End of Unit Collaboration

         To wrap up a unit of study on Native American Indian tribes, I decided to have the students collaborate on their knowledge.  I used six large pieces of colored paper for this activity.  Each colored sheet had a different cultural region written in the middle. Luckily I found  large sheets of pink, light blue, yellow, orange, white, and pale yellow in the school store room.  This would be perfect.  One color for the Arctic Region, Pacific Northwest, Desert Southwest, Great Plains, Eastern Woodlands, and the last one for Native Americans in general. 
        The sheets were then divided into eight sections.
      Location, Tribes, Food, Shelter, Clothing, Climate, Items Made, and Natural Resources.

       Each class was divided randomly into six groups.   The were instructed that they would only have five minutes to write or draw some information on the paper.  Everyone was to be involved at the same time. No one could say, "I'm good at drawing, so I'll do that part. "  Each child would place their choice of information on the poster.  After five minutes, I rang my chime and the group moved on to the next poster to do the same work.
     As you can see they got busy.

Students were able to used their notes.

          I was very pleased with the amount of work that my 5th graders accomplished in 30 minutes.  

             

These are the topics that we discussed for each region. A picture is worth a thousand words!

             A job well done!
 What type of unit wrap up do you use in your class?

Please leave a comment if you have en extra minute. I'd love to hear from you.
 

Flat Francis

         Pope Francis came to the United States in September.  He visited Washington, D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia. 

        Two families went to Philadelphia to see the Pope.  They kindly brought back one of these red bracelets for all the students and teachers at St. Michael Catholic School.   
     Students watched the Pope speaking live in Washington, D.C.  Our students remembered the day that he made his first appearance in the Vatican.  So seeing him speaking in the United States was a very important event for our St. Michael Catholic School students.
         I downloaded the Flat Francis file, enlarged it slightly, and added some color.   Flat Francis traveled around our school. 

 The kids had their picture taken with Flat Francis on the playground, in class reading, and using an ipad.  

Personal Offices

     When my students are taking a test, I have them use personal offices.  If you know me, I did not purchase these.  Several years ago, I found 30 of the perfect size boxes in the cardboard recycle bin at school.  So, I decided to use this great find for my personal offices.  The outside has a label showing frozen fish.  The inside was perfect for all sorts of useful test taking information.

                       This is the inside of one of my personal offices.

Here is a Personal Mini Thesaurus which can make an essay on a test better.

                               

            
               Irregular verb ca be tricky, so here is a useful list for my kiddos.



 
       In order to write a well organized paragraph, transition words are very helpful.

         A few helpful hints to write the "Perfect Paragraph" improve student work.

           I found these test taking strategies at a TPT store.  I shrunk them to fit on one sheet.

     These personal offices are not too tall, so the kids can see me giving instructions.  I keep on adding to the information sheets, that are glued on to the personal offices, each year. 
    I have the children keep the offices up until everyone has finished taking and checking the answers on their tests. This way the children that finish last do not feel rushed or stressed because they are not "Done".  You know those kids that finish is a flash.  They have to stay in their seat, check their work, and then read a book.

Do  you use some kind of personal office for your students? 

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Please leave a comment if you have an extra minute. I'd like to hear from you.

It is IOWA test week, so these offices are getting a workout. 
Have a great week!

Beti

Cursive Handwriting Practice

       Teaching in a Catholic school, we still believe in teaching cursive handwriting.  This is not a lost art.  We still need to read the written word.  There are a multitude of historical documents that need to be presented to the youth of today and in the future.  How will our descendants be able to read any personal notes or letters from people in their past?  How will children of the future be able to appreciate our country's historical documents, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights if they can not read cursive handwriting?  What a shame for this to happen!
   So, as a 5th grade teacher, I give my students meaningful cursive handwriting practice.  Twice a week, I write, in my BEST cursive handwriting, a paragraph pertaining to a lesson that was given that week.  I have been incorporating my Religion lessons. The students copy the information on the bottom portion of the page.  
    We use a S+ , S, and N scale to access handwriting.
Here are some examples of student work this year.

      As you can see, my students are at various stages of cursive handwriting proficiency.  As we know, cursive handwriting takes great eye - hand coordination and concentration.   Handwriting is always a work in progress.  It takes practice.
     I do think cursive handwriting is well worth the effort.  It should not be a dying art.

Do you teaching Cursive handwriting in your class?

Please leave a comment if you get the chance.  I enjoy hearing from you.
Enjoy the cooler October weather.

        Hop on over to teachingblogaddict.com to see all the other freebies in this week's collection, Oct. 2, 2015.  Here is the link:
teachingblogaddict.com


Beti

A Fabulous Class this Year

          This is our third week of school.   I have to say that my teaching partners and I have a great group of kids to work with this year. They are eager to learn.   It is so exciting when children come into my room, sit down, get out their supplies, and are ready to work.  These children are ready for the challenge of 5th grade.  
       Here is are examples of my students' planners. 

 

I'm sorry that this one is sideways.

      Every child has the same planner supplied by our school. They write the assignments exactly as written on the assignment board.

     We have new students to our school. Some have come from Catholic schools while other students have come to us from public schools. The children from public schools usually have an extra challenge.  The students at St. Michael Catholic School still learn to write in cursive. They are expected to read and write cursive when the come into 5th. It is very difficult for children to read a teacher's handwriting when they don't know how to form the cursive letters themselves. 
     I have to congratulate the students who have taken the challenge to learn to write in cursive.  I tell my students, " I learn something new every day". 
     I have 30 great boys and girls in my homeroom and 58 others in the two other homerooms.  

   Hoping your year is as great as mine is going to be!

End of the Day Routine

    

           This afternoon my students came back to homeroom between  2:45 and 2:50.  The bus riders leave at 3:02 and the rest of the kiddos leave a few minutes after that.  My kids know that they have a good ten or more minutes to work on home and get themselves organized to go home.  
      It is great to see ten and eleven year olds working quietly and intently on homework.
      I asked who had used their time wisely?  One boy said, with a big smile, that he had.  He added that he really likes the time at the end of the day.  He doesn't have to rush to pack his backpack and organized his thoughts.  
    Other students had time to ask questions about homework assignments.  There is always a child that might have been out of the room and missed something.  We have students that go Speech during regular class for a few minutes.  Children are always leaving the room to use the bathroom, go to the office, or a resource room of some sort.  Clarification is a full time job of any teacher, especially at the end of the day.  
    My teaching partners and myself have our students write in their planners each day. This is the  first thing they do at the beginning of each class.  I walk around my room to check their planners.  At the beginning of he year, some students balk at writing in their planner.  Some kiddos think if they don't write an assignment, they don't have to do the work.   They might even pretend that their is no homework or try to convince their parents of this. 
 WRONG!  All assignments are completed on time!
      This is a huge learning curve for some.  Our 5th graders learn this lesson very quickly.  When our kiddos learn to write in their planner effectively, their grades go up, WAY UP!
      This is a wonderful example of a 5th grader's planner.   Of course the various colors of highlighter helps the student see each different class.  Each box has a little square highlighted.  When the student completes the assignment, they check it off. 

        These kids are well on their way to awesome study skills!

    Try to tweek your schedule to have some time at the end of the day so your students can get organized and breathe before the run out the door. 

    Please leave a comment if you have  a few minutes.  I'd love to read your thoughts or ideas.

We Care for our World

       To celebrate the visit of Pope Francis to the United States this week,  I needed a flip chart.  My students enjoy making flip charts instead of working on "just a sheet of paper".
     The Pope's message to children is "to take care of our world".  We are the world's caretakers.  We can make our world a better place by doing many things. Be kind to others.  Recycle, Reduce, Reuse.  Keep our earth clean.
etc., etc., etc, ....
     Have the students brainstorm their ideas with their classmates. Then the students can write or draw or both in each box on the base sheet.

     The top sheet needs to be cut on the horizontal long line. Then each piece is cut to the half vertical lines to the dotted line. Glue is applied to the back of each flap.  I printed the top sheet in green, but it could be printed on plain white paper and decorated as each child wishes.  
   My kiddos went to work! 

    Here are some examples of the students' ideas.

     Rainbows always add a flair!

    This could be used as an Earth Day activity. 

Please leave a comment.  I enjoy reading your thoughts and ideas.