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!

"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?" 

Haiku for the New Year

Happy Thursday! Thanks to an inspirational post by Barbara at the Corner on Character, I challenged my students to write a haiku about their New Year's Resolutions last week. I was blown away by their creativity and thoughtful resolutions. I have a class full of students with enormous hearts!

We briefly talked about the structure of a haiku and its origin, then I sent them on their way. The day before we had talked about the word "resolution" and made goals, so each student had an initial idea of what they could write about.

We had haikus about laughter, love, organization, learning new skills, and so on. Several new goals were set for the new year. Now they're proudly on display in the hallway. It was a great activity to jump start the new year on a positive note. 

Stretch Your Spine

Last year, I stumbled upon 100 Scope Notes and their post about "Book Spine Poetry". The entire post was a collection of some of the best poems from the year. It's a creative take on the world of poetry.

Since my students are working hard to write poetry from their (soon to be published) hardback poetry books, I decided to throw them a little challenge and create poems from books in our classroom library.

Confused? Here's an example:

Prior to starting, I showed my kiddos the webpage full of poems. We talked how the poem's seem to revolve around a central theme and idea. I challenged my students to search our classroom high and low to put together spines of books and create a little poem of their own! I was blown away by some of their creations. Their creativity and imaginations were fantastic!

Not only were they thinking about theme, but they were also finding books upon books that haven't been discovered this year (including nonfiction!!). Plus, it didn't hurt that they had a lot of fun. The perfect activity after a weekly test.

Here's a few more that will make you giggle, think, and smile:

Happy weekend friends!