Open House is a few weeks away for us.

I know a lot of you don’t do an end of the year Open House. Sometimes that sounds fabulous, because Open House is a LOT of work.

But – in the end it’s worth it.

I absolutely LOVE watching the kiddos show off THEIR room to their parents.

It’s all about them, their stuff, their writing, their crafts, their world.

I have very fond memories of Open House as a kid. I really want my students’ to feel the same way about their 1st grade Open House.

We turn our room into an ocean habitat. By the time we are done, it looks amazing and the kiddos are beyond thrilled.

The first thing I do with the kiddos to get the ball rolling is jellyfish.

Nope – there isn’t much CCSS about this activity. We read about jellyfish and learn quite a bit in a “sciency” kind of way. We do some investigating and inferencing in an ELA kind of way…. but mostly we just have fun making jellyfish that hang above our heads in class!

This is a not so great photo of what they look like. The really look fantastic hanging in class – but my classroom photos didn’t capture their true “coolness”. Trust me, they’re cool! 🙂

They look awesome and the kiddos are giddy with delight.

They are really simple to make and don’t require much.

I start with these party bags. I found them at Party City – but in the past I’ve used ones I’ve found at Target. These “shaped” bags are seriously perfect, but I’ve used the traditional rectangular kind, too.

These bags came with twist ties. The twist ties really simplify things. I used to use rubber bands, but that was a lot more difficult. The kids have no problems twisting the twist ties themselves – so I don’t have to run around trying to “close” 30 jellyfish bags.

First I cut long lengths of the curling ribbons. The kiddos fold the lengths in half, place the center of the fold into the bag… all the way to the bottom. The ends of the ribbon hang OUT of the bag.

Then they put in a pinch of the iridescent filler/grass. Most of this will “sit” in the bottom of the bag.

After that they take long strips of tissue paper – about 5-7 (or more or less) pieces -(colors I choose to go with my room, cut lengthwise from sheets of tissue paper) and place them in the bag. The ends will hang out of the bag as well. The more it hangs out, the better it looks.

Then, twist tie the bag shut and cup that bottom portion of the bag.

The materials are really up to you and what you want in your jellyfish. I love the way the iridescent “grass” looks inside the bag – so I always have the kiddos add some of that, but it certainly isn’t necessary.

Last week we made whales and my kiddos wrote some AMAZING stories. I was so proud of them.

They did such a great job coming up with imaginative tales about a shrinking whale.

This week we will talk about being crabby and make this…

…and we will study sharks, write about them and make this…