Five For Friday - June 20

 

 

Lazy summer days full of laying by the pool and watching past seasons of True Blood. Life is good. Here's a few things I managed to get off the couch for. 

 

 

Monday started off with some bad news. I finally broke down and went to the chiropractor because my back had been hurting for a month. After X-rays, it turns out I have not one, but TWO herniated disks. I got my first 'adjustment.' It was such a creepy sound hearing him crack my back and my neck. Doc had to keep telling me to relax before he snapped something. So Freaky! But my back does feel better.

 

 

 

Tuesday I spent shopping for a burrata and other essentials for a dinner party for tomorrow. Then I worked for two hours prepping and baking things including a really delicious jicama salsa and skirt steak tacos. Yum!

Wednesday was busy. I had set up my first Summer Lunch Bunch earlier. Then went ahead and double booked myself for a dinner party on the same day. Oof. I ran in town to hang out with my good pal Christina and her beautiful babies. Sadly, Krisy couldn't join us this time. After lunch I ran home to start whipping up dinner for our last dinner party in the 'old' kitchen. Here's Jessica and Mike waiting for some food! (Check out my post on Tuesday to see what all I cooked up!)

 

 

 

 Thursday was a day to definitely relax. But more sad news came along. Turns out I had a virus on my brand new laptop and had to spend two hours on the phone with Dell Support. Hopefully it's all taken care of now! I placated my sadness with some serious pool time. It was perfect just hanging out reading Divergent and listening to tunes. Back at home I was able to whip through the rest of my school project. I finished my chair pockets!

Friday was the day I decided to take down the doghouse. It's been almost two years since our fur babies have left us. The doghouse was just taking up tons of space on our smaller than small patio. It was time. Yeah, it wasn't an easy start. I start pulling off boards and unleash a wave of very angry wasps. Whee! I ran over to Home Depot to pick up three cans of wasp spray. It kills on contact. I took care of that problem and took out my frustrations with a hammer to dismantle the doghouse. It was a bittersweet moment when it was all done.

 

 

 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Enjoy your weekend!

Tried it Tuesday - Singapore Math

I'm joining in on Holly's Tried it Tuesday linky party.


Have you heard of this new math model? Our school had a staff development on Singapore Math last year, but it was after school until late, so I couldn't stay. Those who did take it said it was really great. So when I saw it offered in our summer workshop sessions through the county I jumped at it. Granted it was only an  hour and a half instead of the full 8 hour session, but I managed to get some good stuff out of it!

The instructor focused mainly on problem solving using this method. There were seven steps to follow.

Give the students an exemplar such as:

Itty and Bitty were doing their daily jumping jacks. Itty did 8 of them. Bitty did 4 times as many as Itty. How many jumping jacks did they do all together?

The students work through the following steps on paper or in their math journals.

You can see my attempt at solving this problem from the class today.

There were some great points that I noticed today. Students write the #1 next to the story problem to prove that they've read the entire problem first.

For #3 when they are trying to find the most important things, help them see that people's names or other extraneous information isn't necessary to solve the problem.

#4 when deciding on what 'unit' to pick as a representation in your drawing, you can only use information gathered from the actual story problem. Keep in mind that 'unit' DOES NOT always equal one. In subtraction problems 'unit' could stand for the whole amount.

#5 you can see me drawing bars out to solve and then 'adjusting them' on the right hand side to put them together into more of a bar model approach.

If students give you a three addend equation, like in #6, discuss with them which of the steps do they want to do first. Then explain how to use parenthesis to show the reader what to do first.

Students are then graded using a rubric where they get one point for each accurately followed step. They receive a 5 for following all directions correctly. They would receive only a 1 if they just list the answer as 40. So they can still get points even if they do not arrive at a correct answer. The effort is still rewarded.

I like this idea and can't wait to try it with my new students!

Disclaimer: I understand my knowledge of this is very rudimentary, so if y'all have used this and have tips, tricks, and/or suggestions I'd love to hear them. Comment, comment, comment.

Made it Monday - Student Chair Pockets

I've just completed my 23 year of teaching and I have YET to find the solution for the dreaded Desk Mess! I'm constantly trying to find that perfect balance for organization and efficiency. I've tried individual notebooks, folders, and binders to store all of their paper materials per subject.

Nothing I've tried seems to keep that awful heaped up mess that students believe is okay. I'm so OCD that staring at papers, pens, chip bags, hair bows, Lego Men, and workbooks hanging helter skelter out of that small desk space. I cringe at some of those monstrosities and have been known to sit in front of it with a trash can beside me cleaning it out.

That was an earlier habit of mine, that I have since gotten over. Now students with super clean desks come in the next day to find a surprise from the Desk Fairy. It's either money to use for classroom privileges or a trip to the Treasure Chest. This approach has gotten more enthusiasm for keeping their areas neat, but not 100% across the board.

One of my fellow coworkers has a system I am very eager to try. Her mom pitched in and created these great chair pockets where students keep all of the paper materials in organized folders. It removes the paper mess out of the desk all together so I can keep all the textbooks and workbooks inside instead and they won't have to be getting up to get materials. I took some measurements and am using this summer time to create 27 of these life saving devices.

When I was in NYC toodling around with my Mother in Law she wanted to stop by Mood Fabrics to look through their selections. I took the opportunity to scan their materials for my own chair pockets. After looking at several ideas where the material cost anywhere from $7 to $25 a yard, I was a little frustrated. I needed something like 9 yards and wasn't willing to spend $100 on this project.

I broke down and ripped the page out of the Guy Handbook about asking directions. I found a salesclerk and asked her opinion for my project. She knew exactly what to do and pointed me towards a heavier weight muslin. It's cheaper and will hold up to years of wear and tear. The good thing was I spent $36 on the whole 9 yards.

Back at home, I did a mock up template using some leftover scrapbook paper so I could make sure the pockets were all uniform. It measures 36" long by 16" wide. I needed one portion of it to be marked off at 8" from the top and another at 12" from the bottom. This leaves a 16" section in the middle.

Marking out and cutting the fabric didn't take very long, whew. 

Then comes the fun part, or funny depending on how you view my sewing skills. Using my middle school Home Ec knowledge I sat in front of my sewing machine and chose a zigzag stitch to make the edges stronger. I started sewing the top and bottom edge to create a hem, I guess. 

I turned over the 7" side and then flipped it over to turn up the 12" side. So now I have one flap on the back and one on the front. I sewed the edges straight down the sides to finish it off. I was happy with  my first one and trotted off to school and checked to see if it fit. It was a little large, but it works. Yay!

 

 

Five for Friday - June 6

Whoosh! It feels so good to be able to just sit down and BLOG again!

School got the better of me and the end of the year was such a bullet to the finish. I can now officially announce that I had some really great test results. I was kinda worried with this group, but they came in with flying colors. So proud of them!

But now Summer is HERE! I have sent my little ones off into the big wide Fifth Grade world and already started printing out materials for next year. I've got Saving Fred already set to go, and the Personal Graphs waiting for students to fill in with their personal preferences regarding school subjects.

With a little time before the new year flies in my face, I thought I'd link up with Doodlebugs again for some good old fashioned Five For Friday!

 

On Monday I laid out my plans for the next couple of weeks. This would keep me focused and off the couch. I started packing up my kitchen for the remodel starting in July. That was all finished by noon. I got started on making some chair pockets (another post on that later), but then I broke the sewing needle.

 

 

New day, more plans. I set about organizing a new internet connection. It was taking Clear up to 35 minutes to download a 2 minute video of dancing cats. I was tired of waiting! I put it out on FB that I was looking for something new. The resounding votes were for Comcast Xfinity. I called them up and set up an appointment for tomorrow to come out and install it. Yay!

Today was the day to sit around waiting on Maintenance People. Comcast was set for 1-3 and then I had the Wildlife folks coming out to check traps in the attic for critters. They said mysteriously sometime after noon. Turns out after noon means 3:30. Comcast came out at 2:15 and drilled a hole in the wall and installed the new modem I bought. Clickety click, they were done. OooOOoOoOh, it was so faster!

 

 

I stopped by school yesterday to check out my new chair pocket and make sure they fit. It was perfect, if a little large. So I went back home and cut out all of my templates and folded them. Turned on the sewing machine and the it just hummed at me. Now I am not the best sewer in the world, but even I know a humming needle that doesn't move is not good. I turned that thing off.

 



Today is all about Orange is the New Black. I know I should be thinking about those brave soldiers that made DDay so successful, but I've been waiting for months for this new season to start! I'm already two episodes in and I feel the couch calling my name. Not good. Maybe I'll go sit by the pool.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Chocolate Factory - Pin It to Win It!

If you've been following my past posts you know that I just finished a run of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with  my fourth graders. They loved it and I did too. The book just leaves so much for the imagination to grow. While I was creating lesson plans for the book I thought it would be fun to throw a little TpT packet together.

116 pages later, my novel study packet is done. You can go back through my last seven posts to see some of the pages in action. If you like this idea and would like a whack at picking the packet for free you are in luck!

Let's play a little Pin It to Win It. If you visit the store product here:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Novel Study

On the left hand side there is a little Pin It button. Make a copy of your pin post and list it in the comments below for a chance to win it for free. The contest will end next Friday and the winner will be revealed here.

If you'd like a SECOND chance at winning it for free, have a look at my ScrappyGuy Facebook page and become a fan.


Here's a little

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

GREETINGS TO YOU, the lucky finder of this golden packet of stuff! I'm so excited to release this product since it is about one of my all time favorite books. Charlie and I go way back and he continues to amaze me every year.

This packet is geared more towards the Fourth Grade common core curriculum, but third and fifth should be able to use it to its full advantage.

Inside you'll find a veritable rabbit warren of goodies. There are pre-reading activities such as predictions and characterizations. There are things to do while you are reading such as chapter summarizations, story flow charts, and some poetry. Then there are tons of activities to do after you read such as writing prompts and yummy websites to visit to learn more.

Of course you'll find vocabulary tests, comprehension questions, and a final exam for each chapter.

I've included a section on Grammar and Math activities. You can find such topics as:

*Homophones – To, Too, Two
*Linking Verbs
*Verb Tenses
*Run-On Sentences
*Prepositional Phrases
*Possessive Pronouns
*Parts of Speech
*Subject-Verb Agreement
*Relative Pronouns

*Fractions
*Area and Perimeter
*Candy Bar Math
*Map-making

Just for added flavor I've also thrown in a Chocolate Inventing Machine Project with a rubric for scoring!

**All Answer Keys are located at the back of the packet so that you can print out pages back to back if you need to.

I hope you enjoy the chocolately goodness in this novel study. I'd love to hear how you are using it in your classroom!

Total Pages

116

Answer Key

Included

The Chocolate Factory - Part Seven - Wonka Day!!

We have finished our read aloud of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It is time to celebrate all of our hard work and close reading of this fantastic literary classic. I spared no expense on this blow out. Honestly, I think I had more fun coming up with activities and treats for this day. I searched high and low for ideas that could match the imaginations of Roald Dahly himself.

Looking back on all of it, I'm not sure if I should have kept the schedule and treats for the day such a closely guarded secret. I think they might have enjoyed it that much more if I did a little lead up to the great day. I mean I had treats stashed everywhere in my room just so they wouldn't find them  until we were ready to celebrate. I couldn't believe how many things I was able to find that matched Charlie's adventure. I found:

*edible grass (thankfully Easter is close upon us),
*Exploding Candy for Your Enemies (in the form of Pop Rocks),
*Square Candies that Looked Round (actually, edible Lego squares with the little building block pegs on top),
*Fizzing Lifting Drink out of Club Soda and Mio Lemon flavoring,
*Caramels from the Caramel Lake,
*Edible Marshmallow Pillows (sugar coated marshmallows, oh my!)
*Tiny Bird's Eggs (that may or may not have a tiny baby bird inside)
*Everlasting Gobstoppers (those were easy since they actually sell them)
*Walnuts (sadly they were not opened by squirrels)
*Golden Eggs Laid by Golden Geese (gold foiled wrapped chocolate eggs)
*Rock Candy Mountains (my favorite drop shaped melt aways with candy beads on the bottom Nonpareils?)

YES! I had fun trying to find all of this stuff. I was actually giggling as I went through the candy store. Sadly I couldn't find Lickable Wallpaper in time. I was going to buy those sheets of Candy Dots and cut them up for each kid. Wouldn't you know it, I saw them in a store not three days after the party?

As for the activity list we started out the day completing our Candy Bar Creation sheet for morning work. As soon as they had their chosen ingredients that would bring the cost of their candy bar in under a dollar they came up to get the ingredients in their little muffin cup with a numbered stick. You should have seen me doling out M&M's, Hot Tamales, Mini Marshmallows, Reese's, Oreo crumbles, Marshmallow Fluff, Gummi Bears, Gummi Worms, Coconut, and Peanut butter. That was not fun.

I had the crock pot filled with the Kandi-Quik melting bars and just dropped melted chocolate over all their ingredients and stuck them in the refrigerator until the end of the day. Once they were able to sample their own inventions, there was not a disgusted customer in the house. 

We also had a Pinata stuffed with other goodies for the end of the day. Uh-huh. I ain't dumb. I saved all the chocolate for the end of the day. Surprisingly after 25 kids took a whack at it there wasn't even a dent in the thing at all. We saved it for the next day and got to earn chips for good behavior. After several more whacks the top came apart and spilled on the ground. Thankfully they did not all rush it at once and I was able to pass out the goodies evenly. 

I also had a big garbage bag filled with balloons for the very last moment of the day. One of my little friends got to come up and pull the cord that would open the bag. She required a little help, though. I told everyone to find one balloon and wait for me to yell, "GO!" before popping it. Then the rest were free game. First I made them promise that they would definitely help me pick up every scrap of balloon when we were done. 

1, 2, 3 .  .  .  GO!

Thanks, Mr. Dahl for a most incredible couple of weeks. I wonder how I could make it better for next year's group?  Any ideas? Share in the comments below. I'd love to hear them!

The Chocolate Factory - Part Six - Chocolate Invetions

Part of the reason I wanted to do this novel study now was that it fit so nicely into my Science plans as well. Don't you just love it when you can take an idea across the curriculum? We are currently working through Forces, Motion, and Simple Machines. A unit that asks students to look closely at the world around them and see how we use simple ideas to make our work easier. I like it because it gets them asking about why things happen. One of my students wanted to know if trees weren't planted in the ground, would they go flying off into space. They have some interesting misconceptions about things I take for granted. Helping them see how it all works is part of what makes my job great.

I worked off the wonderous mind of Mr. Willy Wonka and his fantabulous chocolate factory and asked my students to give it a go. If they could use some simple machines and create a candy invention, what would they make? Now, I had to have some requirements such as limiting the size of their invention to be able to fit on top of their desk and not taller than two feet. They had to identify at least three simple machines and a heat source. I assured them, and their parents, that it didn't actually have to work. The rest was up to them.

The Big Reveal day is always exciting. The kids come in in dribs and drabs with their projects covered up with bags or paper. All the others gather around to ooh and aah and talk about what they see. They are fascinated with the new machine until the next child walks in and begins the process all over again. They can hardly contain themselves to present their ideas to their friends. Good thing we have Science first thing in the morning. This year they really surprised me with some amazing ideas, some that actually worked.

Here's a student who created chocolate crayons that could actually write. Wouldn't you just love that? He provided samples for everyone to try. I know he used a crayon making machine from the story, but I have to admire his creative thought processes. And the Chocoyons weren't half bad.

Also, he created a fun persuasive poster that tied in our unit from writing. 

Another student went totally original and built her's from a game she loved to play. Build a Better Mousetrap used to be one of my favorites as well as a kid. I had no idea they were still around. But she described it to a Tee. You could tell she enjoyed making this through her description of the machine's finer points. I liked that she also added in another simple machine that we discussed briefly but isn't part of our curriculum, per se. The gears work off the same principal as a wheel and axle, but add teeth.

Oh, and this next child got an automatic A+ because she included a little Mr. Fryns in her factory.

The Chocolate Factory - Part Five - Along the Corridor

Well, we've left poor Ms. Beauregarde behind. Two nasty little children gone, three good little children left (btw, our class discussed whether or not the remaining children - Mike Teavee, Veruca Salt, and Charlie - were indeed 'good' children. There was a resounding NO! So then we had to talk about why Mr. Dahl would have written the story that way. We figured out that was a form of foreshadowing and Mr. Dahl had more in store for us.).

Mr. Wonka dances along a hallway with the rest of the group tagging along. We pass many incredible rooms such as Edible Pillows and Cows that Give Chocolate Milk. As a literary tie-in I asked my students to think of what room they would most like to see in the Wonka Factory. I gave them an index card and had them name and describe their room on the lined side and draw a map of their room on the blank side. They were really creative with their ideas and wanted to share them afterwards. I ended up putting them up on the wall next to their Wonka illustrations.

Here are just a few of the rooms my students wanted to see:

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                      

The Chocolate Factory - Part Four - Goodbye Violet

I am seriously having the most fun with this book. I think it helps that I know it so well that I can think about what's about to happen and come up with some fun ways to engage the kids with it.

Take for instance the chapter when Violet Beauregarde comes to a nasty end as she snatches the Wonka Magic Gum and sets her tremendous jaws to the task. I was originally thinking of making a paper Mache version of her stuffed with gum so the kids could whack at her. Then another idea 'popped' into my head. Someone shouts 'Prick her with a pin' in the book. I remembered the set of darts I have stuffed in my desk from a carnival day I'd had years ago. That led to thinking about popping balloons, which got me thinking about filling smaller versions of Violet and let the kids throw darts at her. I know, I know. It's wicked, but what fun we had!

 

One of my girls overheard me talking to another teacher and then hounded me for the rest of the day to find out what I was doing the day before I revealed the big surprise. I would only tell her that it involved PURPLE. When she saw the darts she knew.



So I let her be the first to throw a dart to try and pop Violet. I could have gotten more creative with my version of the ill fated brat, but it was really all I could do to stuff a piece of Bubblicious down into those pesky balloons. Do you know how hard it is to get gum inside of a balloon? Let's just say I originally intended to put three pieces in each of 24 balloons, but quit after one in each.

 

It was actually another girl in my class that managed to finally pop Ms. Beauregarde. Her prize was the rest of the gum! 

 

 

The Chocolate Factory - Part Three - Mr. Willy Wonka

Today was the big day in my classroom. We had reached the chapter when all of the lucky Golden Ticket winners were lined up outside the gates of the Wonka Factory and the clock was about to strike ten.

So last night, I decorated my classroom door to look like the outside of the factory:

And then this morning as the children came in they were greeted with the cast of Glee singing "Pure Imagination" and their teacher dressed like this:

I was making a construction paper top hat last night and didn't really want to spend more time coloring in the paper plate with a black marker when I realized I already had something that would. When I got home last night I dug through the closet and pulled out my Mad Hatter outfit from Halloween two years ago. The kids didn't seem to mind and all the other teachers got a good laugh.

When it came time to read Chapter 14, Mr. Willy Wonka, I gave them a sheet to try their hand at illustrating this fantastical character. The text ran down one side and I asked them to underline the material that they used in the picture. Did they draw his black top hat? His plum-colored coat? I had to explain what trousers were, but they did a pretty good job.

Here's my favorite: I love the nose.

I was going to draw little Oompa-Loompa shadows in the windows of my door factory, but when I saw these I changed up my plans. I took all of their pictures and put them in the windows instead. They turned out super cute!

The Chocolate Factory - Part Two- We Begin to Read

I passed out a BME chart for the students to write in as we begin reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As we made our way through the first several chapters, they noticed that there weren't really any events happening to the characters, but it was giving us information about the Bucket Family and about Mr. Wonka himself. Very interesting noticings.

I also gave them a characterization chart for Grandpa Joe. In this they were to look for information regarding this sprightly 96 and a half year old. When they found something they would record it on their sheet. Then fill in information about what the text meant when they said this, or why the author thought it was important to share. The last column was for them to write down their own reactions to this information. The first thing they noticed was that there were four people sharing one bed. They thought Roald Dahl wanted us to know how poor the family was. Some of the kids wrote down things like, "Wow! That's a lot of people in one bed." or "I wouldn't be able to sleep with someone's feet in my face."

Another activity we were doing for the first couple of days had to do with summarizing each of the chapters. They were to write a sentence or two to explain what had happened and then write down a new title for that chapter. I thought it would be an interesting way to gauge whether they could manipulate material to come up with their own synopsis of a section. I had them turn this sheet in when they finished with chapter ten. I was pleased to see how well most of them did with this. They were getting the main gist and could come up with comprehensible chapter titles. Some of them tried getting away with things like, "Chocolate" or "OMG!"  I had to pull them aside and explain how vague that was. They needed to really think about what was happening in the story and think about how best to explain in three words or less. Very interesting.

After chapter 6 there was a vocabulary quiz to see if they could use their context clues and resources to understand unfamiliar words. Most of them did well with words like drafts, dotty, and margarine. Some of them took the lazy way out and tried to use these new words in sentences like, "My mom is fastened (fascinated) with her new car." or "I want deserted (dessert) after dinner." Pretty funny stuff.

The Chocolate Factory - Part One - Here Comes Charlie!

I was just about to finish up our prescribed extended text, George Washington's Socks. I have been enjoying the process of Close Reading with longer texts and the kids really do get into the stories. I needed to start planning for what was coming next.

Our third nine week quarter was about to end and we were moving into our Science unit on Forces, Motion, and Simple Machines. Whenever I do this unit, I am reminded fondly of the time I had my third graders build chocolate inventions after we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. One of my favorite days was the big reveal when the kids got to show off their skills and explain how their machines worked. Plus, there was always plenty of candy to be had!

Problem solved. I would use Charlie as my next extended text. Diet be d-----d! I went to the Scholastic site and found out Charlie was being sold for $7. EEK! No way could I afford to buy all of the kids their own copies. I scrolled just a little further and noticed that a combo set of Charlie as well as the Great Glass Elevator was being closed out for $3. Hmm. Parent conferences came up and I asked parents if they'd be willing to pitch in $2 so their child could have two books. They agreed. I put up the rest of the funds.

The box arrived with 25 copies of the gleaming gold covers. I couldn't wait to start handing them out. Then it hit me. The kids should be excited about this as well. So the simple machine I call my brain began to turn. The next morning each child came in to discover this on their desk:

It was a fun sized chocolate bar with a label I printed out. But the surprise was what lay wrapped round the bar itself. As the kids arrived each one, slowly unraveled their prize to discover:

Their very own Golden Ticket! If you read it it tells them to turn in the ticket for their very own copy of the book. Such fun watching them run around as each new person arrived begging them to open their bar to see if they got the Golden Ticket as well. The excitement was palatable.

When reading time arrived that day, I had to make them wait just a day longer. We had some predicting to do. I gave them a copy of the text from the lead in page of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Roald Dahl labels each of the kids. We looked at the description such as - Augustus Gloop, a very greedy boy- and thought, "What would a greedy boy do?" They wrote down their thoughts for each of the characters and then shared them with an Elbow Friend.

That was Day One.

Science Lab Sheets

They've just closed school for tomorrow, too. I'm afraid we might be in school until June. This hasn't happened since I lived in Massachusetts and we'd go back to school after Labor Day in September. Down in the south they go back in early August, sometimes in late July like we did this  year. Before today was called out we had already used up all of our official snow days and teachers were planning to go back for the first time after Memorial Day. Now we've got two more days out. With the possibility of more. Ugh.

It leaves me sitting on the couch watching episodes of Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, and House of Cards. All the while thinking about the lessons I had planned for today. We are knee deep in our unit on Sound and having a grand old time with some fun experiments, see previous post. Of course this is when I find a great resource stuffed in the back of my file cabinet on actual paper. It is a simple lab worksheet but it includes all of the great questions I want my students to think about.

I had planned to use it for another science sound experiment today. We were going to determine what type of material sound moves quicker through. Is it a solid or a gas? They would take a rubber band and hold it stretched out between thumb and forefinger. As they pluck it they would describe the sound. Then they would take a plastic cup and stretch the rubber band around the top and bottom and pluck it again. By the end they should determine that the vibrations from the motion of their fingers would produce a softer sound since the air molecules are further apart. The sound from the cup will be louder since the molecules of the cup will move faster carrying the sound to their ears.

Sounds plucky, right? {did you like my pun?} Well, that is waiting for us back in school when we return. Keep your fingers crossed that it isn't in June. Here's the sheet I was talking about.

You can pick it up for free here.

Science - Sound Experiments

Do you ever have those teacher moments when you are actually surprised how well a lesson goes? Me too! Our county provided us with a suggested list of lessons and experiments to try for each of our Science units. Since we are doing Sound at the moment, I downloaded the unit plans. There were some great ideas in there, but I thought they were a bit short to carry an entire 45 min block of time. When it hit me. Why not turn them into stations and have the class rotate through them?

Woot!

I had three stations set up for the day, but quickly realized my 25 students would not work so well in such large groups. They need smaller groups to be more successful. So I came up with two more on the fly. Cuz that's how teachers roll, right?

The first one from the county was to create a straw flute. The kids were to cut an arrow point into the bottom of a straw and then pinch the middle and cut a tiny hole there. As they blow through the flat end a whistling noise will be produced. There was a question sheet I had in a page protector at the station. Each child came to the group with pencil, paper, and clipboard. As they rotate through the stations they would draw a squiggly line underneath as they finish one. This saves on paper and copying.

The second was a weird one. It involved a wire hanger and two pieces of string. They were to tap the wire hanger with a pencil first to listen to it. They could tap the hanger with other objects and see if the pitch changes. Next they were to tie a 6" piece of string to each corner of the hanger, wrap their fingers around each bottom of the string and stick their fingers in their ears. They looked so goofy doing this, but they really got into it.

The final county suggestion was to use three glass jars filled with varying amounts of water. They were to tap each and describe the different sounds they heard. They also had to determine which jar made the loudest and softest sounds.

My two lessons were to look at some handmade musical instruments students have made in the past and describe materials and purpose for each of these instruments. This was to act as a preview of the Science Project I was about to send home for them. The other lesson worked with the computer. I turned on the media player and played a tune without sound showing the visualizations page. The students were to determine what was happening, why the bars got taller and shorter, why some always stayed short, and what type of pace the song was. Then they got to turn on the music and check their predictions. They loved doing this.

I let them bang away and talk through the stations for about 7 mins before I had them all stop and start the writing portion. Otherwise this group would use the whole time to tap, strike, hit, smash, throw the instruments and never do any serious thinking. We rotated the stations after 15 mins. We weren't able to get every child through every station, but the interaction and results I was seeing them write were really awesome. I told them we could save the stations for another day if we finish early.

Hurray for Science!

American Revolution Hanger People

Last year when I was hunting around for ideas to improve my American Revolution folder, I found this great blog post from Teaching in Room 6 where she detailed tons of fun ideas to enhance her curriculum. One of the things that she talked about was creating a Hanger Person. Her students picked one of the famous names from the period of turmoil as those colonists broke free from that pesky King George III. They wrote a report about their person and then went a step further and created a little visual display of their person using a hanger as the body shape.

I printed off a bunch of biographies from Mr. Nussbaum's site on American Peoples. His site is AWESOME! Seriously, if you haven't been there, RUN. Tons of great ideas and free activities to help you out. He covers all of the topics, so check it out. I laid the choices out on the floor and let them pick someone they were interested in.

My students were told to really concentrate on the period of their person's life that covered the years of the Revolution. That way they could narrow down their topic. I gave them a graphic organizer to use to help organize their notes. I had this great sheet that helped them break down the introductory paragraph better. I will look tomorrow to see if I can find it. But it basically had them focusing on their hook and summarizing the rest of their paper without giving too much away.

After the writing was done, I let them at the hangers. I have a ton of scrapbook paper from my previous creative life that they can rifle through to make their people. The tricky part was trying to get the head to stay on the hooky part of the hanger. Since the shoulders went over the upper edges of the triangular shape, I had to take the tape dispenser away from them and show them how to fold over a piece of paper to glue down on the back of the head with the hanger sandwiched between.

I had to send a few back to the drawing board to make their people 'more authentic'. They were starting to look like just some random person. I had them think what they could add to their person to show who they were. That's when they came up with adding in the Declaration and a quill pen for Mr. Jefferson. One of my girls added a huge snowball for Crispus Attucks from the Boston Massacre. Much better!

The project came out great. I just wish my class could complete these things a little faster. They take a long time for everything. I'm hoping my lesson on Jon Scieska's Battle Bunny will really spark some engines to race tomorrow!

Here's a shot of a few of my hanger people:

Snow Globe Writing

I was wondering if anyone was going to ask me what I meant a few posts back when I said I was taking pictures of my students as they came in all bundled up. I had a pretty sweet prize pack from my TpT store for those curious minds. But alas, no one took the bait.

I took those really great pictures of my students, printed and cut them out then had them design the interior of their snow globe to go along with their engaging writing piece. I bought some clear plastic plates at the grocery store and some Buffalo Glitter. It's not actually glitter, but more confetti. Still very aggravating as it got over everything. I put a spoonful of the shimmery stuff in the middle of their design and then hot glued the plate on top of it to create a snow globe.

You know I didn't come up with this on my own. Total JIVEY moment, of course!

Their story concepts ranged from giant flesh eating teddy bears that needed to be taken down with a chainsaw (no idea where they found one inside a snow globe, but okay), to the mysterious stranger giving them a snow globe and warning them not to shake it. Oops! All of them were creative and engaging stories to read, so I accomplished that message. We still need to work on those pesky capitals and understanding how to paragraph appropriately. I got them to indent! Wheee.

Here's a picture of my friend, Meghan's student results. I took mine down and sent them home before taking a picture.