Their First Welcome!

I always try to have something fun and bright outside my classroom door to my students want to come inside on the first day of school. 2 years ago I had a jungle theme in my classroom and I made this outside my classroom!

Creative Walls

Here is our Ancient Civilization Timeline. I help them create this so they can visualize the time period of

each civilization. We build it as we study the civilizations, moving forward from Ancient Egypt.

Ancient Civilization Murals

One of my favorite projects is seeing what they come up with for my Ancient Civilization Mural project. Here is what they made to depict life along the Nile River in Ancient Egypt...

...And here is Ancient China!

As an extension of our Ancient China unit, I teach my students about the Chinese New Year. They then research and learn all about their Chinese zodiac sign, and write about how their personalities differ from the characteristics of their sign. 

Geography

To review the physical characteristics of the United States, my students make 3-D clay maps. Make sure to have them start out by gluing an outline of the United States to the piece of construction paper.

Our geography unit falls around Halloween every year, so my students make Pumpkin Globes!

Supplies:

2 rubber bands

blue paint

cut out of each continent

green permanent marker

red permanent marker

paint brush

Your students will...

 -Glue each continent where it belongs

-Place on one rubber band around the pumpkin to symbolize the equator

-Place the other rubber band around the pumpkin to symbolize the prime meridian

- Paint the entire pumpkin blue

-Let it dry overnight

-Peel off each paper continent shape to reveal each continent (still pumpkin orange) and color all continents green with the permanent marker

-Take off both rubber bands and trace the orange lines that remain with the red permanent marker

My students love this project! It can be a little messy, but it's totally worth it!

Phases of the Moon

Here is our Birthday Moon Graph. I integrate the concepts of moon phases and bar graphs by having them research what phase the moon was in on the day they were born. Then we graph the data as a class.

Classroom Jobs

Using hooks is a quick, easy way to change their jobs each week. I wrote each of their names on a post it, laminated them, and punched a hole in the top left-hand corner of each one. I also thought of some job names that went with my ocean theme:
My extra set of hands =  First Mate
The student responsible for feeding the class pets = Marine Biologist
The student who changes the calendar = Calendar Crab