Last Minute Decision Part 2

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Good Morning,
We know Halloween activities were promised for this post, but as usual, Anne and I changed course mid-stream.  If you read last week's post, you know that we decided to have one of our literacy groups teach the other literacy group how to write haiku poems. That went extremely well, so we are going to share some of their published poems with you. 

We did a close read of this article over several days and annotated it to make sure all of the students understood the content.
It was rigorous for all of our students!  Just what we like. :)

We are so proud of how well the students were able to demonstrate their learning by thinking about the rainforest facts in a new way.

They turned the facts into poetry! 

We believe this lesson allowed our students to use their divergent thinking skills, which is one of our main goals this year.

Writing poetry is a challenging way to look at information from a different angle.

We got further side-tracked, because we did not realize the Scholastic News article we left for our subs on Monday contained an article about the Amazon Rainforest.  My sub left me a note saying how excited my students were when reading the article. So, Anne and I decided to discuss the article further with the kids and have them practice making connections to the Time For Kids magazine article. The discussions were rich and filled with energy.  To deepen their comprehension, we had the kids write responses to the articles. I will link the sheet I used incase any of you use those same articles.  I also linked my written example to show my students.

I'm just adding the title because this is a paid subscription and I am not sure if I can share the article.

Anne and I absolutely love when we can make connections!  It takes the kids' learning and their interest to a whole new level.  All of these activities are serendipitous because they are leading us into our next read aloud.  It is the best book I have ever read!  I wrote about it on my Facebook page in July. We will reveal the title next week.  We are predicting this book will have an incredible impact on our students because of the background they have gained from reading about the Amazon rainforest.

Because we promised a post about our Halloween activities--here is a sneak peek into one of them.  Tomorrow we will be doing a STEM activity called Pumpkin Catapult. written by Carly and Adam.  I will link their TpT store here.  We are super excited about this activity because it is the kick-off to our Force and Motion science unit!!!  Again, we love when things "magically" come together.  :)

Happy Halloween!

Kim and Anne

Last Minute Decisions Can Be The Best

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Good Morning!

Do you agree?  Can last minute decisions be the best?  Well, Anne and I agree that a last minute decision we made this week was better than we ever expected. 

If you've read our last couple of posts, you know that our students have been writing haiku poems and have been loving the process.  Well, what you may not be aware of is that we only had one of our literacy groups write these poems. The other group was working on understanding words with the suffix -ful.  Because of the enthusiasm and energy haiku writing inspired in the kids, we decided to have my literacy group teach Anne's literacy group how to write them. 

When I told my half of our students that they would be teaching the others how to write this type of Japanese poem, they went wild.  They were so excited to take the lead and teach.  Anne and I were just there to support them, (and take a moment to enjoy the pride we felt for our students). 

The task was not only to teach haiku writing, but the subject of the poem had to focus on the Amazon rain forest fires.  We had just finished reading and annotating an article with both literacy groups about this current event, and haiku writing would be a fun way to reflect on what was learned.  Below is a glimpse of what unfolded with one pair of students.

As you listen, you may be surprised when the "teacher" says, "It doesn't have to be good."  She means that the first draft does not have to be good.  We talk about capturing the idea in the moment, and making it sound more precise in the revision process.  The students are learning that it's important not to lose their creative idea because they are trying to write the perfect line. That will come later.
Notice when Angel finally understands the haiku pattern.  You can hear the awe in his voice.

We cannot wait to get back to writing these poems.  When they are ready for public reading we will definitely post some of them.

Until then, have a wonderful rest of your week and try some haiku writing.  It is so much fun!

Kim and Anne

What An Amazing Student!!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

These are the reasons we teach!!!  Grace is one of our third graders.  She loved writing Haiku poetry so much that she wrote a poem over fall break.  It is magnificent, and Anne and I wanted to showcase it here. 

Thank you, Grace for making our day.

Officially In The Halloween Spirit

Sunday, October 13, 2019

October 13th!?!?  This month has flown by faster than a wicked witch on her broomstick!  Anne and I love the month of October and don't want it to end so quickly.  We have a myriad of Halloween and fall activities to keep our students engaged, excited, and challenged.  We are excited to pack in as many as we can in the next few weeks.

Last week, we introduced the students to Haiku poetry by reading aloud the adorable book, Boo! Haiku by Deanna Caswell.  Needless to say, the kids went crazy for this book.

To deepen their understanding of this type of poetry, we showed a PowToons video and a slide show.  Then, we dove right into writing some fall haiku.  We wanted to guide them in writing a few haiku poems and help them feel secure before sending them off on their own.  Once we were confident they understood this genre, we allowed them to find a partner and begin writing Halloween haiku poems.  Their drafts are great and need to be published.  As soon as they are we will upload some examples.

This is the outside of the Haiku.

This is the inside.

 We had an impromptu SEL lesson that focused on Habit #1 Be Proactive due to  a video I saw on a social media site. It is important for Anne and me to help the kids understand that, for the most part, they can choose their moods, attitudes, and actions each day.  We feel that having students understand this will give them a sense of security and control over themselves and their lives.  It was also important that the students realize the can impact others' lives, positively or negatively,  depending on the mood/attitude they choose. 

We read the lovely book I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness by Susan Verde.  (I loved the book so much I bought the other two--I Am Human and I Am Love.)  The lesson took two days.  The first day, we had the kids brainstorm a list of positive mood and attitude words.  The following day, we watched the kindness video, linked above, and had an amazing discussion. To follow up, the students wrote what attitude/mood they chose to have that day and added details about their chosen word. Lastly, they drew a picture of what they would look like having that mood.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the kids' work, but I will upload my sample on Tuesday.

The above SEL lesson will be a perfect flow into our writing lesson.  We are going to read aloud the book Crankenstein  by Samantha Berger.  It's about a boy (Crankenstein)  who wakes up in a cranky mood.  Throughout the book, the author details the character's negative, grouchy behaviors.  By the end of the story, Crankenstein is motivated to change his mood and attitude.  We anticipate an amazing conversation before, during and after our reading making connections back to Habit #1.  Our students will then write a focused personal narrative about a time they remember being "Crankenstein."  We will focus on adjectives, elaboration of details, first-person point of view, and narrative elements.

This is just an old sample of mine.  We will share the students' writing soon.  This project was inspired by Amy Lemons.

Lastly, these little gems will be displayed in our classrooms for the next week.  Hopefully, igniting curiosity and wonder in our students.  We will let you know the fun, but rigorous reading and fluency activity we will be doing that connects to them.  We also have a super cute project to go with the reading rigor.

We are so excited about these little critters.

Have a fabulous week and enjoy the beautiful month of October.  It is quickly slipping away.

Kim and Anne

Shortest Blog Ever...I Think

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Good Morning!  Anne and I decided this blog would be super short so we can continue to focus on some amazing activities and lessons we have in the works.  Those will be shared soon, and they may or may not have to do with all things Halloween.  :))))

Last week we wanted students to demonstrate their level of understanding multiplication and division.  At the knowledge level our students can compute easy multiplication and division equations.  They can also employ a variety of strategies to solve those equations.  We wanted to know if they were able to write about the meanings of the factors and products in those equation and explain how they matched an array.

Click here to grab this page and the other one we did previously.

This proved to be a challenge for the students; however, as Anne and I assessed the situation, we realized our students are beginning to develop a deeper understanding of what multiplication means.  This week we will model how to add more depth to their explanations, as well as, provide them more opportunities to discuss the connections between pictures and equations.  This will help the kids gain more precise vocabulary and guidance to use as they talk and eventually write about these math concepts.

This week we are going to have the students engage in a See, Think, Wonder activity about multiplication and division.  It is our intention that these discussions will, once again, guide them to a deeper level of understanding.  We want this activity to lead into a writing activity called Connect Two.  As with last week's math activity, we want our students to use precise math language and details as they explain how these Tier Three vocabulary words (multiplication and division) go together.  We will share the students' work in our next blog.

I will link this page too.

Until then, have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.  May you have all things October on your mind.  :)

Kim and Anne