Post Spring Break Craftivity

Spring Break gave me just the taste of summer I needed…or maybe not :)  It’s never as long as I wish it were and I missed my boys terribly today!!!  However, it’s pretty nice being back in a routine!  We ALL needed that for sure!

So, we hit the ground running today.  We’ve got TONS to do this week!!  We’ll be working on synonyms & antonyms this week, so this little guy right here will be making another appearance…I LOVED this activity last year! 

We’re working on /ai/ and /ay/ words for spelling this week.  We brainstormed a list of words for both and then I had the kids practice writing their /ai/ words on a little raindrop.  Nothing fancy, but it was supposed to rain here today, so I thought it would be perfect :)  Ummmm…the rain never came {thankyouverymuch,Texas}, but now it’s pouring cats, dogs, and jungle animals outside.  I’m about to batten down the hatches because I do NOT like scary weather!!!!

Since we started our day with a little rainy activity, I thought carrying on that particular topic would be perfect for the remainder of the day.  We’re continuing to work with nonfiction text and use it’s features in our writing.  We read several nonfiction books about rain and gathered lots of rain facts using a fun little KWL on a raindrop template {forgot to snap a pic!}  After we were finished fact gathering, we talked about how we felt about rain and a few of my firsties told me some funny little rainy day stories.  I decided to carry our conversation into a little craftivity and the kids did AWESOME!

We created these little nonfiction windsocks…perfect for ANY topic…not just rain!  First up, I had the kids draw a rainy day scene/diagram.  Since nonfiction text includes labels, I had the kids label their pictures/diagrams.  They took 6 different colored strips of paper to use for streamers.  On three of the strips, the kids had to write 3 different facts about rain…something they learned during our fact gathering.  On the fourth strip, they had to write about how they felt about the rain or their own little rainy day story.  On the fifth strip, the kids had to tell me how the rain affects our environment {we’re learning about the environment in our science curriculum so I thought this was a great connection!}  On the sixth strip, the kids had to write about a book they’ve read that reminds them of the nonfiction books we read today.  

 

I’m still helping the kids assemble their windsocks, so I hope to have ‘em all up by tomorrow! We’ll be working on lots of activities from my little Long A Packet of Fun.  I’d love to share that with ya right now, but I’m fixing a few errors I found, so I’m *hoping* to have it all fixed & uploaded to TpT before I go to bed.  The Voice is on right now…and the rain is freakin’ me out…so we’ll see :)

For all my Texas teacher friends, I hope your first day back was a great one!  I was sad today for sure, but my morning cup of coffee sure helped make things right in the world :)  Looking forward to another cup…or two…tomorrow :)  Have a fabulous night my sweet friends!!!!!