Maybelle the Cockroach and Mystery Box

Hello all,
I typically like to use my Mystery Box {from the fabulous Babbling Abby at The Inspired Apple} on Mondays, hense...Mystery Box Monday, but my kiddos are really struggling this week after just coming back from our Spring Break!  So...in order to maintain my sainty today {Friday} we are going to have a Mystery Box activity and I would like you all to meet my friend, Maybelle.  This particular writing project/activity was created by Mary Carole Strothers, a Discovery Education Teacher {not me!}  I was introduced to sweet Maybelle by another awesome first grade teacher, Mrs. Blazoksy {you can check out some of her projects here.}

Maybelle is a cockroach {I know gross, right? But, she is pretty cute with her little bow.}  Just in case you are wondering, Maybelle is indeed fake!  My kiddos are going to be reading Maybelle Goes to Tea and Maybelle Goes to Soup by Katie Speck.



My firsties are each going to get an opportunity to take Maybelle home for a visit.  My firsties will document her visit to their home in a journal and will also include some amazing photographs {I can't wait!}

{Click here for the journal paper.}

Who knew?

Who knew that a dixie cup would make a great heart stamper...{ummm, not me until today that is!} and who knew that a $2.00 box of valentines would inspire my little firsties to write {ummm, not me again, until today!} I got the Olivia writing idea from The Inspired Apple {this gal is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!}  My firsties picked an Olivia valentine out of a special bag and wrote a short story about the story behind the picture.  I was unable to download the Olivia stationary from The Inspired Apple {because for some unknown reason, the site where it is located is not accessible from my school computer...crazy!}  So, I had to create my own version...it took a whole five minutes {seriously, it did!}  Oh, by the way...there is an entire site dedicated to Olivia.

After the kiddos shared their stories {so funny, by the way!}  I thought that the stationary should be matted onto a background for an optimal display,so since my firsties loved this writing activity so much, I thought this would be a great background to paste our Olivia stories onto.  We used a plain Jane dixie cup, and it worked great!   

Student wrote the following...Olivia is playing dress up with her cat.  The cat is wearing a blue hat.  Olivia was playing with her cat because her friend was not allowed to come over.

Also, our display is not quite complete...I will post a picture later {I thought of another addition!}