Charlotte's Web

Salutations! We've completed our novel study of Charlotte's Web, the beloved classic about a pig named Wilbur whose life is saved thanks to his friend Charlotte, a clever spider who is a "true friend and a good writer". The tale contains lessons of friendship, loyalty, life, and death.

The class used lapbooks containing a ton of graphic organizers and comprehension questions during our novel study.

 

 

The students revealed what wonderful word weavers and poets they are on our Charlotte's Web bulletin board that displays spiders decorated with words Charlotte should spin and "Friend" acoustic poems.

 

 

The bulletin board also displays student-created brochures for the state fair where Wilbur wins the blue ribbon.

 

We spun together a test review and fun using a spiderweb manipulative. Each student picked a spider task card off the whiteboard web and asked classmates to answer the comprehension question on the back.

Our unit cumulated with a Charlotte's Web party. We munched on popcorn (representing fair food), animal crackers (representing the barn animals), and pink candy sticks (representing Wilbur) while we watched the Charlotte's Web movie with Dakota Fanning playing Wilbur's friend, Fern. We'll be going to see the play at Montclair State University in March.

The unit can be purchased at my TPT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Charlottes-Web-Lapbook-Learning-Activities-1134039

 

Happy teaching!

 

Biography Writing Unit

We've completed our biography writing unit using the Fundamentals Writing Units of Study program. Our unit began by learning what a biography is and exploring this genre's features. We then dove into reading the following biographies:

The Boy on Fairfield Street: How Ted Geisel Grew Up to Become Dr. Seuss

by Kathleen Krull

If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks

by Faith Ringgold

Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man

by David A. Adler

Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau

by Jennifer Berne

Night Flight: Amelia Earhart Crosses the Ocean

by Robert Burleigh

A Picture Book of Cesar Chaves

 by David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler

After reading each biography, we created a bubble map about the biography. The title of the book was our main bubble and introduction, personal life, career, and conclusion were the categories radiating out from it. Students used their graphic organizers to develop rough copies. Their final copies were written on specially themed paper. For example, their Rosa Parks biographies were written on "bus booklets" and their Lou Gehrig biographies were written on baseball mitts.

 

                                                          

During the unit, each student was assigned a famous person to write a biography book report about. At the end of the unit, we had a "Biography Publishing Party". Students dressed as their characters and shared read their biographies to the class.

Babe Ruth

Florence Nightengale

Alexander Graham Bell

 

Abraham Lincoln

Albert Einstein

Leonardo da Vinci

 

Betsy Ross

 

Walt Disney

Theodore Roosevelt

Neil Armstrong...

and his space pack

Ben Franklin...

and a closer look of his breeches

Helen Keller

Galileo

Thomas Edison

 

My biography writing unit, including graphic organizers and themed paper for the biographies we read, the biography book report directions, and a biography report grading rubric, is available at my TPT store.

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Biography-Writing-Unit-1106929

 

 

   Happy learning!

 

 

 

Snow Day Scoop

Two back to back snow days is the perfect opportunity to catch up with blogging.

We traveled back in time when Mr. Davidson from the Cranbury Historical Society Museum visited our class to teach us about Native Americans and colonists who once resided in our community. Mr. Davidson, dressed as a colonist, brought maps and pictures, which brought to life the stories he shared with us. We especially liked his tricorne hat and learning about the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Mr. Davidson's stories integrated what we've been learning about in reading, social studies, and science.

 

 

We've been learning about pronouns in a variety of ways, including playing the "Pronoun Pockets" game. Each student received a card with a sentence written on it that contained a noun. The student then placed the card in the pronoun pocket that could replace the noun. For example, "The mom made spaghetti for dinner." was placed in the "she" pronoun pocket. The way I created the pockets was by gluing envelopes on to posterboard.

 

To encourage good classroom behavior I recently introduced a "Class Reward Jar." I purchased the small plastic jar at A.C. Moore, then decorated it with letter stickers and curling ribbon. When the class is exhibiting good behavior it earns a marble...and, sometimes more than one. 

I gave the kids choices for a reward: one night of no homework, a special snack, or a movie. The class voted for a movie. And, the "desk fairy" continues to leave treats for students who keep their desks organized and neat.

Finally, I'm not sure why, but Blogger refuses to display my uploaded photos large after the 1st one. However, if you click on a photo it should open in large size in a gallery.

 

 

 

 

Soil Study

We got down and dirty during our Soil Study today! After learning about the types and layers of soil and its importance small groups used magnifying lenses to examine soil samples and identify the organic material in them. I collected soil from my backyard because potting soil won't have a variety of material in it. Students drew and labeled what they discovered, then wrote reasons why soil is important. Material students dug up included moss, plant roots, mulch, pebbles, fetilizer, dead leaves, and even an acorn shell.

Some videos that help give students the dirt on soil are:

http://www.growingthenextgeneration.com/just-for-kids-videos-dirt-on-soil.html

 

http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/soil/preview.weml

Although BrainPop offers free videos, you'll need to set up an account for the soil one.

 

"The Rotten Journey:A Soil Story" is a stop motion animation that shows how decaying organic material can be turned into compost.

 

 

 

 

 

New Year's News

 

Hope 2014 is off to a great start for everyone! The closest I come to making New Year's resolutions is...

 

I believe I can make a positive change any time of the year and don't want to set myself up for unrealistic expectations. So, when the kiddos returned from winter vacation instead of asking them what their New Year resolutions are, I shared some wishes I have for this year and then asked them to write what their wishes are. The students then colored self-portraits and drew hats on their heads that they decorated and glued pom pom tops on. The results are hanging on our classroom clothesline...

 

 

                       The printable is for sale at my TPT store...

                              http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Renee-Glashow

 

 

Other writing activities we've done since winter vacation are writing narratives for our "Snowglobe Stories" bulletin board and "SNOW" acoustic poems. For the 1st activity, students started their snowy narratives using the prompt "One morning I woke up and...", then used paper plates, markers, foam and sticker snowflakes, and translucent glitter glue to create snowglobes.

 

 

The "SNOW" acoustic poems were glued on to paper plates cut into the shape of snowflakes and we made them sparkle using glitter glue.

 

The new year also contained an introduction to division. We met "Division Man", who taught us what a dividend, divisor, and quotient are, as well as the steps of division. We practiced dividing into equal groups using M&M's and work mats. Then, teams participated in a "Division Drag Race" using toy cars, dice, and a racetrack poster.

 

If you teach you know how you can ask a question such as "What is the capital of the United States?" and receive the answer, "I had pizza for dinner last night." So, I chuckled from this cartoon...