their balance, and it was inspiring to watch the kids grab someone as if they really would fall into the cold, freezing waters to a certain death, and hear the group rejoice that no one was lost. This was one of those spine-tingling “A-HA Moments” of teaching.

I would recommend  any of these teambuilding activities below to any teachers but especially in the intermediate grades  ( 3-5), middle, and high school.

Here are some fabulous resources I use for finding teambuilding games many of which can be adapted to review and content in any subject matter such as spelling, math, and reading:

Here are some teambuilding ideas  that I found online, also:

Teambuilding Games

More Teambuilding Games

Teambuilding Activities for Kids

I hope you will include some team-building  activities and games in your classroom this year. Enjoy!

Welcome! Please check out my blog, and then  follow these links to check out some blogs that I am following:

1. My New Kid blogger is  Joy Hall at Joy of Teaching who has been blogging since June 2011.

2.  I teach  fourth grade social studies to four homerooms of about 20 students each so the blogger I chose was based on content. Michelle Lundy of  Math in The Middle also teaches in a specific content area.

3. While I teach in an elementary teacher, Kristen Bowers has a blog that is aimed for middle and high school teachers at  Secondary Solutions .

4.  Check out her blog and grab the cute button over at Nyla's Craft Blog.

There are  more great blogs to check out at the Blog Mixer Linky at Yearn to Learn.

Childhood Favorites:

• Katie and The Sad Noise
• The Little Brute Family
• The Frances Books by Russell and Lillian Hoban
• Charlotte’s Web
• Where The Red Fern Grows
• All of A Kind Family

Classroom Favorites:

• Hank The Cowdog
• Bunnicula
• Charlie and The Chocolate factory
• A Year Down Yonder
• A Long Way from Chicago
• The Teacher’s Funeral
• Frindle
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• Sarah Plain and Tall
• Other favorite authors: Patricia McKissack, Eve Bunting, Cynthia Rylant, Patricia Polacco, Patricia MacLachlan, Lester Laminack, Chris Van Allsburg

Professional Favorites:

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

anything by Kelly Gallagher

anything by Rick Wormeli

Wonderous Words, Katie Wood Ray

Strategies That Work 

anything by Pam Allyn

Reading with Meaning  and Teaching with Intention  Debbie Miller 

Igniting a Passion for Reading, Steven Layne

Mosaic of Thought 

anything by Lucy Calkins

Nonfiction Matters, Stephanie Harvey and Ann Goudvis

Interactive Think-Alouds, Lori Ozkus

Reciprocal Teaching at Work, Lori D. Oczkus

Launching the Writing Workshop: A Step-by-Step Guide in Photographs, Denise Leograndis

First Days of School, Harry Wong

Rafe Esquith — Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire and There Are No Shortcuts -

Subjects Matter: Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman —

anything by Laura Robb

Guilty Pleasures:

• Gone With The Wind
• Cold Sassy Tree
• Cold Mountain
• anything by Fannie Flagg
• anything by Anne Tyler
• anything by Lee Smith
• anything by Adriana Trgiani
• anything by Sharyn mcCrumb
• The Sookie StackhouseSeries
• anything  by Phillipa Gregory
• British history books
• Cookbooks
• A Dog’s Purpose

Anything I can get for $o.99 or free on my KINDLE!