Shapes Shapes Shapes

We have been working hard to learn all the vocabulary that goes along with shapes. Vertices, faces, edges its hard for English Language Learners to keep all these words straight. Today we got to have some fun and be creative with out work. First we use nets of seven different shapes to make the solid shapes and filled out a chart about the number of vertices, faces, edges and a real world object that is that shape, then we got creative and started building things out of out shapes.

 This is the beginning of a robot. The legs and body started out really well, 

but then the top of the body and head got too heavy. 

 Different versions of cities. 

Several years ago when I was still in first grade I got some inflatable shapes from 

Donor's Choose. 

It did not come with a rectangular prism so I took a box that the math papers came in and covered it with construction paper. This worked for my first year in second grade, but this year we have new state standards (for us in Texas called TEKS) and the shapes we learn about have increased. We have added rectangular pyramid and triangular prism. So while the students were creating there shapes, I tried my hand at creating my own. I think they came out pretty well. I don't like how messy the tape looks, but maybe I can improve on them next year.

 Rectangular pyramid made during my morning class. Triangular prism made during my afternoon class. 

And here they are all hanging up and labeled. I really wish the fire marshal would let us hang things from the ceiling. I think it would be awesome to have these hanging around the room all the time. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to hang things from the ceiling and I need the board space that I covered up when I hung these up. As soon as geometry is finish these have to go back on the shelf. Maybe next year I will work on finding a permanent place to hang them up in my room when I set my room up in August. 

So Much Happening

We have been crazy busy lately, but for the most part it has been all fun stuff.

 Victoria's favorite TV show is Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I found these dress up boxes at Wal-Greens on clearance. Victoria and Cristina enjoyed playing Jack and Captain Hook over spring break. Then they went to stay at their grandparents house where they can play with their cousin. I love that they have as much fun dressing up as pirates as they do dressing up as princesses. Sometimes they mix it up and play pirate princess. Who says you can't have it all, right?


Last weekend we had tickets to the Dallas Stars game. We are not really hockey fans, but it was fun to do something different. Only problems was we thought it was a night game. We realized at 12:40 that they game was at 2:00 and we still had to drive to Dallas. We were already out, so we just jumped on the freeway and drove straight there. The only problem was we only had three jackets with us. It was not a cold day, but it is cold at the hockey game. Being the good dad that he is, Eddie gave his jacket to Victoria and she used it like a blanket. During the first period the Stars were not playing very well and Victoria wondered aloud "Maybe they have never hockeyed before?" So cute! And luckily the Stars remembered how to hockey and won the game.

On the way home we stopped for a special treat. Krispy Kreme donuts! We used to have some near us, but they have all closed. There was one on the way home, so we stopped for a treat and took home a box, too. 

Cristina has loved art since she was old enough to hold a crayon, marker, or paintbrush in her hand. She would spend hours drawing and painting. She had no interest in coloring books. The first time she colored in a coloring sheet was at her meet the teacher when she was entering kindergarten. She colored the entire picture pink then asked if she could turn it over and draw her own picture on the back. This interest of hers has made her drawing ability quite good (although her coloring in the lines skills were delayed). This week she came home excited because her art teacher had entered one of her pictures in the art show at a local library. I do think her flower is pretty awesome.

Paper Craft Club

We got to have have several meetings of out Paper Craft Club before we had to shut down and getting ready for state testing. Testing will be over in a few weeks and we will start another round of clubs. I already have several ideas pinned for spring paper crafts. 

Here are some of the crafts we made. 

My partner read the story Snowballs while I set out the supplies. The students were so creative in the way they decorated their snowman/snowgirl/snowhorse.

This time around my partner read animal poems then the students created animal faces. 

I've spent a lot of time searching paper crafts on Pinterest looking for cute, easy, and quick crafts that a group of 30 second and third graders can finish in 30-40 minutes. I came across this pirate and it was perfect. A quick pirate story and the children were off creating paper plate pirates. Their favorite part? The binder ring earring. 

 I was out on one of the days when they made penguins.
The club was a lot of fun. It was amazing to see how creative the students could be when given so much freedom on how they wanted to do something. No right or wrong answer or grading rubric, just freedom to complete the project the way they wanted. Most of the time they exceeded my expectations. I can't wait for the next group of students to start crafting.