Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Some Graphing and Some Birds and a Challenge

This week begins our Bird Study.  We started our Bird Lap Books.  Chickadees had to come up with a title for the lap book and some illustrations.  I have never made a lap book before, but have a friend who uses them with her home school kiddos.  So I am attempting to apply it to the class room setting.  So far, I am happy with the work we have done, and at the end of the unit, it will be a portfolio of finished work for students to have...everything will already be put together....which saves me (or a parent volunteer) a lot of busy work.







definition and sketch of bird words

After we had our cover done we added a pocket for collecting bird vocabulary.  Tip:  If you don't have pockets, you can make your own.  I grabbed a small envelope, sealed it, and cut it in half horizontally.  Then we glued it into a side of our lap book and can add vocabulary words, written on 3x5 cards.  Today's words...ornithologist and aves.

pocket for bird word collection


We also began a math "elective" rotation.  Students chose between graphing, money, or measurement and go to the teacher who is teaching that math "elective".  Next week, students will switch and go to the next of the electives they haven't done.  We teachers teach the same thing each time.  I love it when us teachers work together.  I can focus on one topic and teach it well, as well as getting to know some of the other 2nd graders I don't know as well.  My room is the graphing room.  We started by making a quick little self portrait, for graphing information about ourselves.  

Then we used our portraits to collect and graph data about our group.  We added numbers to the left side of our graph, after we lined up our faces, but I forgot to take a picture.
Favorite Sport


Favorite Restaurants
Adding our portrait to the graphing data.




























After making our graph in the middle of the room, on the floor, we transferred our information to our own paper.  We learned that graphs have a title, and labels for the horizontal and vertical lines.


Have you heard of the  5 Star Blogger?  Charity over at The Organized Classroom Blog has put out a challenge for the blogging community.  Come on over and check it out.







Happy Tuesday,
 

9 comments:

  1. I've never heard of a lap book. I'd love to hear more!

    ❀ Tammy
    Forever in First

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  2. My third graders love lapbooks too! These are great! I'm proud to have earned my 5 star blogger badge too! Thanks for sharing!!!

    Blogging Blessings from The Teacher's Chatterbox,
    Rebecca

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  3. I love the lap book! I've never heard of them either. I'd love to hear more! :)
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

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  4. The I love the graphing idea! Thanks for sharing! Glad I found your blog on TBA :) I am new to blogger and having a blast! If you are interested in learning about integrating technology, maybe stop by my new blog! I am your newest follower!

    Mindy

    iintegratetechnology@blogspot.com

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  5. I love this post for a few reasons! #1 I am loving the lap book (and I am brainstorming on how I can incorporate this into my classroom) and #2 the math "electives" sound really cool!! Something I would like to think about and implement for next year : ) Thanks for sharing!

    Kathie
    thediaryofanotsowimpyteacher

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  6. Great post - definitely a 5-Star Blogger! Thanks for linking up!

    Charity
    The Organized Classroom Blog

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  7. Those portraits are ADORABLE!! I am stopping by visiting my fellow 5-Star Bloggers. I love your blog and your "About Me" really made me smile!!

    www.theprincessandthetot.blogspot.com
    www.bentosonthebayou.blogspot.com

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  8. Came across your blog through Charity's 5 Star Blogger challenge. I'm your newest follower and looking forward to reading more.

    Sue
    www.sos-supply.blogspot.com

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  9. Hi ~ I'm your newest follower. I found you through the 5 Star Blogger challenge! Looking forward to going through your blog. Nice job!

    TheJugglingTeacher

    ReplyDelete