Heart Families

I have done this lesson before (past post) but always find it so 'happy' so I wanted to do it again.  This time, I changed things just a bit to make it a two-day project rather than a three-day. 

Day 1: Students cut the hearts.  Let me tell you, this was quite the challenge this year.  I have been running the K's as stations and modified choice.  I think there has been some loose on following instructions in my class because of it.  I found that the students had a hard time making these hearts and it appeared to be because they were not stopping, looking and listening.  I'm doing some real soul searching to determine if I think this is a good thing, or a bad thing.  I would love to hear your take on that.  Students cut the hearts for their family members and glued them onto the horizon line. (this lesson was also the introduction to horizon line).  

There was one class that did better with the heart cutting than others.  I gave them a 5 minute at the end of class lesson.  They were 'assigned' to practice at home.  I also sent an email home asking parents to practice this with their kids. I also asked the teacher to put a station in her class around this idea.  I saw 90% more success in this class.   I was able to put more effort into the 10% that did not have the practice.

Day 2: I explained that the students should glue the head, arms and legs down first.  Then they could get a sharpie to add the final details. I found this to be less frustrating for K's to collage their work rather than last year when I had them color.  I love coloring with K's but this was a 12 x 18 sheet of paper.  That's just too much for many k's to do a quality job.    

So the happy little families are hung again.  I love getting to know the kids better through this lesson.  I learn who's moms are pregnant.  Who's one of many and who's an only.  K's (in their raw honesty) tell me things like, 'My Mom died'.  I enjoy that this lesson allows me to talk about the many different ways that families can look and that all families are OK. These are helpful project for me to better understand the diverse group that I teach.