Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Open House

Thank you to all of you that came for Open House last Thursday. The kids have worked SO hard this year! Here is a slideshow of the different projects and activities they completed during our Farm Unit.

Description of the projects:

  • Barn Math - the kids illustrated an addition problem using farm animals. 
  • Barn Graph - the kids chose their favorite farm animal and put it on our class graph. It was pretty close between sheep, goats, cows, pigs and chickens.
  • Hanging Mobiles - after learning about what animals live on the farm, we discussed and wrote what products and foods come from those farm animals.
  • Handprint Art - the students chose their favorite farm animal to be created using their handprint. They were then asked what part of the farm does their animal live/go. They then first drew with pencil, outlined with crayon, and completed the GORGEOUS masterpiece with watercolor paint.
  • Room 1’s Farm - On our giant bulletin board, the kids created many different farm animals. For the cows, they made cows that body’s flip up to reveal facts. They painted and assembled the pigs (even with a little bit of “mud”). For the sheep, the kids used cotton balls to recreate their wool. Every week we focused on a different farm animal and wrote many facts about them as well.
  • Trader Mates - For this project, we used our knowledge about what part of the plant veggies/fruit come from to create 3-dimension foods grown on a farm. We eat all different parts of plants --- root, stem, leaf, flower, and seeds!
  • Farm Landscape Art- These beautiful creations showcased how farms look with all of their different crops. For this project, the class drew their landscape and then learned how to incorporate many different types of lines to resemble the fields on a farm. They used tempura paint and oil pastel. 
  • Big Bad Wolf?! Project - For this project, the students each created a big “bad” wolf and then wrote to the 3 Little Pigs explaining the true story of what happened! I then recorded their voices reading their explanations and created QR codes. 
  • Chicken Coop - After creating Tear Art Hens with hand-traced feathers, filled with many written facts, the students got to choose a spot for their chicken in the hen house. This was a hit with the kids!
  • Down on the Farm Art - After reading the story, Down on the Farm, each student chose their favorite page from the book and recreated the illustration. First the sketched the drawing out, outlined with oil pastel, used blending techniques, and added watercolor background. Sometimes I can’t tell if its a page from the book or kindergartener’s work!
  • Tangram Art - The students were challenged to create a farm animal using 7 tangram pieces. Once they made the animal, they colored the background and wrote facts about their animal.
  • Click, Clack, Moo - Cows That Type - This was a multi-step project. In the book, Click, Clack, Moo, the cows and hens request electric blankets from Farmer Brown because they were cold. The kids chose one of the animals from the story to pretend to be. They thought of their own requests for Farmer Brown. After writing their requests, they typed it on Word. Finally, the drew their specific animal, outlined it with tempura paint with a q-tip, and painted the background. These came out great!