So mid March at the end of our geometry unit my kids have a huge STEM project given to them. Our class collected recycled materials for about two weeks prior to initiating the project. Then I give them an open ended project to plan, design, and build something using the recycled materials. The only requirements for the project is they must use at least 6 containers. On Day 1, I read them a book about architects and how they use blueprints to design buildings and my little designers get started drawing their plan. We discussed how parts of our body and buildings and other things are made of 3D shapes and we needed to include those in our design. You can see one of the kids designs in the photo below.
Day 2, I let them go to it! I had sent emails home prior weeks asking for rolls of masking tape so I had one for every two kids. They started cutting and taping and I let them do their thing! This is when you really see their creativity come out! Yes, I support with their taping and help to make sure the tape sticks.
Day 3 some kids were done taping and we just put some reinforcement tape on it and others needed the full day to finish building their design. Before being allowed to paint my kids have to go back to their design and identify what colors they will need to paint their project. This helps me with what paint to put on the tray and well get them thinking about where they are going.
Painting lasts 2 days the first day we talked about making a "base coat" and then the second day I handed out detail brushes so they could add details like spots, stripes, and windows to their projects. I use the big butcher paper on the first day of painting because they ARE VERY MESSY and the butcher paper really soaks up the mess.
The last and final day my kids have to write a story about their finished project to read to the class. They were so incredibly cute and were so proud of their completed projects! I was too! I had all sorts of things built from people to giraffes to a school bus to rockets to a castle!
Here is the finished product of the original design I showed you earlier!
Granny Whyte and Granny Kramer showed up to teach on the 100th day this year! The kids loved it! Our 100th day celebration was the first week in February! I tried a new idea this year to help with management by having a morning "menu" of activities and afternoon "menu" the kids could choose from with activities for them to complete! Such an upgrade! My slower workers were able to move at their own speed and get ones they wanted done and my faster students worked on them all and had a great time staying busy!
Hey all my blogging friends I'm back and what a crazy fall I've had! I had my hands full to start the school year but overall have a great group of kids. Then this past weekend I fell at a wedding and hurt my ankle and foot causing me to take 4 days off this week while I was at home with my leg up. I'm attempting to return tomorrow on crutches since I'm going stir crazy at home. So I thought I'd announce my return to blogging with a freebie! 
So in our kindergarten classes we use colored glue to help students with fine motor development and to get them excited about using glue bottles correctly. To make colored glue, take a bottle of Elmers and add a few drops of food coloring. Shake it up and leave it upside-down overnight to let the food coloring to move through the bottle. So the kids use the colored glue to make dots on seasonal pictures they have colored. We let them dry on the heater and they take them home the next day. 
Hey bloggers I need your help! My team has talked about doing a question of the day to graph with our class this year and I'm trying to come up with the best way to do this. There are products out there that are made for this like these two from Really Good Stuff... but... I'm going to have up to 27 kindergartners and neither of these are the most kindergarten friendly. Plus I'm told the yellow graph's magnets don't stick very well even though there is enough space for my class.
