Global Read Aloud - 1st Timers

For a few years, I've wanted to jump into the Global Read Aloud that is always flooding my Twitter feed.  Each time I've remembered to participate... it's been too late or well... You know, things happen! 

This summer I signed up to receive Global Read Aloud updates through email so I wouldn't miss a thing. Over the summer, I purchased two of the options for my grade level and decided on The B.F.G.! 

Through Twitter, I was able to connect with several (too many in fact) educators and their 5th graders. After exchanging emails and schedules, we officially connected with 5th graders in Alabama. That's a pretty exciting deal for us in Missouri!

First thing on the Global Read Aloud agenda was..... Mystery Skype. Through mystery Skype, we were able to find our reading buddies in Alabama one afternoon. From there we have had several collaborative opportunities. We've answered #slowchat questions through Padlet together and we've even played Kahoot! while Skyping again. 

One of our more exciting mornings was when we saved Sophie's dreams in a Breakout EDU activity!

I'm sure I have only skimmed the surface on the possibilities of The Global Read Aloud, however I'm so happy our class has gotten to participate. It's pretty cool knowing that so many other readers are enjoying the same book we are! 

I'm looking forward to participating next year as well. 

Bringing our Writing to Life!

The end of the year in room 52 has looked different for the past five years. May rolls around and I think, "Yep! Trying something new again..." This May was no different. 

This year, my students are filled to the brim with creative juices and I wanted to give them an opportunity to showcase their creative skills to wrap up the year. As you can see from this post about science movies, we are really good at being in front of the camera. 

This year, I challenged students to write an original fictional story and then turn it into an iMovie. The catch? They wouldn't be starring in it... They were to make all props and characters using materials around the school.  I must include that my classroom has been a disaster for three weeks and I'm totally-okay-with-it-sometimes. 

To get our wheels  spinning, students swiped through iMovie Trailers to get an idea for the theme and mood of their story. After they decided on a tone for their story, they had to complete a graphic organizer mapping out the beginning, middle, and end. This part was vital to the project being successful. We tend to have REALLY long "middle" parts of the story and then we, "fall off a cliff" (as a good friend calls it) and don't wrap up our story.  I even encouraged them to include a theme at the end of the story. 

I've kind of been flying by the seat of pants from day one, but I think it's working out! Here's the rundown of how the project went AFTER they completed a graphic organizer:

• Students had to write and edit an original story in their writer's notebooks with partners. 
• Students had to create all props. Students had to make (no more) than two backdrops and characters on popsicle sticks. This is where the project took a mind of its own... We have horses, Lego characters, Pizza Steve, and balloon men floating around the room!
• Partners worked to create an iMovie trailer to show on YouTube to get the public ready for their movie!
• The final piece... create an iMovie sharing your original story. 

Behind the Scenes  -- Creating Props

Behind the Scenes  -- Filming 

Right now, students are tying up lose ends and getting ready to submit movies tomorrow. In the mean time, you can check out our trailers on YouTube! 

Reflecting back on the last few weeks.... I have to admit, I've been on a bit of a roller coaster of decision making. At times, I've panicked and thought, "HOLY COW! We won't ever finish!" Then I'm flying high and thinking, "These kids are amazing."  I realized it was important to set daily goals with my students so they had a focus for each class period. It was also important, for me, to give up a bit of control and let the kids be creative! It was loud, noisy, messy, and kids were all over the place.... but they were creating incredible products! 

You can check out all of the trailers for the movies (coming to a theater NEAR YOU!) right here.

Happy New Year!

I'm welcoming the second half of the year with open arms! 

We have an opportunity to start fresh and reset things in our classrooms. Along with reviewing our classroom expectations and chatting about our holiday breaks.... we'll be setting a few goals for 2016!

Download the PDF version of our 2016 goals page here. 

Download the Word (editable) version of the 2016 goals page here. 

How are you kicking off the new year with your students? 

Figurative Language in Literature

Our figurative language study is in full swing! This week, we are focusing our efforts on finding examples of figurative language in literature, music, and in our daily lives. Inspired by a colleague, I am challenging my students to listen and think about figurative language all hours of the day. As they find examples of figurative language, they are invited to add those examples to our class collaborative Google Slides. 

Did I mention we are 1:1 now? Life changing, folks! We just recently started utlitizing Google Classroom now that we are 1:1 with iPads. 

To begin, I created a bare-bones Slides project with the different types of figurative language we study in 5th grade. After assigning the collaborative Google Slides in Google Classroom (how many times can I say Google in this post?), we defined each of the types of figurative language as a class. This isn't the first time we've discussed figurative language, so the definitions were more of a refresher after the long holiday weekend. 

Then, I partnered the students and gave each duo an opportunity to pick a book from my special pile of "figurative language friendly" books. Students read the book together and were adding to the Slides in a matter of minutes! We had so much editing happening at once it caused a bit of panic. We'll refer to that as GAFE Growing Pains. :) We did some troubleshooting and solved the problem with "disappearing" text. 

"Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen 

"Pigsty" by Mark Teague

Here's a snapshot of the titles we used. There were several more I found online, but I didn't have access to those books in my personal library or our school library. 

If you are looking for good books to add to your mentor text stash or your classroom library, I highly recommend the following titles! I apologize to your bank account in advance. 

Pigsty by Mark Teague

Fireflies by Judy Brinkloe

My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee 

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Yesterday, I Had the Blues by Jeron Ashford Frame

Parts by Tedd Arnold

Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger

What books do you use to teach figurative language? Share with me!

Bringing Passion into Science

We always wrap up our year in science with informational writing. For four years (the entire time I've been a 5th grade teacher), I have changed the project. Fourth quarter would roll around and I would get the itch to switch things up a bit and make the project more fun and even better. 

Back in January, I read the book "A More Beautiful Question" and was inspired to structure my informational writing unit around asking an "un-googleable" and more beautiful question. We used the Genius Hour approach to form our research topics and my kids were OFF.  You know you've got your students hooked when they asking to write ALL day.  

I wish I could have bottled that excitement and engagement for writing and sprinkled it throughout the year when we needed a little bit of motivation. Hmm.. maybe I should call Shark Tank?

Fast forward to 4th quarter in science. At this point, we've wrapped up our state testing and my kids were ready for a new project. I used the same approach as earlier in the year and asked the students to focus on a topic (science related) that they were passionate about. 

On day one... I walked through the thinking process myself. I narrowed down my absolute-favorite science subject (solar system) and started thinking aloud to help pinpoint a specific question. Through all of my thinking, I came to the big question: how can humans live on the Moon? Then, I sent my scientists on their merry-thinking way. 

On day two... I introduced our nonfiction magazines. I projected a picture of Sports Illustrated and asked my kids to discuss what kind of information I would be reading in this publication. Hands flew up in the air and everyone told me it was about... sports. I showed a few other magazine covers and had similar discussions. I wanted to illustrate the idea that some magazines are meant for specific audiences. I'm only reading HGTV magazine because I'm super into home improvement right now! You won't find me reading a Sports Illustrated anytime soon.. sorry Scott. Then, I had my students break into small groups based on their passions. These small groups had the task of designing a magazine cover and picking a title. 

From there, students took their passion projects through the writing process and published magazines! 

This may be the project I'll be repeating during year five!

Letting Them Choose

'Tis the end of the school year is upon us in 5th grade. I'm not usually a countdowner (unless we are referring to the wedding.. in THAT case, we have 44 days!) but I can sense the end is near....

We just wrapped our How Does Exericse Affect Learning PBL project (details to come!) and I wanted to hold onto that student engagement and choice-driven environment that had flourished during the week of our PBL project. 

A fellow 5th grade teacher and I collaborated and created a (in my opinion) totally awesome choice menu for the rest of the year. The menu items feature some writing, some reading, some social studies, fluency, poetry, and even opportunities to be creative.

Monkeyin' Around Visual Aid

As a requirement for class, students must complete seven out of the nine choices. Some of the choices require students to publish through their blog or in their writer's notebook. I have a checklist to manage as students complete various tasks. Students who go above and beyond and complete all nine will be rewarded with ice cream sundaes. 

 

I mean, c'mon? Who doesn't love an ice cream sundae?

Here are a few of the options:

A few more choices available to students:

Another one of the options involves making a visual aid to represent their favorite book from this year. I had a young man do this project at home the night I introduced the choice menu! 

Fine by me!

How is the rest of your year shaping up? Share with me your "end of the year" activities!

You can access an editable version of the choice menu through Google Docs ------------> HERE.

Mentor Text: Voices in the Park

Buy it on Amazon

The book "Voices in the Park" by Anthony Browne has been sitting on my shelf for several years. Until this week, I haven't found a real reason to use it for instruction. I was pacing around my room thinking about perspective and point of view and had that AH-HA moment. I'm almost positive I said, "I'VE GOT IT!" out loud and completely startled my students. By now... they've become used to my outbursts. I knew I had the perfect book to illustrate the difference between point of view and perspective (something we are stuck on in 5th grade). 

I closed my mini lesson on the difference between point of view and perspective by reading aloud and dissecting Voices in the Park. It was a great discussion! However, it wasn't until later that day when the magic happened...

An avid writer in my classroom (such an avid writer that she had to get a NEW writer's notebook this year because her other one was full!) approached me and asked if she could write a "Voices in the Park" story. We brainstormed what her location could be in the story and we settled on the school cafeteria. Then, she was off! Writing a fictional story about the cafeteria from four very unique perspectives.

Last night as I was thinking about my plans for reading time - it hit me! Why aren't we ALL doing what my little writer is doing? What a great lesson!

From there... the lesson was born. We discussed how to brainstorm a location, time of day, or time period in our life. Then, we picked logical "voices" to play the roles in our short stories. 

The lesson lent itself to great extra mini lessons on voice, dialogue, and character development. We pulled Wonder off the shelf as an additional mentor text. One student piped up, "my character is like Justin from Wonder, he NEVER writes capital letters." 

Our finished products will be published on our blogs next week. I'm equally excited for my kids to publish their stories and be able to read and comment on one another's. 

Have a great week!

Part 2: Create an Interactive Timeline

We are deep in our Historical Fiction unit and my kids are loving every minute of it! Read how I got them hooked on the unit here. 

Once students were able to pinpoint their historical event, I introduced the next phase of our project. They were to create an interactive timeline with QR codes. Using a QR reader app (which is free!) students were able to not only scan QR codes, but can also create a code from text, websites, or maps. 

In this picture you can see one of my students creating a QR code with text about the Hurricane Katrina and the novel, Ninth Ward. As a class we made a list of "must haves" for our codes and went to work. 

Soon enough, our timeline began to take shape in the hallway. We had a great conversation on the sequential order of events and it was one of those "ah-ha" moments when kids started to realize the huge gaps between some of these events. 

Then, once our fellow 5th grade added their codes and labels, I gave my students time to scan and learn about different time periods. Once students had watched or read what other students put in their QR code, I encouraged students to write positive feedback on a post-it note for their peer. 

Our interactive QR code timeline has come to life! Students are scanning codes and learning about historical events. pic.twitter.com/EhVlX9wBvc
— Jordon (@furnelly) February 9, 2015

Next, I'll share our final project bringing our entire Historical Fiction unit together. Until then, have you used QR codes as a teaching tool? Share with me how you've used them in your classroom!

Part 1: Getting 'em Hooked on Historical Fiction

Happy February teachers! We, here in the Midwest, are experiencing unusually warm temperatures this weekend and I'm beginning to think it's Spring. So... I'm wearing shorts today, but tomorrow I have to wear socks and long pants again? Hmm.. I'm confused.

Source

Now, enough of the weather talk! During our reading block, we are rockin' and rollin' with our historical fiction book clubs. A few years ago, I posted about my first try with historical fiction + Dear America + Prezi. You can read about that unit here.  This year, with help and collaboration with a fellow 5th grade teacher we gave our historical fiction unit a HUGE boost. 

Let me start from the beginning....

This quarter, we are focusing on students reading informational text (specially RI 5.3.. anyone else struggle with this standard? Whew - it's a big one!) While brainstorming how to tie in this standard to our instruction, my colleague and I thought this was a great opportunity to start book clubs for the quarter. Using historical fiction books during our informational text unit gave us an opportunity to bridge together informational text and fictional reading. The overarching goal of the book clubs is for the students to analyze how an author uses fictional details to tell a "true" historical story. Throughout the study, students are actively researching the time period (reading information text) and actively engaged in a book club of their choice. Emphasis on the word choice. 

Last week, I started gathering multiple copies of historical fiction chapter books. The piles started to grow around my classroom and the questions started to flood in...

"Ms. Furnell, why are those books in a pile right there?

"Are we starting book clubs again?"

"Can I read this book?"

"When do we get to read these books?"

....You get the idea.  

Finally, it was time to introduce our book clubs. I placed stacks of books around the room and instructed my class to walk around the room and read the backs of as many books as they could. Eventually, students started to gravitate towards the books they really wanted to read and some even starting claiming them before time was up! Once everyone had enough time to read through several books, small reading groups began to form around the room. Sure, some of them came together because their BFF was reading the book... but the majority of my groups were formed by a shared interest in the subject matter (SCORE!) 

Within seconds of groups forming, students were finding cozy spots around the room and reading immediately. A teacher's dream! I am 100% confident in saying that I know the enthusiasm for this project has so much to do with their choice in the book selection and partners. It's a risky gamble as a teacher to loosen the reigns and let kids make their choices but for this unit it's paying off big time. 

Check back over the next few days and I'll share different mini lessons and activities associated with our book clubs!

Happy Sunday!

Breaking in our Reading Spirals - Genre Overview

Once school started, my mailbox seemed to fill up with Book Orders rather quickly. Now, I'll be the first to admit I love browsing the new selections from Scholastic, but do I need 2 bundles of the same book order... twice in one week? No... No I do not. 

Bouncing off an idea from colleagues and Pinterest, I decided to use those Book Orders to chat about genres. To start the school year, I felt it was important to have an overview of some "big" genres they will encounter as readers. 

We discussed the general characteristics of about six genres and created a chart in our spirals. Then, students searched through the Book Orders to find examples of each genre. 

While students were working, questions and conversations were centered around the books they were previewing in the Book Order. We even started talking about OTHER genres I hadn't intended on bringing up - talk about a teachable moment! For example, I was able to introduce the Dystopian genre for my class. Pretty awesome!

How do you teach genres to your students? Share with me!

"I CAN SEE THEM TYPING!" Collaboration Through Google Drive!

I wish I could bottle the excitement and pure joy that was had in my classroom this afternoon. Honestly, at one point I was standing in the middle of the room watching as my students' eyes widened with excitement and wonder as their new pen pals typed a story along with them. 

Now, let me back up! Yesterday, I shared how a friend and I had our students "meet" one another through a Mystery Missouri Skype. Read more on that experience here. 

At the conclusion of our Mystery Skype last week, we (the teachers) informed our classes we would be collaborating on a little writing project through Google Drive. The anticipation set in and we had to wait a few more days until our schedules would allow us to log on at the same time. 

Miss Kazanowski did a little leg work going into the project: chatting about partnerships, logistics of how it work, topics to write about, etc. This morning, Miss K sent me a list of her student's individual Google Drive accounts. Right after lunch, students logged onto our classroom Google account (we only have one for the whole class) and I taught the entire group how to share a document with a new user on Google Drive. Next, students were sharing blank documents and quickly adding snapshots of their cute little smiles to give their new digital pen pal a visual of who they were chatting with. 

While my class was waiting for Miss K's class to return from recess and log on, we were teaching eachother - wait... let me rephrase that sentence, my students were teaching one another tricks with Google Drive and from there the ball was rolling! Students were typing bios about themselves and sharing information for their buddies to get to know them a little better. I even learned the phrase, "my selfie game is strong on IG" - this apparently means you take good selfies. Good thing I have my 5th graders to keep me hip. ;)

Then....

the moment happened. 

The first 5th grader -in another city - in another school district - logged on and started typing. A student shouted, "THEY ARE ONLINE!" Then another student shrieks, "THEY POSTED A PICTURE!" As more students shouted updates around the room, other students were dashing to their computer screens to check out the live update. Within minutes, everyone was chatting live with their new pal. I even threw out a few live tweets myself. I was inspired by Miss K's live tweeter during our Missouri Skype. 

"THEY ARE TYPING! I CAN SEE THEM TYPING MS. FURNELL!" Shrieks of excitement as students are collaborating through Docs with kids in KC!
— Jordon (@furnelly) May 14, 2014

We collaborated with @furnelly class in order to create poetry today. Thanks @googledrive! pic.twitter.com/S9Zj144j8F

— Micaela Kazanowski (@MissKazanowski) May 14, 2014

With the help from Miss K, managing students in her classroom, and myself bopping around to computers in my own classroom, we were able to get students writing in a no time. Honestly, they were so excited to get started I didn't have to remind them twice! Overall, we had students writing wacky stories line by line, limericks, haikus, and even a story about tacos.  

I'm certain the number one question I will be asked in the morning is, "When can write with Miss K's class again?" 

What if our Characters were on Social Media?

 Let's face it - all of our students (okay most) are active  participants of social media daily. I can testify this is true about my class because I get a follow request from one every day! I decided to apply their love (and admiration) for social media to our literature circles. Small groups are finishing up their small book clubs and as they finish, I've asked students to draw conclusions about their characters and imagine what it would be life if they had a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter page. I heavily stressed the importance of making the posts, comments, and pictures represent what happened IN the story. I prompted my kids with questions like, "what would their friends post on their wall? What events from the story would be shared on their page?" It was great overhearing the conversations and analysis of the characters after reading the book. 

Below the pictures you will find the links to each template I used. 

Needless to say, the kids have LOVED this activity and have asked to complete more!

 

Fakebook Template

Twitter Template

Instagram Template 

How you do you integrate social media into your instruction? Share with me!

Teacher help! Suggestions for Next Lit Circle?

It's 8:30 AM and I'm blogging from my couch. Why, you ask? Well, it is snow day number 8 for us Mid-Missourians.

On Friday, my students finished reading Wonder - what an excellent way to end the week! Our hearts were full as we walked out the door into a snowy weekend. While I have a few things I would like to do with the book, I'm starting to think ahead.... (blame the snow days!)

 Before we started Wonder, I kept asking myself, "how do I get my kids to talk deeply about the book?" I kept wondering what I wasn't doing to help them have genuine conversations. Finally, because I ran out of ideas, I just let them talk to one another. I pulled back my forced conversation starters and just let them enjoy the book and discuss on their own. What do you know? The minute I stopped trying so hard was when things started to click for them (work smarter, not harder... right?!) I realized all they really wanted (and needed) was to READ the book. Once they became invested in the story, they weren't relying on me to lead the conversation and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have noticed if I had walked out of the room. I noticed a dramatic change in the way my students were communicating and talking about the book. THEY were asking deep questions on their own and making inferences without me holding their hand to do so. At the end of each (okay most) reading sessions, I would pull everyone to the carpet and we would discuss our reading. One morning, we were having a full-fledged debate on whether or not we agreed with Miranda claiming Auggie. It was so incredibly powerful. I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

I want to keep the momentum flowing after we officially wrap up Wonder with another literature circle. However, I'm stuck on book options. With this next club, I want the students to have a choice in their book selection versus all of us reading the same book. I have a few books to suggest for my students, but I am hoping to have a few more suggestions. I want this one to revolve around choice - however, I want my students to have a few great choices as well. :)

Here's what I have so far:

Snicker of Magic

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Now, this is where I need you! 

What books would you suggest for an eclectic group of 5th grade readers? What books have your students loved? 

Theme Resources Round-Up!

Yesterday, I blogged about our current study of Theme. In addition to using fables and poetry, I've also utilized video clips and music videos to help students visualize theme - everywhere. Plus, these videos led us to great conversations about Sally (not a real student...) and John having different interpretations of the same video. They didn't have to agree on one specific theme - instead, they had to back up their thinking with evidence (or proof) from the video, story, or poem. 

Below you will find some of the videos we used. These led to great conversations - and often times had us rushing to the box of tissues. 

P&G "Thank You Mom": Grab your tissues, you'll need them for this one. 

Death Crawl: Prepare to be motivated. Oh, and... you'll need those tissues. 

Christian the Lion: You'll need more tissues. 

Music videos: Using songs like "Brave" by Sara Bareilles and "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkson, we discussed the way artists use songs to share a message. We have a growing list of songs that "teach us" something. Other notable songs include: "Happy" and "Compass". 

DirectTV commercials: sure, the idea is to purchase DirectTV... but what can you learn from these clips? 

How do you practice determining the theme of stories, dramas, or poems in your classroom? 

Determine the Theme of Fables

Throughout our literature study of Wonder, we've focused our energy towards determining the theme of a story, drama, or poem. Based on our pretest data, I found that many of my students struggled with theme. They were unable to tell me what the definition of "theme" was and most were unable to pick one for a poem. The teacher side of me was perfectly okay with this, because teaching theme is one of my favorites. We have been able to use an incredible variety of media to practice this skill. 

Today, we used Speakaboos website during our mini lesson. In small groups, students picked one fable to view (their choice). The objective was to identify the theme and provide two details to support their thinking. 

Fables Speakaboos Page

After viewing the fable, students logged their thinking on our Padlet wall. Before jumping into Wonder, we met on the carpet and shared (and viewed!) our interpretations of popular fables. As always, this led to great conversations!

Adding to our Padlet

Check out our Padlet below. How do you use this tool in your classroom? Share below!

Created with Padlet

CHOOSE KIND.

I know this isn't the place for me to make excuses - and it is the one place where I don't have deadlines, requirements, due dates, or rules of any kind. However, one thing had to get shifted to the back burner this year, and sadly my blog has gotten the short end of the stick. Oh well! Life goes on and I shall blog when I can blog. 

That being said, my students and I are completely immersed in a literature study of Wonder and our hearts and minds couldn't be happier. Right now, we are hearing things from Summer's point of view and the students are pretty steamed with Jack Will right now (if you're familiar with the plot). I'm anxious to keep reading and continue eavesdropping on the incredible conversations happening everyday. 

Stay warm, USA! 

Providing Evidence

We just wrapped up an awesome Book Advertisement project in 5th grade. I snagged the idea from The Common Core Lesson Plan Book by Gretchen Owocki (buy it here). I took the idea of students creating an advertisement for a book and ran with it. Within the advertisement, I wanted my students to focus more on demonstrating their inferences and analysis of the book rather than a summary of what happened. 

One of the requirements for the Book Advertisement was to provide two quotes and provide evidence as to how this was important to the entire story. (This goes back to CCSS RL5.1) Needless to say, this was rather tricky for my students. Students were able to find key quotes in the story, but explaining their meaning, purpose, or importance was rather tricky. 

I knew they could tell me why it was important, but what was holding them back from writing it down?? For example, I would sit and conference with my students about the quotes chosen in the story. I would ask why this quote is important, what it means to the story as a whole, and so on.. and they would give me beautiful verbal answers! I would, often, exclaim, "YES! That's it! That's what I'm looking for!! Write that!" Then, they would put pencil to paper and look at me and say, "what do I write again?" 

Oh vey!

I began digging through the internet to find SOMETHING to help my kids get their thinking on paper. Then I stumbled upon Pencils and Pancakes blog post on providing evidence. She gave her middle school students a simple, but extremely wonderful, foldable to help them stretch their thinking. I quickly changed my lesson plans for the morning (yes this was all happening during my plan time at 8:30 AM), and gave it a-go during reading time. This graphic organizer was very powerful for my students in providing evidence and proving to myself and other readers the importance of specific quotations and parts from the story. 

To get my students started with this graphic organizer, I modeled my own thinking using our previous read aloud, "Out of My Mind". That book has come in handy quite often! It was the perfect example because all of my students were familiar with the text and could follow my think aloud. 

I'm testing out sharing documents via Google Drive (Google Docs), if you click here you can download the graphic organizer my students used to stretch their thinking.

Later this week, I'll share our Book Advertisement project!

Happy last week before the holidays!

How do Text Features Help Me?

'Twas the question of the day! err.. I mean, yesterday. 

Before we dive into actually using text features as a resource when reading informational text, I felt it was important to refresh our memories on the different types of features. To do this, my students created their own anchor charts in small groups with examples of text features snipped from magazines. 

First, we compiled a list of the features we already knew - which was quite a bit! Then, with prompting, we generated a decent list of features. After tossing around dozens of magazines, I sent students on their merry way to cut, snip, and glue examples of text features. 

To start our reading block today, small groups shared their posters with the whole group. Now, our posters are hanging in the wall for all to see - and to gain a bit of refresher before reading their informational text. 

What tricks do you have up your sleeve for text features? Share with me!

Civil War

Happy May! I cannot believe that school is winding down. Someone will have to grab me a box of tissues if I keep thinking about it. Since state testing is over for the year (wahoo!), we're able to go back to having fun in the classroom again. On Monday, we kicked off our Civil War unit. Instead of using our social studies time for this unit, I'm using my Communication Arts block because we're tying in so many reading strategies and skills.  I decided early on that I wanted my students to participate in the Civil War simulation by Scholastic. Side bar: it's currently $5.00 as an e-book!!! 

Have you done a simulation before? This will be my first attempt, but I'm really excited to get the students talking and writing about Civil War experiences. Before diving into the simulation, I wanted my kids to have a little background on what caused the war, important people, and common vocabulary. 

To begin, I divided my classroom into the North and the South. The simulation has students assume a roll of a Union or Confederate solider - I decided to tie in a little geography as well. 

I assigned each table a region of the United States. I know what you're thinking! Yes, we used a modern map to assemble our regions. Considering many states nowadays were not states in the 1860's, this led to a great conversation! 

As a small group, students had to cut out the states in their region and assemble them like a puzzle. I put three regions on the northern side and two on the south. I needed the Union to have more students, so the west was flexible. :)

Region... Assemble!

After small groups assembled their region, I laminated and hung them above their tables. If you've been a follower of my blog, you know about my pods. You can read about those here.  In short, I like to name my pods, or groups, terms that I want the students to remember for-ev-er. 

Now, we have 5 regions of the United States hanging in our classroom and we made a HUGE red, white, and blue paper chain that cuts the classroom right down the middle. The picture below was taken during M.A.P. testing and prior to the regions hanging. Trust me, the classroom is a more cheerful place now. 

Pre-Regions Hanging - During MAP testing, yuck!

Whew! Are you still with me? 

The paper chain thoroughly intrigued my students and they were DYING to know if they were in the North or South. I was mean and made them wait through Spring Break before I told them. 

This week, we have been A Classroom Divided Against Itself. Well, for an hour and half every day then things go back to normal. :) Our week, prior to the simulation, has consisted of these activities:

• Jigsaw of important and influential people from the Civil War: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Frederick Douglas, etc. 
• Video of the causes of the Civil War, afterwards we completed an Cause & Effect diagram
• Mapping out the union and confederate states on a map

I've also read aloud a few picture books about the Civil War. I LOVE reading aloud to my students and now I feel like we have the time available. Some of the titles we've read and plan to read are:

The Silent Witness

Pink & Say

Abe's Honest Words

On Monday, we are going to put together our Civil War journals for the simulation. Look for an update next week complete with fun pictures and feedback from my students. 

What have you done in your classroom to study the Civil War? Do share! 

Dear America & Prezi

With all the madness of standardized test prep, I wanted to give my students a little shift in our classroom tone. I felt it was time to implement book clubs, but I wanted to challenge many of my readers to stretch outside their comfort zone.  A small percentage of my readers engage in historical fiction and I wanted to expose others to the greatness as well. First, we started with an introduction to what historical fiction is: 

Bless Pinterest for the assistance I needed with this anchor chart. Although, I can't quite find the source at the moment. I'll keep hunting!

Then, I went to the library and checked out almost all of the Dear America series of books. We have a wide variety of male and female diaries that cover a vast timeline. Immediately, I thought about the incredible conversations students can have across topics. How is WWII experienced from a daughter of a newspaper editor? How is that different from a solider? How about from a resident of Pearl Harbor? I presented the books to my students with great excitement. I let them check out the books and their synopsis with their small groups and approve my selection. I wanted the students to be interested in the subject matter and not feel like I'm forcing them to read them. Surprisingly, all of my students kept their books. Now that they're finishing the stories, I have several students swapping titles. :) I can also thank the 4th grade teachers in my building who read the Oregon Trail book to my kids. 

While students have been reading, I've given them time to chat within their small group about the plot, setting, and most importantly: perspective. Since we're reading "Wonder" right now, we've had great discussions about the power of perspective writing and reading. 

So many titles - So little time!

As a final product, students are creating presentations in Prezi. I gave my students a mini tutorial on Prezi and warned them that at times, it is easy to get frustrated, but to stick with it! Each book group was given a Prezi Planning Guide. If you want a copy of my planning guide, email me! [jordon.furnell@gmail.com] The planning guide helps students draw out themes, character traits, historical events, golden quotes, and so on. Several groups finished their novels today and got started on their planning guides. Also, the project can be modified to create power points or poster presentations instead.

One of my girls finished her story, "Early Sunday Morning", on Friday afternoon. I was a little alarmed when I heard, "WHAT! IT'S OVER?" from across the room. I walked over to chat with her and she was very distraught over the ending and how the author could just leave her.... like that. It was obvious she was extremely invested in the story and her character, Amber. 

How's everyone else out there? Swimming through test prep like us? 

Woof.