Ladybugs

    We began our study of Ladybugs by sharing our schema (what we think we know) and then we added to our new learning all week.

    We read From Larva to Ladybug and charted the life cycle. Then students created their own ladybug life cycle.

    We read Ladybug Fiery Red and Bright. Then we graphed our favorite color ladybug and analyzed our data.

    We used a leaf mat and ladybug counters (ladybug stickers on index cards, laminated, and cut out) to tell addition stories. We recorded in our math journals.

   We went to the science lab to find out which temperature ladybugs like better. We graphed our predictions before we did the experiment.

    Students used a hand lens to observe the ladybugs in the tubing.

    Then we put one end of the tubing into ice water and one end into warm to hot water and observed where the ladybugs went.

    Then we recorded on a small sheet of paper where we observed our ladybugs once we put the tubing in the water cups.

    For teachers who are interested, these activities (and more) can be found in my Ladybug Learning Fun  unit.

Gingerbread Man Learning Fun

We read several different versions of The Gingerbread Man and we compared and contrasted the different versions of the story. We created a story map that included characters, setting, and key events for Deanna Jump's Gingerbreadman story. We also acted the story out. We also used our five senses to identify sensory details in the story and charted the words that helped us to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell details in the story. We also wrote a Gingerbread poem and created Gingerbread men glyphs. 

We did an experiment with a Gingerbread Man cookie to figure out why he didn't swim across the river himself. We put a cookie in a cup of water and recorded our hypothesis.

We recorded what the cookie looked like when 20 minutes had passed.

 We recorded what the cookie looked like after an hour and wrote/illustrated our conclusion.

Of course, we enjoyed eating gingerbread man cookies.