Monday, January 23, 2012

Crabs, Blenders, and Smiles

Meet Cranky Crab and Flora Flamingo.


Part 1:

Aren't they cute??!!!??? Before Christmas, they came to visit us and brought us the Blend Friends Song. We learned how a blend is made of two consonant friends that are seen and heard together. After seeing this blender on Pinterest, I knew Flora and Cranky would need to bring us a real blender!

Click here to check it out!

One day when we returned from lunch we had a package at the door.....inside was a blender and we started talking about What is this thing? Remember, I teach children of poverty so only 4 had EVER seen a blender! One kiddo did say, "My mom makes margaritas with that, giggles a lot, and then falls asleep on the couch! Ha! Yeppers, I said "Thank you for sharing that." and we moved on. I asked them what else could we make in the blender and 1 friend guessed a smoothie...yes, only 1 of my sweet darlings had ever drank a smoothie. That is also why I love the kiddos I teach because EVERYTHING is new and wonderful to them! =)

We talked about what we could put in a smoothie that would taste yummy Cranky and Flora had left us some blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, and pomegranates. We used frozen water (ice) and white stuff from cows (milk). They LOVED it!


Part 2:

On Friday, we made blenders to help us remember all we have learned and worked on the past few weeks. Nikki from Melonheadz Illustrating helped me out by making me an ADORABLE blender. I made a template based on her cute blender and the kiddos were all smiles as they made one of their own (This was a big deal because I have 2 that always cry when we do art!)

Here is a glimpse of what we did!


After this, we wrote all of the blend beginnings inside the blender...no close-up of that....sorry!

I made a blend sort using Nikki's super duper cute blender. We wrote some of those blend words on the recording sheet and colored the blends with a crayon.


Here they are! They make me smile too!

I am sorry the pictures are not real clear....I am using my phone. =(

Later in the day we got another package (and letter) from Flora and Cranky (Flora and Cranky are in our room too...watching for friends being helpful!). First, we read the letter and highlighted all of the blends we found. Next, we opened the package. Inside were the ingredients to make a Cranky Crab snack: pretzels, bread, strawberries, whipping cream, twizzlers, craisins, and blueberries...all blend foods of course! =)

Here is our Cranky Crab snack! He is too cute!



As always, I would LOVE a heart note! I truly treasure each of you and am blessed by each visit you make...you make my heart smile!

Question of the day:
What is the funniest thing a child has ever told you their mom or dad does?

It is those stories that make some of the things we go through more bearable AND help us understand our kiddos so much more...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it?!!??? =)

Check back soon to learn about Our Heart Buddies. =)

From My Heart to Yours,

57 heart notes:

Kelley Cirrito said...

It actually isn't too funny but we were doing a recycling month at the preschool I used to work at and a little boy told his daddy he could bring his beer cans to recycle! I didn't know to laugh or drop my jaw! :)

Sandra said...

I love the pinterest blender!! I want to make one for my classroom too!!! Can you share the template for the kid blenders! They are too cute!
Thanks for the freebie! :)
❤ Sandra
Sweet Times in First
sweettimesinfirst@gmail.com

Jill said...

This whole post was adorable!!

I have more of a weird story than a funny one, but I will share anyway! This happened last week actually. One boy came to school and said, "My dad told me that if 'Susie' calls me fatty, that she should look at my mom's birthmark."

What????? I don't even want to know. Also that kid is rail thin so I'm pretty sure no one is calling him fatty.....

Marvelous Multiagers!

Jennifer said...

So very cute! I can't remember any of those kinds of stories off hand. Gotta think about that one!
Rowdy in First Grade

Trish said...

I LOVE this post! I teach kids from a lower economic area too. They would love this!
One time I took the kids on a tour of the local Police station and one little lovely piped up and said, "Hey! I been here before! When my daddy was driving too fast!" The police officer smiled. It was too cute! If only that parent knew!
Thank you for sharing! You are inspiring me to want to do my own blog. When I do I want to link to yours.

Allyce said...

Super cute! Here is a funny one. Little girl came to school super tired. I asked her why she was so sleepy. Her response, "Mommy and Daddy were wrestling in their bed all night." Wasn't sure what to say to that one!

Kristin said...

Super cute activities. I work in a school with children from the complete opposite end of poverty. Nothing is new or exciting. They've seen it, done it, broken it, gotten it again, and find me quite boring.
One of my kids said he was really worried about his mom because she was having surgery. When I said "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" he said it would be okay. His mom was really happy about it. Because, he said, "No matter how much she works out, the fat on her legs never goes away so they are going to SUCK IT RIGHT OUT."
A Teeny Tiny Teacher

Tarra Mackelson said...

What a wonderful way to introduce the concept of letter blends! Love it!

tarra
www.chalkboardchitchat.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

OhmyGosh! Love the blenders!! (and thank you for my sweet comment the other day! You are such a sweetheart!! =)
Jennifer
First Grade Blue SKies

Stacy said...

Ok, I LOVE the blender things. Sometimes I think a real blender would be nice in the classroom...

Anyways, the other day we had a catalog of sports the kids can do with our local recreation department and one of my girls comes up and says she found something her mom and dad would love to do...

Well...it is a wine and cheese class! haha...she found the one adult thing in the book! The best part was when I told her mom (an awesome volunteer in our room)!

I gave you an award and I am so excited for you to see it! I hope you can head over and check it out soon! <3

Stacy
2nd Grade Paradise

Anonymous said...

What great activities! Sounds like your students really got a lot out of them!

I was subbing the semester before I got my teaching job in a preschool program. I will always remember the little girl in the dramatic play area who one day held a play phone to her ear and proceeded to have a very animated 'discussion' with whoever was on the other end about "If you EVER come 'round my place AGAIN, I will call the COPS on your a**!"

Yikes...Very obviously acting out something she'd seen at home...

Cara Carroll said...

I love. love, LOVE this!!! Thank you for the freebies!! These will definitely be put to good use!!! LOVE!!! Thank you, thank you! Absolutely adorable! XOXO

Cara :)
The First Grade Parade

Ashley said...

I love the actual blender activity, along with the crab snack! I must pin both after this comment! My funny story comes from a first grader two years ago. At my old school, we collected Box Tops for Education. One day, one of my little characters came up to me and my parent volunteer and said "Miss K., you know Box Tops?" I looked at my volunteer with a smile/laugh and wondered where in the world this was going. He then said "What? They have Box Tops on them." Too funny. Something I will probably always remember. Thanks so much for the ideas!

Ashley
Live2Learn

Mrs. Wright said...

That blender idea is the cutest, and I too teach in low income area, so great way to introduce something new.
-First Grade Journal

Allyson McGuire said...

This is so great! I wish I had this last semester during my language arts lessons!

Thanks for sharing!
Allyson
http://cupcakescandycanes.blogspot.com

Jamie (2nd Grade Stuff) said...

Love the blends activity! I also have that pinned on Pinterest. Don't ya just LOVE Pinterest?!

Funny story: Our school collects can tabs for Ronald McDonald House and one day the little boy brought in a whole gallon jug of tabs. I said, "Wow, that's a lot of pull tabs! Way to go!" He said, "Yeah, my dad drinks a LOT of beer!" LOL It was one of those moments I had to just turn away! I loved it!

Jamie at 2nd Grade Stuff

Megan's Musings said...

I love that you brought in a real blender! Great idea to make their learning more concrete. I'm totally making a blender next year and using your stuffed animals!

Rachelle said...

That is SOOOOO cute!!! Love the blenders a lot!
I'm totally pinning this!
-Rachelle
whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com

Ali said...

Heather you have such a big heart! Thanks so much for sharing all you do!

Ali
alischepis(at)gmail.com

Jackie said...

Here is a funny one. We have been working on word families with my grandson...CVC words. So he is driving with my daughter and they pay the gas station. He says "Mom gas is an -as word!" She just about crashed the car. Too funny!

Trisha said...

I had a boy tell me that he didnt know why people acted like idiots when his father was driving. The same boy told me that his dad lets him play video games and when he is allowed to be the computer he wins.

Amanda said...

Love this! My kids are struggling with blends, so I will definitely try this! I love how creative and hands on the activities are. What a great idea for the smoothies! I also teach in an area with a lot of poverty. I always have a child who says, "HOW YOU GONNA TELL ME!" He probably got that from someone at home!

-Amanda
http://amandasadventuresinteaching.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

This is so cute! Such a great idea! Definitely going to keep this for the future!
-Anna
shinelikeglitter.blogspot.com

Stacey said...

I love, love this!!! Love the adorable stuffies, to the adorable blenders, and the ways that you used them! So fun! And what a great story.
I can't think of anything from my class, but the K4&5 teacher said one of her boys just last week or so said, "My mom threw my dad's phone out, cuz some lady was callin' him all the time! My mom said, I guess she won't be calling him anymore!" Out of the mouths of babes. :) I am a new follower!

Holly said...

I have to make that blender - MUST! My friend made it and it turned out so darn cute. Great minds think alike because I gave her the idea of making some kind of slushie in it to really firm up the whole concept of a blend...and there you go, you went and did it! HA!!!!!!

CUTE!!!!

Holly
Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade

We Teach Like A Rockstar said...

What a clever way to introduce blends and help make it a memorable lesson! I "heart" it! Thanks so much for sharing this activity! I cannot wait to use it.

My funny is... a young boy is sounding out /d/ /o/ /g/. He has the right sounds, he just needs to pull the word together. I ask him to sound it out again /d/ /o/ /g/ - then he says "Dear God" I tried SO hard not to laugh!

Erica, and Tia said...

I love the blender idea. It is such a great way to teach blends. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness! This is just brilliant! I HAVE to do this with my kids.

I've had several "funny" stories from my kids. However, they all seem to have something to do with beer! Last year on Valentine's Day one of my parents brought in the cutest bottles of Red Crush (like orange crush). They were they glass bottles with twist tops. One of my darlings asked if I could help her open it. She said - usually I can get my parent beer bottles, but this one is too hard. Nice. Shouldn't surprise me though since the mom informed me at conferences that they don't hide/shelter anything from their kids - YIKES!

Thanks for sharing this great idea!
Heather

Maria said...

LOVE the blender ideas - thank you!
My story happened several years ago when I was teaching Pre-K but I never forgot it. I had a student that was very excited about her grandmother coming to visit that night -- She told me all about it several times throughout the day. Right before dismissal she announced that her grandmother didn't wear panties to bed. I said, "Well, I don't think I needed to know that." And in walked her grandmother.
Nice. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Heather,

Thanks so much for telling me about your blog! I just love how blogs provide a little "window" into the classroom :)

Your blender/blends lesson was fabulous and I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts!

Have a great day,
Kayla

The Bubblegum Tree said...

Wow! It looks like you has a BLast with your blends! Love the smoothie idea and the crab is too cute! Who knew blending could be so much fun?

Tamera Wilson said...

Love the blender idea! Will try it very soon! Anytime I can cook or eat in the classroom is a +.

A funny from a parent:

I called a parent to let him know his child and a friend were playing swords with their scissors and he/she got cut. He proceeds to say, "What kinda school you got that has scissors that cut?" No lie!

Lisa Lizak and Beth Wright said...

Those blenders are so cute! What an awesome idea that you actually made smoothies in the blender with blends :) I will definintely be doing this next week and thank you so much for the great freebie! It is super appreciated as always! Have a great rest of your day :)

Lisa :)
Made In The Shade In Second Grade

Unknown said...

What a darling idea! Love the blender activity!
Lory
Funforfirst.blogspot.com

Ashley said...

Love your blog. The blenders are too cute! The funniest thing... hmmm.
We had a 'papa pajama party' day where all the dads came in in their pj's and spent the morning reading to the kids (and drinking Starbucks). One boy said his dad didn't wear pajamas and that he only walked around the house in white underwear. Hahaha... he found a robe for that day.

www.theschoolsupplyaddict.blogspot.com

Double Whimsy said...

Heather, I love your blog... The activities are awesome! I have so many questions about blogging.. I may have to e-mail you and pick your brain.

Jessica said...

You are making wish I could go back and teach blends. Totally saving these ideas for next year! So super cute. You are an amazing teacher and are an inspiration with all of your lessons planning. They are so engaging!

Jessica

Apples and Papers

Kelli said...

Hi Heather! I just started following your blog (well, blogs in general!) and I "LOVE" this idea! I also teach from the polar opposite end of poverty where my kids have more than me, have been to more places than me, & have repeated it many times through! And they are 6! My school does Working With Words and I'm always looking for something to Jazz it up a bit....and this activity is a perfect way! My little Blends group is going to love it! Thanks so much!

Mrs. Jones Teaches said...

I love the Pinterest blender idea. Thanks for sharing so many freebies! You are so kind.

Sarah
Squirrel-Bottom Diaries

Carly Wizeman said...

Heather!

Love the cute student blenders! Also the fruit smoothies! Such a great idea! Thanks for visiting my blog too! You've got such great ideas! I am officially following your blog!

Carly
Firstgradefabulosity.blogspot.com

Gwen said...

Thank you for sharing the blend sorting activity with my students!

Just A Primary Girl said...

Hi Heather! Your blog is darling! Thanks for stopping by!!! I am a new follower! :)

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Richard C. Lambert said...

Cuisinart Hot and Cold Blender is an innovative blender can make sauces, soup, porridge, dessert and etc in it from start to finish including sauteing onions and vegetables, grind and chop nuts, crush ice, make smoothie and even baby food to a smooth desired consistency with a touch of a button! kitchen appliances