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. 

Spring Goals

One thing my teacher does that I LOVE and will be taking from her is creating a seasonal tree for seasonal goals! 

Each student gets two flowers and fills our their spring goals for math and reading. In the beginning of the year my teacher used leafs, then snowflakes, then stars and now FLOWERS! :) 

Here is an example of what some of the students wrote on the trees. 

I helped create this tree with my students and helps put together our tree with our spring goals :) 

* I just really love this idea! It is a great way for students to help set goals for themselves and to share their goals with the rest of the school. I just HAD to share this idea with everyone because, it is such a GREAT idea!!! :) 

Going Public with Epubhub

Our end of the quarter project for our animal inquiry unit was for students to understand and be able to compare and contrast two different animals. 

By far one of the coolest projects EVER! :) 

Students researched and studying different adaptions, habitats, environments, diets and so on. My students then studied two different animals and learned to compare and contrast the two animals. 

Here is our Animal Research Project rubric! Then you have an idea of what was required of the students and how they designed their books :) 

Then the students created rough drafts of their animals and did a pre-write. The pre-write was breaking up a rough draft into a book format. We studied non-fiction texts and features of non-fiction text so we could make a book just like a non-fiction book. Students made a table of contents, bolded words and even created a glossary. 

After the pre-write and having it checked by me then students typed of their pre-write in a word doc. When creating this in a word doc they typed it as if it was a book. For example page 1 is a table of contents, then page 2 might be diet. So the pages are divided up according to topic. Also the students included photos and images through their books. 

Then we brought in the technology integrator who then took the word document and saved it as a PDF and up loaded it on the http://www.epubbud.com/

Here is the exact link of my students works! PLEASE check our our amazing books! 

http://jwhalenrivest.wix.com/jeffersonimc#!achieve-geiss-45-animal-epubs/cfh0

Animal Inquiry Wall

I created an inquiry wall of all of our animal anchor charts so that students could have a visual for my students :) 

Sorry is it a bit blurry. But it includes a anchor chart of Non-fiction features, bio-domes  and classifications. 

This is the Non-fiction Feature Anchor chart. I used a non-fiction book and went through doing whole group talking about different features of a non-fiction book. (Lots of my students assumed you are suppose to read cover to cover, when in reality you will look at the index, table of contents and so on.) Once we did this anchor chart my students had a much better understanding. 

Pi Day Anyone?

For Pi Day I decided to treat my students and I made little apple pies, cherry pies and blueberry pies :) 

Then the rest of day we studied Pi. We did some practice problems using the Pi formula and talking about Pi. Then we watched the brain pop video. It was a day all about Pi :) 

Working in Pods

My school is a Next Generation Learning School (in case i have not mentioned that yet) and sitting in Pods is required in almost any and every classroom! I love the idea of having students sit in pods and collaborate with one another! This gives students the chance to work as a group and ask questions or help one another with their learning. 

The only way I would not have students sitting in pods would be if there were major behavioral problems in my class. I have a class that has it's moments of being challenging but, nothing that cannot be fixed. For example if a students talks too much with their neighbor I will move them to a spot next to someone who will not distract their learning. Otherwise I have been able to easily teach whole group with students working in pods and had them work together and collaborate and brain storm with one another. Seeing this and working with this every day I have truly seen the benefits of working in groups and how students can collaborate and strengthen their learning! :)  

Little Critter Houses

So at the end of the book I had students create little homes however they would like for their little bugs. I gave the students fake little bugs and told them just like Mario in the story they need to take care of their bug and give him a home.

Each student created a very unique and creative home for their critters. They then presented to the class and explained why they created the home they did and related it back to Mario.  Mario our main character found a little home for his cricket but, the cricket did not like the elaborate home and instead preferred to sleep in a match box. My students made this connection and learned what home would be good for their critters/bugs.

Along with presenting their homes to the group and explaining why they home the homes the way they did my students also did a write up about the home they made.

This was a great project for students that can allow them to have fun and be creative.