Pop-Up Christmas

Each Christmas, I give my children a new Robert Sabuda or Matthew Reinhart pop-up book. We are starting to build quite a collection. If you haven't seen these, this website will give you a taste of the artistry and fun of these books. The website also has directions for making simple and not-so-simple pop-ups of your own. On Thursday in literature connection, I shared some of the Christmas pop-ups with my classes. Mrs. T was so intrigued that she joined me! We read The Night Before Christmas, A Winter's Tale, and The Twelve Days of Christmas (well we actually sang that one)! We showed the children how to make simple pop-ups as time allowed.

(Shhhhhh. . . parents, if you are looking for a good Christmas gift for your child, the students loved these! They kept asking me, "Where can I get one of those?")

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Who Am I? Book Exhibition

This project was done by third through sixth graders at St. Therese Catholic School under the direction of Julie Owen, librarian, with assistance from Lynn Tarleton, music teacher. Through research about pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians, the students practiced note taking skills, and comparison/contrast analysis. Then, they used this research to create fictional characters for "Who Am I?" books. A large part of the project focused on using time wisely and the creative process. Older posts below describe different steps of the project in detail.

Materials Used: computers for research about pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians, notebook paper, recycled cereal boxes, recycled paper grocery bags, crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue, tissue paper scraps, scrap paper, yarn, hole punch, brain power, and lots of creativity!

Curriculum Areas Integrated Through Book Making: social studies, language arts, reading, research skills, math, creative writing

Book Making Website: http://www.makingbooks.com/ by Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

This slide-show represents some of their hard work and artistry!