More Nutcracker Fun!

10 December 2012 3 comments

Hello!
It has been a week since I last posted here - whew! Life has gotten busy; as I am sure it has for you, too!

I thought I would post a few pictures of the nutcrackers that my students made. We had so much fun with our Nutcracker unit! It was such a unique way of studying introductory mapping skills. The nutcrackers brought mapping to life for my kinders and they really enjoyed creating maps for these fun characters. The skills covered were:
1. Understanding the differences and similarities between a map and globe
2. Identifying man made and physical features on a map
3. Identification of and understanding the purpose of a compass rose and map key
4. Locating cardinal directions on a map
5. Review of position words i.e. beside, above, next to, etc.
The kids created their own maps as well as the key symbols.

When the mapping was finished, they created their favorite nutcracker from paper scraps and wrote a few words about it. I am so impressed with their work! I gave them the basic directions for creating a nutcracker and that was all. I did not give them a pattern or a tracing template. They created EVERYTHING on their own! I did not give them any clue words for their writing, either.
They s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d the sounds they heard in their words. I continue to believe that this type of work is appropriate for a literacy center. Children must follow sequencing steps to create their picture. Then they must listen to the phonemes in the words that they want to use.
The following pictures are just a few examples. All my kinders did a great job in their nutcracker friend task!