Remembering 9/11 with 5th Graders

Every year it is inspiring to have kids, who in these last few years, were not alive during that scary and important day 14 years ago, who sit and listen as well as participate freely in the conversations that come up.  They have heard a few things here and there from their families and maybe a movie they have seen.  But other than that, they do not know much more about 9/11 outside of the Twin Towers.  It is such an important job to teach them exactly what September 11th means to our country and to those who experienced it.  We must never forget and being a teacher is one of the biggest gifts on this day.

That being said, I have pulled inspiration from so many wonderfully amazing teachers I follow via blogs and Facebook and in the last couple years have finally come up with the perfect mix of lessons...while still sticking with the skills we must stand by. At the end of the morning, my kids walk away with brains bursting with information and feelings of what it all really means for America.

This post isn't anything different than others you may have seen on those teacher's blogs, but this is my way of contributing (using my district's requirements and strategies) to the lesson bank for others to pull from the way I have.  I hope this helps another teacher out there searching for the right mix!  

I always like to start with the infamous and FREE BrainPop video that is always featured each year on 9/11.  Thankfully, it provides a pretty neutral view into the entire day.  It is best for middle grade students and above, but I have some primary teacher friends who like to show the first part and shut it off when it gets to the history behind terrorism.

While my kids are viewing the video, they can jot down important details about the three attacks that they hear on this simple yet well done document I found via YoungTeacherLove a couple years ago. It was created by What the Teacher Wants and you can download it for free HERE.

Thank goodness for BrownBagTeacher (Catherine Reed) who posted this FREE close reading passage in which she goes into more detail about what happened after the attacks surrounding the way America changed.  It has a fantastic insight into what students need to know about the way we responded to the attacks and how America wouldn't let the act of terrorism destroy us.  She remained very neutral when she created it, which makes it perfect!  Also included is a main idea and details graphic organizer that I like to copy on the back of the passage.

We are a close reading district and so students worked hard to annotate the passage as they read it the first time by themselves.  For the second read I modeled for them and annotated so they could continue seeing how too many or not enough annotations can impede their understanding.

We have been working like crazy on learning to tell the difference between reasons and evidence when it comes to pulling details from text (a la Common Core).  They are getting sooooooooo good at this after practicing for the last week.  I loved that we were able to apply all that learning to this 9/11 passage because they had a lot more ownership with this information because of it!  

Once they had worked closely with the text and using a lot of RoundRobin discussions to complete the main idea and details (namely reasons and evidence), they identified the main idea.  What I love about working with the reasons and evidence first is they already know the  main idea by the time they are done working!  This is the first time since I started teaching 5th grade 10 years ago that kids grasp onto it so fast!  Woohoooooooo!!

Of course, working with Common Core also means they need to be able to summarize the information they've now read and worked with.  I found this summarizing paragraph frame a couple years ago on Promethean Planet (let me know if you know who it belongs to).  It has made summarizing a dream for my students who usually have a lot of trouble keeping it short and to the point.  It's such a great piece to start with and slowly pull away from after multiple practice opportunities.

Once they had built up their knowledge banks about September 11th, it was time to tell them my 9/11 story.  I usually tell it at the very beginning, but this year I forgot and saved it for last.  It still made a big impact on them and helped lead me into explaining their weekend homework assignment, which is to interview 2 people about their 9/11 story using the questions on the backside of the document above from What the Teacher Wants.

And last but not least was taking them on a virtual field trip through Google Earth to both the 9/11 Memorial and the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.  Most of my students will never get a chance to see both memorials in person and this is such a fantastic chance for them to explore.  The last time I even went was only about 9 months after 9/11 when everything was still torn apart.  I am so glad BrownBagTeacher posted about this a couple years ago because ever since then it has really helped my students see how the day changed us and how we now remember what it meant for our country.  

Kids always love the way Google Earth slowly zooms into a location.  It gives them such a good sense of location outside of the 1-dimensional maps in our social studies text.

Before zooming in, my kids like to discuss how different it looks just from above.  They don't seem to realize what the city has done to the area to change it into this beautiful memorial.

They appreciated seeing all of the names as well as being able to virtually walk around the edge and see the water feature.  The only thing we were missing was the sound and feel of it.  But this is almost just as good!  Not only that, but they loved being able to look up and see the construction of the building that is between the old site of the Twin Towers.  Gotta love Google!

Unfortunately, you can't see a 2-D street view of the Pentagon Memorial, but there are many many photos left by visitors on Google Earth.  This was the first time I was able to actually see it as well and even I was blown away.

So on Monday, my kids are going to be bringing their interviews back in to share with each other and the class.  Some of them are choosing to create a poster to go with it as well.  It will be interesting to hear what stories were shared with them as well.

How do you incorporate the skills you must teach in your classroom along with making sure we help pass on the importance of remembering September 11?

Haunted House Writing...Beautiful Beginnings/Hooks {Part 2}

If you didn't get to see or read Part 1...click HERE.  

Now that my students have finished their 5-senses circle plans, we got to tackle one of the best parts of these stories...the beginning!  Since they are writing for 8th graders, their creative juices flow like mad because they want to reel in the attention of teenagers.  We all know...and they will attest to this since so many of them have teenage siblings and cousins...how hard it is to keep teenagers entertained.  Ha!  

So, bring on the Beautiful Beginnings mini-lesson (thank you to my fellow teacher and pal, Ella Maya!) and anchor chart!!  

We actually already did our main lesson on this last month when they were writing their Superhero narratives.  But I like to use this opportunity to rewrite a whole new set of Beautiful Beginnings just to show them how much more they can do besides their typical (and I am not kidding you when I say typical)...hence why we have the Banned Beginnings side of our anchor chart in our classroom.

Let's just take a look at that Banned Beginnings side for a hot minute.  All of those came from writing my students have actually done.  After looking at their district benchmark testing and initial writing samples...these are the beginnings they over use...over and over again.  Sigh.  We've already had many many students trying to start their story with, "One spooky Halloween night..."  Gah!  Hence, this repeated mini-lesson on how to use those Beautiful Beginnings or hooks.  

I found my version of this chart from last year on my iPhone and I think those beginnings were waaaaaaaaay better!  But after modeling this, my students were already back at it getting rid of that boring, "One night..." lead.  Ick!  

Bring on the adjectives list!  Since they would be starting on their drafts, I wanted to make sure we interacted with the Adjectives list I include in the unit on Teachers Pay Teachers HERE.  

I ask my students to individually read through the list and mark 5-6 adjectives they have never seen or heard before.  Then, we do a sort of poll by raising our hands for each word.  The words the majority of the class are curious about are those that I highlight.  We bust out the dictionaries, just to get some extra reference source practice in.  I don't have them look up every single word because that would just waste a ridiculous amount of time...so I do like to use context clues and funny or scary scenarios to help them get the gist.  From there they definitely start attaching themselves to certain words they really want to use in their own writing.

And then from there I set them free to let those creative juices flow through their arms on to their paper.  And just like their planning stage...their heads stay down and pencils rapidly scratch across the paper the entire writing period.  I can't get enough out of walking around to stop and read their beginnings and seeing their ideas on paper!

Many students like to wait and use the adjectives until they revise or edit.  But I did have a large handful who wanted to tackle them as they were drafting.  Either way, I love not seeing the word "spooky" or "scary" overused.

Haunted House Writing...We are Obsessed! {Part 1}

We are knee-deep into our drafts and so I wanted to get this little ol' blog post together...finally!  I love this time of year in my classroom!  Even though I am a major Christmas time fan, there is just something about celebrating all things October in 5th grade.  At this grade level I can still get away with the scare factor without kids thinking it's cheesy.  Not only do I love October...my students become obsessed too!

One of the best parts of October though, is when I get to break out and introduce my Haunted House Expressive (Narrative) Writing Unit.  This was one of the first things I put together for Teachers Pay Teachers and it's for sale HERE.

Sure, I'm selling a product I've made and have used in my classroom for the last 6 years...but I really love sharing it here because students fall in love with it.  Year after year, I have seen a HUGE change in my students' voracity and enthusiasm with writing because they suddenly realize they can enjoy writing rather than deal with it.  So, I guess you could say this project is at the heart of why I enjoy this time of the year so much!  The best part is, it covers several of the Common Core Writing standards for narratives in grades 3-6.  Score!!

I like to introduce this assignment to my students in the most persuasive way possible...and that is by using a Promethean flipchart I found on Promethean Planet many years ago (I can't remember the source at all, so hopefully someone knows who I can thank).  This flipchart has great sound effects and some imagery that gets my students excited and feeling inspired.  It really does help it take off!

I feel like I'm going to be saying, "I just love it when...," in this blog post a ton!  But it's because I constantly look up or out at my class and get all giddy because of how much I see them wanting to delve in to something I provide for them.  Sooooooo...when I start going through the flipchart, it makes my heart skip a beat as I see smiles come across their face and I can almost see the wheels turning in their heads.  Sometimes I have to tell them to pump on the brakes because they want to start writing before I'm even done introducing the rest of the unit to them.  Around this time, I also tell them their audience will be 8th graders (this is the benefit of working at a K-8 school).  They get super nervous until I tell them about how much the 8th graders the year before truly enjoyed my previous class' writing pieces.

I've since inserted my own pages into the old flipchart I downloaded years and years ago so that it includes the paragraph plans you can grab up in the TPT product.

In fact, here is the paragraph (5-senses plan) I modeled in front of my class this year...

I should really preface this by saying I am perfectly open to my students getting gross and graphic (at a 5th grade level) as long as they stay within age-appropriate parameters.  The thing is, whether I like it or not, my students (in an at-risk urban area of Phoenix) watch rated R scary movies constantly. I've tried in my earlier years of teaching to put a stop to it, but it happens at home, and there's just nothing I can do to stop it.  So, because they have that background and it is just part of their life, I allow them to take it and run with it.  And...I have never had a student overstep boundaries because they know there are ground rules.  It is completely up to you, your student population, and your comfortability level.  For those who do not want to go scary, I let them know it is perfectly fine and just as much fun to write a funny story or even a combo of funny and scary.  I've had several kids write some hilarious haunted house stories that have made me laugh out loud.

Once we set everything up and I have modeled a paragraph plan or two, my students go for it.  By go for it...I mean GO FOR IT!  They are chomping at the bit and bubbling over with excitement to get to writing for the 8th graders.

I can't stop there though...I have to play Halloween music via my Spotify album I've been adding to the last 3 years.  I'm including it below so you can grab it up and use it in your classroom as well. My kids get all kinds of giddy when they hear the scary sound songs since it gives them inspiration for their 5-senses plans.  The looks on their faces when they hear their favorite scary movie song come on always cracks me up too (think Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween).  Let me know if you decide to use it...I'd love to find out it's being played across classrooms.  :-)

{source}

My students usually need up to 2 days to work on their five paragraphs/plans.  This year, I noticed more of my students really wanted to utilize the space to sketch a visual in order to help them form those ideas.  Talk about ownership!   

This year, I have two students whose families do not celebrate Halloween, so they are writing mysteries that take place inside of a house instead.  I really want to put together an extension to add to the original product...so I'll work on that soon.  I don't want any kids to feel left out. Definitely keep an eye out for that!

What do you think?  I hope this blog post helps those who have grabbed up my little unit.  Part 2 coming up tomorrow...stay tuned!

Wrapping Up The School Year {2013 - 2014}

We all know how insane and busy it gets the last 1-2 weeks, sometimes 3, of the school year. This one was no exception...in fact, to me, it felt like the last month was all about trying to corral my students and keep them entertained. Thank goodness we get the time off to always revamp ourselves!

Our district actually had benchmark testing the 2nd to the last week of school, so we had to make sure we still fit in some skills.  Of course, this meant, I had to come up with ways to not only teach my students but keep them completely and utterly busy in a higher-level thinking way.  At this time of year, it felt like quite the feat for me!

I pulled out my Plot Elements Choice Menu, which I did not get to use at the beginning of the year like I usually do.  But since they were being tested on plot elements, I KNEW this would be the perfect way to give them time to review, push themselves, and stay busy as well.  We did a museum walk around the room so students could view and read everyone's products they created.

{Sold on TPT | $6}

Maps showing change in setting and Award/Achievement Certificates showing theme

You can see part of an interview/broadcast script students wrote to demonstrate parts of the plot using the point of view of the story characters.

I was super happy to introduce a new product, an interview/broadcast script, I added to the menu when I created the version for TPT...and...my students who chose it did a really great job actually!  I was afraid it would be too difficult for them or they would not be interested, but quite a few kids chose it and kicked tail on it.  Thankfully, one set of partners accepted the extra challenge of recording it as a radio interview (ignore the video and just enjoy the audio).  

 Several students made movies-in-a-box to show changes in settings

Once the benchmark testing was over and done with, it was time to "celebrate" and do activities that would still challenge them but yet keep them busy enough so they weren't getting into trouble.  One of my favorite things to do (for the past couple years) is the All About Me Choice Menu.  I found it on Teachers Pay Teachers HERE a couple years back and have since slightly revamped it to fit my teaching style in my classroom.  

This group spent their entire time during the museum walk playing another students' board game.  They were crazy into it.  Even as they argued their way through the trivia cards, they all learned a lot of new information about their classmate.  Score! 

They got to make menus of their favorite foods and shields.

Included were also Me Bags and candy bars that matched their personality

And last but not least, was the awesomely action-packed End-Of-Year Math Project from the talented TPT seller, Teaching With a Mountain View.  It was all about planning a party through the CCSS math standards.  My students rose to the occasion despite being over doing school work.  So, it was definitely worth it!

Are you out of school yet?  What do you like to do with your students during those last days and weeks of the school year?

Differentiating with Area and Perimeter

Being on Spring Break sure does have its upsides doesn't it?!  One being the fact I am able to sit down and finally blog...AKA relax on my own terms.  I have a Lifetime movie playing in the background called The Grim Sleeper.  Did you get to watch it?  What can I say?  I'm obsessed with watching their newest 2 hour TV movies.  Reading my book here and there when I want, going to the bathroom whenever I want, and snacking on whatever I want is definitely the bee's knees.  It makes me look forward to summer break that much more!

As we all know (it's what nightmares are made of)...it's that time of the season.  Testing is just around the corner and the pressure is on!  With trying to fit everything on our district benchmark testing and the state test in to such a tiny time frame, it is that much more important I push that rigor and multiple opportunities for practice with my students.  So, bring on differentiation!

By first having my students complete a multi-level exit ticket (which ended up becoming more like a post test) I was able to figure out which levels of area and perimeter each student met in or what they needed more practice in.  As a gifted-cluster teacher, I try to do as many tiered differentiation lessons as possible.  In this case, it means I have 9 gifted learners while the rest of my students are mainstreamed. It can get pretty hard when I don't have as much time as I want to plan them out, but each year I end up with more and more.

Below you can see part of a screen shot of the flipchart I had up on our ActivBoard during the day's lesson. Every time we tackle a tiered lesson, I go over the Owl's assignment first so those students can get straight to work on their extension.  But I need my other students to sit and take it in because if they complete their activity and show mastery, they are able to move on.  That's why I love tiered lessons!!

Extension/Tier 3 Group

**Always works solo/independently**

My group of about 6-7 Owls worked in the library on their own and had quite a time with their activity. They were doing so well I only had to check on them a couple different times to make sure they were measuring the area and perimeter correctly, since this was something we didn't do with irregular polygons as a whole class (we only had to use grid paper).

Extra Practice/Tier 2 Group

**Always works with 1-2 other students**

My Eagles were able to gather in the back of our classroom on the strip of tile we have in order to practice identifying the perimeter and area using square units.  I found this idea for regular polygons on Pinterest, but needed to use it for the irregular aspect.  Many of my students were having trouble with larger figures where they had to count and solve for the formulas when there were upwards of 20 or so square units and multiple "irregular" corners.  By making it a bit more hands on for them and on a smaller (although larger...LOLOLOL) scale, that group of kids grasped on to the application of the formulas we had already discovered and practiced a lot easier.

Please ignore our dirty floor...the kids tend to bring in everything off our wet grassy field when they come in in the morning.  Sigh.

Reteach/Tier 1 Group

**Always works with the teacher and/or small group**

For this group of kids, it was a bit tricky.  Each set of students needed additional reteaching and practice with a different aspect of perimeter and area (i.e. area of triangles and parallelograms versus perimeter of squares and rectangles or even irregular polygons)

I decided to have them make flashcards for each formula, since many of the students in this group kept getting them mixed up between the different figures themselves or area versus perimeter.  Then, we went from there with some extra practice on identifying perimeter and area using those formulas.

My students crave tiered lessons because they truly appreciate being able to have the chance to not only move on if they are ready, instead of sitting through another reteach lesson, but they appreciate being able to jump to the next level when they are done working with me during the reteach.  Everything is very fluid and depending on the tiered lesson, kids are not always in the same group to start with.  I use exit tickets every time to determine which group students will be in.  Sometimes, I even find I have to reteach as a whole class.  All students are a lot more invested in the outcome of their learning and they enjoy some of the hands on and project-based opportunities to show their learning.  Sure, the planning can take a bit more time than regular lessons...but in the end, it is soooooooo worth it!

This summer, I plan on trying to put as many of my tiered lessons and choice/extension menus in my TPT store.  But if you would like to check one of them out now, I have had my Plot Elements Choice Menu pack up HERE for a couple months (all based on Bloom's Taxonomy).  It is starting to sell like hotcakes and that makes me so excited to know other students are able to partake in choices and extensions to show their learning!  Yay!