March Monday Made It- American Revolution Lesson Ideas, Clipart, St. Patrick's Day Centers for Big Kids, and a Whimsical Tutu...OH MY!

You may be asking what on earth these four things have to do with each other...well...we are linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!!

Here is Made It for HOME from Amanda:

Sorry for the blurry smartphone photos!  grrrr.

Yes, technically I helped make this child, but that's not my Monday Made It!  ;O)

Our school celebrates Read Across America Day and the unmentionable birthday.  So, we celebrate, whimsical style!!  This year, I decided to make my daughter a "whimsical" tutu to celebrate the day!!  She loved it!  My word, was it poofy!  But, it was sooooo cute!  I also added the blue tutu material (I'm sure it has a name but I can't recall it right now) to the bow.  Of course, the blue boa just makes it!  ;O)

Here's how it went:

I cut the material into 3 inch strips.  (Why 3 inches, I have no idea, I guess it just looked good at the time!)  ;O)

Then I started tying it to the elastic that I had already measured and sewn together for her.  To tie it, I made a loop and then pulled it through.  

I alternated the colors.  And that's it!  The easiest, whimsical costume EVER!
*Amanda

Here is Made It for SCHOOL from Stacia:

#1:
We have been studying the American Revolution, and the students are loving it! Okay, I am loving it too!  I never even realized how excited I was about U.S. history until I started teaching social studies last year (I was always the science teacher and now I get to do both!).  :O)   

I have been trying to integrate my social studies content into language arts, and I finally found the PERFECT book to accompany our study of the Revolutionary War. My students LOOOOOOVED it!!!  They asked for me to REREAD it every day for 2 weeks!!! Well, I didn't reread it every day but we read it many times, and the students were just as engaged as they were the first time. The book touches so many emotions that the kids really just fell in love with it and I did too.  :)  So what is this book you ask???  

It's The Scarlet Stockings Spy by Trinka Hakes Noble. 

The Scarlet Stockings Spy

This fabulous book tells the story of a young patriot girl who is a spy for the Continental Army. And a warning- you might cry! I did...but it's soooo good!  And wait until you see the illustrations!!!  Soooo beautiful!

I created a literacy unit to accompany our study of this book. Since we are diving in to the Common Core Curriculum this year I am trying to create more lessons with critical thinking skills. I want my students to defend their thinking with evidence from the text. Here are some activities included in this unit. 

Here are the response pages where students have to defend their thinking with text evidence. I tell them to pretend they are detectives searching for the evidence.  :O)  What I love about these is that there isn't one "right" answer. There are many possible answers as long as the students back up their thinking with text evidence.

I always try to include inferencing in my lessons. It is such a hard skill to grasp for many of my students.

Please check out our Teachers Pay Teachers store for more information about this product. 

And you know that we love to have little giveaways so.....................you can win this unit for free by just doing these 2 steps:

1) Pin this unit on Pinterest 

2) Comment on this post and leave your email and the Pinterest ID (all you have to do is copy the url after you pin it on your board and then paste it in the comment section)

We will pick 3 winners on Tuesday evening! Good Luck!!

#2:

Leaping Leprechauns:  St. Patrick's Day games for big kids!!
These games are perfect for centers, small groups, or early finishers. Click to see more information in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store. 

#3:

I  finally made MY OWN clipart!!!!!! This is something I have been messing around with for a loooooooong time and I finally have done it!  Yay!!!! So of course I have to share it with you! 

It's called "Shamrock Cuties." Check this post to see how you could win these little cuties!!!  Hurry, you only have today to enter to win!  :O)

shamrock cuties at our TPT store

Another set I made was for the American Revolution!  

You can check them out at our TpT store by clicking the picture.  
*Stacia

Made It for SCHOOL From Amanda:

Well, sweet Stacia made the American Revolution clipart so I could make a literature/American Revolution unit to go with this book:

Can you tell that we love integrating social studies into language arts?  Well, not only that, but there's just not enough TIME to do all we need to during our short SS time period, so we pretty much have to integrate!

I love this book because the author uses a play on words that get readers thinking about what he is really trying to say.  Enter, making inferences!

For example, he says, "Tom was an independent lad," and then goes on to tell how Tom was "independent" as a child.  Students can INFER that the author chose this word to describe Thomas Jefferson because he was the author of the Declaration of INDEPENDENCE.  Isn't that fun???

Anywho, this is what I made to go along with the book:

If you teach the American Revolution, this would be a great addition to your collection and a great way to integrate!!  :O)  You can check it out by clicking on any of the pictures and visiting our TpT Store.  I'm going to do a giveaway for this unit later in the week so we don't get all confused in the comment section!  :O)  

Phew!  If you made it through all of THAT then you are the BEST!

We hope you are having a wonderful week so far!

Amanda and Stacia

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