What do you want to be when you grow up?

This cute boy wants to be an "army soldier."

Oh, and if he had one wish... he would wish for a "costume soldier."

What do snowmen do at night?

Snowmen at Night is a delightful story by Caralyn and Mark Buehner about snowmen that come to life at night and have all sorts of adventures. I read the book to my students, and asked them to look closely at the illustrations, because in a picture book, the illustrations tell part of the story, too.

In partners, the students created their own illustrations for the book. Some of the students even chose to include elements from the illustrations they'd seen in the book. They used chalk on black paper to create their art, and I was so impressed by the results.

I loved the "Snowman Crossing" sign in this one. And check out the perspective with the road.

The snowman wearing the sombrero in this one makes me smile.


Check out the background in this one. And look at that sky!

Try this in your own classroom. It's such a fun winter project! You could even have the pairs of kids write a sentence or story to go along with their picture.

Silly Bands!

Silly bands are so cool! At least, that's the common consensus of my third graders. I've warned them that if I see them playing with their bands, I'll take them away. I told them, "I'm starting a little collection." Some of my students took that seriously and started giving me bands to collect. This is the collection I've gathered. Pretty impressive, huh?