The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything

We spent all of last week working on the book The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything. I love to use this book because of the interaction you can have with it. We have movements for each part of the book. Shoes (stomp with our feet) Pair of Pant (wiggle our bottoms) Shirt (Shake our arms) Gloves (clap hands) hat (nod head) Pumpkin Head (say boo!) We also use props. I start the book with visuals on the board. We then add a hat, shoes, gloves, etc, and each student has a responsibly for a part of the story. This helps to keep them engaged.

This year we used story sticks from Make Learning Fun (If you haven't checked out this website, it is fantastic!)  She suggested using paint sticks to make the story sticks, but I didn't have any on hand, so I used two Popsicle sticks hot glued together.  I found out quickly that this would not work for my students, so on to plan B.  I used duct tape to hook the two sticks together. This not only accomplished the task of  keeping the sticks together, but made them stand out more also. I used the sticky puddy like stuff that you can use to hook posters to the wall to add the pictures.  This made the pictures removable and I didn't need to use Velcro. (which I am quickly going through this year) My students used theses during the story by adding each  item as the Little Old Lady came up to it in the book.  They also used it to sequence the story and to retell the story.

The many uses of duct tape

Have you discovered the colored and patterned duct tape yet? It comes in roll and sheets and there are SO many cute choices.   I think my favorite is the Paint Splatter Printed Duct Tape. I have posted before how I used duct tape to remodel a bookshelf (you can check that post out here), well I have also used duct tape for a variety of other things this year.  All of these uses were completed at the beginning of the year and I just took the pictures yesterday, so I feel it held up REALLY well to the mistreatment of K-2nd graders.  So this year I have used duct tape to cover a formula can, hold down a carpet, hold up a table cloth turned curtain and of course my remodeled bookshelf. I also used it to cover an can from cake frosting, but I couldn't locate that to take a picture.  I am sure I am going to find many more uses this summer when I start going through my classroom again.  I think I have some more shelves that could use some sprucing up.  Have you used duct tape on anything?  I would love to see! Please share pictures on the Learning Ahoy Facebook wall.

 

You did what with Duct Tape?

So I had this boring shelf in my classroom (please excuse the disaster area around my shelf) that I needed to keep because I needed it for all of my teacher binders and book, but it was just so drab.

Light bulb!!! A few weeks ago I saw a great linky party (I can't remember where, if it was you please let me know!) about taking old furniture or classroom items and making them new again. One of the links was to a page where the teacher had used duct tape to renew a bookshelf. I loved it.



Earlier this week I went to target and found the perfect duct tape. I also picked up a roll of green duct tape as an accent color. I used regular ugly duct tape on the back since no one will see that part. Then I used my new duct tape to make it look pretty. After working I found that it was easier to start on the trim first, but overall it was not too difficult. I really love how it turned out. Have you ever used duct tape for decoration purposes?