"Same is boring."

The students have had a busy start to the new year and their hard work is evident in our classroom environment. At the beginning of January, mother nature brought us a winter blast one snowy Thursday afternoon. We spent the afternoon outside observing the snowflakes up-close on frozen black construction paper. From this, several authentic activities emerged.

The students sketched snowy scenes in their Science journals from our school hallways. They wrote How-To and Shape poems using words that we brainstormed describing the snow. We used photographs that were taken from that day to write captions describing the pictures. We also used our creative skills to make our own unique, six-pointed snowflakes out of diffusing paper and water colors after learning about snowflakes from Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.  

Finally, an interactive writing piece was created from the student's words about that day. The writing reads: 

"It was an ordinary day and we were at math. We looked out the window, there were snowflakes falling to the ground. Then we went to lunch. After lunch the snow was falling harder and harder. It was covering everything! It was a winter wonderland! All of us went outside to observe snowflakes and we used black paper and magnifying glasses to take a closer look." 

Last week, the students read the book The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater. 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Big Orange Splot tells the story of a town where every house on neat street looks exactly the same until a big orange paint splot falls onto the roof of one of the houses. This orange splot encourages the man to paint his house to look like his dream house. The idea spreads and soon, every house on neat street has its own unique identity. 

The book spurred conversation about what it means to be an individual. The students had so many thoughtful opinions that they shared during the discussion. Most of the students voiced that it's important to be proud of who you are and why it's ok that we are all different. Here are some of the student's responses: 

• "Same is boring."
• "Spice it up a little."
• "You can have your own ideas."
• "Follow your dreams."
• "Nobody can be better than you."
• "Be yourself."

The students decided to create their own neighborhood reflecting each of their individual identities. The children illustrated their dream houses using black construction paper and oil pastels. The unique neighborhood is now displayed proudly in our classroom. 

 "Our street is us and we are it. 
Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams." 
Daniel Pinkwater