Jungle Fun

Wow!  I can't believe it's almost 2015!  Half the school year is already over, and another calendar year is on it's way out.  Back in February, we studied the Jungle for several weeks.  I had an idea to "bring the jungle" to our students, since there was no way to bring the children to the jungle here in Louisiana.  So I convinced the teacher I worked with to help me decorate our room in a jungle theme.  We used items we both already had at home such as her cheetah pillows, fake flowers from my wedding and my king size black canopy.  

Brown bulletin board paper was twisted into vines and hung them from the ceiling.  Green leaves made from lightweight bulletin board paper were added on the vines.  I also made some tissue paper flowers for the some of the vines. Not shown, several large sections of green bulletin board paper were put on the ceiling to make the jungle "canopy" more green and "lush". 

The loft was turned into "Baloo's Block Bungalow".  

On the other side of our loft, was a waterfall.  The steps to create the waterfall: 1.put up brown bulletin board paper and paint a stone design on it 2. add crumpled turquoise bulletin board paper for the water.  3. add fake flowers and/or vines.  I used flowers I had from my wedding.

The dramatic play center was turned into a Jungle Tour company.  I made binoculars for the children out of toilet paper tubes, cheetah duct tape, and yarn. I made mini tiki torches using cheetah duct tape covered styrofoam cups filled with orange, yellow and red tissue paper to resemble fire.

The front of some of our shelves were turned into jeeps.  Our children brought stuffed jungle animals to school, as did we, so there were animals to see on the "jungle tours".  Our children had a lot of fun taking each other, and visitors such as our principal, on jungle tours.  We also made some jungle animals at art to display around the room.  We made lions, giraffes, chameleons, elephants, monkeys, toucans and tree frogs.

                  

                            

 We also did a jungle explorer writing activity. **** Original idea seen on Buzzing About Second Grade blog!!!  Go to Buzzing About Second Grade blog for copies of the report, pattern and directions!!!   And we did a project about the four layers of the jungle.

We enjoyed the jungle unit, and can't wait to teach it again in the new year.  I hope this year's kids enjoy it as much as last year's kids did!  

~Christa~

Hallway Displays Part 2 - Jungle

Continuing the hallway displays from my previous post, our next theme was Jungle.  After cutting a LOT of green jungle leaves, I changed our winter/Candyland tree into a jungle tree.  As we did art projects for our Jungle theme, the surrounding area was filled in with many jungle animals.  Our gingerbread house was transformed into a jungle tiki hut.  

  I removed Santa and the chimney, as well as the gumdrops.  Then I covered the roof in fringed paper, put leaves on the windows and door awning.  I replaced the candy cane poles with tiki torches.  I created the tiki torches by covering styrofoam cups with cheetah print duct tape.  Inside the cups, I glued red, yellow and orange tissue paper, fluffing it up like flames.  I then attached the cups to my brown posts (covered wrapping paper tubes).  The final touch was a new door sign to replace our "Santa's Candy Factory" sign.  

  Our herd of elephants: Each elephant was made by painting a paper plate gray, adding google eyes, a trunk, and ears decorated with pink tissue paper.

  We then did a writing activity titled How Can You Help Get Rid of Elephant's Hiccups? after reading the book Hiccups for Elephant. Their writings were put on the elephant's body.  The body was then attached to the head they made, completing our elephant.  

  To complete this part of the display, we added tigers, chameleons, and footprint lions.

  A close up of our footprint lion.  Use the child's footprint as the base for the lion, then add tail, face and mane.  Our background was done with green and yellow chalk.

  Our herd of footprint giraffes.

  A closeup of one of our footprint giraffes.  You need two footprints.  I used the same foot twice.  Then using the same paint color, I painted leg, ears and a neck.  After they dried, I then added the brown spots, tail, and horns.  I used black for the nose and eye.  I used chalk for the grass and sky.  I had to create the color paint I used by adding yellow to orange paint until I had the shade I wanted.  The lion was done with the same paint, but I added even more yellow.

  I hope you enjoyed our jungle hallway display.  We still have our Enchanted Garden hallway display to share, as well as our Jungle classroom. 

  It's almost the start of a new school year.  I have already been working in our classroom, getting it set up for a new year.  I'm excited to meet the new little ones!!  I hope this year is as much fun as last year was.

~Christa~

Tree For All Seasons

  When Fall was approaching, I decided I wanted to make a Fall tree for our hallway display.  I painted white bulletin board paper with brown finger paint.  Paint was rubbed all over the paper with hands. A brush was used on parts of it.  I loved how it turned out because it was textured and random, much like the bark of a real tree.  Then I cut a trunk and branches from the painted paper.  After mounting it on the wall in the hallway, it was decorated with various Fall themed projects.  As the children made the art projects throughout the two weeks we were learning about Fall, the art was added to the tree and surrounding area.  The children loved seeing their projects on display. We put leaves, acorns, squirrels, and owls on our tree.

  For Christmas time, our Fall decorations were replaced with child made angel and dove ornaments, gingerbread men, and Christmas cookies (bell, tree and star shapes).  

  After Christmas, we turned our tree into a Winter/Candyland tree.  We kept the cookies and gingerbread men.  We added peppermints, snowflakes and snow.

  

  When we began our unit on Jungle, we turned our Candyland tree into a jungle tree.  Our tree was home to many jungle animals: parrots, toucans, monkeys and tree frogs.

  

  Finally, for Spring, we had an Enchanted Garden theme, so our tree was decorated with our parrots, ladybugs, flowers and giant butterflies.

  Our children loved seeing our tree evolve and change as the year went on.  It made making the work involved in making the tree worth it, as we were able to use it almost the entire school year. I hope these pictures inspire you to create your own Tree for All Seasons.

~Christa~