Made It Monday - Preposition Center Game

I have awoken my inner crafting spirit.  Not only have I gone back to Michael's and made more crafts, this one is a creation of my own!  I was looking at others blogs and saw an iSpy craft, and my wheels started turning...  Then I walked the dog with my son, and he and I came up with a plan!  So I'm excited to link up with Tara again, and her 4th Grade Frolics - Monday Made It.

Available at my TpT & Teacher's Notebook stores.

All you need is a Pringles can (3 to make a set), 3/4 inch tape, a bunch of junk to put in the cans, and my printables.  I am charging a whopping $1 for this because I'm splitting the profits with my son.  Earlier this year my daughter spent a lot of time proofreading, and suggesting changes, to my capitalization task cards, so I split the profits with her from all sales.  She really got into it, so I'm hoping to now bring my son into the action.  I would recommend this for other TpT sellers with children, it presents a lot of business learning opportunities.  Of course, any money that I earn is really family money anyways, but don't tell them.

Step 1: Print out the Pringles can cover pages and cut off the edges.  I'd recommend cutting off the black lines if you are using any type of Washi tape that might show through.  Use two pieces of regular Scotch tape to tape the right edge to the can.  Make sure that the other side will line up, and that it is just far enough from the bottom for the 3/4 inch tape.

Hard to see the tape pieces at the top and bottom.

Make sure it is the tape's width from the bottom.

Step 2:  Open back up and lay a strip of your 3/4 inch tape along the edge.  I have a gray line that you can't see in this picture to use as a guide.

I would avoid any Washi tape that has see-through parts.

Electrical tape (left), Washi tape, and I found duct tape in 3/4 inch.

 Step 3:  Wrap the cover around and secure the tape.  Then run another length of tape down the other side to balance out the look.  Finally, tape around the top and bottom.  Voila.  Ready to fill with junk.  Of course, you will need someone to eat the Pringles first.  Careful when buying, there are some new ones with sizes that are slightly smaller than the traditional height.

Middle can shows the back.

I got this perfect tray at Tuesday Morning (which I just found) for $5.  I also found similar trays, just not as deep, for $1 in Target.  I added the Washi tape around the inside too:)

So now, using this in a center:  Students take a can (just one), shake and pour the contents into the tray.  They then use sentences with prepositional phrases to have a partner guess their "mystery object."

Who doesn't have this junk around the house????

Examples:

My mystery object is on top of the penny.  (easy - bottle cap)

My mystery object is inside the rubber band and on top of the leaf.  (I know that's hard to see, but one phrase wouldn't be enough in this case to figure it out).

I knew I'd have to remake these since my home printer was running out of ink, and I think I'd like to laminate first next time too.  So I made a few other changes.  Besides three cans all alike except color, I differentiated them.  Pour #1 just uses one prepositional phrase, although they may need to add another if their partner doesn't figure it out.  Pour #2 requires them to use 2 prepositional phrases, like my second example.  Pour #3 comes with the prepositions on cards, so they need to draw a preposition and then figure out an object that would work.  I'm hoping this will make sure that the same basic prepositions aren't being used over and over.

9 of the 18 preposition cards to be used with Pour #3.

I played around with this with my kids to make sure it worked.  I'm sure this won't be the most exciting game the students will ever play, but it is a hands-on way to learn about prepositions, and hopefully it will help them remember what most prepositions do.

So I made that project early in the week, and got everything typed up for my blog before leaving on my vacation.  Husband can't get the time off for this trip, so my dad is joining us.  As a kid we would just get in the car and figure it out as we went, and that's the general idea of this trip.  So here I am, Monday morning, with free wifi and time to kill before my kids wake up.  We left Thursday morning from Northwest Ohio went to Niagara Falls and then farther into New York for the night.  Friday we got to Boston and walked around a bit.  Saturday we walked around Boston a bit more, then left for Maine.  We made it to Augusta yesterday, and passed the 1,000 mile mark on the trip set just before getting to the hotel.  Today we headed toward Acadia National Park!  We stopped at some great spots along the way, then it rained.  So we found a great place for the night, and hope to have some better weather today to see some amazing things.

Panorama shots have worked out great for some of these sites.

A selfie is the only way to get in a photo....

Loved Boston's Public Garden.

Revere Beach in Boston.

Moose Point State Park

On a side note, I want to thank anyone who has visited my blog.  I've truly enjoyed doing this, and am excited about the networking potential.  I'm sad that it took me this long to embrace this.  Reading my blog feed is now part of my morning routine, and I am inspired daily by the ideas and energy of these teachers I'm following.  I mentioned in a previous post that I'm interested in spicing up my blog, and now am in the process.  Thanks to Kristin at That Fancy Blog Boutique, we are going to start the process soon.  She's just getting started, and her prices are great.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with.  Check her out if you are looking to start your own blog, or change it up like I am.

Mary