Student Led Conferences

Tonight we had our fourth and fifth graders lead their conferences. My school is a next generation school and does things a little different but, in a good way! My students have red conference folders that they keep organized  This folder includes their reading goals, writing goals and math goals. Each quarter the students will create new goals for themselves or when they reach those goals they need to update them. Students also will add work that they are the most proud like daily 5 work, papers, math assessments etc. whatever they are personally proud of :) 

Then for conferences students are expected to introduce their parents to us, give a tour and walk their parents through their routine and everything in their folder. Of course parents still had questions for us but our parents LOVED seeing their child lead the conferences. As a teacher it was a great way to see exactly what the students have learned and know. The parents did a great job asking questions and really challenging students thinking. 

  Students fill out their writing, reading, and math goals that they set for themselves so they can continually challenge themselves throughout their learning! I LOVE this idea! 

I love the idea of student led conferences it truly shows the students independence and forces them to learn how to become independent along with setting reasonable learning goals for themselves. This is what the WAWM district uses so I did not create this. I would however do something similar in my classroom in the future! I just wanted to share the idea with everyone and give them an idea of what the goals sheet looks like :)

Earth Day

Part of Earth Week at our school was for each pod to do a hands on activity to learn about the environment. Our pod choose to weight how much food was wasted each day. More than half of our students are on free and reduced lunch and WASTE this food EVERY single day! So we decided to not tell the student what were doing and weight the amount of food is wasted along with the milk. The first day 64lbs of food was wasted and 28lbs of milk! THAT IS INSANE! The second day the number was more outrageous! Then we told the students what we were doing and then we talked about ways to reduce waste. The numbers went down- thankfully! This was an eye opener for myself as well as the students. We wanted to choose an activity that was relevant to students and that they could learn to make a conscience effort to change. 

Each pod at school needed to create a piece of clothing for our principal to wear either reducing, reusing, or recycling. Our pod had students bring in our t-shirts and then we sewed them together to make a dress for the principal.  

Here is the graph we created to show our findings and to hang in the hallway as a reminder. 

Myths

Another fun lesson was teaching my students about myths! :) I love love love love Greek Mythology. So it was difficult to teach other ideas about myths that was not just about Greek Mythology. My students really enjoyed learning about myths and began checking books out in the library about different myths in different cultures :) 

Plots of stories

Today i taught my small group in I-time (intervention) about plot and understanding what a plot is and the steps a story will go through. 

We made a flip chart before reading our Sarah, Plain and Tall. 

Here is an example of our flip chart that one of my students made. We made this and then used it as a book mark so students can reference as we read. 

Tall Tales

Tall Tales I did the same as both Fairy Tales and Fables. I sat with the students on the carpet and discussed what we thought a Tall Tale might be and then created an anchor chart. Once we created an anchor chart the students needed to come up with examples of tale tales. 

After lunch everyday to help calm down students we would then read an example of a tall tale. After each story i would have students turn and talk about what made it a tall tale. 

Accommodation Vs. Modifications

Accommodations: 

The act of accommodating or the state of being accommodated; adjustment.

Modification:

The act of modifying or the condition of being modified.

In the classroom it is SO important to be able to accommodate for students as well as know the difference between the two terms. This is something i do on a daily basis in my classroom. 

In Special Education terms, or teacher terms accommodations means you are keeping the same target skill or learning target. The student is doing the same amount of work but in possibly a different form. For example having a test read out loud to a student. The test is still the same with the same amount of work but, given in a different way. For modifications this is changing the work load. Giving a student a test but, telling them to do only the even problems. Sometimes students assignments or projects may be a little different and may need to only include 2 examples of something while the class does 4-5 examples. 

I personally do many modifications in my classroom for one particular student. This student has been moved around from school to school and is at a 2nd grade reading level. For example when we do our warm up and many of the problems are geared towards 4th and 5th graders it sometimes is too great of a challenge (many times I do have this student challenge himself to try the math problems or correct some of the sentences but, sometimes they are too difficult for him to understand.) So I will make up a whole new warm up for him to do. I will do similar problems and similar language arts work but, again something that will challenge him with in reason :) 

 

                                                   











Here is an example of making accommodations for one of my students during the warm up activity (on the left). I wrote out the work for them and then had them make the corrections directly on the sentence. The warm up (on the right) I made modifications and gave the student different math problems that he was able to do. 

As teachers it is so important to know the difference between the two and know how to make accommodations and modifications for our students so they can reach their true learning potential :) 

* Thank you Dr. Casey and Dr. Hagaman for drilling this stuff into my head. I use these ideas EVERY day in my classroom! :) 

Mapping the United States during The Civil War

I did an inquiry unit teaching students what states were part of the south or the confederacy and what was a part of the north or the union. We talked what state Wisconsin would be and how on record Wisconsin only had 1 slave but, it is still considered a free state. We talked about how California and Oregon was a union state. This was a huge challenge for students!

I gave students a double sided worksheet with the same exact map from 1861 on it. On the front I told my students to work in their pods and collaborate with one another about which states would be considered a part of the north and apart of the south. Again California and Oregon was the main debate for my pods. Then after giving my students time to color and talk about each state as a whole group we went through the states.

I created a large version of their map to color along with them and show them the correct states. I colored northern states blue and southern states red (I gave these same directions to students as well. So as I colored my states in the students did the same on the back of their worksheet so then they had a correct map of the United States during 1861.

So I would point to states and have students volunteer and tell me what they thought the state was. Again this led to GREAT discussions as a whole group. Many students thought that California was both and split down the middle. I then explained how they did not want to expand slavery anymore so any new states like California and Oregon would be free states and apart of the union. My students totally understood this concept once I explained it to them.

My students really enjoyed this lesson and were able to ask tons of questions and correct any misconceptions they had. We also compared our map of 1861 to our current map of the united states and talked about what states were missing. I personally loved teaching this lesson and again my students asked so many great questions :) 

Measurement Word Wall

Adding to our word wall I added our different measurement and unit words for our next math unit. It is important to make these word walls and create these visuals for students so they always know the correct vocabulary to use for any subject. 

Fairy Tales

After doing Fables we moved on to Fairy Tales. Fairy Tales is an easier idea for students to understand and have background knowledge in. Once again i taught this lesson the same way I taught the Fables Lesson. I would teach this whole class with all students on the back carpet and we would first discuss what we thought a Fairy Tale was and then create our anchor chart. After we created our anchor chart as a class I had students turn and talk and come up with examples of Fairy Tales. 

The anchor chart we created. Includes our definition, a make believe story written for children with magic and enchantment (we discussed the word enchantment as a group). 

Then we created just quick points to help us remember, includes royalty, wicked characters, nice characters who are mistreated, usually started with "once upon a time," includes magic, ends with a happily ever after, rewarded in the end for being good or kind and is a fictional story. 

The last part on the anchor chart is examples, Snow White, Cinderella  Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty. 

Brother's Grimm is the start of all fairy tales until Disney took those ideas and put a happy twist on them. I read from this book each day to talk about how each story makes it a fairy tale. My students got really excited reading the Brother's Grimm books and even started checking more out at the library :) 

Fables

Each week I taught a different type of story, I started with Fables. I had the students sit on the back carpet so as a group we could discuss. I had students turn and talk for about a minute about what they thought a Fable was. None of the students could explain. So we made the anchor chart, then again turned and talked to come up with examples of what we thought a fable was.

The anchor chart we created. It includes the definition of a a Fable- short tales used to teach a moral or lesson often with animals as the characters. 

Then we did just quick points to help us remember, the story is brief, main characters are animals, fictional tale, and teach a lesson. 

The last thing listed on the anchor chart is examples to help us remember, Tortoise and the Hare, Ugly Duckling, and The Wolf and the Crane. I saw a similar anchor chart from pinterest and got my inspiration from there :) This is the exact blog, it has TONS of amazing ideas :) http://msnoren.blogspot.com/2011/10/traditional-literature-traditionally.html

Here is the book I used to help teach Fables. Each day after lunch as a transition for students I would read one Fable. Before reading i would first have students remind me what makes a Fable. Then I would read one fable, then have students turn and talk with a neighbor to discuss what the possible lesson or moral to the story is. My students LOVED doing this everyday after lunch and reading about Fables! :) 

Idioms

What a shock I made another anchor chart ;) This lesson was on Idioms. I did not go too in depth because, my students were very familiar with them. We did a quick little lesson and then I had students turn and talk and come up with examples. Then I would have one of the partners come up to the anchor chart and write their examples :) They had a lot of fun writing their examples :) 

Onomatopoeia is "POPPING"

Teaching all those Language Arts terms can be so boring for students so i wanted to come up with a fun creative way to teach students :) The first thing I taught is Onomatopoeia. I created a big red popcorn looking container. Then i i created different size popcorn kernels. I taught this whole class at first and and talked about the definition of the word with students and then had students turn and talk and come up with examples. After we created the anchor chart and wrote the definitions i had students return to their seats. Each student was given 2 popcorn kernels. They needed to write one onomatopoeia word on each kernel. 

An example of a Kernel with one onomatopoeia word used on it :) 

The students really loved doing this lesson and as they read books throughout the week were quick to run up and show me that they found an onomatopoeia word :) So exciting when they love learning and can relate what we taught :)

The Start of our Inquiry Civil War Wall

I just wanted to share the start of our new inquiry wall!!! :) We are now studying The American Civil War. Our learning question to think about while studying the civil war is "How do living things survive?" 

Students will learn how slaves survived, soldiers, masters, plantation owners, and Abraham Lincoln. We will study each person while studying the different events that led to the Civil War along with the events that occurred during the Civil War. 

Happy Birthday to my WONDERFUL cooperating teacher!

Today was my AMAZING cooperating teachers birthday! I wanted to do something special so a month prior when she was out sick and had a sub I had the students making a book about why they like her as a teacher! It could not have turned out cuter! And proved what a wonderful teacher she is and a true role model to me and my students :) 

Our beautiful book :) 

                             Some of our thoughtful pages from the book :) 
I also got her flowers because, anyone who knows me knows I LOVE flowers and again she deserves it! 

Question Jar

Our class started our next inquiry unit which is the American Civil War. This is such a broad topic for students in 4th and 5th grade to understand as well as a lot of information to cover! When I first started teaching our civil war unit I was bombarded each and every day with tons of questions! I needed to find a way for my students to ask questions but for it not to take up all of our learning time either! So I told the students we would have a question jar. All of my students have post-its at their desk for taking notes when reading. I  said whenever they are reading and come across a question to write it down and put it in the question jar. Each day I will check the question jar at the end of the day. Then in the morning when we are doing our warm up I'll answer some of those burning questions. This is a great way to communicate with students as well as address any misconceptions and answers those questions! 

Here is our question jar. It is filled at least with 5 questions a day! 

Here is an idea of some of the questions students have. 

Some of the questions read....

"Why was it called the underground railroad?"

"How many soldiers did they lose by the end of the war?"

"Who started the Civil War?"

My students have some really great questions and I can tell they are VERY interested in the subject and eager to learn. Not all questions i can answer off the top of my head but, by answering them the next day it gives me time to look them up so I can give my students the correct information and find examples or clips to help explain! 

I love the question jar and this is for sure something I will always continue using throughout my teaching! :) My students then can ask questions without being afraid, they communicate with me any confusion and it helps me see what is peaking their interest! :) 

Similes and Metaphors

I taught this lesson in a two day lesson. I taught Similes first because that is an easier lesson and then did Metaphors the next day and built on our anchor chart. 

All of the examples of similes is in orange and all the metaphors are in red. This way students would not be confused with the examples being used. 

The day we did similes i explained the definition and then had students turn and talk and come up with different examples of similes. Then after my students gave examples and I corrected any misconceptions then I had students return to their seats and create a flip chart of similes about themselves. 

Here is an example of a students work of making a flip chart. 

"Haley is as s fun as....." (then on the inside she said the word she compared herself to)

"Haley is as smart as a...."

Then the next day we did metaphors! This was a much concept for students to understand and determine. We met on the back carpet again and reviewed similes and then talked about metaphors. Students once again turned and talked about examples of metaphors. 

After talking about with one another about examples of metaphors and adding to our anchor chart I had students return to their seats to do a metaphors activity. I asked students to make a metaphor family.

Make an image of your family and write about each person using a metaphor  (This was a harder idea and activity for my 4th graders to do. But I still like challenging them and getting them to think) 

Introduction to the Civil War

To start off our Civil War inquiry unit I had students sit on the back carpet and talk about what we already know about the Civil War and what we don't know and questioning. In the Blue color is all the information we know, in the black color is all the questions we have. 

This is a great way to start off a new unit and figure out what students already know and see what misconceptions they may have as well.