Number snowball fight

It was one of those days. The clock was ticking and we were not making any real head way with the lesson plans. Every time we gained any momentum something would happen... Like everyone would need to find their workbooks, or everyone needed their pencil sharpened. I was starting to get frustrated. But then, I remembered! Dr. Jean to the rescue. We could have a number snowball fight! Each student gets a small piece of paper and writes a number on it. I had my students make a circle and did a quick check to see that numbers were formed correctly. Then we crumpled our papers and had a snowball fight! After about 40 seconds I had each student pick up 1 snowball, uncrumple it and read the number. Then we did another round of throwing the balls. Repeat until all stress is relieved.

Stand up Snow pals

Here is a fun way to create a 3-D snow pal and reuse coffee, cocoa and oatmeal containers. (which I can never seem to bring myself to throw away.)
First students draw 3 horizontal lines across a piece of white paper. We made our line crooked so they look like snow.
Then students add faces and other embellishments.
I helped each student tape their paper around a cylinder shaped container.

This was particularly fun for my class because we have so little snow in Minnesota this year that these are the most realistic snow pals they may get to make!

In God's Hand

We created this bulletin board after reading the book Finding God's Love In Your Thumbprint by Mark Arens. The book is about how God made each person special and unique. After the story, each child received a large picture, photo copy of a hand. They decorated the hand and wrote their names in the middle. We talked about how God knows us so well that our names are written in God's hand. The hands became the boarder around out bible story chart. The chart is a T chart with pictures of old testament stories on one side and new testament stories on the other. I took the pictures from an old, falling apart, toddlers bible. It really helps children understand the 2 parts of the bible.

Valentine Roses

This rose is made from the end of a bunch of celery or bok choy. When stamped in paint the result is a cool textured rose. The leaves are sponge painted with a heart shape.
This is the end of the bok choy we used. This makes a nice Valentines or Mother's Day card.

Penguins

This is a fun winter project and a nice follow-up activity to a penguin unit. Use an 8.5 X 11 piece of black construction paper with the corners cut off for the body of the penguin. The eyes are quarter size circles, the beak is a square folded into a triangle, the belly is a U shaped piece of white paper and the feet can be any way you like. I made a master sheet with the beak, feet and eyes and copied it on yellow construction paper for the kids to cut out. I made tracers for the bellies and had the kids trace and cut those out of white paper. We added wiggle eyes at the end. We hung ours from our ceiling clips so they move. They add a fun whimsy to the classroom.