Theme units and Daily 5

[Amy_Doss]

Just wondering how you do fun theme units with craftivity or writing activities when most of the time is Daily 5. I like to do a unit on apples and Johnny Appleseed. We have spent the last 2 weeks on Daily 5 and the kids are doing well - but we have no 'cute' and fun things on the walls for Back to School night. Should I not worry about it??? Any ideas?

[srea]

We love our theme units, don't we?? I'd say don't worry about it. If you have student's writing to display, make those the wonderful wall decorations. Students' portraits of themselves, maybe lists of books they've read on colorful paper--all these show the awesome work your students (and you) are doing.

[tmoran]

We just had our open house and I shared your concern about not having the cute crafts. I had an arts and craft day based on Peter Reynolds Ish and The Dot. I had to have something on the walls! But what I noticed was my k/1 students sharing their reading and writing and special places in the room, not their artwork. Kinders wanted to share the special places and 1st graders wanted to read and share their writing. Perhaps less artwork is better!