No Technology Required

It's that time of year again.  I am starting to think about Christmas gifts for my class.  The past few years I have made personalized scarves.  They always love them. 
Here is how I do it.....
I found the blankets at Walmart for $2.50 each.  They vary in patterns and designs. If you are careful when you unroll it, it is probably folded so that if you cut it on the sides/folds it will make 6 long strips.  I just “eyeballed” it and cut.  I don’t know what the measurements are, it’s more fun to “WING IT”!! :)



Then, cut the edges off.  The edges that have the thread on it. You can unravel the thread first, before cutting. Sometimes I was able to find the right spot and cut the thread so that it would unravel.Then, I cut the slits on the ends, to make the fringe.  I didn’t measure it, just “eyeballed” it and made them as long as I needed to make a knot.



Then, tie the knot.  I stretched them out a little so they would lay nicely.



I will put their names on them.  Last year, I used glitter paint.  This year I plan to use my Cricut machine and use HTV (Heat transfer vinyl).   THIS PART REQUIRES TECHNOLOGY!

More Bee-Bots

The students are loving the Bee-Bots.  They are asking to use them and are very exciting about learning. 
I have mats for rhyming words, beginning sounds, and shapes.  You can see a sample of them working in the below photos.

BEE BOTS

We now have Bee-Bots in our classroom.  Slowly but surely the students are learning to love technology as much as I do.  They understand that Bee-Bots are a learning tool that make learning even more fun now.  They love to push the buttons and tell the Bee-Bot where to go.  We started with beginning sounds.

I made a mat using real pictures of animals.  (It will help us make real-world connections because we are going to the zoo as our field trip in the middle of November.)

These are the animals that are used in a phonics program that we started using this year.  Each one has a sign they do when they say the sound.  They have to pick a card, say the letter and sound, then code the Bee-Bot to the animals that start with that letter.

They are using their critical thinking skills as well as problem-solving skills to get the the correct animal.  They cheer for joy when the Bee-Bot does it correctly.  Sometimes we would forgot to press "clear" before coding to the next animal and they would need to put it back and do it again.

I look forward to making more mats to use in the future weeks.