Making a Mother's Day Gift That's Also Educational

It's almost Mother's Day (May 8th!) and with that being said, it's time to plan a great classroom Mother's Day gift! My favorite gift involves some educational activities too!

Truffula Trees from The Lorax!

If you're doing gifts, why not tie in Earth Day and Mother's Day? I love to read The Lorax and then plant "Truffula Seeds" for the moms (or grandmas or dads!) You can read more about what I've done in the past, here. It's a great time to discuss our impact on the environment and what we can do to be better to our Mother Nature.

We plant some seeds in order to get more plants and flowers into the world! Some fast growing seeds include sunflowers, daisies, or zinnias. They typically sprout within 5-7 days (!!!!). I buy cheap pots, some acrylic paint, seeds, and soil to prepare. Then, I spend a day decorating and painting the pots with my students. The next day we plant our seeds in their pots using the soil and whichever seeds I've chosen!

Using my Plant Power lesson plans, students track the growth of their plant. From there we'll spend a few weeks measuring the growth, and the mean, median, and mode of the plant's height. It always helps my kiddos get more comfortable with these important math ideas and it's fun! Be sure to order your supplies (via Amazon Prime) this week in order to have flowers by Mother's Day!

Activities for the End of the School Year

 I don't know about you, but the end of the school year is always packed with stuff- and not all of it is "learning" stuff.  It's challenging to figure out how to spend time in between celebrations and field days while still holding student's attention.  There are MANY great ideas bouncing around the blogisphere and I thought I would share some that I have found.  These activities and ideas are not mine originally, but they are ones I have found online and from bloggers and that I feel are good and helpful ideas.  Be sure to follow my Pinterest Board to keep up with ideas as they are shared!

- Find out about six engaging projects you can do, here!

 

 - WOW, this website has lists upon lists of different things you can do!  Create a "Boring" lesson or play the Mystery States Game!

- A TV commercial?  Learn more about it here! 

- Have you ever let students choose their own homework?  What a good way to keep them motivated!  Learn more about that and MORE at About.com.

- Host an Expert Symposium and invite other classes to observe!  Find 11 more brilliant ideas here! 

- Think about the year as a class.  What do students need to "survive" the grade level?  Create a Survival Guide to pass down to younger classes or keep as a classroom book.

- I also LOVE the idea of creating a time capsule or stage a service project!  Find out more about these ideas from Scholastic!

- And what better way to get students ready for Summer than to create a Summer calendar!!  Check out that and more here!

 I hope you were able to pull together some fun ideas and activities to make the end of the school year effective and enjoyable for everyone!  Don't forget to follow my Pinterest Board to get caught up on new ideas and activities!!