Tissue Paper Owls

Have you ever had so much to do during the last few weeks before school starts, but all you want to do is make cute decorations for your room?  No? Yes?  Maybe?  I will admit it.  This year, while I should have been getting my CAFE binder ready, I was crafting!  Silly!  My project did turn out cute though.  My philosophy is--if my classroom feels happy and beautiful, then my students and I will enjoy the atmosphere and we will feel even happier being there all day long.

 

I did a major classroom overhaul this year (thank you Pinterest!)  It was so much fun searching for the perfect additions to my room.  I did not pick a specific theme, but I did all my bulletin boards matching in a bright yellow and all of my borders are black with bright multi colored polka dots.   I made some tissue paper pom poms for my table group signs, which turned out very cute.  But, when I looked around my room there was still one sad corner that needed something special.  When I came across this adorable tissue paper owl tutorial from Little Sprout Creations   http://www.littlesproutcreations.com/2011/09/diy-tissue-pom-owls/Owls  I knew that I had found the perfect solution.  Check out my cute owls below. 

This is my favorite one...the spotted owl!

Happy Decorating!

Mandy Lomax

Neat Poetry Website

I am always trying to find interesting things for my students to do during computer lab.  Poetry is a really fun thing for first graders to practice and it always helps when they have a form or a guide.  I found a cool website where you can input the information for your poem and it will generate it for you.  This is great for younger students because it cuts down on the amount of typing they have to do, but still lets them have ownership over the poem. Note:  The difficulty level varies depending on which form you choose, so I think that you could tweak this to fit your needs in any elementary age classroom. 

Go to the site to check it out: http://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htm

All of the different poetry forms are on the left hand side of the screen.  There are a lot, so you have to search to find what you would like your students to work on.  There are several good options.  I think the best ones are: All about me, biography, 5W, Cinquain (if you read Junie B., First Grader, Cheater Pants :-)), Holiday poem, I can't write a poem, list poem, name, septet (for older students), who am I, and Yes that's me. With my first graders I picked the Yes, That's Me poem.  I made a draft for students to complete before working on the computers.  Click the picture below to get the draft.

Online, the boxes you fill in look like this:

Then you just click the create my instant poem button and viola!  If your students highlight the poem and copy it, then then can paste it in Microsoft word to save, or you can just print it straight from that screen by right clicking and pressing print.

I did my own for fun.  :) Check it out:

 

Yes, that’s me
Look and you’ll see
My hair in a ponytail
My eyes with laugh lines in the corners
My arms doing the chicken dance
My hands giving a thumbs up
My heart full of love
I’m a mom, wife, daughter, and friend
I never give up
My friends are like my family
I live with my heart on my sleeve
I hope to live my life to the fullest
I dream of making a difference
It’s all clear as can be.
That’s positively, absolutely me

 

I hope you find this useful for spicing up computer lab.

 

Happy poetry writing!

Mandy L.