Black History Month Honorees

Our month has been filled learning about extraordinary African Americans who have made tremendous contributions in their fields. They loved reading about Jackie Robinson (baseball player), Charles Drew (developed blood bank), George Washington Carver (over 100 ways to use peanuts), Dr. Mae Jemison (astronaut), Marian Anderson (opera singer), Harriet Tubman, and the list goes on.

      

We are still fully engaged in our readings and discoveries. My kiddos are mesmerized, inspired, moved, and motivated.  Their conversations evolve around--"What difference can I make?" I know, that we all do not grow up to become famous and have books written about us, but all contributions, big and small, start with a spark and I hope I have ignited that in my students.

Border idea is from awesome Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6

My favorite part was listening to them present their person to the class. They were very eager to share what they learned and why their person was famous. If you are interested in the project directions that went home with my students, simply click on the picture below.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

All month we had been reading books about Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy. We discussed his drive and passion to see a world of equality and peace. As a way to honor him, I decided to have my students complete a brick wall (piece of red paper with lines) throughout the month they wrote down any acts of kindness they performed either at home or school. Some of them really went out of their ways to find ways to show kindness, while others thought doing their "chores" without complaining was doing an act of kindness. I really wish I could say they all truly understood the purpose of the activity, but we will be working on that some more.

The other activity we did was to write Cinquain poems. Most students really understood the structure and the importance of word choice due to the limited amount of words used in the poem. I was very impressed with the results. The following student did not fully grasp the structure, but the use of powerful words was amazing. The other advantage of doing Cinquain poems was that it lowered the affective filter in the class and everyone felt successful on the task. I am definitely doing more poems in the class!

FREE BrainPop App

I have a subscription to BrainPop because I love their short, educational, fun, videos on all content areas. It is an invaluable resource. They have many videos that you can watch with your kiddos without a subscription and they even have a FREE link just for educators with lots of free resources from lesson, standards, quizzes, etc. Simply click on the link to start.

One of my favorite new features is that you can add an Featured Movie app to your blog. It will play a different educational movie every week along with quizzes for the students. This gives student an excellent opportunity to review concepts at home, preview concepts, as well as have videos on important holidays/events.

And once again, the best part is that it is all for FREE.

Valentine's Day T-shirt, Pencil & Candy Towers

I am always surprised at the excitement my kiddos express over holidays and celebrations we have in school. Valentine's Day comes very close (if not equals), the craziness of Halloween. They come in all wired up, having eaten at least 3 chocolates by the time they walk in the door. They have ants in their pants, and are too giggly. This part is new to me as a newbie 5th grade teacher. I am having a very difficult time wrapping my mind around how much difference a couple of years can make.

Our Valentine's Day t-shirts and pencils were simply too cute!

 

Boy & Girl Robot 

Curriculum and pacing plans do not stop because of any big or small celebration, but I make it a point to have my kiddos do something fun and special. I had a huge red heart where the kids got to write down what they love.

At lunch we made nachos and hot dogs for them and it was so much fun!

 Our last activity was an adaptation from the O.R.E.O. Project. I remembered they had a blast trying to make tall towers with Oreo cookies and then doing the math (median, mode, mean individually and as a team). I decided to use Conversational Candy Hearts to do exactly the same thing. They were laughing, trying to outdo each others' towers, and reviewing math concepts all at once. For me, that is a win-win situation.

100th Day of School!

Our 100th day of School was absolutely A.MAZ.ING!! My kiddos were so excited and so was I. We had a full day of activities across the curriculum starting with wearing our 100th day t-shirt and using our smarty pencils.

The following are some of the activities did:

• P.E.: 100 minute obstacle course 

The obstacle course was really fun! They had to jump through circles, jump 10x's using the jump-rope, dribble around some cones, shot the basket, and then kick the soccer ball through the goalie, all in 100 seconds (some got more-shh!)  

• Cookery: making Zero the Hero donuts--we used biscuit Pillsbury dough and simply put a hole through the middle before making them.
• Writing: (this was a project) Students wrote a narrative piece on their lives in flashback mode. They wrote about what they accomplished, became famous for, and succeeded at by the time they were 100 years old. They also described the future, what technologies exist, and what the world looks like in 2103/2104 respectively.

          While surfing on Pinterest a saw this PIN from Alycia over at Mrs. Zimmerman's Third Grade that I thought was an awesome idea for the 100th Day of School. The only adaptation for me was that it was placed on the digits. They had to list 5 places they want to visit some day, 5 questions they have about the world, and 5 algebraic equations that have 100 as the answer. We had some very thought provoking responses...Why do some schools have many more resources than us?, Why does it seem like people don't care about our planet?, What is going to happen to humans when so many animals become extinct?, I want to visit the pyramids of Giza, I want to go to outer space, I want to visit the mountains...There were some that really touched me and some that got me very teary-eyed. I learned so much more about them, their hopes, dreams, and fears.

• Reading: (still looking for an upper grade book)
• Math: Students will be building towers with 100 cards, cups, and Popsicle sticks. 

The Tower was fun, the cards were a good challenge. They had to figure out the best structure to hold up the top layers. They kept falling, but they realized that foundations is very important.

• Art: Using a 2-liter soda bottle, they created a model of themselves at 100. I saw this on Pinterest as Biography Bottles @ The Millbrae Library. 

Source: flickr.com via 4everateacher on Pinterest

 

One of my AWESOME students

It was a great way for each student to shine and use their creativity. While some were asking me whether they could add a cane, others were asking me whether they could have specialty clothing and hoovering wheelchairs. Their projects came out really cute and they had a blast.