Teaching in Room 6

Oreo Plate Tectonics (with CKLA)

2026-03-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

We have just begun the Geology unit in CKLA. One of the first things the students learn about it Pangea, the idea of continental drift, and plate tectonics. Super heavy for a 4th grader! Though they really do seem to be into learning about geological theory, it is a bit hard for them to conceptualize. To make it a bit more engaging and real for the students, I thought I would bring in a bit of food into the mix.

While reading about the three types of plate boundaries, and the geologic formations that appear because of them, I gave the students three Oreo cookies. For each cookie, I had them twist the two halves apart. The top part represented the crust. The creme and bottom cookie represented the magma inside the Earth. Then I had them carefully break the top crust in half.

As we read the information in the book, we used the Oreos to demonstrate each of the three boundaries. Here is what we did for each boundary:

Divergent -- while the "crust" sat on top of the "magma", students pulled the two halves of the cookie slowly apart. This revealed the creme magma below to show how it easily could then come through to make new land.

Convergent -- while the "crust" sat on top of the "magma", student pushed the two halves of the cookie together. This created new breaks in the top cookies. Some parts went under the others, showing subduction. Some pushed up together, creating mountains.

Transform -- while the "crust" sat on top of the "magma", students slid the two halves of the cookie past each other. This caused crumbling and showed how earthquakes and faults occurred. Kids could feel the pressure required to have the two halves slide.

As they were doing this, they used this sheet to diagram the cookies, write about the movement taking place, and the resulting geological feature.

Then, when all was said and done, they got to eat their plate tectonic boundaries. It was a fun way to bring a little engagement to an otherwise dry textbook.

Mini-Unit on Kindness in 4th Grade

2026-03-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

As of late, my class has been less than kind to each other. I have noticed them leaving each other out, ditching partners, having unkind inside jokes at the expense of others, and just generally being mean to their classmates. At times, I am sure some are unaware of how unkind they are being. They are just following along with the rest of the class. But there in lies the problem. So I decided to do a 5 day mini-unit on kindness. Using picture books as our start, the intention of these lessons was to refocus us all on how our actions affect others and how being kind/nice/polite to others is an intentional choice that we make.

Day 1: Empathy and How it Feels to be Excluded

Book: The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Goal of the lesson: For students to recognize that exclusion and ignoring others is hurtful, even when it isn't loud bullying.

I began by telling the students that I had noticed that in our class people were being left out. that they were being talked about in an unkind manner, and that at times, people were trying to make others look bad.

Not one student disagreed with me. No one looked to their neighbors with wonderment. No one looked bewildered. They all knew what I was talking about. Which instantaneously validated that I needed to do these lessons.

I began reading the book, pausing to ask questions at key moments in the story. Did the kids notice that Brian was invisible? Where the kids in the book overtly mean? Did they purposefully exclude him? What did Justin do? Was it big or small?

We focused a lot on how what helped Brian feel less invisible was a very small gesture. How small gestures on our part can make a huge difference in how others feel, even if we don't think it is a big deal.

We then created an anchor chart sharing how it feels to be excluded. I asked them directly to think about how they feel when they are not invited in or unwelcomed. I wrote their ideas down. We orally discussed the question "What are ways that you have seen in our class that people get excluded?" Then I asked them to finish the sentence "One thing I can do to make sure people in our class don't feel invisible is _____" They shared with a partner first, then wrote it out on a sticky note, which they added to our anchor chart.

I then asked them to make an intentional effort at recess and lunch to be inclusive of all of our classmates. During our SEL circle at the end of the day, they went around and shared one way they were kind that day in school.

Day 2: Self-Awareness and Missed Chances to Be Kind

Book: Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Goal of the lesson: For students to realize that our actions can cause the feelings of exclusion and sometimes the worst choice is to do nothing.

After a quick review of the idea from the day before that one small act of kindness can help turn the experience of others around, I asked them to think about what a missed chance was. They pair-shared and I said that today we would read a story and look for missed chances the characters had to show small acts of kindness.

We read the book Each Kindness by Jaqueline Woodson. Again, I stopped to discuss at key points in the story. How were the students treating the new student in class? Were they overtly mean? How are the kids responding to the new student? Why are they laughing? What message does that send to the new student? Why is the narrator sad at the end?

As the story ended, I brought it back to The Invisible Boy. I asked the students what was one small difference in the stories, which were quite similar in nature, that made all the difference in the world for the people who felt invisible in the book? They realized that in the first book, one person reached out and made the main character feel seen. In the second book, no one did. The chance was missed.

Together we made an anchor chart showing the ripple effect of kindness, since that was a big part of the book. In the center, they shared ways that we could show kindness. One small way. Then the next circle we thought about how that person receiving the kindness would feel. Then the outside ring was what would happen next? What might that person do in regards to kindness?

The students then were asked to finish the sentence "One way I can create a ripple of kindness in our classroom is by _______. This will then cause ________." They were to think about the cause and effects of their own actions in our classroom. They wrote this on a sticky note and we put it up next to the anchor chart.

Again, during our SEL circle at the end of the day, I asked them to share how they were kind/polite/nice to others. Several shared more in depth than they did on Day 1, which was good.

Note: I am actively teaching these in my classroom now. I will be adding the next lessons as I teach them.

Day 3: Class Responsibility

Book: The Juice Box Bully by Maria Desmondy

Goal of the lesson: To understand that classmates can influence behavior and kindness isn't just a personal choice, it is a community responsibility.

We again reviewed the two books we have already read. I asked them "What does it feel like to be left out?" and "How can we make sure we don't miss any chances to be kind?" Reminding them of the books, I then told them that today we would read a book called The Juice Box Bully that shows that kindness is a choice, but one that we can all decide to make together.

As we read, I again stopped at key points to discuss. What was Pete doing? How were the classmates responding? We focused a lot on the fact that the class had decided to make a class promise together and they stuck by it. Even when Pete wasn't being kind to them, they responded in a kind, yet firm, manner. They held him accountable for his actions, but didn't bully him back. They all worked together to help him see that a kind classroom is a better place. In the end, them choosing to stick with their pledge, and all working together, helped to influence the actions of Pete towards the positive.

When the book was done, we made a divided Circle Map. One side we brainstormed "What Makes a Kind Classroom?' and the other side were ideas for "How We Can Stop Unkind Behavior". Both parts of the anchor chart were designed to have the students think about what we could do collectively that would result in our classroom being a bit more kind.

I then asked them to respond to the following prompt on a sticky note. They divided it in half and wrote "One thing I can do to help our classroom be kinder is _____" On the other side they wrote "If I see someone being treated unkindly I will ______". We then added the responses to our anchor chart.

Day 4: Being an Upstander

Book: I Walk Wth Vanessa by Kerascoet

Goal of the lesson: To understand that kindness sometimes takes courage. We can make the choice to help others when they are being treated unkindly.

Day 3: Choosing Kindness

Book: Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Desmondy

Goal of the lesson: To understand that kindness is a choice we make. It is intentional. It is a personal choice that is within our control.

Science in 4th Grade: Leaf Observations

2026-03-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

One of the big ideas in 4th grade science is looking at how plants (and animals) have various structures that help them to survive. We have looked at videos and read textbooks, but I thought we could use a little hands-on experience with it.

In my classroom, we are lucky enough to have a Lettuce Grow Farm Stand. Since this planting season they each are observing one of the plants we have in the stand, I had them cut one leaf off of their specific plant to observe, diagram, and measure in a science journal. I wanted them to look at the *structure* of the leaf, not only focus on the color and feel. So I whipped up this little science journal template for them to use that would keep them on track with their observations.

Since they were journaling, I had them start off with the basics. They drew their leaf as accurately as possible, keeping in mind to keep the picture big so that they could label with proper vocabulary. I walked them through the labels, as this then became my way to actually teach the vocabulary and point out the structure and function of the parts of the leaf.

Next I had them break out their ruler and decide upon 5 different measurements they could take. These were up to them, but I showed them how to measure the largest part of the surface, the length from top to bottom, and even the length of one of the veins. They then decided upon which 5 they would like to measure.

I also had them notice 5 other qualities the leaf had. Was the surface rubbery or bumpy? Was the color dark or light? What did the edges feel like? I wanted them to use their five senses to make these observations (though I did straight out tell them not to actually eat the plant.)

We then discussed the function of several of the features of the leaves, and I had a new little bulletin board to show for it!

The Great Wave: Window Cling Art Project

2026-03-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

I have really be into using my windows as an additional project display. Taking what is otherwise dead space and making it something pretty is just up my alley as of late. So, using clear contact paper and sharpies, we created this amazing art project that really had some awesome WOW factor! Honestly, there isn't much to this project. The kids looked at the original painting (we did a narrative writing project with it) and then drew their best rendition of it on a 12" x 17" piece of clear contact paper. They then used colored sharpies to color it in. Since we don't have white sharpies, I did buy white paint pens. Those weren't super successful (they peeled off when I put them on the window) but the rest of the colors looked great!

Would you like to know more about the narrative writing assignment my students did in connection with this art project? You can read what we did, as well as pick up the printables, here.

California Mission Report , Some Projects, and Window Cling Art

2026-03-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

One of the typical, and very specifically Californian social studies units we learn about in 4th grade is the Mission System. Here are a few things we have done these past two years since I moved back into the grade level.

In class, we learned about the mission system, how and why it was started, and how it affected the native Americans who were living there. We spent a great deal of time on the impact the entire system had on the indigenous people while discussing the system as a whole.

This year, because of time, we went simple and to the point. We read the social studies book, watched a few videos, and did a little research on the mission system itself. We also did a small research report and accompanying art project on the individual missions.

Each student was assigned a mission to learn about. I gave them this report template to help them gather their information. This was actually rather difficult for them, which I wasn't prepared for! I thought it was more straightforward than it turned out to be. I ended up having to guide them through the research a bit more than I anticipated, but by the end they were able to learn about their specific mission.

Then, I had them draw a "window cling" of the mission. These drawings, which were to feature their mission as the primary focus, were drawn on clear contact paper with sharpie. I then hung them on the windows in our classroom so they function very similarly to stained glass windows. They are SO pretty in person when the light shines through!

Last year, we had a bit more time to learn about this time period in the history of our state. Because of that, I assigned the students three different project options they had to choose from. They could:

1) visit any mission, taking a minimum of 10 pictures, and completing a scrapbook to share

2) create a "mission artifact box" where they would create 5 items that typically would be found in a mission and make a museum box to show the items off

3) make a brochure about one of the missions

Students choose whichever project they wished to complete. I had about 1/2 of my students actually visit a mission (we live about 10 minutes from one), many made the artifact box, and a few make a brochure. The kids presented their projects and showed what they learned about life at the missions. These were a break from the traditional "build a mission" project that kids just don't seem to learn much from. Instead, by visiting an actual mission or creating artifacts that might have been used at a mission, they learned more in depth about these places very ingrained in the history of California. You can get the project directions and rubrics here.

Back to School with my Thermal Printer!

2025-07-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

This summer I was INFLUENCED! I kept seeing these thermal label printers all over TikTok, primarily being used by sellers to ship their wares, and I knew I HAD to have one for my classroom. There was just so much possibility in that little thermal bundle of joy!

First, here is why I wanted it. The label printer uses heat to print, not ink. I use SO much ink at the beginning of every year to create folders and other things that instantly I knew this would be a money saver for me. The labels themselves were on sale for $15 for 500...which is plenty to begin my classroom for 25 students.

I have been busy making all of the labels, anchor charts, iReady Trackers, and other things that I need for my classroom. I also have been posting about them over on both TikTok and IG, so many of you have seen those items.

Which is where this post comes in. I thought I would put up all of the things I have been making here in one central place for you to grab if you would like. They are all formatted to 4 x 6 inches, so they will fit with no adjustments on the thermal labels. As I make more things, I will add them. For now, here is all I have made:

Notebook Labels

Folder Labels

iReady Tracker

As I make more, I will add them here. For now, this is what I have readymade for you all.

Back to School: Light Bulb Moments Goal Setting Activity

2025-06-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

When the year begins, I love to get student work up as soon as humanly possible. Filling our bulletin boards with the work that students produce creates a space that they can be proud to call their own. So, with that idea in mind, my brain is always churning with easy, yet worthwhile, activities that the kids can do starting day one in my classroom. This 3D "Light Bulb Moments" project was just PERFECT for that.

I began by telling these students that they would be thinking about who they are, what they want to accomplish, and what they would like to share with their fellow classmates so that we could all get to know each other a bit more. To do that, I told them, we would be creating this fun little All About Me project in the shape of a light bulb.

I passed out three pretty self-explanatory light bulb shaped worksheets to the students. Basically the kids need to fill in their generic personal information (name, age, favorite color, etc..) and then work to set some goals for this year. I did review the sheets, but honestly, they didn't need much explaining. The kids got to filling them out right away. As they filled the pages in, the kids were talking about themselves and getting to know their new seat mates. The kids used the light bulb prompts as a way to talk to those around them. It was fun seeing them get to know each other.

Once the sheets were all filled, colored, and cut out, the students glued them together to make a 3D shaped light bulb that we then hung upside down for display. The kids love anything that is 3D!

Overall, this was a fun, fast project that got the kids thinking about themselves, their goals, and got them talking to their new classmates. It was a win all around!

You can get the sheets I used here (as well as a few other awesome projects for Back to School time!)

California Regions Salt Dough Maps

2024-12-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

I am newly back in 4th grade from a very long hiatus and I am SO excited to teach state history again! It is just something I find so interesting. Between the actual content and the projects, I can't get enough! So to start our year right, we did a VERY traditional and quintessential 4th grade activity, California Regions Salt Dough Maps.

We started by researching the four main regions of California. To make things a bit easier, I gave the students a few paragraphs that had all of the basic info that I wanted them to research. The kids read the passages, filled in the organizer, and learned a bit about each region. (you can get the research here)

Then the students got to work sculpting their CA map. I gave them all of the ingredients to make the salt dough inside of a gallon-sized ziplock bag. They had the following in each bag:

1/2 cup of salt

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water

a sprinkle of cream of tartar

When they got their sealed bag, the students started kneading the contents until a dough formed. If it was too watery, I added more flour. If it was too crumbly, I added more water. It wasn't a perfect science for each bag, but it was pretty close for the majority of them.

After they were sure they had a dough, the kids opened back up their bags and began sculpting the state of CA on their cardboard. They followed the outline of the state, which I had them draw ahead of time on the cardboard, and added more dough to represent mountains and less dough for the valley. This was fun (and messy) but the kids ended up with fairly accurate representation of California.

After it all dried, they painted the four regions in different colors.

Next, they used the research they did earlier to create little informational flaps to add to the artwork. Each region had its own flap, with a picture they drew themselves to represent that area. Inside the flaps, they added information about each region.

And that was it! All in all, it was a fun and memorable way to learn about the regions. My kids are STILL talking about it months later!

If you want all of the printables and instructions, as well as actual lesson plans, that I used with my students, you can grab them here.

Silhouettes About Me: Family Holiday Project or Back to School Project

2024-12-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

Each year, I like to do something different for the gift the students give to their parents during the holiday season. I like to keep it less holiday focused and more family focused, as I truly don't know what holidays the kids celebrate (or don't celebrate) at home. Because of this, I tend to steer clear of ornaments or traditional Christmas-themed faire. So this year, I decided to do a Silhouette All About Me. This project, which we did for our holiday family gift this year, actually would be awesome for the beginning of the year or Mother's/Father's Day...and I think I may switch it up next year and do just that! Anyway, here is what we did.

We began by brainstorming some activities that the kids liked to do. These could be anything from playing a musical instrument to reading to playing video games to joining in a kickball game. The only thing I asked them to really think about is how could they show themselves doing that particular activity. Once the brainstorm was complete, the kids took a plain piece of white copy paper and drew the three activities in SILHOUETTE.

Then, using my camera, I took a picture of the student posing in each of the three activity poses. I made sure when taking the picture that their arms and legs were separated and exaggerated. For example, if they were playing the recorder, I had them raise their back arm just slightly more than their front arm, hold the recorder out straight, and separate their legs one in front of the other. That way, when it was turned into a silhouette and all black, each part of their body and the recorder could be identified.

I uploaded this to Canva and then used the editing tools on there to remove the background and make the silhouette black. Admittedly, this took me a LONG time to figure out how to do properly, but once I did, it wasn't too long to get all of the pictures looking correct.

Here is a quick video I made showing you step by step how I turned the pictures into silhouettes.

I downloaded each silhouette and put them into a power point slide that I had preset to have two boxes in them. You can get the file here on Google Slides. I just input the png that Canva gave me and resized it to be in the middle of the box.

Next, each student received their pictures and I had them draw around them to fill in the details of their activity. These were to be colorful and pretty looking, and boy did the kids not disappoint. They looked STUNNING in real life with the black silhouette and the colorful backgrounds. They were just gorgeous.

Next, the kids cut out the boxes, glued these frames I bought from Amazon onto them and then glued those onto piece of card stock cut to the correct size.

The sizes of the white card stock for the background are as follows:

For 1 frame: 8" x 6"

For 2 frames: 8" x 11"

For 3 frames: 8" x 16"

I then cut an additional black piece of card stock as a background to it all, since I just thought that looked nicer. For those dimensions, I just added 1 inch all around.

For 1 frame: 9" x 7"

For 2 frames: 9" x 12"

For 3 frames: 9" x 17"

I attached a piece of yarn (as that is what I had...I think ribbon would have looked nicer) and it became a hanging frame to give to families as a beautiful keepsake gift. There is just something about silhouettes that makes everything look fancy.

Snow Globe Village Math (Perimeter, Area, and Measurement, OH MY!)

2024-11-26T11:42:00.002-08:00

Have you ever taught a lesson and just realized that it felt good? Like good, honest, real teaching? That is what this set of lessons on perimeter, area, and measurement felt like for me.

We started off by reviewing how to measure using a ruler. They all seemed to want to start measuring at the 1 instead of the 0! So we used a few task cards to practice measuring, as well as some worksheets. These little worksheets provided a great jumping off point for the kids. They also just love task cards. Not sure why they like them so much, but they do :)

Once I was sure that the students knew how to measure, we got to the creative part of this project. I asked students to draw a village that they might find in a snow globe. This could be any village they would like to draw, but there should be at least three rectangular structures. (Most students drew a Christmas village, since it was near winter break when we did this.)

After the village was drawn, they choose three to four of the buildings and measured them using the ruler. Next, they needed to find the area and perimeter of those houses. All of that was recorded on little slips that mimicked the bottom of the snow globe.

When the snow globe was ready to be assembled, the students cut the little bottom portions out and attached them to the snow globe like a flip book.

Then, I hung them all up on a winter themed bulletin board (with our Snowmen at Night responses) It looked really cool on the board!

If you would like the lesson plans and templates I used, you can get them here.

Shadow Boxes and a Response to Literature

2024-11-25T20:05:00.002-08:00

For the past two years, I have read the book The Fantastic Frame to my students. It is a fun little novel series where two kids get sucked into a famous painting (the first painting is Tiger in a Storm) After we finished reading, I took that idea and had the kids create their own shadow box with THEM getting sucked into the famous painting. They then wrote a narrative to accompany their painting.

Once the students wrote their narrative, they created the background of the painting they said they were sucked into. The first year we did this, the students could choose one of three different famous paintings. The second year, I just had them do the painting from the book. It was easier that way ;) They then inserted the background into the shadow boxes.

The boxes themselves are just standard 9 x 12 x 2 shipping boxes I bought off of Amazon. I then cut a hole into the front of the box to make the "window".

Once the backgrounds were in, the students made foreground pieces and glued them into the shadow box to create a 3D effect. I also took their picture and they inserted that into the box as well. As a final step, the students painted the box gold, to match the frame in the book.

When the students were focused on the Tiger in the Tropical Storm painting, I actually had them write not only a narrative, but an informational and opinion piece as well. We used these organizers here. Then then published by typing on this paper.

This was a really cool project that looks SO good hanging up. We all love looking at it!

Hot Air Foil Balloon Acrostics

2024-11-24T14:08:00.004-08:00

Are you looking for a fun and QUICK little response to literature that your students are sure to enjoy? Look no further! This post is actually a long time coming. I have done this for years, ever since the Zoom days of distance learning, and I just never wrote about it here on the blog...until now! So here we go.

I read the students the book The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be by Joanna Gaines. It is a relatively new book (published right as the world shut down) and it is just the perfect way to get the kids thinking about their own talents and things they contribute to our classroom society. I had them create a circle map listing all of the traits that they saw in themselves: their insides (personality), outsides (physical), talents, and interests.

Then, using that list, they wrote an acrostic poem about themselves. I specifically asked them to use longer sentences with many describing traits versus just one word. I wanted more "meaty" acrostics!

Next, the kids drew a hot-air balloon to display their acrostics. This went right along with the illustrations in the book, so it tied in perfectly. I gave them a template of a hot-air balloon and then design a beautiful and colorful display. I had them write their poem on a piece of vellum/tracing paper. They then cut that out to the shape of their hot air balloon and glued it on top of the colorful design. That way, you could see the color through the tracing paper but still read the writing! (they did have to go over the pencil with fine point sharpie)

And that was it!

Now, I have done this lesson a few times since the day so Zoom, but this year I added a little twist. I had them design a balloon separate from the acrostic. I gave them a template for it this time. Then, using a second template and some tracing paper, I had them write the acrostic on the tracing paper. They were able to cut that out into the shape of the balloon and layer it on top of their artwork. This allowed for the balloon to have a more "design" feel instead of just lines to house the acrostic, as we did in the previous iteration of this lesson.

Either way, this was an easy peezy lesson that looks great hanging up on display!

If you want a step by step of how to make these balloons, you can view my video here. You can also read about it here on my blog.

Lunar New Year Wishing Tree

2024-11-24T13:13:00.007-08:00

The past few years we have learned a bit about some of the traditions of Lunar New Year. One tradition we learned about came specifically from China -- the Chinese Wishing Tree.

We began by reading the story The Wishing Tree by Rosanne Thong. (my affiliate link will take you to Amazon) It is about a grandmother and her grandson who make wishes on the Banyon Tree in Hong Kong. This is a fictional story but has a great author's note with nonfiction information about the Lam Tuen Wishing Trees in Hong Kong.

We then watched this very short video about the Banyon Trees in Hong Kong from the Associated Press. It has no narration and is about 1 1/2 minutes long. Just enough to show them how people attach wishes to long red ribbons with a tangerine on the other end to weigh it down.

We discussed our own wishes for the world and what we would want for the new year. I had kids write down their wishes on a piece of paper. The first year we did this, I cut out a rabbit shape (as it was the year of the rabbit). The next year, they drew a dragon, for the Year of the Dragon, on the paper. Some kids wrote wishes for their family. Others wrote about the world. Still others wished for a PS5. It varied a lot ;)

Those wishes were then attached to a red piece of crepe paper streamer and I had them make a little tangerine out of orange cardstock to attach to the other end. (This was simply 3 pieces of orange circle paper, folded in half, and glued together to make a 3D ball)

Then came the fun part. I had gathered sticks from around the school. The kids then went outside and threw their wishes into our makeshift "tree". They had the best time trying to get the wishes to stay! The wind became a factor, so we did move it indoors, but they were enthralled with the throwing and landing of the wishes!

Overall, this took about 30 minutes to complete. They learned a bit about the Lunar New Year and had a memorable time doing it.

Faux Stained Glass and Rose Windows

2024-10-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

We have been learning about the Middle Ages in our CKLA unit and throughout the unit there are stained glass pictures, as well as Rose Windows. We also coincidentally happen to be learning about angles, lines, and symmetry in math. SO I decided we would use these two concepts and put them together into a fun (and quite frankly stunning) project! Here is what we did.

Stained Glass

We began our geometry unit learning about points, rays, lines, and angles, so I decided to take that idea one step farther and have the students create "Stained Glass Windows" using the concepts of lines and angles.

First, I passed out this sheet and a ruler to the students. I asked them to create a design using the straightedge with no more than 10 lines on it. (to be honest, in the final project on the windows, 6 lines was the max that came out looking nicely because of the width of the painters tape....more on that later.) They then colored it in and labeled all of the points on the drawing. A point was everywhere two lines met. They used a sharpie to label the points. Then, on the sheet, they identified all of the geometric shapes that were being requested of them. In reality, this was very difficult for the to do, so I helped guide them through it using my example.

Once that was done, the students go to working on the windows. I blocked out 1/2 of a window pane for each student using a piece of 1/2 inch wide painters tape. Then, the students began to tape up the design they drew on their math page. I showed them how to measure and rip the tape, and they were off.

After each section was taped, the kids used washable tempra paint (the kind the school buys) to paint the sections. This was MASSIVELY exciting for the students. I did have to show a few how to paint using long strokes so they didn't get clumps of paint on the window, but overall, they came out looking amazing.

Once they were dry, I peeled off the painters tape and we were left with a stunningly gorgeous art display that looks SO good when the light shines through. And when it is all done, and we are ready to take it down, all we have to do is use a little soap and water and it will come right off!

Rose Windows

We also happen to be learning about symmetry in this unit, so I had the kids make Rose Windows. This particular type of stained glass is found all over gothic cathedrals of the middle ages time. They are gorgeous and show tons of symmetry. There also happens to be quite a few examples in our CKLA reader, so we looked at those and pointed out the radial symmetry in each.

Once we had our math lessons in symmetry, I gave the students a piece of round diffusing paper (these ones are from Roylco and worked perfectly.) They folded it in half twice and drew a simple, yet elegant design on the quarter using pencil. We talked about how this was eventually going to transfer into all 4 quadrants so the design would become a radial symmetry design, just like the Rose Windows we looked at were.

I then had them trace the design using a silver or gold metallic sharpie. When tracing, we followed the steps in this video here (if you watch it, there is a very, very good tutorial of how to make these windows.) As the kids were tracing, the gold looked bright and wonderful, while the silver looked muted. HOWEVER, once the final product was done, the silver ones actually stood out the most.

Once all 4 quadrants were traced, the kids used an ultra fine tip sharpie to outline all of the metallic sharpie. This made the final products look more like stained glass and really helped to give them depth.

Then, using regular water-based markers, the kids folded the rose window back up and colored ONE quadrant. The used paint brushed and dabbed on a lot of water into each space. I found that the more they controlled this with dabbing, instead of painting it on, the more vibrant their end colors were. They didn't bleed as much into each other with the dabbing of the paintbrush. Also, be sure they use A LOT of water. It should pretty much be soaking by the end.

Once that was done, the kids opened their circles up and found the color had bled through. They truly looked gorgeous. Then, once they were dry, I hung the rose windows up on the real window and let the sun shine through!

Here are all of the materials that we used for these two projects on my Amazon Storefront.

Candy Land, Chocolate Milkshakes, and the Polio Connection

2024-09-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

This is our first year with the program CKLA, so I am figuring out how to make what they give engaging and relevant to my students, as well as stick as closely as possible to the program. The first unit, which is Personal Narrative, had us reading a story called Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio. It was about a girl who contracted polio at the age of 12 and her year of recovery from the disease. The story was VERY interesting to the students, who really enjoyed learning about the trials and tribulations of Peg, the main character.

To cap off the unit, and bring in a little bit more polio history into it, we read a non-fiction article from Scholastic News (It is subscription based, but I did find this video with the article on it here.) It was about a school teacher named Eleanor Abbott who, having polio herself, invented the game Candy Land for children who were bored at the hospital recovering from the disease.

Here is where things got interesting. In Small Steps, the girl began to get better after she drank a chocolate milkshake. So I brought in some chocolate ice cream, added about a scoop to a mason jar, added half a cup or so of milk, screwed the lid on and the kids began to shake their jars until it "felt" like a shake. I know, none of that was very scientific. But it was good enough for them to feel like they had a chocolate shake like Peg did!

Then we broke out the game boards and played Candy Land ourselves!

But you know me. We can't just play to play (especially since this really is a preschool game.) So I gave them this recording sheet here. I asked them to think about what it was that they were thinking, feeling, and experiencing BEFORE they played the game. They wrote down sensory details and their internal thoughts. Then they got to playing.

While they were in the middle of playing, I asked them to continue to write down sensory details, what they were thinking, feeling, and experiencing throughout the game play. I walked around as they were playing the game and, if I noticed that the students didn't have much on their brainstorm page, I stopped them all and asked them to add a few ideas to the sheet. But for the most part, I just let them play and have fun! And, boy did they. The room was filled with laughter and a happy-go-lucky feeling.

After the game was done and we had cleaned everything up, they did the same thing but reflecting upon the experience as it was now over.

I then had them get together with a partner and tell the first hand account of their game play, using the notes they took along the way to help them. This all then culminated with them writing their narrative down in 3 paragraphs, using sensory details and dialogue.

So there you have it. A fun way to tie in our first unit learning in CKLA! Now on to Unit 2.

Earth Day: Art, Science, and Poetry

2024-04-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like me, you probably spent the few days before Earth Day trying to find a quick and easy lesson (or set of lessons) you could do with your class that would be meaningful but not too time consuming. I mean, with THE TEST only a week away, I wanted to acknowledge the day but still have some worthwhile rigor thrown in there. So here is what we did to make sure that is exactly what happened.

We started the day watching the Earth Day BrainPop. It was free on April 22, which was perfect for my needs. It gives a little history and insight into how the day came to be. Then we watched the BrainPop Jr video about reducing, reusing, and recycling. (this one is also free to access without an account.) That helped my kids to see ways that they personally could reduce their waste. We made a list of all of the different things we heard and ways we could reduce, reuse, and recycle. Next, I read the kids The Earth Book by Todd Parr (this is my affiliate link.) Again, we added to our growing list of ideas for how we could save the Earth.

Once our list was created, I gave the kids a black line master of the Earth. I made sure the one I found online was created with a thick, dark line. They turned it over and used that as a guideline to create a concrete poem listing all of the ways that they personally could save the earth. They wrote in green colored pencil on the outlines of the continents and blue colored pencil inside of the oceans.

Next, we dove into a little art and science mash-up. The science lab aide at school was cleaning out her closets when she found some round filter paper that she donated to my class. Using it for a little exploration of chromatography was the PERFECT way to use that paper! (you could use coffee filters for this part) The kids used regular WATER-BASED markers (not Sharpies) and colored in a basic earth pattern on the paper. I had them color as much as possible, but told them the coloring didn't have to be perfect. It was ok if there was some white of the paper showing through. Then they folded the paper in half three times, creating a pizza-like triangle wedge. They then stuck the pointy end into a cup of water with about 1/2 inch of water inside.

Instantly the water began to crawl up the filter paper, taking the marker with it. The colors got darker and separated. It was so neat to see some purples and yellows being pulled out of the blue and green markers! The kids were in awe and LOVED it!

After the waterline on the paper got to about halfway up, it was clear there was no more movement. We moved the filter paper to a flat surface, opened it up, and used a dropper to finish the process. This made it look even cooler! The color spread in so many unique ways!

We left the paper to dry overnight, then came back the next day and glued the concrete poems right into the middle of the art.

This was a fun and easy, yet worthwhile project that my kids truly did enjoy. The end products are STUNNING in real life (the pictures do not do them justice) and now it makes for a great bulletin board display!

iReady Incentive Ideas

2024-02-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

This year, my district began using the iReady program across all grade levels. It has been an interesting journey so far and I thought I would share a bit about the incentives we have in place in my class that are helping the students to progress through the lessons. Here are a few things you need to know before we proceed:

1) iReady is mandated for 45 minutes in BOTH Reading and Math per week by the district.

2) We are only using the diagnostic and the adaptive MyPath lessons.

3) I do not have admin access on my end, so the features I have available to me are limited.

So now that you have a little clearer picture of the iReady expectation in my district, we can move on :) When I started the program at the beginning of the year, my students simply weren't doing iReady. They had no intrinsic incentive to do it, so I needed an extrinsic one. So I searched the internet and tweaked some ideas I found to suit the needs of my class.

First and foremost, this year we have begun to keep track of our own progress daily. I have given the students these iReady Trackers for their planners. Every day after working on iReady, the students track the minutes they completed. At the end of the week, they track how many lessons were completed in both reading and math. They start the month with a goal, and at the end of the month, they see if the goal was achieved. I also have a class chart that tracks the class average minutes as a whole. so we can see if the entire class reached 45 minutes per subject.

Since I have now bought a thermal printer that I am OBSESSED with, I have made a thermal printer version as well. You can get the iReady Trackers for thermal printers here. Be sure to set your printer settings to 4x6 for this file.

Incentive 1: Punch Cards

I started by using these punchcards in MATH. (I only did math because iReady as much more easily integrated into my existing math routine.) When students passed a lesson in math, they would walk the card and computer up to me and I would mark the lesson down as completed. I have these in groups of 10 because the iReady dashboard shows me how many lessons they have passed in numerical order. If they have passed 15 lessons, I know that this is their second card (the first one was used for lessons 1-10) and they are getting the 5 marked. Every 10 lessons passed they get a new card. Makes accounting super easy for me.

You can get the cards I created here. Again, they are ONLY for MATH.

Incentive 2: Lessons Passed Reward

After a while, I found that the cards were really only being used by about half of the class regularly. The other half weren't as motivated by them. So, using an idea from two teachers at my school, I started keeping track of lessons passed. As a school, we set a goal of 2 lessons in math and 2 lessons in reading. If they reached the goal by the end of the week, they would earn a reward. Again, my class decided that they wanted Free Time (anything school appropriate) if they reached their goal. So each week, the kids work on passing 2 lessons in each domain. That takes roughly the 45 minutes per subject per week that my district wants, so it works out nicely. If they make it by the end of the week, they get the reward. If they don't, they work on iReady while the others get the reward.

I use numbered magnets (affiliate link here) to keep track of it all. I also check the date of the lessons passed either on the student's computer when they tell me they have passed or on my teacher dashboard. I am the only one who can move the magnets, but I do a final check of the computer before the reward is given. If you would like the little cards I have on the board to organize it, here it is! If you would like to see this in action, here is the video I made showing how I move the magnets.

So far, this incentive is working very, very well. Most of the kids are motivated to work instead of just stare into space or push buttons and fail.

Incentive 3: 100% Whole Class Reward

I also wanted to reward the class as a whole. If the kids get a 100% on any test, Math or Reading, they can walk up to the chart and color in one section. When it is fully colored, the whole class gets the specified reward. The chart can be found here.

This is largely on the honor system. I am not really checking every single 100% the kids say they get. So far, they are pretty good about being honest. If I notice one kid constantly going up there quickly, I will check, but for the most part they have been good about being truthful.

Incentive 4: 100 Goal Name List

Some kids need personal and public recognition. Because of that, I have 4 signs on my wall. If they get 25 lessons passed in reading or math, they can write their name on the sign. Same at 50, 75, and 100. The goal is for them to get their name up their twice (once for reading and once for math.) Some kids LOVE seeing their name up there and have been very motivated by this.

Now I understand that this is a lot of rewarding and incentivizing this program. Frankly, right now my class needs it. Maybe in the future they won't, but right now they do. So we will keep going with these incentives until they either don't need them or they don't work. We are just taking it one week at a time.

Foil Balloons

2023-03-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

Is there a project you do in your classroom that you keep returning back to year after year? These "Foil Balloons" are that go-to for me. They have been a staple in my classroom for nearly 27 years and other than a few off mentions here on my blog, I can't believe I haven't written a formal post about them until now!

This is strictly an art project. I mean, I ALWAYS tie it to something that we are doing in class (ie: poetry, social studies, science, etc...) but the balloons themselves are just a really cool art piece that looks amazing when hung on the ceiling.

Here is what you will need

(I am linking all of these to my Amazon Affiliate storefront. You can use any brand that you like though)

HEAVY DUTY foil (this just holds up better when the kids are working with it)

Pen (pencil works too but pen is just better)

Sharpies

Access to a large school-sized laminator

Straw

Scissors

Packing tape

Fishing Line

You can click here to find all of the items

Steps to make the balloons:

1. Pull out a piece of foil TWICE the length that you will need. Then FOLD IT IN HALF, with the shiny side out. This will create what looks like two pieces of foil put together.

2. Trace the shape you want (I use a stencil to make it easier on everyone involved)

3. Using the pen, draw the design on the balloon that you want. This design will imprint to the backside piece of the foil (remember you folded it in half.)

4. Color in your design with sharpies. The less silver showing, the better it ultimately looks.

5. Once the first side is completely colored in, turn the entire project over and color that side. The design should already be there, imprinted from when you first drew it on the first side.

6. Cut out the balloon, both sides together at the same time.

7. Laminate.

8. Using the scissors, cut around the balloon. You will want to leave a 1 inch lamination border around the entirety of the balloon.

9. Cut a little notch on the top of the balloon. Insert a straw and blow it up. The lamination will hold everything in place.

10. Use packing tape to cover up the notch and keep the air inside.

Once it is all put together, attach a piece of fishing line to it and hang it from the ceiling! The fishing line makes it look almost like the balloon is just hanging there in thin air.

If you would like a video tutorial of this, you can find one on my TikTok or on IG Reels.

The beauty of using foil is that you can do any shape balloon that you want. You can make them big or small. In the past I have made hot-air balloons, fish, birds, rectangular flags, circles....even piggy banks! It all depends upon what I am tying it to at the time. These latest ones were used as a response to literature with the book The World Needs Who You Were Made to Be. You can find that lesson here.

Art & Writing: Balloons Over Broadway Thanksgiving Parade Project

2022-11-20T10:48:00.003-08:00

Do you ever have an idea for a lesson but you don't know 100% where it is headed or how it will turn out? That is what happened this year in the days leading up to Thanksgiving Break. I knew I wanted to use the book Balloons Over Broadway and have some sort of writing and art response to it all, but I wasn't exactly sure what that would look like. What my class actually ended up producing was FANTASTIC and is now currently my most favorite place to gaze at in my classroom.

We began by reading the book Balloons Over Broadway. This is the story of how a puppeteer named Tony Sarg reinvented the Macy's Christmas Parade (which would turn into the Thanksgiving Parade) by adding large rubber balloons instead of live animals into the parade route. We gathered a lot of factual information about the parade by reading this book.

Then, we looked at videos of the parade itself. Interestingly, my students had never seen this particular parade! So I showed them clips off of youtube to give them a feel for what the parade is about. They were fascinated by the balloon characters gliding down the street! From there I moved to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade website. The balloons that will be in this year's parade can be found there. We went through all 27 of them and discussed how they were shaped and what general themed they had. The kids could see that there were old characters, new characters, and some that weren't characters at all! We talked about the reasons why some of the balloons might have been included, and what balloons were left out that they thought should be there.

I then asked them to think about an entry into the parade that they personally would like to make. I had them draw a sketch of that balloon and think about the reasons that it should be included. Using a Paragraph of the Week style of writing (since the kids are experts at that now!) they were instructed to list the reasons, as well as some elaborations upon those reasons, for their entry choice. What would it add to the parade? Why should this balloon become a part of this exclusive parade? This then became the body of their paragraph. Here is a paragraph organizer your students can use with the prompt included.

The next day, we discussed hooks to grab a reader in opinion writing. We focused in specifically on an interesting fact. Using the information we gathered from the book, the kids started their paragraph with an interesting fact about the parade. They then transitioned that into their topic sentence. It all was then wrapped up with a conclusion sentence or two.

After the paragraphs were written, the kids set out to do the artwork. I gave them a piece of black construction paper, a ruler, and a white crayon. I showed them how to draw straight lines of various lengths to create the illusion of a New York skyline and buildings. They used the white crayon to also draw windows on the paper. They then cut out the skyline portion of the buildings and glued that on to a blue piece of construction paper.

Next, they drew their balloon on a piece of white paper. I asked them to keep the drawing to AT LEAST the size of their hand. Once that was drawn and colored, they cut it out with a second piece of white paper behind it. I then stapled those two pieces together, leaving a small opening. Using the scraps from their cutting, they ripped off pieces and balled them up, stuffing the pieces into the pocket of the stapled together drawing they have. As soon as it was all stuffed, I stapled up the opening, and the kids had a 3D puffed balloon. They used white glue to attach it to the NY skyline they created, then added lines coming from the balloon to look like the wires holding them during the parade, and it was done!

I stapled these on the wall in a line, all connected together. It looks JUST like a parade! The writing went underneath each individual art piece and we have a really cool looking bulletin board with a neat response to literature! All in all, this was a winner in my book.

UPDATE: I have now done this project for three years and have done it slightly different each year. This year we added our FOIL BALLOONS into the mix! Everything is the same as above, we just used foil instead of paper! (I have done foil balloons for the past 27 years and they truly are stunning to look at!) You can view my tutorial here on TikTok or on Instagram.

Introducing Making Inferences

2022-10-09T14:45:00.002-07:00

The beginning of the year is filled with lots of get to know you activities. But this year I wanted to make it a bit more academic, getting right into the nitty gritty of academic language from the get go. So I turned one of those traditional "get to know you" activities into a lesson in Inferring!

First, I had the students create a "Me Box" in class. I used these instructions here, but the basic gist is that they filled the box with items that were special to the individual student. The student chose what items to include, all with the idea that these items told the story of who they were. While we made the box together in class, the students brought the items from home.

Once all of the boxes were complete, the other students in the class walked around the room looking at the items contained within each box. Using a sticky note, the kids tried to make an inference about the personality or likes of the classmates. They had to think about what was actually in the box and how those items connected together. For example, if there was a basketball trophy, some baseball cards, and a ticket stub from a local football game, the kids could reasonably infer that the student like sports or was athletic himself. If there was a bunch of art supplies, drawings, and things of that nature, the students could infer that the box creator was artistic or liked being creative.

Logistically, I had the boxes placed on the students' desks. I asked each child in my class to go to one box and take time to look through it, making inferences on a sticky note. After a few minutes, they put the sticky note on the box and moved to a different box. They did this about 5 times. I then gathered all of the sticky notes and put them on white paper. We instantly had a bulletin board full of inferences!

My students LOVED doing this. They were up and moving, making inferences, and learning about their classmates all at the same time. The students were using academic language right in the first week of school without even really realizing it!

How do you introduce inferring to your students?

Ambitious Girl: Women's History Month

2022-03-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

This month we have taken some time to discuss influential and important women in history. To aid in that discussion, we read the book Ambitious Girl by Meena Harris. It is a wonderful story about a little girl who sees women being described in a not so positive light but decides to turn those traits around and make them positive.

So once we read the story, my students and I created a list of attributes that strong women would possess. We thought of the women in the books we have read, women in our life, and the women we have studied.

After making that list, and inspired by the author's note page in the book, I had the students use white crayon on white paper to decoratively display the character traits. They then painted over it with watercolor, creating a watercolor resist. Once the watercolor was on the page, the words popped well!

We are next going to use the artwork to display the research we have been doing about influential women of the world. I can't wait to see how that turns out!

Influential Women in History

2022-03-11T21:57:00.001-08:00

We began the month of March diving into Women's History Month. I wanted the students to learn about the lives of influential women who have had some sort of impact upon the world. So we started by reading Mae Among the Stars, a story about Dr. Mae Jemison as a little girl. We also read an informational article, taken from Little Leaders, about her accomplishments and contributions to society. We looked at the structures of both, what information we can gather from both, and how both are intended for different purposes.

By doing this, the kids learned a lot about this fascinating and accomplished woman. They saw how the narrative focused on a specific moment in her life and how the informational text gave facts about the entire span of her life. We made this anchor chart to show the differences between the two texts and what we learned from them.

The students then set out to create a slide detailing the contributions Mae had on our society. I gave them this file on Google Slides and they typed in the information by adding text boxes.

Next, I lead the students through a directed drawing of Dr. Jemison using this resource from The Book Wrangler. It is a very simple drawing that the kids were able to do with no problems at all.

We then did the same thing, reading a narrative and informational text then following a directed drawing, about two more women -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Malala. (in the slide deck there is also a slide for Sacagawea and Frieda Kahlo, however we did not get to those women this year.)

To put it all together, we cut out and mounted our directed drawings and informational slides (I printed them out two to a page to make them smaller) on the Ambitious Girl backgrounds that we made in a previous lesson. You can see how we made those here.

And that was it! The kids really learned a lot about some amazing women, got to dig into various types of texts, used the computer, did some drawing and art, and the final products look SO good hanging up in our room.

Ideas for Teaching Character Traits in Literature

2022-03-10T20:30:00.001-08:00

We have been focusing a lot on character traits in class these past few months. As a reader, focusing on the traits that an author chooses to share with us about the characters in the book really helps us to understand the story as a whole. So when we began reading our shared novel, James and the Giant Peach, we set out to really understand the character traits that Roald Dahl was giving us.

I wanted the kids to have several opportunities to respond to the literature we were reading. So we did three different responses, all building upon the skills from the previous one. We made a "trading card", wrote one paragraph, and then wrote an essay (which we then put altogether on one big bulletin board!) Here is how we did it.

First Response: Character Trading Card

After reading several chapters, the students created bubble maps describing the character traits of the human-sized bugs. I modeled how to do this using the main character of James Henry Trotter. I showed them how to create the bubble map and add evidence from the tex to support their character trait assumptions. I had them work in groups to create the bubble maps for the bugs, with each of six groups taking on one bug and finding the traits that described that bug as well as citing evidence from the text.

Then, the students were tasked with creating a "Trading Card" (which ended up looking like an iPad) for TWO different bug characters listing 4 character traits and the accompanying evidence from the text. They loved making these mostly because they were fairly easy to do ;) The kids were able to use the bubble maps and dig into the text a bit. You can grab the digital Trading Card file here.

Second Response: Single Paragraph

Next, the students created their own bubble maps about one human character in the book. They did the same basic thing as the bugs, but this time it was on their own. They had to look through the chapters and find evidence to support the character traits embodied within either Aunt Spiker, Aunt Sponge, or the Old Man. (Since I modeled in the previous response using James, they were not allowed to use that character.) Once they had the evidence on their bubble maps, they used this paragraph organizer to write a single paragraph about their chosen character, citing evidence for the character traits in the text. They then published their paragraphs on Google Docs. I asked them to insert a blank box (just using the "search the web" feature when inserting an image) and they drew a picture of the character once they printed it out.

Final Response: 5 Paragraph Essay

Once I read the paragraphs, it was clear that the students needed a bit more work crafting sentences describing the character traits and the evidence within the text. I asked them to really think about not only the evidence, but how that evidence really did support the trait. Instead of writing, "The bug is nice. On page 5 is says he smiles at people." I wanted them to be more descriptive. So they could write, "One of the character traits that bug exhibits is being a really nice guy. On page 5 it says that he smiles at everyone who walks by. That is definitely something that nice people would do."

For this essay, I asked them to write a paragraph about one of the humans and then two additional paragraphs about two of the bugs. They needed to use DIFFERENT characters than they had previously written about. I did allow them to use the bubble maps that were made already, so that step was taken care of. I also allowed them to use James as the human if they wished.

Since the third graders haven't written too many five paragraph essays, I guided them through the process of writing this. I modeled the types of sentences they should included. While the work that I was writing wasn't exactly specific or truthful to the book (I didn't want them to copy so I made facts up), the style and sentence types I was using were good models for them.

And when the final product came out, it was evident that the modeling of how to really show character traits from the story really helped. The essays were very detailed, were clear and concise, and really showed a deep understanding of the characters!

Overall, I am so pleased with how this all came out. The kids are really understanding the importance of character traits in developing a story, have some great writing, and I have an awesome bulletin board for our classroom!

World Climate Zones in 3rd Grade

2022-03-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

One of the units we study in 3rd grade science deals with the climate zones around the globe. We started learning about the by using the Mystery Science lesson on the very subject. It is SUCH a great lesson because it takes the kids step by step through the process of completing a world map showing the different zones around the world. It also taught them all about how location on the globe has a huge effect on the weather and climate. After we were done with that lesson, which took a few days and was well worth it, I felt like the kids needed just a bit more work with the zones. So we set about researching them.

Now, depending upon where you do your research, there are anywhere from 3 to 11 different zones :) That is just too many to tackle, so when we were discussing them, we focused on the following: polar, temperate, tropical, desert, and Mediterranean.

We are really focusing heavily on using sources to gather information for our own writing, so this next set of lessons was wonderful in helping us to do that! In groups, they read an informational text passage about one of the five climate zones. For each of 6 categories I had predetermined for them (ie: weather, location, plants and animals, etc...) the students began reading and highlighting information they found pertaining to the traits and aspects of that particular climate zone. The groups were then given a poster board and created an informational poster with all of the important information they had found. At the end of this part of the lesson, there were 9 posters filled with info about all 5 of the climate zones.

Next I gave them an organizer that contained all 5 of the zones with those same categories they had researched. Students then made their way around the room, using their classmates posters to fill in the information. This was SUCH a great way for the kids to see that their writing has a real audience and how they present information matters. They worked for a good hour on this, filling in the chart and learning about the different climate zones.

Finally, the kids then transferred the researched information onto these World Climate Zone Flip Book slides. The slides were a pretty way to present the research they did. The kids loved inserting pictures and finding enough information to fill in the space. I heard lots of "this is fun!" type of noise as I was leading them through the process of how to find pictures to match what they are learning about. Also, I found that going through the process of reading the passages and filling in the chart beforehand really helped the kids to know exactly what to put into their slides. What is even better is how they turned out! They are just gorgeous to look at!

All in all, this was a great and worthwhile project that I felt the kids really learned from. They read sources, gathered information, and used that source information in a real life way. Would you like a copy of the file I used with my students? I have all of the reading passages I used as well as the templates. Lesson plans are also there for you! You can find them all here.

Array Community: Math and Social Studies

2021-10-30T15:29:00.003-07:00

There never seems to be enough time to get everything that I want to get done completed during the day. Because of this, I have been forced to think creatively and combine different things I am doing.

Now this post here has been sitting in my drafts for 2 years. I began writing it pre-pandemic and then....well, you know what happened next. Things got away from me. So here it is, 2 years after I first blogged about it. Don't worry though, it aged well ;)

Third grade has a heavy focus on community in social studies. So we began by talking about three types of communities -- urban, suburban, and rural. We watched some BrainPop and then read the text in our social studies book to gather information on the three types of communities. Putting it all together, we created this class chart. Using the chart, the kids then wrote an opinion paragraph on which type of community they would like to live in themselves.

Then, to connect it to math, I lead the students in a a directed drawing of a full community. I had the rural area in the foreground, with a force perspective of the other two communities in the background. The kids really enjoyed this part, as coloring in third grade is still a hit!

Once the drawing was complete, I gave the students some rectangles. Those rectangles were to simulate buildings in the various community spaces. They then needed to draw "windows" on the buildings in the shape of arrays. To differentiate this a bit, based upon their level of multiplication knowledge, I gave my students a different set of tables to create the arrays from.

After each of the array buildings were completed, the students then glued them onto their directed drawing. I had them record the math on a recording sheet. Each of the arrays was to be written in both repeated addition and as a multiplication sentence.

They then cut the recording sheet apart and we had a great, simple, easy to manage bulletin board that combined several standards into one piece!

If you would like the lesson plans and recording sheets I used, click here.