Robots and Heart People

I started to post last night and halfway through I realized that I was misspelling every other word and that I couldn't put a sentence together.  So, needless to say, I thought you guys may appreciate me more tonight.  Now the only thing I need to watch is not getting food on the keyboard.  That's right!  It is 8:37 and I am just getting to dinner.  Sad, I know, but welcome to my world.  Seriously!  Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  I had centers to cut out, bookmarks to get ready, bags to touch up, not to mention a trip to Publix.  Speaking of which, just in case you are wondering, Publix looks like it threw up red and pink balloons, flowers, etc.  It was covered!  Oh, and if you are the person that was behind me clicking your buggy over and over and over and over... I passed!  I didn't say a word to you about your impatience.  Friends, you know how it sounds when someone clicks their pen fifty times in a row.  Yep!  This was just like that!

Now I have to tell you guys the last two days have been so much fun.  Yesterday, I had the best time with my kiddos completing their writing assignment.  Last week, we started writing about robots.  I decided that I wanted to cut my kids lose and see how they would do.  I started them off at the Activboard with a picture of a robot.  Then, we talked about the questions (who, what, when, where, why, how).  I wrote down several, but compared to our usual writing lessons, we met for a very short time frame.

Once we knocked out our brainstorming and rough drafts, we started their final drafts.  Then, we reached the best day of all - Robot Day!  I got the kids some silver poster board, cut it into 6 rectangles, and they got to build robots to go with their stories.  The stories were already great, but the robots took the stories up a notch to fantabulous!
First, I created a template to use for the robots.  You can click on the Robot Parts picture to the left to go grab my template.  Once the template was done, I ran off the first two pages on mixed packages of construction paper.  I took out the black and white since I didn't think those colors would be as much fun.  Then, I ran 30 of each paper.  Once they were done, I took my handy, dandy paper cutter and cut each sheet into small pieces.  I also drew a robot on the Activboard, so they would have an idea where each piece went.  After that, I took a picnic blanket and placed it on top of my rug.  This helped my kids have a little more room, but it kept my rug glue and scissors free.  Plus, I don't know why, but I like being on the floor sometimes.  It feels more relaxed and like we're a little family.

Once everyone was on the floor,  I would take a portion of the robot and have my kids pass it around the circle as they took what they needed.  This allowed things to stay organized, but it also allowed my kids to be able to pick the color they wanted.  This would have been a NIGHTMARE if the pieces were not broken up, but since they were, the kids were able to pick a blue nose, yellow arms, and green antennas.  The kids had an awesome time and the robots turned out adorable.

Well, at the end of that very long day, I made a trip to Michael's.  I found an incredible blog on Pinterest a few weeks ago with the most adorable Valentine's Day bags.  To see her creation, visit LITTLE PUMPKIN GRACE.  I decided I had to do the bags, so I visited Michael's to get all the supplies.  Well, I have to tell you, trying to buy hearts the week of Valentine's Day was not my most brilliant move.  The foam hearts were gone and there were only two little packets of small hearts left.  I also couldn't find the bags I needed.  So what's a girl to do?  Improvise!  I bought a bunch of foam, drew hearts, and cut them out.  Instead of putting random hearts, we did pockets for the girls and buttons for the boys.  I also decided to get my boys black bags to make them a little bit more boyish.   The only piece of advice I can give you is it worked really well pulling four or five kids at a time.  I think if I had pulled more kids than that or if we had made it a whole group activity, it would have been a huge mess.

Alright, I better go get things ready for tomorrow!  I hope everyone has a Happy Heart Day!  I can't wait to share more pictures tomorrow!