50th Day!! (already? no way!)

Yesterday was the 50th day of school...I can hardly believe it.  (Christmas will be here before we know it and I, being the procrastinator that I am, have not even thought about shopping.) We celebrated in our classroom by having "fifties day". I purchased Cara Carroll's mini unit from TpT, and it was FULL of ideas.  In fact, we did not get to all of them, so we also celebrated on day 51:).

We began the day by watching a portion of "Leave it to Beaver". We talked about televisions in the 50s and how televisions began in black and white. Without cable. (and I told them how in the 70's I learned "southeast" by the direction I had to turn the antenna on the roof.) They think I'm ancient. I am, in fact, feeling a little ancient.

We also discussed fashion.  That is a word my class understands!

We did a "craftivity" paired with a Venn diagram of kids in the 50's and kids today.  Most of them wrote about the 50's kids not having to wear seat belts.  They were shocked at this news.

Below is a record player.  It plays vinyl records.  Records are like vinyl CDs. Even kids in the 70's listened to records. And ones in the eighties.  These kids had NEVER seen a record player. They were astonished. And they were interested in how to change songs....they studied the grooves on the records and the needle on the arm. We listened to Fats Domino, Patsy Cline, and of course Elvis.  I had to explain who Elvis was. I had a life size poster on the door.  They noticed him the minute they walked in, and asked me repeatedly "Who is that man?" and"Why is he on our door?" One little person informed them that he was a king.  And that she knew how he died.

Next we made root beer floats.  I did not tell them that I thought root beer is disgusting.  I did not want to bias any opinions. (but I did have Pepsi on standby) Then we did a survey. 16 liked root beer floats, and 5 did not.

We also wrote shape books entitled "How to Make a Root Beer Float".

Next, we went outside and timed our partners doing various "fifties fads" for 50 seconds. This girl blew about 10 bubbles in a row!

And these kids can hula like nobody's business!

Then we put fifties words in ABC order.  Words like "greaser" and "jukebox".  That one was as fun to explain as "record".

Then we doubled our burgers and answered with fries:)

It was a really fun day and I think the kids really did get the concept of how the world is changing...and they are thrilled that it's all in color now:)
They are already asking for a sixties day and a seventies day!

And a little less retro...this was last week.  We, like the rest of the world, have been studying spiders and bats.  Several teachers have used this freebie from Pinterest. It was interesting to see what 600 mosquitoes look like...

 As cute as I think bats are, I'm glad I won't have to see any with 6 ft. wingspans!

And the kiddos created some of their own creatures of the night. But these are special because they eat rhyming words. (another freebie from tpt)

And thanks to the "Teeny Tiny Teacher" for this idea.  This is the quiet creature. The quiet creature only comes out when it is quiet. Suffice it to say, he hides in my desk drawer quite a lot.  But today the kids asked if he could come back out...and they promised to be really, REALLY quiet.  Because the quiet creature hates noise as much as Harry Hat Man does.  He never, ever opens his mouth.  He only nods and shakes his head.  (and wiggles his ears) And then they argued over whether the quiet creature was real or whether it was just Mrs. Raby's hand. They can be a little skeptical at times. But the quiet creature got to come out and he checked on everybody's quiet working skills....

 it worked for a little while

If we have eighties day, maybe the quiet creature can teach the rock and roll sign. Just kidding. sort of.

Check back soon for news on our "Pete the Cat Rockin in My School Shoes" talent show act update!