Saturday, January 5, 2013

Snowmen and a penguin!

Okay, I said this would be up and ready to go, and it is! I uploaded it to my TpT store yesterday morning and even took a picture of some of the completed snowmen! I wanted to take pictures of the kids actually doing the activity, but I forgot. Oh well. Baby steps. This packet is in my store for $2. It includes 5 main ideas, and each has 3 supporting details. All are snow-related. They are geared for upper elementary grades and are meant to be a little tricky (not too hard, but they aren't all obvious choices). I did this with 4th and 5th graders yesterday. The 4th grade class got them all right eventually after reading VERY carefully and debating over the BEST choice. 5th grade pretty much breezed through it (both classes were the lowest in their grade level). 

Snowmen Main Idea and Supporting Details

When I prepared the activity, I cut all of the pieces into squares (there's only 5 sheets, so I did them all at once) and put them in ziploc bags. Then I gave the bags to small groups and had them work together to match the cards. They had to match EVERYTHING first to make sure it was correct. Then they cut out all of the pieces and glued them together. You could have students color them and hang them up if you wanted! Mine really wanted to write their names on the brim and decorate them, but I only have 30 minutes. Without coloring, this activity fits PERFECTLY into a 30 minute block, at least for 4th and 5th grade.


I also wanted to update my door for the rest of winter, so I went to Pinterest and looked around. Then I stumbled upon this from Mrs. Ussery's Third Grade Class:

How flippin' adorable, right? I HAD to make my own. Unfortunately our walls have not been painted ANY nice colors, so mine doesn't look quite as cute in its surroundings. It was funny, however, as we were working on putting up the pieces to hear what people thought it would be. When we added the belly, they thought snowman. Then we added the whites of the eyes and the red strip for the scarf. That made it look a LOT like a ballgown. I think our cute little penguin is going to stay with us up to Spring Break. I'm thinking of adding hearts next month and then changing out the hat and scarf for green (maybe a top hat?) during March.


I do need opinions though. What do you think I should do about the top? I tried to make a pouf, but it just didn't look good. So I pulled it off. Does it even need anything?

3 comments:

  1. I love the snowmen idea! I will be doing main idea and supporting details with my second graders in a couple weeks and they'd love it too. I'll have to see if I can come up with something at their level. I'm awful at decorating..For two years I had a painted tree trunk in my room and had to beg others to help me get green paper on the top to make it look like a tree. This year we aren't allowed to have paper up in the halls. I am thankful because it is less of an art dilemma for me!
    Jessica
    Literacy Spark

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wonderful post - I love the main idea-supporting details activity and the door is sooooo cute! I love decorating for the seasons and think that adding hearts and green accessories. I have a tree outside my classroom door with an owl for each student and I'm planning to keep it up all year. I started out with orange and yellow leaves, and now it has snowflakes. I'm planning to put up small green buds in April and then full-fledged leaves and flowers for May and June.
    I don't think you need to add anything to the top - the hat looks perfect on it's own.

    ~Jessica
    Joy in the Journey

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOW! That penguin is a-door-able!!! ;-) We are doing penguins this coming week, I am definitely borrowing this idea, my first graders will love it!

    Olivia
    Liv to Teach

    ReplyDelete