The Green Classroom

QR Codes and Bottle Cap Fun!

2012-02-21T14:41:00.002-08:00

Technology is awesome because not only does it keeps students engaged, it's also usually pretty environment-friendly! So, I've decided to combine two fun items I've been incorporating in my classroom - QR codes and labeling bottle caps - to help students practice ordering fractions, multi-digit multiplication, and long division - just a few skills we're going over in fourth grade right now.

Let's start with ordering fractions:

I made 8 bottle cap groups with six fractions in each group using Avery lables (1" circles 5410).

And then, lo and behold, did you know you can make QR codes in Avery? On the left-hand tool bar, there is a button for making bar codes and QR codes. So, I made QR codes for the inside of the bottle caps. Once students put the fraction bottle caps in order from least to greates, the QR codes inside the bottle caps should reveal the numbers 1-6 in order.

Am I making sense? (It's been a long day!) If not, or if you need more explanation with QR codes, just go ahead and download this freebie farther down the page.

Now on to multi-digit multiplication and long division:

I made 6 problems each, using the same Avery labels.

Then, through the QR code button on the Avery website, I made QR codes with the answers to put on the inside of the caps.

Got a scan app on you right now? You can scan the QR code above, and you will see just how this works! You should see the number 4,836 which is the product of 62 x 78, whoo-hoo! There's such a fun feeling when you scan a QR code! And your students will feel it, too, I promise!

Click on the image below to download the freebie.

I also have some really fun QR code titles for just $2 a piece. Click on any image below for more details:

Or I have all four titles bundled together at a discounted price of $5.

Happy QR coding!

Ideas for Recycling Chocolate Heart Boxes

2012-02-18T07:52:00.002-08:00

Don't throw those chocolate heart boxes away! (Although I know we don't want reminders of eating way too much chocolate at Valentine's Day!). But you really can use them in many ways in your classroom.

1) Obviously you can use them for storage containers for manipulatives, cards, etc. Jennifer from Empowering Little Learners has a great parent letter to send home to save heart boxes for your classroom. Click the image for her post.

2) MATH - One student gave me an adorable chocolate heart box that is perfect for holding bottle caps (So you know I was happy!) So, after eating all the chocolates inside for breakfast, I came up with a game for practicing equivalent fractions, decimals, and percentages.

The pretty box!

I placed Avery stickers with fractions on the top of each bottle cap. See how they fit in perfectly? This should work with any chocolate box that has round chocolates.

Then inside each bottle cap, I placed an equivalent percentage sticker, and then inside each hole I placed an equivalent decimal sticker.

So, students will play by pointing to a bottle cap and naming its equivalent decimal and percentage.

If they're right, they keep the cap. If they're wrong, they need to put it back. The student with most caps, wins.

Click here to download instructions and the labels.

You will find that I put the fractions and decimals on one page and then repeated the fractions and percentages on the next page. I apologize about that, but I decided to add percentages half-way through the creation and Avery can be a little difficult when you try to change labels.

3) READING - Here's a really cute idea from Finally in First for using heart boxes with real and nonsense words. Click the image for the post.

So, here are just a few of many possibilites. Do you do any cool activities with heart boxes? Let me know, and I'll link it up here at The Green Classroom!

Turn Plastic Bottles into Magical Learning!

2012-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

There is never an excuse for throwing away plastic bottles because there is always a reason to use them in your classroom. There are so many fantastic resources out there by super creative individuals for turning bottles into educational tools, and in this post I will try to touch on as many as I know about. So, peruse the ideas below and start saving your bottles!

DISCOVERY BOTTLES ARE THE BOMB!

So much fun! All you need are bottles some kind of fun material (rice, pom-poms, sprinkles, etc.). I got my start from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits who has the mother of all posts on discovery bottles. You'll need to scroll down to see the post because I'm having issues with the actual post showing up.

Discover Bottles by Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

February Word Find Shaker from Sunny Days in Second Grade

Synonym Shaker from Sunny Days in Second Grade

Many science discovery bottles for the little ones by Preschool Projects.

Making Rain by Ms. Dean's Garden

Rain Catchers by Tabitha Carro (me!)

Bottle O' Words Activity by Swamp Frog First Graders

Lava Lamps by Science Sparks

Lots of Preschool bottle ideas at Pre-School Play

Plastic Bottle Bowling by Meet the Dubiens

Quiet Spray by Mrs. Karen's Class

Brain Sprinkles & Other Fantastic Recycling Ideas by Mrs. Karen's Class

Do you have an awesome classroom activity involving bottles? Please link it up here - http://yourgreenclassroom.blogspot.com/p/bottles.html?zx=8aed6731523b0be9.

And please feel free to link up any other green classroom ideas anywhere you see fit in this blog!

Like to guest blog? I would love for you to at The Green Classroom! Please let me know at tabitha@flapjacklapbooks.com.

Light Bulb Grinch from Honey Bee Books

2011-12-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

Now you know this is just too cute! What a creative, "green" craft to complete after reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" from Honey Bee Books! Although it may be too late to do this craft this holiday season, that gives you a whole year to save your old light bulbs for Christmas 2012 :).

And although the Arte de Fazer blog is in another language (Portuguese??), there are lots of adorable holiday light bulb ideas there, also.

Happy Greenmas!!

The Green Classroom

2011-12-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am definitely not an expert on the environment, nor do I always remember to bring reusable bags to the grocery store or turn the water off as I'm brushing my teeth or put my Sprite Zero bottle in the recycling bin. But doing my part to help the earth is important to me, as I believe it is for many people. Thankfully, I have an awesome green team at school that teaches me new tips all the time.

As teachers, we have so many opportunities to make a difference, and one of those I believe is educating our students on how to take care of the environment, whether at home, in nature, or even in our own classrooms.

I hope this blog will become a great resource for ideas on how to be green in the classroom through recycling and reusing what we already have to creatively instruct our students.

Right now, the content is slim! I've posted "link parties" under almost every category, so please browse around and add your own green ideas. There are so many amazing ideas out there, and I'd love for them all to end up here.

Thank you for your help! As I tell my kids, "Somos los héreos de la tierra." We're earth's heroes.

Sra. Carro's Class Recycling Center

2011-12-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

I purchased these cute, little recycling bins from buy green.com for a pretty penny! But they work grrrreat because they are stackable and the students can easily grab and carry them when it's recycling day.

The only issue is that it seems to be too small for all our paper. But I don't think that's the bin's problem, I think it's more my problem of using too much paper.

The sign below is what is posted above the center - "We are earth's heroes!" Or sadly, we can be her enemies :(. But if all teachers would use their influence on students concerning the environment and being responsible, we really could make a HUUUGE difference.

Do you have a class recycling center or school recycling center? Please link it up here!

Happy Recycling!

Box Storage Containers

2011-12-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

Most boxes (cereal, breakfast bar, crayon, etc.) can be used as storage for different activities.

All you need to do is:
1) Reinforce the top flaps with packaging tape on both sides.
2) Add velcro dots under the flaps for opening and closing.

3) Use whole sheet sticker printing paper to create unique labels for your box.

Or just use an index card and cover with packaging tape. Crayon boxes store flashcards well.

Soda Bottle Rain Gauges (Catchers)

2011-12-10T10:02:00.000-08:00

Have fun catching rain with soda bottle rain gauges (catchers).

1) All you need is a small or large soda bottle. Cut the mouth off at the top where the bottle starts becoming smaller.

2) Afterwards, take the mouth of the bottle and flip it down inside the bottles to serve as a funnel for the pebbles.

3) Add small pebbles to the bottom of the bottle through the funnel top to give the bottle some weight.

4) Start marking the bottle with a permanent marker using centimeter or inches. * Be sure to start the markings above the bottom grooves of the bottle so you will have a consistent reading.

5) Do a rain dance and see what happens!

Obviously these rain gauges are not a standard measure, but they will give students a physical demonstration of what one is.

Happy Recycling!

RePurPosed PUZZLES!

2011-12-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

Have old puzzles that need a new life? Here are two ways to do that!

BJ Mama from For What It's Worth or Not shows a super-duper adorable way to transform old puzzle pieces into reindeer ornaments. Click here for her post.

Here is a cool video from Mr. Smith at Teacher Tipster for using puzzles to reinforce math facts. Fantastic!

Compound Word Plastic Eggs by Lesson Plan Diva

2011-12-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Have left over Easter eggs? This is a great way to reuse them, and I'm sure a lot many more come to mind. Click to see this post from Lesson Plan Diva.

Station/Center Bottle Caps

2011-12-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

I just saw this in a fellow teacher's classroom and LOVED it. Using some sort of metal strips, bottle caps, and magnetic backing, she has a quick and cute way to sort students into different literacy centers.

Math Bottle Cap Ideas

2011-12-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some ideas I have done or come across so far to use bottle caps, lids, milk caps, etc.

Use caps that open and close to create these fun bottle cap answer keepers. Click here to see the full post from me at FlapJack Educational Resources.

Check out these cute ladybug lids from Amanda Formaro at Crafts by Amanda. Students can count the dots on each ladybug (And Amanda has many amaaaazing recycling crafts at her site.)

I used a post from Amanda to create these funny little monster lids. We then did math and graphing with them in a lapbook. You can check out the guestblog post here at The Organized Classroom (freebie graph included).

Cindy from Love2learn2day has many great activities for recycling. Here's one of her posts on using milk jug caps to teach math.

Growing in PreK shows this great idea in a math center post that originated from Msv1st grade's blog. You'll need to scroll down to see in detail.

Here'a a math facts bottle cap activity that my students and I have so much fun with. Free labels are included in the post here.