It’s like being on a runaway train… isn’t it?
Powering at high speed, you can’t get off the crazy ride, it really isn’t in your control… time is just barreling forward toward the end. It’s the perfect time to incorporate Rainbow Fish and his little lesson.
At this point, we have so few days left and so much still left to do! Taking a breather and slowing down with a little Rainbow Fish art and writing about friends is just what we needed!
We read the book AND because we are all just.so.tired. we watch the movie too! (affiliate link)
Start the rainbow fish art project by cutting some coffee filters into fish shapes. I just slide a few coffee filters into the die cut machine and stamp out a class set.
Get the filters damp. Give the kids water colors and tell them to dab, NOT SCRUB (you may have to repeat that a lot!), the paint on. We do a whole little example lesson on how water color is supposed to “bleed” and it is different from acrylic paint. We talk about how the water is doing all the work.
After dabbing on the paint colors, set the rainbow fish on paper-towels to dry.
After the rainbow fish are dry, use iridescent pieces of wrapping paper or a little glue and glitter to add a glittering fin. Use a black crayon or Sharpie to add details.
Easy-peasy and ALWAYS awesome! We attach them to a little bit of writing we do about our good friend. After watching and reading about Rainbow Fish’s lesson on how to be a good friend, the kids are ready to write about why their friend is a GOOD friend.
WHALE BALEEN
Our ocean habitat unit is huge. And busy. And super engaging. It is ALL ENCOMPASSING. We read, write and even do math about whales.
And of course, we do a lot of science about whales, too! Our team is really lucky that someone donated this to us a long, long time ago.
It’s actual BALEEN. The kids love to look at it and touch it. It is pretty incredible. We did a little adjective lesson on the properties of baleen.
Describing odd, unusual and unfamiliar things is one of the best ways I’ve found to drive home the point of descriptive language.
12 more days to go… Field Day, Open House, 6th Gr. vs. Staff Softball game, book fair, an assembly and gobs of assessments will somehow fit into those 12 days.
I hope the rest of your weekend is fabulous.
