Cactus is super on trend right now, it is a trend that came out of the dark and who knows how long it will be in. At the end of last year, I knew I was switching from 4th grade to 5th and I knew I would be looping with some of my students from last year, so I decided in May that I would transform my room and the theme I had my heart set on was cactus.
Read more about my Cactus Classroom Decor here.
One of the reasons I chose a cactus classroom theme was because cacti are resilient, and that is a great trait that I want to consistently instill in my students. I created a close read to talk about all of the amazing things about cacti and we related it to having and maintaining a growth mindset. You can grab this close read HERE.
We worked on this for a couple of days, the kids were begging to research more facts and relate cacti’s traits to how they too can persist during hard times in life and school.
They were so engaged and on board the entire time. They tracked their learning, they asked meaningful questions and it was one of the best ways to start the school year off. Even now, they make connections and spout off interesting facts.
To extend the lesson I partnered with Oriental Trading Company to make a class succulent garden. You can read more about that here. The kids loved planting their own succulents, from clippings, proving that no matter what, you can start over and continue to grow!
We loved making a class bulletin board connecting this to personal goals they have. Thanks to Teach Create Motivate and the Designer Teacher for these great products to make growth mindset a reality in our class.
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