Making Missouri a Mystery (Mystery Skype That is...)

A few weeks ago, a teacher-friend (Miss Kazanowski - find her blog here)  and I started chatting through Twitter about having our students collaborate on a writing project through Google Docs.  This teacher-friend and I live in different cities and teach in different school districts - so we had the perfect opportunity in the palm of our hands! 

First, we structured our first "meeting" as a Missouri Mystery Skype. By this point, both of our classes have participated in Mystery Skypes prior to, so we just informed our classes the school they were searching for was located in the state of Missouri. Introducing the task naturally brought up several learning opportunities (and refreshers for some): bodies of water in Missouri, highways, interstates, county lines, boundaries, etc. 

I made maps for my students (pictured below) to reference back to if Google Maps became a little daunting. Prior to our Skype, we spent time in Social Studies reading these maps and challenging one another to find specific cities, highways, lakes, etc. 

Throughout the Skype, students' excitement and engagement was through the roof! They were rushing around the room, whispering questions, and working together to try and find the exact location of their new digital pen pals.  It was incredible to overhear the fantastic geographical application happening. Questions thrown around such as, "Are you west of Jefferson City?" and "Do you border Kansas?" 

Oh! Another mini lesson we had prior to this Skype was about the language to use while communicating via Skype. We made a giant T-Chart of "Things To Say" and "Things Not to Say" while Skyping. As you can imagine, the "to say" list had things like west, east, north, etc. The "not to say" list included words like, close to, above, below, etc.  It was exciting to hear my students applying this language while communicating with new friends. Don't get me wrong, I had to throw out reminders - but hey, it's a start!

Miss Kazanowski had one of her students live-tweeting our entire Skype, and I have to say his play by play of the afternoon was spot-on and equally hilarious. What a great idea to have kids tweeting the experience! Here are a few of his tweets:

These guys have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. pic.twitter.com/i9odB6k8Sd

— Micaela Kazanowski (@MissKazanowski) May 8, 2014

The opponent has figured out where r school district is. Darn!!!!!!!!!!! We have to make a comeback on the double.

— Micaela Kazanowski (@MissKazanowski) May 8, 2014

This is our thinking in progress sign. pic.twitter.com/9zC7FwWgwu

— Micaela Kazanowski (@MissKazanowski) May 8, 2014

Once the students pinpointed the location, Miss Kazanowski and I shared the exciting news that not only were we friends from college but we would be doing a writing project together! When we shared we were Mizzou Alumni, all the kids stared at me (well, us...) in shock and disbelief! 

Check out my blog post here to read about our collaboration project through Google Drive!

Mapping Out an Exploration

Social studies is one of my favorite subjects to teach. Now wait, that's a bold statement! Science is equally spectacular and I love seeing students creativity come to life through their writing.... Okay, I retract my previous statement: I love it all. 

Last year, I blogged about the Explorer Trading Cards my students created. In 5th grade, we have very few standards addressing early exploration and the explorers of the new world(s). In my opinion, in order for students to understand the Revolutionary War, Westward Expansion, and the Civil War there has to be some background knowledge there. So - we still cover it, even if it is brief!

This year I decided to tweak our project and focus on map making AND exploration. In small groups, students researched one early explorer and focused on recreating a map of their journey. Some groups struggled to identify where on a map these explorers visited. It brought up great discussions of resources and geography of our Earth. 

Next week, we will briefly discuss the 13 colonies and then hop right on into the Revolutionary War. Fellow 5th grade teachers, what are YOU studying in Social Studies?

A Moment (Again)

About a month ago, I shared a moment that occurred in my classroom while reading the book Wonder. I had another moment with my students, but this one wasn't so... umm, well, I don't want to give away the whole story. 

Brace yourself. This was one of those brain farts (for lack of better terms). 

We are studying the states and capitals in social studies for the remainder of the year. I was all jazzed up talking about the Northeastern region and calling on kids left and right. We came to the state of New York and I said, "Bob (pseudonym for obvious reasons), what's the capital of New Yorrrrrrk?". Yes, you can imagine that I was singing it like Alicia Keys. I like to add my (non-existent) musical talents to my teaching.  

He confidently shouted back, "New York City!!!"

I replied, confidently, "YEP! You GOT IT!"

.........oops.

No more than 5 seconds after I shouted the wrong capital, 98% of my class shouted, "it's ALBANY."

Let's hope that my face was calm, cool, and collected as I cheerfully responded, "Oh good! You're all paying attention! I was just testing you."

I mean, really! All you can do is laugh. 

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. 

Stepping Back in Time

Have you heard of the Infinity Ring series? It was brought to my attention by my fellow 5th grade teachers and my kids LOVED IT. We read the first book as a read aloud and they ate it up. I highly recommend it. It's going to be a seven book series - which would be great to get your kids hooked on! I have several in my room reading book number two now. 

In social studies, we're finishing up our study on the American Revolution (so fun!) and I wanted to do a little creative project.  After pulling some ideas from all over the internet, I decided to tie in the American Revolution to the Infinity Ring. I gave my class the prompt below:

Imagine you have an Infinity Ring just like Dak and Sera! Ms. Furnell has asked you to use the device to travel back to 1773 in Boston, Massachusetts. You travel back and realize that you’re a colonist who has a vital decision to make. Will you join the rebels and participate in the Boston Tea Party? Will you decide to stay loyal to the British King? Write a diary entry in which you explain your decision. 

On Friday afternoon, we dunked sheets of white paper in tea and set them out to try for the weekend. Today, my class began writing their final copies of their diary entries. They were so excited! I heard several times that THIS was their favorite project so far. Who knew writing could be so fun? :)

Reading the letters has been the best experience. I'm amazed by their creativity. As part of the prompt, they had to include 4-5 factual reasons why they picked their "side". All of my students took the prompt and RAN with it.. creating an alternate life in the 1700's with family members such as Betsy Ross, Sam Adams, and George Washingtion. One student even took credit for firing that famous, "shot heard around the world". 

Another big highlight of the day was our brand new pencil sharpener. It was a BIG hit. 

It's the little things in life.

It's a Big World Out There!

Earlier this summer, I made a list of goals that I wanted my students (and myself) to accomplish this year. Recently, I've added a few more goals to that sheet.  One new goal, that I'm particularly passionate about, is exposing my students to this big 'ol world around us. For some, it's not so easy to hop in a car and road trip around the state. It's especially not as easy to travel around the country let alone the globe. Through different projects and activities, my goal is to show students our country and world through technology and communication.  I've found a couple of ways to do so... Take a look!

International Weather Investigation

When prepping for my weather unit, I set out searching for a weather data collection form. I came up short until I saw a link that led me to Skype. I clicked on the link and was reading about an International Weather Investigation based out of Sydney, Australia. I think I screamed out loud. After reading the overview, I KNEW we could participate. Basically, students in Sydney need 3-weeks worth of weather data about our climate. Perfect, right? I added our name to the Google Doc and waited for my email full of information. By 8:00 AM the next morning, my inbox had two brand new emails from Sydney. I could barely contain my excitement. Really - I kind of freaked out.

To start the project, my classes mapped out where other participating schools were located. With world maps in hand, students were using the Google Doc to find countries and schools all over the world. We were marking places in Asia, South America, Russia, America, and so on.  It was incredible! Today, my students collected their first afternoon of data. I didn't even have to remind anyone about the project. I recommend YOU checking out this spectacular climate project here.

Hurricane Sandy

It's hard to fathom what a hurricane might be like in Missouri. We're accustomed to talking about tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. I wanted my students to be aware of what was happening on the other side of the country. Today, I spent a chunk of science time talking to my students about Sandy hammering the east coast. I found video clips to show my students and they asked several questions. We grabbed the maps and figured out who was being hit the hardest and several students asked about our pen pals and I.W.I. friends.

How do you get your students to see the big world that they live in? How do you open their eyes outside of their current residence? Do share!

Thinking Like a Delegate: Constitution Day 2012

Last week, September 17, was Constitution Day! I'm sure that many of you took time throughout the day to observe our nation's constitution and our Founding Fathers.  This year, I wanted to include a little time travel into Constitution Day.   First, I had a replica of the constitution out for the kids to observe. They loved the signatures and the fact that it was barely legible to them. 

I bought this replica at the St. Louis Arch Museum. It was the best $10.00 I've spent in awhile!

Next, I told the students that we would be focusing in on the delegates of the Constitutional Convention.  Five groups in my classroom were assigned a delegate to research. Their goal was to create a Facebook page for their Founding Father. The essential question was, "what would [insert delegate's name here] post on Facebook?" All of my students, in 5th grade, are familiar with Facebook and how it's used. The difficult part of the project was convincing them that the year was 1787 and we were taking Facebook back in time with us. See? Time travel!  I had to remind them that George Washington didn't "Like" the same activities that we do now, such as playing x-box, which means that wouldn't show up on his Facebook wall.

This activity wouldn't have been possible without my extremely talented friend, Ali. You should take the time and check out her incredible online portfolio here. I told her my vision and with the whooosh of her wand, she had emailed me a file perfect for our activity. Thanks to her my kids were able to have an extraordinary paper version of a Facebook page fit with a map of the 13 colonies!!

I gave each group a black and white version for a rough draft. After they double checked the sloppy copy with me, they jumped into their final copies in color. 

Through a few google searches, I found incredible sites for my students to use. Of course the internet wasn't exactly working on ALL 6 computers Monday, so we had to improvise. Despite the internet madness, students were able to get the basic facts from the site.  To help with common questions, I provided each student with a checklist. There were six different tasks on the checklists. First, groups divided up the responsibilities then they got to work.

Here was the checklist:
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______ Cover photo should represent a painting from the convention

______ Profile picture and basic information (name, occupation, lives in, and relationship) should come from biography page.

______ Wall posts can be from family members, delegates, or children. Wall posts must relate to the current time period or an event that has happened in the delegate's life.

______ “Likes” and interests should be picked from the biography page.

______ “Friends” can include pictures of family members, spouses, children, or other delegates.

______ “Places I’ve Been Map” should include HOME state. (The map may also include: college location, convention location, etc.)

*Remember, your page should represent the LIFE of the delegate. It’s the year 1787! Good luck!

At the conclusion of the project, I laminated the pages and hung them in the hallway in a fancy red, white, and blue display. I included a little blurb about our activity and another replica constitution. Now, while kids are waiting to use the restroom they can learn a little bit about our Founding Fathers. 

Displaying our Facebook Pages.  

George Washington

John Langdon

Ben Franklin

I really enjoyed talking to my students about writing the wall posts. I encouraged them to teach our readers in the hallway something about the convention through the wall posts. First, I got several blank looks. Then the spark of creativity started to light in several groups. I was very excited by the results. 

As a result of this two day activity, several students were reminded that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are two different documents. When we study the American Revolution later, we will be able to reference this activity. Hopefully, they'll remember the names studied because several of them worked on the Declaration of Independence as well. 

How do YOU celebrate Constitution Day?

Calling All Travel Agents!

Teaching 5th grade social studies is a whole new world for me. Yes, I hope you're singing Aladdin's "A Whole New World" right now. Last year, I think I mentally blocked out all things social studies so I could completely focus on communication arts and science. Thankfully, I have brilliant coworkers and friends who are willing to share their wisdom with me.

To kickstart our year in social studies, we started off with a little review of geography. After some super-duper-email-long-distance-collaboration my wheels were spinning. Micaela (a fellow former Fellow) suggested a brochure. I decided to run with it!

In the task, students were asked to create a brochure about one of the five regions of the United States. The brochure had to include the region's climate, bodies of water, states, vegetation, and natural resources. The majority of the information was found inside our textbook. In addition to researching a specific region, I asked the kids to pick a spotlight city to research. Let's just say, it was VERY confusing for 75% of my class. Today, I updated my document (at the conclusion of the project) and plan on presenting and explaining it differently next year. Instead, it was suggested by another coworker (collab! collab!) that students identify five cities within that region and find their latitude and longitude.

Overall, the kids seemed to enjoy the creative aspect of the project. They were able to illustrate, search on the internet, and put their own creative twist into it. Today, while presenting I loved listening to my students assume the role as a travel agent. I was also able to easily modify this task for some students. Instead of creating full blown brochure, I had some students create a poster of specific information instead. It worked very well!

Travel Brochure

Next, we're jumping into Native Americans then moving forward toward the Explorers. Just in time for Columbus Day.

Enjoy your Friday, friends!

Pen Pals: Step One

My blog has managed to open up several opportunities for me in the classroom. This summer, a wonderful teacher from the Chicago suburbs emailed me about collaboration work. I said, "why not!?" Now, we are in the beginning stages of our pen pal exchange. Except, this is no ordinary run of the mill snail mail exchange. Well, we're starting with snail mail but moving towards more technological interfaces. 

Today, my students were given the name of their pen pal. Then, as a class we found their school using Google Earth. All of our school computers have Google Earth downloaded already, so most of my students were familiar with the program. First, we found our school in Missouri then zoooooomed over to Illinois to find out pals. Of course, everyone wanted to show me their house, their Grandma's house, what pool they swam at this summer, and where they want to go on vacation. BUT, that has to wait for Wednesday.

Generic Shot of Google Earth via Google. 

We began scoping out the area of our pen pals neighborhood. Side note: this is a random google image of Google Earth. This is not our pen pal's location!! Anyway, we were checking out the area of our pen pals and the students were firing off several similarities and differences of our schools. One being that THEIR school is surrounded by houses. Which means students are more likely to possibly walk to school? In our community, all students have to ride a bus or be dropped off. Walking isn't an option because of our location. The students were amazed! 

Then, the question was asked, "can we visit our pen pals?" I mean the kids were ready to jump into these friendships head first. They barely had their names written down and they were packing their bags for a road trip.  I pulled up Google maps and got directions to their school. We found that it would take us about 6 hours to get there. The class was super excited - I'm pretty sure they think I'm going to load up a van and drive them all there. I'll break the news to them tomorrow. 

Random Generic Map. 

Next, each student was given a checklist for writing their letter. Mrs. Larson and I decided to start with regular snail mail. We wanted to show a comparison between mail through the postal service and electronic mail (aka e-mail). The kids don't know this part yet. Shhh! It's a secret. I could barely stop the kids from writing their letters. I was reviewing them tonight and most of them told their entire life story. I had to caution a few to only include necessary information.

After we receive our letters, I'm probably going to have to rent a bus and drive my kids to Chicago. Just kidding. Actually, we plan on *hopefully* skyping with one another and/or creating Gaggle.net accounts. I'm looking forward to this experience!!

Have you ever had pen pals? How about electronic pen pals? Do share!