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Showing posts with label compare/contrast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compare/contrast. Show all posts

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Exploring the Sun, Moon, and Stars

Last week we finished studying about the sun, moon, and stars.  My kids love this unit and are fascinated with space!  We read many nonfiction books including "What the Moon is Like" by Franklyn Branley. This book does a great job teaching facts about the moon.  It also nicely explains how the Earth and moon are alike and different.


After reading, we used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the Earth and moon.  I had the children write the facts on sentence strips to create a class Venn Diagram that can be displayed and referred back to.


The children also used a T-Chart to independently compare the Earth and moon. 



We also made sun and moons with paint!  Each child chose one to make and wrote one fact they learned.   

For the sun I had the kids dab orange and red paint on white construction paper.  They cut the circle out after it dried.  Then, they glued it on black construction paper and added the rays.

For the moon I mixed white paint with flour.  This created a thick consistency and rough texture to create a "moon" look.  Then, the children used the cap of a glue stick bottle to form the craters.


These projects were a great way to end this fun unit and were very easy to make!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Comparing Books with Gingerbread!

Happy 2015!  I hope you enjoyed your winter break and had a great holiday!  I wanted to share this anchor chart we made before break. The gingerbread unit I taught is my favorite to teach!  There are so many rich gingerbread literature that my students LOVE!  It is a great unit to identify story elements and compare and contrast stories.


We focused on three stories: "The Gingerbread Boy," "The Gingerbread Girl" (my favorite!), and "The Gingerbread Cowboy."  We analyzed the main character, setting, problem, solution, and how each story ended.  Above the anchor chart you can see the cute gingerbread boys/girls my students made!  They used shapes to make their gingerbread and recorded how many of each shape they used!  This was a fun unit that my students really enjoyed!  They were very engaged in each story and couldn't wait to find out how each story ended!

What are your favorite gingerbread books to read?