We started our "Earth in Space" science unit today after some flurrying over the weekend. It's been quite a dry winter with very little snow. In fact, the only snow that accumulated here was on Halloween! I am definitely not complaining, especially because we only have one snow day built into the calendar...but you know kids. They live for snow! Either way, here are some water cycle songs and videos they enjoy.
We made some neat multiplication arrays using candy hearts. It took 2 eight ounce bags to make 22 of them. To make it fair, I pulled flashcards to tell each student what array to make. This can also be a great division activity if you tell them how many rows they need to divide their hearts into. They can easily find the remainder!
Just arrange them into arrays, glue, color, and write your number sentence!
We have also been using fact family triangles to make the connection to division. Students wrote the fact families from the front and back of their cards on dry erase boards, then switched with other classmates in their groups.
We also used various manipulatives and divided them into equal groups to solve word problems. Whatever was left over was our remainders. It was a great way to understand the vocabulary words divisible and remainder!
To begin the next phase of our social studies unit, we read the Caldecott winning book Grandfather's Journey by Alan Say. The kids really enjoyed reading it since we read the Kamishibai Man by Mr. Say two months ago.
The story tells of a man who is homesick for Japan when he is in America, and homesick for America when he is in Japan.
We made a list of reasons why people would choose to immigrate:
religious freedom
to escape war or violence
famine or drought (not enough food or water)
natural disaster
to get an education
to get a job
to join family
for adventure
My students were very intrigued, especially since many of them have relatives who immigrated to America. in the last 30 years. I told them that a great place to read about and visit is Ellis Island.
I was lucky enough to visit there in third and ninth grades. Although my paternal grandfather immigrated from Italy, he came in 1945, meaning that he did not have to pass through Ellis Island. I highly recommend the audio tour as you can actually listen to immigrants' accounts of their own journeys to American and memories of Ellis Island and their first days in America. There are also many pictures and artifacts from the time and you can see where the immigrants lived while detained or waiting or relatives to claim them. You can even search ship manifestos using their Passenger Search or have a relative's name inscribed on the Wall of Honor.
Books, Websites, and Videos about Ellis Island and Immigration:
This week's reading story is called A Mr. Rubbish Mood by Megan McDonald. It's an excerpt from Judy Moody Saves the World! I think the best things about this story are that it gets kids concerned about the environment and it also gets them excited to read the actual chapter book!
Scholastic has a great deal right now - 9 different books in the Judy Moody pack for only $32!
Of course...it also got my students excited because of the new movie Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. Journeys really makes it too easy for me to do movie tie-ins, but my students get to choose behavioral rewards to work for and they are always #1 on their list.
No, this is not a sequel to my recent post about Ramona Quimby...it's about the SUPERBOWL, duh!
Here in New Jersey, many of us are split between the Giants and Jets. (Hopefully you know that they play in the same stadium...in NEW JERSEY!) Needless to say, we were pumped up on Friday in school and all weekend to see the Giants beat the Patriots.
I read the kids Teammates by Tiki and Ronde Barber, twin brothers and NFL players. (Tiki was a Giant and my copy of the book was autographed at the Yogi Berra Museum!)
Each child wrote a 3 paragraph story about football using a speculative writing prompt. Students who didn't have much knowledge of the subject were given a word splash and the opportunity to write about a problem and solution on the way to or from the game or at the stadium (such as we got a flat tire, I couldn't find the bathroom, I didn't have enough money to buy both souvenirs I wanted, etc.)
We used this football graphic organizer from The Mailbox.
We listened to this song, called "Underdog" by the Lost Trailers, and hoped our Giants would Dream Big just like we do....and it worked!
We practiced our salsa moves like Victor Cruz (yes, I'm nuts like that),
did football math, and completed a speculative writing prompt (which I'll add here tomorrow) about a problem at a football game... Needless to say, many of the kids wrote about the Giants completing a last minute comeback to win the game... foreshadowing or what?
