Well friends, we are nearing the END! I swear this year has gone by SO fast! It's even crazier that this is the end of my second year teaching! I am still convinced that I have the best job ever! Sure it is hard work--I spend most school nights prepping, cutting, and searching for new ideas, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! Who else gets to go to work and teach about ocean animals, read The Rainbow Fish, and make crafts?! BEST. JOB. EVER. Now enough gloating so I can share some Ocean Activities with you! First off I have to brag a little bit! I LOVE doing directed drawings as a part of almost every unit that I teach. Most of the directed drawings I do I find on Pinterest. However, I am so PROUD to say Rainbow Fish was my first directed draw that I led myself! It took forever but I am in LOVE with how they turned out! I think next year we may even add some glitter--which would make them EVEN more perfect! Glitter makes everything better!
These nifty little ocean animals are from Crafty Bee Creations! I LOVE love love making crafts for each unit I teach and these were the PERFECT resource! You can find these cute sea creatures (octopus and whale pictured) on TPT HERE.
Another super cute craftivity we did was with the book The Pout Pout Fish! Michelle includes FOUR different read aloud stories that go perfectly with any ocean unit! I choose to do The Pout Pout Fish and look how sweet they turned out! The kids absolutely loved making this one! If you want to purchase on TPT you can find Michelle's page HERE.
Now for the bulk of my ocean unit I used a unit called Oceans by Jane Loretz on TPT. It has SO many different facts and information sheets, and a graphic organizer to go with each! It made it a breeze to plan and put together the majority of this unit! I highly recommend it! You can find this Oceans Unit HERE.
If you have followed my blog before you probably know that I like to introduce at least one poem for each unit I teach. Most of the poems that I use are on Pinterest. I read the poem and have the kids echo read me. Then we choral read the poem. We brainstorm what we could draw to illustrate the poem and then I let the kids go from there!
I think these shark projects were probably my FAVORITE part of our Ocean Unit. I mean look how cute/funny they are! The original idea came from a picture I saw on Pinterest.
Instead of making a template I just showed my babies how to cut out each piece and they created their own. I am in LOVE with how the turned out!
I hope that this post gave you some ideas and resources to use for your own Ocean Unit! Happy Learning!
