After a warm start to
winter, the snow is finally here. Although we haven’t used any yet, everyone
loves a good snow day-well, maybe not the parents! I came across this video from
a teacher singing about a snow day and love it- check it out.
Getting into the spirit of winter, my kids made this adorable winter craft. The original idea came from Artsonia, but A Year of Many First has a very easy printable template that I printed out to make tracers and they worked great! The kids loved how they turned out. This is definitely on my list to do again next year. We added a winter writing and they look great!
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
is almost here! Here are some great books and a video to teach kids about MLK and
the Civil Rights Movement.
I think Kid President sums it up the best! Click his video below!
https://youtu.be/4xXZhXTFWnE
I just discovered My Brother Martin this year and love it! It was written by
MLK’s sister and does an amazing job portraying Martin as a young boy and her
memories of their time together. It also
discusses how Martin felt when he encountered racism and how it shaped him into
the person he became. The watercolor
illustrations are incredible and children will truly enjoy and relate to Martin
as a child.
Martin’s Big Words- Another
incredible book with wonderful illustrations that is great for young kids as
well. It does a great job explaining how Dr. King inspires us to use our words
to change the world. One of my kids loved it so much he went home and ordered it from Amazon! Thank goodness for Prime! You can also watch it read aloud here.
Before discovering the books above, I was a fan of The Picture Book of MLK.
I enjoy reading all of the Rookie Biographies because they are perfect for young kids and the children enjoy them. National Geographic is also terrific.
My kids read all about Dr.
Martin Luther King through an activity book I created, and we wrote about Dr.
King. It includes comprehension questions, timelines, writing prompts and activities. If you'd like to check it out, click here.
We made this craft to go with their writing.
Here's a short clip of his speech
If you’re
looking for some fun crafts and activities, feel free to check these out. I also love some of these ideas and plan to
try them as well.
It’s the start of a fresh new year which seems like a perfect time to make a New Year’s resolution. I always
find that I can never quite follow through when I make a resolution… so, instead, I'll try to
set a goal for the upcoming year. This year's goal is TBD. Any thoughts on a good one besides eating healthier and getting more organized?
This year, the kids created their own New Year goals/ resolutions
for our 'Toast to the New Year' bulletin board.
We watched the book, Squirrel’s
New Year’s Resolution, on youtube- you can see it here.
It’s an adorable book about a squirrel who
learns that January 1st is a good day to make a resolution. She learns
what a resolution is and struggles to come up with her own. Through helping her
friends, she realizes she has already come up with her own resolution.
We created our own little ‘toasts’ and the kids wrote their goals
for 2016. Their first sentence would state their goal and their second sentence
would explain how they would attain this goal.
Ex. My New Year’s goal is… To meet this goal I…
My New Year’s resolution is… I plan to…
They outlined their toast on brown paper and added some hands, a party hat (from scrapbook paper) and a pom-pom. Love them!
