Tuesday, January 1, 2013

January Plans

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I rang in the new year with my husband...on the couch...watching a movie...with our kids in bed. BUT I loved it, and with all the craziness of Christmas, we were grateful for some down time at home. Today our plans consist of shopping for cleaning supplies and bins for storage...sounds super fun, right? 

However, teaching is never far away from my thoughts, and I have been steadily working on an arctic animals unit for my kiddos when we get back! We are going to dive into nonfiction using arctic animals (with a few fiction snowman items thrown in between). I'm SUPER EXCITED about it because I think my kids will really love it. I'm going to divide them into animal groups to study. So they will no longer be "group 1, group 2" when we return, but "walruses, killer whales, etc." They will study their animal in the computer lab, library, books I read, etc, and record what they find on the worksheets I made. I'll be using the National Geographic Kids website, and lots and lots of books! 




In the unit, I included quizzes for each animal after reading about them on National Geographic Kids website. We have to get those grades in!! There is a booklet to create, graphic organizers, sorting activities, and a worksheet to show the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica. You can click on the picture and it will take you to my store! 


I'm also going to be using Amanda Nickerson's Snow Business for nonfiction. She has some GREAT posters and activities in here.

 I'm also going to use Deanna Jump's Arctic Animals unit! This focuses more on walruses and polar bears. It's made for kindergarten, but I know I can adapt a lot the pages. I saw lots of great things in here that my kids are going to go crazy for! 


OH and to celebrate the New Year, everything in my store (including my new unit) is on sale 20% through midnight!


1 comment:

Nikki T said...

I love your arctic animals finds and I am excited to have found your blog. I nominated you for a Liebster Award. :) Come check out my blog for more details.

~Nikki
http://smarttartslearning.blogspot.com/