Dinosaur

In our science lesson today we learned about Evolution. We read three very informative books: Evolution Revolution - from Darwin to DNA  by DK Publishing; Evolving Planet - Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Erica Kelly & Richard Kissel; Dinosaurs by David Burnie.

My son also played games online on http://pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/index.html

We have been studying creation for three weeks already, and I explained to him briefly that there was the theory of Evolution to take into consideration. Nevertheless, today we learned more in depth about this subject matter. However, we focused more on the dinosaurs. Again, I told him that its important for him to know all the theories involving the beginning of life, but we believe in God's creation because we are Christians.

I found a great idea presented on the Enchanted Learning website to create a dinosaur diorama:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/index.html
We thought it was so cool that we decided to create our own dinosaur habitat :)).

We used the following materials:

Book box, cereal box, crayons, glue, glitter, construction paper and the printed dinosaurs templates available on Enchanted Learning website: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/index.html

1st step: I sketched the volcano and landscape, and my son colored.

2nd step: He used glitter to create the volcano lava, and cotton wool to design the clouds. We used a cereal box to design the ground which was wrapped with green construction paper.

3rd step: He glued the dinosaurs, which was previously colored by him, onto the cardboard.

It was a great educational activity that can be done with recycled materials. My son had a lot of fun creating this diorama and playing dinosaurs afterwards.
Hope you enjoy our post :))). Have a terrific weekend. Thanks!!!

Fabiana

Adjectives

Today we worked with adjectives, we read Hairy, Scary, Ordinary - What is an Adjective? by Brian P. Cleary, and Many Luscious Lollipops - A Book About Adjectives by Ruth Heller. These two books are wonderful resources to introduce adjectives to your child, I highly recommend.

This is our third week working with adjectives, I have taught my son to describe people and animals, and today I wanted to teach him to describe things. As my son loves chocolate cake, I thought asking him to  help me baking the cake would be a brilliant idea to teach him mathematics (focusing on measurement), as well as identify adjectives that would describe things, which in this case is the cake.

The recipe for the chocolate cake is very simple and easy to make, which is related below.

Ingredientes:
2 cups of all purpose flour;
2 cups of sugar;
1 cup of milk;
7 tablespoons of coca powder (we used dark cocoa powder);
1 tablespoon of baking powder;
6 eggs.

Preparation:

1: Pre heat the oven to 350˚ F. Beat the egg whites until it is thick, then mix it with the egg yolks, and stir.

2: Add the sugar and stir.

3: Add the flower and stir.

4: Add the milk and stir.

5: Add the chocolate powder and stir.

6: Add the baking powder and stir.

7: Grease a baking tray and put it in the oven to cook for approximately 40 minutes or until it is cooked.

As you wait for the cake to bake, make the chocolate sauce to put on top of the cake. Use 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon of butter and half a cup of milk. Cook it until it begins to boil then place it onto the cake.

Whilst we were savouring the cake, I asked my son to relate to me the adjectives that would describe the cake. He said: delicious, soft, good, brown, tasty and beautiful. He surely enjoyed the chocolate cake :)))).

The next step of our adjective lesson was to make a craft chocolate cake to display the adjectives that he had above mentioned.

Materials: small box of cereal, constructions paper, scissors and glue.

1st step: Open the cereal box and cut the edges, then cut the sides going on an inclined direction, making a basket shape.

2nd step: Cut the construction shape to create a cloud shape. Then glue it onto the cut cereal box. Afterwards make a small strawberry and glue it onto the construction paper.

3rd step: As I wanted to display the craft cake and its adjectives, I also asked my son to make small versions of the main cake. However, He did not glue the strawberry on the small craft cakes, instead he wrote the adjectives he had described earlier.

The image below is how our display looked. I stuck the artwork on the window that's why it has the building and the trees background :))).

Another exercise that my son did was to write a few sentences that I was dictating.  He needed to point out the adjectives and circle it. I also asked him to tell me the meaning of an adjective, as well as telling me the punctuation to be used and the reason for using it.

It was a very productive day today. Hope you enjoy my post. Inform me please if you have any question, suggestion or comment. Thanks :)))!!!!

Fabiana

Social Science/History Book

Hello everyone, hope you had a wonderful day :))).

I would like to ask if any of you could recommend me social science/history books to support my teaching in this subject. I need a reliable and attractive source to my history lessons. My son is in first grade.

I would really appreciate your help. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks :)).

Fabiana

Word Family

Hello everyone :))), hope you had a wonderful day.

I would like to share an amazing idea I found on the I can teach my child blog - 

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/

She had this awesome idea of taken an paper towel role and make a out out activity to enhance her children reading skills. 

The objective of this tool is to present the word family, for example "ake", then the child will pull the inside board and will utter different sounds to make a new word. For instance: b + ake = bake; c + ake = cake; t + ake = take...and so on.

Materials that I used to create this tool: a flattened paper towel roll, glue, construction paper, wrapping paper, any type of cardboard to make the inside, and marker.

Instructions:

1st step: Wrap the flattened toilet paper with your favorite paper. Afterwards write on a construction paper the word family you decided to work, I used "ake", "all", "eat". I wrote the vowels in different colour. 

2nd step: Cut a piece of hard cardboard (I used a box from a 6 pack spaghetti that we bought) in 10 x 1.5 inches. Afterwards wrap it with your preferable paper. Then write the beginning of the letters on  construction paper and glue onto the wrapped cardboard. The word families I used were:

all - b (ball), h (hall), t (tall), f (fall), w (wall), m (mall), c (call), st (stall).

eat - b (beat), m (meat), ch (cheat), h (heat), n (neat), s (seat), tr (treat), wh (wheat), f (feat).

ake - b (bake), t (take), c (cake), sn (snake), w (wake), f (fake), m (make), sh (snake), l (lake).

3rd step: Put the beginning of the letter cardboard inside the word family paper towel roll, then your child is ready to have fun reading :))).

The blog I found the idea on, suggested to pass a length of yarn through the cardboard to avoid the child losing inseam paper. I did not do this because my son is very organised and old enough to understand that his studies are very important and he has to take care of his materials. However, in case you think you need to put it together the blog aforementioned has the instruction on how to do it: 

http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/06/word-family-pull-out-activity/

After doing this activity I may suggest that you ask your child to write down the words s/he read. There are also web sites to help the child improve their reading skills: 

http://www.starfall.com/

http://www.cookie.com/

http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/

http://pbskids.org/read/

My son had already used this tool and he like it and managed to utter all the sounds to make his words. An incredible and inexpensive idea that I hope will inspire you too. Thanks :))).

Fabiana

Adjectives

Today I would like to recommend the Macmillan Dictionary for Children. This is a great dictionary designed to nudge children up the language ladder by including parts of speech, inflected forms, and pronunciation and also adding more advanced dictionary features, such as syllabification, cross-references, and idioms.

This dictionary is very easy to use, clear to understand the description, and the pictures are very colourful. It's a brilliant dictionary for children of all ages, well structured and engaging.

                                

We were doing an activity about adjectives, and my son needed to find an adjective to describe a puppy for each letter of the alphabet. We used the dictionary to search for the adjectives. My son had a lot of fun searching the words and was very interested to learn about what the pictures were showing. It was a great educational activity!!!!

Hope you find this dictionary as useful as we found. Have a great evening!!!! Thanks!!!!

Fabiana

Creation Wheeler

Continuing with our creation studies, we created a creation wheeler from a paper plate. Instead of drawing the steps of the 7 days of God's creation, we used old magazines to make a collage. My son went pursued the magazines and cut the images we needed to demonstrate the things were created, for example: the sun, fish, plants, animals, man, the moon, stars, and water.

Materials: 2 paper plates, magazines, glue, string and bottom.

Instructions: 

1st: Make a circle in the middle of the plate and divide it in 7 parts. In the circle part write: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6 and day 7.

2nd step: Start glueing the pictures that represent each day that was created.

3rd step: After gluing the pictures, write the happenings God created: day 1: light and dark; day 2: sky and water; day 3: plants and land; day 4: sun, moon and stars; day 5: birds and fish; day 6 animals and man; day 7: rest.

4th step: take the second plate and write creation, and also cut 2 inches going on a inclined direction.

5st step: Make a hole with a pencil on both plates. Pass a string along the bottom, then through the plates. Tie a knot on the bottom of the plate. 

Your wheeler is ready to spin and going around the creation circle.

Hope you enjoy our post today. Thanks.

Fabiana

Sentence Flip Book

Hello everyone!!!!

Yesterday I posted the new sentence flip book I designed, which is available on TPT -
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sentence-Flip-Book

Today I cut them out and put them together. Below are images to show you how it looked.

It looked quite cute, isn't it? :))).

Have a great day!!!! Thanks!!!

Fabiana

Sentence Flip Book

I designed these simple flip books to develop my son’s reading skills and to reinforce the sight words for beginning readers grasp of literacy. Each mini-booklet is on a single piece of paper for simply access of the user. Each flip book has a simple sentence with a word that changes when the page is flipped over. Each word change is supported by a delightful picture which needs to be cut out and placed together to create a booklet, in which the pictured item in the sentence is "flipped" up to create a new sentence each time.

For example: I see a cute “cat”, which will be flipped for “dog”, “monkey” and “panda”.

Each flip book has a ‘write-in” page for the student to write the sentence s/he read.

The objective of the flip book is to improve reading skills as well as build knowledge of sentence structure and order.

The material is available on TPT, to download your copy just click on the following link:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sentence-Flip-Book


I hope this idea will inspire. Will you please inform your queries, suggestions or comments about this material? I would also love to receive a rating. Thanks very much!!!

Fabiana
www.fabianacarter.com

The pictures below are samples of the flip books:

Genre

I designed two matching drills to practice genre. In the first exercise all you need to do is to cut and if desirable laminate for durability. The child has to match the given name accordingly with the picture which best describe the meaning.

The second exercise the student has to draw a line to match the given name with the meaning.

The worksheet is available for free on TPT, to download your free copy just click on the following link: 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Genre-Worksheet

Please inform me if you have any questions, suggestion or comments with regards to this material. I would also very much appreciate opinion and rating. Thanks :))!!

Have a great weekend :))).

Fabiana

Below are samples of the worksheet:

Types of Government

I designed posters to introduce the types of Government to my son. I included the: Democracy, Monarchy, Oligarchy, Anarchy, Authoritarism, Dictatorship, Republic, Theocracy, and Totalitarism. 

The objective is to introduce a simple language yet informational. The pictures are attractive and meaningful with the pursuit to make the student absorbs and captures the context of the subject.

This lesson will explain the subject matter may be followed by a role-play. I suggest the class be divided into 9 groups and each one will present their theme. Children learn by playing and role-play would be a great idea to put this topic into context. I designed this material for a first grader as I believe children are super intelligent and learning is limitless. I hope you enjoy my poster.

The poster is available for free on TPT, just click on the following link to download your free copy : http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Types-of-Government


Please inform me if you have any questions, suggestion or comments with regards this material. I would also very much appreciate opinion and rating. Thanks :))!!

Fabiana

Below are two examples of the posters:

Genre

Today was a great day, we studied genre. I printed out on Teachers pay Teachers website the genre label to stick on my little library I have at home. The labels are: fairy tale, folktale, realistic fiction, poetry, fantasy, mystery, non-fiction,  biography, autobiography and historical fiction.

I read the labels aloud to my son and explained each one of it to him and also gave examples of books we read. Afterwards, I placed a few books on the table and asked him to label. He was very good in sorting the books out, I was impressed :))). 

Subsequently, I rearrange our library. I asked my son to arrange the books according to the label. It seems that he loves fantasy books :)).

We did not have any book about biography, autobiography and historical fiction which we have to go to our local library and borrow. If you have any suggestions of books please inform me.

I also want to introduce narrative genre to him, I would love to know if you have any suggestion of books I could show him.

Have a terrific day.

Fabiana

Beginning of Creation

I started our Science subject introducing the beginning of the creation. I thought it was a good way to make him understand how it all started. I am a Christian and my explanation was focused on God's creation. However, I also explicated to him that some people also believe in the theory of Evolution.

To introduce the topic to him I started reading Genesis on the Bible designed for children, which tells the story in an attractive and simple way that captivates the child's attention. We also read two beautiful poems from Creation by Gerald McDemott and Creation Song by Anna Scott-Browm and Elena Gomez.

Additionally I showed a really nice video available on youtube about creation -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgp2_Rcc80

Afterwards we created a wall called Creation where we pinned the number of the days God created the world. Each number is designed specifically to demonstrated what was created in the day.

My son also coloured pages about the story of creation. The pages have short phrases describing the days of creation, for example, "On the second day, God made the sky and the water".

If you have any suggestion of materials to teach 1st graders about creation I would be thankful to receive it please :))). Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks. 

Fabiana

Brazil's Independence Day

Today is Brazil's Independence Day and because I am Brazilian we like to celebrate it as well :)). Independence Day commonly called 7 de Setembro (7th of September) celebrates our declaration of Independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822. Independence Day is a national holiday marked by patriotic displays in most Brazilian cities. In Brasilia, the Federal Capital of Brazil,  the celebration takes place at the Ministries Esplanade with a military parade in the presence of the President of Brazil. Similar military parades are held in all the state capitals, and in many cities throughout the country. The biggest Brazilian Independence parade in USA is in New York, in 2008 about 1.5 million people attended the event. 

I was raised in a small city, every year we would look forward to marching on the streets with our school band. The school uniform was perfectly ironed for the parade day. At school we would sing the Anthem every day for a week and recite poems. Loved those old school days, the joys of living in a small city :))).

My son had seen a 7 de Setembro parade in Brazil. Although he is still young, he remembered the parade. The first thing he told me when I asked about the parade, was about the soldiers marching :)). He also asked me to paint his face as a camouflage soldier :))). Kids are just so amazing, they really want to get into the whoever character they are acting :))). LOVE IT!!!!! I also showed videos and we sang the Brazilian Anthem. 

Afterwards we made the Brazilian flag with construction paper. I told him that each colour has a meaning: the green color represents the Brazilian fields. The yellow losang represents Brazilian gold - and, by extension, the wealthiness of the country. The blue represents the sky of Rio de Janeiro on the night of November 15th 1889. Each star represents one of the Brazilian States, a total of 27 stars. The white strip contains the inscription "Ordem e Progresso", meaning "Order and Progress". 

He also wanted to create the USA flag and listened to the national American Anthem :)).

Hope you enjoyed my post today. Have a wonderful day and weekend :). Thanks!!

Fabiana