Are you sure it's spring?

It is COLD here still! We had spring for about 7 days then winter returned.  I mean, it snowed on my outside for recess yesterday!  We are still trying to be springy in our classroom though.  Easter is just around the corner and we have been doing some fun art projects to celebrate.

Here is our Easter Bulletin Board.  Look at my little chicks all hatching out of their pretty eggs!  And the saying is true- 1st grade is 'egg'cellent!!

We made this cool Easter Egg project to hang in the hallway.  First you smear shaving cream on the paper (I have used wax paper before, this time I used old flip chart pages that I was planning on tossing anyways).  Then I let the kids each choose up to 4 colors to drip onto the shaving cream- any more colors and it turns brown, lesson learned!

Then we used a Popsicle stick to swirl the colors around.  If you get too wild and crazy, this is where it will turn brown.  Luckily, none did this year :)

Next, press an egg shaped paper into the shaving cream and paint mixture.  You want to make sure that all of the paper is touching, or you will have white spots.  Let sit for a few minutes, then lift off carefully and let sit a couple more minutes.

After waiting a few minutes, scrape the extra shaving cream and paint off.  The directions I found for this project said to use a squeegee... Well, I do not personally own a squeegee so I just used a rubber ruler that I could get wet (to wipe clean in between eggs).  Here is this finished egg hanging in the hallway.  They turned out so nice!  Next year I hope to remember to make sure the paint is swirled as wide as the egg is so there are not so many white edges.

Our latest project was 3D string art eggs.  I blew up (barely) small balloons for the kids and had them wrap embroidery floss that had been dipped in a Mod Podge and water mixture around them.  It was a very, very messy and sticky project but once they dried over the weekend they looked pretty good!  Here are some of the finished products:

And finally, here is the class working on a project at the table together. They were painting so nicely!

Happy Easter!

~Ms. Anglin

Spring has sprung!!

Spring is officially here, just a month late this year!  We have been doing lots of projects lately to coax the nice weather back to the midwest :)

 

We made bugs to hang above the door out of egg cartons and A LOT of hot glue.  Some bugs are imaginary, some are realistic.  The kids had complete creative control on these little buggers.
 

After our spring concert, we have Exhibit Night.  That is when parents come to our classroom and see all of the things we have been doing lately.  We made self portraits to attach to the chairs to make it look like they are sitting in their desks.  They turned out SOO cute!

 

We made beautiful flower garden pictures for the hallway.  All sizes and shapes of plastic bottles were used like stamps to make the flower shape.  Add a dot of yellow in the middle and some green and you've got a luscious garden!

 

We also make sun catchers to hang in the sunshine!  The students loved stringing the beads on and making their own patterns.  I am excited for them to take the sun catchers home and see how the sun shines through in their houses.

And lastly, an update on our plants/flowers/grass...

 

Of course the flowers are not growing yet, those will probably start sprouting once they get taken home!  As for our grass, some have growth and others do not yet.  Good thing we talked about how some seeds are just duds and don't grow how they are supposed to!  Out of our 9 flower pots, 5 are growing :)

~Ms. Anglin

What's Spring?

So it is April 18th... Look at our playground! All of the snow was gone for about a week, but then we got around 8-12 inches over a few days.

 

 

Even though it is wintery looking outside, we are making our classroom look like spring, my all time favorite season.

 



We made rainbows to brighten the hallway.  It was a very fun project!  Very fun and also a little difficult.  I am glad my senior helper, Rachel, was able to help us that day :)

Rainbow Connection



 
For Mother's Day, we are attempting to grow some flowers.  The kids painted flower pots how they thing their mothers would like them.  They turned out very cute. 
 

 



The marigold seeds are all planted, we have a watering schedule, and the sun is sometimes shining in on them... HOPEFULLY we have growth soon!

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the beginning of spring!  I will enjoy it a little more when soggy snow pants and wet mittens can be put away for good!!

 

~Ms. Anglin