I Am Thankful For You!

I am so grateful for this amazing community!  I wanted to say Thank You, by sharing one of my all time favorite craftivities; The THANKFUL Book!

For the last, well more years than I can count, I have been guiding my students through this awesome project.  This puzzle book shows different components of the earth that we are grateful for.  We work page by page so that everyone's book ends up in the correct order.

I have learned that starting with the last page and working backwards is the most successful.

I love how these pages create such a beautiful scene.

The front cover is tricky.  I used to cut out the circle for my students, but now I just make a slit for each one.  I make sure that students know to stay inside the circle and they seem to get it.
This craftivity is all about gross motor and scissor use, but there is also a writing component.

Students are able to reflect on two people, things, places, whatever it is that they are thankful for.  The final book is the perfect gift for kiddos to share with their families.
Please let me know if you end up trying this project with your students or children.  If you are on Instagram, please tag me (@searching4tchrbalance) so that I can see your creations!

Thank you, again, for your amazingness!!!

PYP Part 3 - More on Animal Adaptations

The plethora of rich text available to students is wonderful!  One of the books we used during our How the World Works unit was What If You Had Animal Hair?, by Sandra Markle.

This is an marvelous book that uses facts about animal hair in relation to kids being able to have the same adaptations as the animals in the book.  It was the perfect follow up to our discussion on animal habitats and why specific animals live where they do.
Each student got to choose which animal's hair they would want to have and create an artistic representation, with a reason why.  I was blown away by the creativity of my class.

How incredible are those?

Have you used this book in your classroom?  I would love to read about your thoughts!

Don't forget to head over to Instagram for a chance to win my favorite things giveaway!

PYP Part 1 - Animal Adaptations

This year, my school is in its exploratory year of the PYP.  I have had the privilege of attending trainings and professional development, but they only skimmed the surface.  It wasn't until my team and I created our first planner that I felt I had any bit of an understanding of the program. The month of April was then consumed by my our PYP unit.  (For those of you not familiar with IB, I highly recommend checking out this link.)
We decided to take a topic we were familiar with and tweak it.  My teammates and I went with nonfiction text elements through penguin research.  In the PYP world that resulted in How the World Works.

The best part about this unit is the interaction among my students.  I try very hard to get them to work together, but this way of teaching forces them to.

Even though our focus shifted to penguins, we began our unit with a look at habitats around the world and adaptations that animals need to live there.  You can see my students working together on a habitat galley walk.
We also spent some time watching snippets of the Kratt brothers.  PBS is amazing!  I learned so much from this show.
Of course, we also integrated our Art Friday's into the unit.

This project allowed me to use all of those off brand pencils that don't sharpen, but it also REALLY tested my students' spacial skills.  They had to show the desert and ocean habitats using dots.  It was tricky for many, but it pushed their art abilities which I LOVE!!
Be sure to tune in over the next few weeks for more on this PYP unit.

Do you teach at a PYP school?  I would love to hear about your experiences!

Why I Teach Art

I have made it a point to teach one art skill/project each week to my students.  I wish that I would have done this years ago, but with all of the stress on getting it all in, I didn't.  This year, I decided to dedicate time, on Fridays, for students to let their inner artist ROCK!  I have seen fine motor skills develop and students' creativity take off.  I am so grateful to also have a parent volunteer (hard to come by at my school) come in and help each week.
Their creativity has supported the connections they make during reading as well as their writing.  I can't ask for anything more!

As a way to share ideas, the following ladies and I have started a collaborative Pinterest board filled with project ideas you could try with your students.

Please let me know if you are interested in contributing to this board.

How do you teach art to your students?