Simple and Yet Effective

We are working on crafts to raise money for community experiences. Plus, shopping for the supplies offers the students an opportunity to shop for meaningful items. Some craft supplies are really abstract for them to find on their own. I have a very basic digital camera. I keep in in the room most of the time and I also have a small hp printer for photographs. (You know, the little ones that only print pictures...) I took close-ups of two items we needed and gave them to the students. They went to Hobby Lobby, and with a little point in the correct direction, they found the items. The exact match was helpful as compared to using a magazine photo, clip art, or board maker. Not that I don't live for my board maker. My goal, start a file of items we actually shop for.

More Concept Maps

Concept map of words that go with pumpkin.

Close up of pictures in the poster about homes.

Illustration of a kitchen. Magazine are an invaluable tool in the classroom for older students. They are age appropriate and yet, if your students need to work on cutting and fine motor skills, you get to address both needs. Please make sure you read the next post also. Thanks for stopping by.

Concept Development Using Magazines

Here is a poster that was made by the whole class. We had talked about homes and houses for some time. We had discussed what went into a home. Words of importance included, big/small, ranch/two-story, garage, basement, country/city, apartment, trailer, modular, own, rent, backyard, porch, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom etc. The students, with minimal assistance from the adults, cut pictures out of magazines to illustrate their concept understanding. As they presented them to the class to be put on the poster, they had to use the word in a sentence. This activity usually spans two to three days at 50 minutes per class period.

New Word List

Here are the words that we are currently working on for the next two weeks.

• house
• good
• show
• new
• family
• build
• fall
• pumpkin
• brown
• orange
• yellow
• red
• acorn
• football
• October

We worked on a concept web yesterday. Today we added pictures from magazines to support the concepts. The topic was house and or home. The Words we connected to the topic were: big, small, two-story, ranch, basement, apartment, trailer, modular, boat, city, country, garage, rooms, house, new, old, rent and own.

A Childhood Favorite

Do you remember getting this magazine when you were young? It's still a great publication. On their website you may order the magazine, and you may also sign up for free worksheets. Remember the classic hidden pictures? There is a link under family connection to get a free one sent to your email each month. My students really enjoy them. The pictures also spark a lot of conversation. Here's the link: Hidden Pictures

Vocabulary List Two

The Friday Folders are going really well. I've gotten them all back within two days! That's outstanding. I'm preparing for parent conferences at the moment. Here's our second set of words. These words came from the past two New-2-You we have read. One was about the High School Musical 2 and the other one was about rescued dogs. Both stories were very popular with the students.

• school
• home
• money
• help
• kids
• movie
• DVD
• music
• TV
• dance
• dog
• friend

I've been taking pictures of my hands-on activities. Pictures to follow soon...