Simple Machine Valentine Box

What a fantastic day I had at Cason Lane this week!!  I am always amazed at the talent lurking in our schools.  I get so excited when teachers combine hands-on learning with layers of thinking, with a little choice on top!!  Instant motivation and engagement.

Ms. Jackson is having her 4th graders design Valentines boxes that include 6 simple machines.

Now, THAT’s making use of every opportunity to learn!!

My Mom’s Drawing Book

My mom, Kaylea Mangrum, has self-published 4 books.  She designed a drawing instruction process, called Frog Hops, and applied it to these step-by-step drawing books.  Currently, you can download one of them for free as an iBook in iTunes.  This past year, her book was one of the top downloaded books in the category for the year. Cool!!

WHY do I think this is appropriate for this blog?  When I taught kindergarten, we would use these step-by-step instructions to draw a picture and write about it.  It also helped with visual discrimination when they used the instructions independently in workstations.

Here is a sample page of the free download.  This particular book has more difficult tasks.  Try this book, for free, on the iPad.  Go to iTunes and search for Kaylea Mangrum in iBooks.  The title of the free download is How to Draw Step-by-Step with Special Kids.  (She has done work with the Special Kids Organization in town.  Her time with them inspired her to produce this work.)

Sure I’m proud of my mom.  But I am also a sucker for free things…especially when it can help in my classroom!  Push creativity by asking them to complete the picture with questions such as, “What’s the weather?  I can’t tell by your picture.”

ENJOY!