Wax Museum Biographies!

I have been wanting to share our wax museum biographies with you all for a while now. This is by far the BEST activity I have ever done with my students. I got the great idea from One Extra Degree. I absolutely love Amanda's blog. It is full of great ideas and she has tons of great products in her TpT store. Amanda did not ask me to write this review, I just truly think this is the best idea ever! You can click on the picture below to pick up the unit at TpT. 

This unit is packed with great resources and everything you need to create a wax museum. I started by having the students pick a famous American hero. We used the cards that were included in the packet and the students drew a card randomly. I did it this way so that the students could learn about someone new. We then spent a lot of time in the computer lab researching our American heroes. The packet includes a great note taking page that really helped the students lay out their notes, which they turned into a speech. 

Once we finished all of our research, we took our notes and turned it into a speech. I had the students create a speech that was no more than a minute long and focused on the most important parts of their hero's life. The students then spent a couple of days practicing their speeches with their peers. At home, the students worked on coming up with a costume that would turn them into their American hero.

On the day of our Wax Museum, we invited parents and the rest of the school to tour the museum. We had a GREAT turn out. Our visitor's came and pushed the "on" buttons of the famous Americans, and then the students came to life and performed their speeches. 

My students really got into being a wax statue. They did not move until their button was pushed! We received great feedback from all of the parents and other students that came to our museum. My students had a great time being statues and were completely exhausted by the time it was over. 

The students really learned a lot through this project and had a great time completing it. It was also a great way to get parents into the school!

Below are a few pictures of our famous American heroes. Let's see if you can guess who they are!

Multiple Meaning Words Movie Craftivity

This is the first year that I have used an interactive reading notebook and I am absolutely loving it! My students are too! Even better is that I have found so many great ideas out there in the blogging world, Pinterest, and on TpT. One of those great activities is from Deb at Crafting Connections! I got to team up with her for her Classroom Tested, Teacher and Student Approved series to share about her Multiple Meaning Words Movie Craftivity. 

Our word study topic and spelling words this week were multiple meaning words so this was the perfect activity to use! We started out by defining multiple meaning words and creating an anchor chart of multiple meaning words that the students came up with (I forgot to take a picture of course ugh!).

Deb's activity could be used in many different ways. The first part of her activity is a worksheet that has 12 different sentences with  a base sentence and then three different sentences that use the same multiple meaning word but in a different way. The students then have to figure out which extra sentence matches the meaning of the multiple meaning word in the base sentence. The students then use the craftivity to illustrate the different meanings of the multiple meaning word. 

I used the activity a little bit differently and had the students use their multiple meaning spelling words. I had the students pick one of their spelling words to write in the camera and then on the filmstrip they used the word in a sentence and then illustrated the meaning of the word next to it.  

Here are some pictures of the craftivity:

Deb is going to give away a copy of this craftivity to one of my followers, so stop by her blog and enter!

February Currently!

I am finally linking up again with Farley's monthly currently!

Listening: I am hooked on Dexter! We had two days off of school this past week due to the extreme cold, so I decided I needed a new series on Netflix to watch. This show is totally disturbing majority of the time, but it's got me completely hooked!

Loving: I am going to be going to school until June now, but I am LOVING these extra days off that we have had! I wish I could say that these extra days off have been productive, but I'd be lying....I spent most of the time  snuggled up on the couch :)

Thinking: Coaching is just not for me :(. I have an amazingly talented group of girls, but I just can't handle all of the drama that comes with coaching! Why do parents turn CRAZY when it comes to sports?!?!

Wanting: Seriously, I am OVER the snow and cold weather!!!! I just want to see the sun again!!

Needing: Pretty sure I am the only one on my street who has yet to shovel their driveway.....but then again it's supposed to start snowing again, so why would I want to shovel twice :)

2 Truths and a Fib: 1. Truth! My brother and I were super mature (HA!) when we were in junior high and yep, he broke my arm in a pillow fight!

2. Fib! I think my mom fed me way too much fast food growing up so now the thought of McDonalds makes me want to throw up!

3. Truth! Don't judge me....I work as the beer cart girl at a country club in the summer. It's the perfect summer job for a teacher!

Now it's your turn to link up with Farley!