Texas Symbols

My grade level teacher buddy just started a new blog and it turned out super cute. It's called Teach 2 Blossom and Bloom.  I'm so jealous because she creates most of her own clip art and everything she creates is really cute.  I do some of my own clip art, but I can't get too intricate because Photoshop and Illustrator are just soooo complicated!

My class just finished up a Texas Symbol lap-book that she created, and I love how they turned out.  This is the cover of the booklet.  Click here to head over to her new blog to see pictures of the inside of her lap-books.

I also  wanted to share a couple pictures my kiddos drew of the water cycle from awhile back.  They were just too cute with their little details.  They all draw palm trees.  That always makes me laugh, because I grew up around very different kinds of trees.  But living in Texas, they have palm trees in their schemas.

Texas Visualizing

This week is Texas Public Schools' Week and we are immersed in our Texas Fractured Tale Unit.  But,  I was also looking for a fun way to get my students excited about learning about Texas.   I knew I wanted to be sure to integrate some of the things that we had already learned this year- like poetry and visualization.

My teacher buddy had recently shared an adorable poetry book her fourth grade students had written several years ago that described Texas using all of the letters of the alphabet.  (She is in the process of started a blog...so stay tuned)  I loved the idea, but I knew that would be a MUCH larger project.  I really wanted them to be able to take this activity home with them at the end of the week, so they could share it with their parents during Spring Break.  Instead, I thought of using just the letters that spelled T-E-X-A-S and each letter would stand for something important like:

T-  Tastes of Texas
E-  Eyes on Texas (What you might see)
X-  Extraordinary Places
A- Animals of Texas
S-  Symbols of Texas
 
The poems turned out to be great discussion starters, and we went ahead and brainstormed a long list of everything they had in their schemas about that particular topic. The letter T was all about the Tastes of Texas.  They came up with a great list of Texas foods like...jalapenos, tortillas, BBQ, salsa, chili peppers, tacos, hot wings, etc.

After a great discussion, they drew their mental images in the empty space below the poem.   Below are just a couple examples.   They are having a great time learning about Texas.  Those schemas are growing!!!!

This is one of my favorite Texas books to read aloud during Texas Public Schools' Week. 

Way too good to miss, and goes perfectly with this activity.

Texas Sized Fractured Fairy Tales

The Stars at Night,

Are Big and Bright,

Deep in the Heart of Texas.

I guess you could say, I have Texas on my mind!!! Well... next week is Texas Public Schools' Week, and I absolutely love teaching the Texas Sized Fairy Tale Unit that we teach during this time of year.   I am completely obsessed with fairy tales with a Texas Twist.   

It is almost my blogs 1 year anniversary, and my very first post was about this very same topic.  I had planned to put the project together for my TPT store, and it finally happened a year later! Yikes, time flies!!!

These are the fractured tales and original tales I use to teach this unit:

You don't have to live in Texas to enjoy these fun fill fractured tales.  They would also be a great addition to a western themed unit.   I will definitely be back to post pictures of student work.

Okay, I'm back...with pictures

 

 

This is the fun sequencing activity we did with Waynetta and the Cornstalk.  I love how some of them drew giant feet at the top of the cornstalk to look like they belong to a giant:

And finally, a page for them to write about their favorite Fractured Fairytale:

Cowboy Adjectives

So, right before Spring Break we celebrated Texas Public Schools' Week.  To keep with our cowboy theme we wrote adjective poems about cowboys.  Their cowboys/cowgirls turned out super cute!

Click the image below to get all the patterns.