Play-Doh Fun :)

Lately it seems I am taking teaching day by day rather than planning out the week. I am falling into a routine and slacking on adding a creative touch to my lessons. It might have to do with these awful fevers and this awful cough, or it could be because I feel I am up to my ears in tasks I need to complete before December and I am feeling overwhelmed. Mrs. McDonald said today, "Somedays Jodi, you just don't feel up to teaching an interactive, crazy, lesson. Somedays you need to assign them busy work just to take care of yourself. In order to be an effective teacher, you can't run yourself down. Take care of yourself first." I know she's right, but I still find myself staying up late at night and staying after school to work on things when my body is screaming, "Take Motrin, go to bed, sleeeeeep!" I'm stubborn.

Last week my students did a neat 'Play-Doh Activity' and I wanted to post some pictures of what they created. I had students pick a number 1-9 from a cup and gave them each a container of play-doh.  Their assignment was to create a baby for their assigned month (1-9).  Examples: If a student chose the number 1, they would most likely create a very small baby since the baby is the size of a pin head during month one. If a student chose the number 9, they would most likely create a fairly large baby (not too large since they are only given one container of play-doh!) and the baby would have arms, legs, a face, umbilical cord, basically everything since a baby is developed by month 9 :)
The students LOVED this activity. Some of them were so creative. I was very impressed. When students were done creating their babies, I had them place their babies at the back table and students were able to visit and take a guess at which month the play-doh babies belong in. When going over students guesses, majority of them guessed correctly!

Seeing my students this excited about learning pushes me to be more creative with my lessons. I am not going to let this sickness get the best of me! :)