Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies

Hey guys! Today I want to share with you a cute activity I do with my students every year at Thanksgiving. We make Thanksgiving cookies. I originally got the idea from Betty Crocker, but tweaked it to fit my needs. It can be a little expensive to make, but the students loved it! It cost me $15-20 dollars to get all of the supplies. It can also be a little difficult for the students to squeeze out the icing, but even if it's messy it still tastes good!

Supplies Needed
Sugar Cookies (I usually get these from the bakery because it's softer than packaged cookies)
White & Orange or Yellow Icing- Squeeze kind
Mini M&M's - one large bag
Candy Corn - 6 pieces per cookie

(It's best to buy these materials, especially the candy corn and orange icing, at Halloween and hang on to it until this craft.)

I call the students back in groups of 4. Each student gets a cookie, 6 candy corns, and 2 M&M's. I put a strip of white icing on 1/3 of the outer edge of the cookie. The students then place the candy corn on the icing as feathers. I also put two white dots under the feathers and the students put the M&M's on the for eyes. Okay so here is the hard part. I let the students use the orange or yellow icing to draw on the beak and feet. I show them a completed example for a reference. The beak is the shape of a V under the eyes and the feet are like a peace sign with out the circle. After everyone is finished I let them eat the cookies! You could also let them make two cookies, one to eat and one to take home!

Cyber Monday Sale

Hey Guys! Today is Cyber Monday and TeachersPayTeachers is having a huge sell!  You can get up to 28% off of many participating stores. I am one of the many sellers throwing a sell for Cyber Monday! Go to my store and check it out! Click here to go to my store!

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I hope you enjoy! 

Introducing Equivalent Fractions

Hey guys! Last week I began introducing fractions to my 4th graders. I wanted to share with you how I introduce equivalent fractions to my students. When I first began teaching, I felt that I did not have enough time in the day to deal with using manipulatives in math. There were too many standards and it just took too long to deal with getting them out. I have come to realize that this was a grave mistake! Although using manipulatives does take extra time, it is worth it. Once the students can understand the concrete version of an idea, they tend to grasp the abstract version a little quicker. Saying that, I try to use manipulatives whenever I can.

Whenever I introduce equivalent fractions to my students I pull out the fraction bars. The fraction bar sets I have go from 1 whole to a denominator of 12. I have my fraction bars  in individual baggies, so that I can give each group a bag of fraction bars. (I try to pull these out the day before and have them sitting out ready to be used. This saves time during the lesson.) First, I pass out the bags of fraction bars and ask the students to sort them by color. Next, I  begin with the 1/2 fraction bar and model with the students how to find an equivalent fraction. I then let them use trial and error to find the remaining fractions. After this, I write all the fractions we found on the board. Next, I repeat this process with 1/3 & 1/4 bars. Many times the student will realize that there is a pattern happening. I will then talk about the pattern with the class and then announce that we are going to learn how to find equivalent fractions using math.

This process only takes about 15-25 minutes from passing out the bars to picking the bars back up. I hope that if you don't already use manipulatives in your classroom, that you will pull them out and try them. In my classroom, the reward outweighs the "trouble" of getting them out!

Science Club: Homemade Lava Lamps

This week in Science Club we made lava lamps. It turned out really cool and the kids loved it.

Materials Needed: Water bottle, vegetable oil, food coloring, funnel, and alka seltzer tablets. 

             I used 12 oz water bottles and bought 1 gallon of vegetable oil. (This was enough vegetable oil

             to do 15 bottles. ) 

Instructions: 

    1) Drink or pour out 2/3 of the water. Leaving 1/3 still in the bottle. 

    2) Using the funnel, fill the bottle back to the top with vegetable oil.
        (I didn't fill all the way to the top)

    3) Put 8-12 drops of your choice of food coloring. Don't shake. Let the drops drop on their own.
        (It's cool to watch.)  

    4) After the food coloring has colored the water, place 1/6 of a tablet into the bottle. 

    5) Watch the bubbles! 

    6) When the bubbles stop you can add another piece of tablet and it will bubble again. 

Here are some pictures of the finished product! 

Green turned out great! 

Blue 

Red, but it kinda looks like orange 

Yellow: It works, but not as pretty as the darker colors!