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!