Fourteen Monkeys: A Rainforest Rhyme

Do you have students who are interested in monkeys or the rainforest? Did you come across this post while looking for research resources? We came across the book Fourteen Monkeys: A Rainforest Rhyme because it had a number word in its title and my son was interested since we had just visited Rainforest Cafe, where we got a book called Night, Night Jungle. Visit Manu National Park in Peru, a rainforest about the size of New Jersey, where 14 species of monkeys live, through this book.

I wouldn't exactly consider this one a good read aloud story, or even a very good story for preschoolers, simply because it contains a lot of information...UNLESS you only read the short bolded sentence for each set of pages. 

I would, however, recommend it to my fourth graders when we focus on non-fiction text features. I'm happy to have both options for my more curious readers who may want to pick up the book after I've introduced it and read the shorter version.

It's also great for organizing information and taking notes. I created a Google Doc to do this, and you can snag it for free to use for practice. Just complete together as a class, in small groups, or as individuals. It has a bookmarked table of contents for easy navigation as well as answer keys. Remember to make two copies - one for yourself with answer keys and the other to share with students.

Click the image or here to make a free copy of the Google Doc.

I strongly suggest visiting Manu National Park in Peru via Google Earth. The pictures in the book are beautiful, but it's important to actually locate its place in space. At first you'll notice a blurry green screen. Ask your student(s) why! It's the rainforest canopy!

For a challenge, students can create their own games or worksheets, such as:

• true/false statements
• Bingo boards
• board games
• word searches
• crossword puzzles
• Venn diagrams

Want to incorporate math? (included in the Google Docs)

• Graph number of babies
• Graph lifespan

Get artsy! Make these 3D monkeys and create your own rainforest diorama!

Want to learn about another biome? Check out this post about the  Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Interested in more science projects and posts? Look no further.

Searching for more number books or counting books?

Firefighters to the Rescue and other Fire Safety Month resources

 October is Fire Safety Month! I make sure my students are well educated on the topic because I am married to a firefighter. My son thinks first responders are the most amazing super heroes! We've recently added a few more books to our rotation as we learn more about the technical aspects of the job and a push to include more women and minorities in the profession.

 

The Amazon book listing for Send a Girl: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY says, "Brenda Berkman was often told that she couldn't do certain things because she was a girl. When she grew up, she longed for a job that was challenging, different every day, and required physical and mental strength. In 1977 when the New York City Fire Department finally complied with the Civil Rights Act (from 1964) by allowing women to take the FDNY exam, Brenda jumped at the chance. But the FDNY changed the rules of the exam so women wouldn't be able to pass it. Even a lot of men couldn't pass this new exam. So Brenda Berkman took the FDNY to court. In 1982, they finally made a fair test, and Brenda and 40 other women passed. She then founded the United Women Firefighters, an organization that helps train and prepare women to be firefighters. Brenda went on to serve in the FDNY for 25 years, reaching the positions of Lieutenant and Captain, and was a first responder during the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11. Send a Girl! is Brenda Berkman's inspiring story."

Want to use this book for a lesson, or need something a bit more mature for middle and high schoolers? Check out this Sutori timeline I made. It's great for Fire Safety Month, Women's History Month, or learning about the Civil Rights Act.

We also read another non-fiction story to learn more about the career as well as get ideas for building with LEGOs. The Amazon listing says,

"Join the LEGO minifigures on an exciting adventure as firefighters race to the rescue around LEGO City in Firefighters to the Rescue. Learn amazing facts about their rescue vehicles, daily tasks, and heroic rescues. Bursting with stunning photographs, fun facts, mini comics, building ideas, and stickers, Firefighters to the Rescue is the perfect book for any young reader."

I made this fun printable pack when we learned about the letter F. It includes a do-a-dot page, a maze, a vocabulary page for memory match, and word search,

We know part of the job is reading signs, so we revisited an old post of mine about environmental print. In our neighborhood and home, we look at and read signs for fire hydrants and extinguishers, and standpipes. 

We also practice making emergency calls to get help from first responders. Here is what we determined my son (and your children / students) should know.

Read more about fire safety and Fire Safety Month!

Spying Shapes

 One thing I've noticed as a teacher is that geometry is an area of weakness for elementary students, and part of that is we don't often move beyond the knowledge and comprehension levels to application and creation. Students learn the basic shapes in preschool and kindergarten and then suddenly they're expected to differentiate between types of triangles and quadrilaterals when many still don't know what pentagons and hexagons are. Adding in types of angles often leads to kids being overwhelmed with a lot of information at once.

As an upper elementary school teacher, I've decided on a plan of teaching my son the standards earlier than expected as well as pointing them out in real life and thinking about their use in engineering and design. We created this Spying Shapes Google Slides presentation that we call our shape book.

We have had a lot of fun taking pictures of shapes we see at home and in public. This is a great project for homework, home school, and collaboration at school. You can assign this project for individuals or groups, or even across grade levels. Students can add audio clips of them explaining what the objects are and why they think the shapes were chosen. 

If you want to differentiate, remove some slides or add others, such as the different types of triangles or  hexagons (regular / irregular), etc. Download it here.

If you plan on using this resource with younger kids, here are two books that can help introduce the concept of shapes around us. 

Round is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Greenfield Thong

This book is great for teaching a small amount of Spanish words, too! Some kids may notice 3D shapes, like a sphere, but call them round, however.

City Shapes by Diana Murray

Beautiful pictures in this book and descriptive prose don't help point out the actual shapes themselves in print, but lead to a discussion of what is seen in each scene.

Interested in more math posts? Click here! 

Want to incorporate more technology into your lessons?

As always, I'd love your feedback! Please leave a comment below and share how you used this resource on Facebook or Twitter.

Earthquake Resistant Resort Building STEM Project

This collaborative Google Slides project includes 55 slides hyperlinked to a table of contents for easy navigation. 

It includes slides for: task / video explanation, research resources, procedure / design process, materials list, a suggested timeline, presentation explanation, rubric, student planning guides and reflection, and awards. 

Depending on age, this project can take from several periods to up to two weeks. The recommended time frame is 4-5 periods.

The task: Can you design a resort building that will resist an earthquake? Students will work through the engineering design process while communicating effectively. There are 6 different award slides to emphasize the important parts of the project.

Click here to download.

Really Cool Rollercoasters

Are you in search of a great STEM project to do at home or in class? This roller coaster design project is so much fun. It can take several hours or days depending on how you structure it. Check out a few of the 45 slides included.

This collaborative STEM project can be planned in person or virtually and be built in person. It's perfect for a modified remote learning situation, block schedule, or typical science / STEM class and can be shared via Google Apps or Google Classroom. Videos, research links, task directions, planning guides, rubric, and editable awards are included in the 45 editable slides.

Students are to design the safest, tallest, coolest looking roller coaster in the world. If your design is the best, it will be built at a local amusement park. They practice the steps of the engineering process as they research, plan and build, test, and retest their designs.

The best part is you can keep track of students' work both in class and from home. You can also comment and edit as needed, including by adding awards for the most creative, tallest structure, best collaboration, best use of materials, most sturdy, and best redesign.

Download this project here.

Kids not only love this project, but they also learn to work together and to follow the steps of the engineering design process through a real life application!

Want to try some virtual interactives? These are great for learning about potential and kinetic engergy.

 https://nj.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/hew06.sci.phys.maf.rollercoaster/energy-in-a-roller-coaster-ride/

https://www.learner.org/series/interactive-amusement-park-physics/

Did you miss out on a trip to Disney or an amusement park? Here are sone virtual roller coaster rides!

https://hellogiggles.com/news/virtual-roller-coaster-rides/

https://stories.hersheypa.com/take-a-virtual-ride-on-15-coasters-at-hersheypark/

Check out more STEM / science posts:

http://alysiabattista.blogspot.com/search/label/science

Hands-on Reading Projects

Looking for some hands-on reading projects for intermediate, middle, and high school grades? These engaging ideas include templates, examples, and explanations for students to show what they know. They can all be done on paper or digitally!

Projects include:

-Diorama

-Triorama

-Character Interview

-Scrapbook page

-Movie poster

-Newspaper

-Yearbook page

-Timeline / Plot diagram

-Diary entry

-Travel map

-Song Scenes

-Foldable book

-Pop-up book

-Cell phone dialogue

-Play

-Comic

Students can be given the ability to choose between 16 projects or all students can complete the same project with different books. This Google Slide presentation includes links to Google Docs templates that students can use to complete projects as well as links to other websites where projects can be completed digitally. Rubrics are also included for some projects.

Download these projects here.

#projectbasedlearning #PBL #remotelearning #distancelearning

Looking for other digital projects and lessons? Check these out: 

-Bitmoji Bookmark Projects

-Digital Memory Book

-Digital Escape Rooms

-Concrete Poems

-Meet an Author Opinion Writing

-Digital Escape Rooms

-ABC Research Book

-Country Research Report

Earth Day activities

Happy Earth Day! 

We raised 5 butterflies from our Eric Carle Insect Lore kit and released them today! 

   

We also crawled through tunnels like caterpillars, 

and did Do-a-Dot caterpillars. 

Find the full color printable here. Older kids can cut and glue the circles at the bottom.

We also listened to some silly songs, 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Song

made fuzzy caterpillars with pom poms,

 

and played with our caterpillar in the chrysalis (Jack in a box).

We knew that butterflies need a temp above 55 degrees Fahrenheit to be released, so we made a sugar water mixture and gave them fruit for two days before it was warm enough.

How did you celebrate Earth today?

Check out other science posts:

https://www.funbrain.com/books/judy-moody-saves-the-world/page/1

Black History Month: Compare and Contrast MLK and Nelson Mandela

In honor of Black History Month and reading My Brother Martin and Me by Christine King Farris (Martin's sister) in our fourth grade Journeys book, we decided to compare and contrast Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. 

My class is a 1:1 Chromebook class, so we did this assignment together as a class on Google Docs. 

If you purchase this item on TPT, you can easily copy and paste from the PDF into Google Docs.

If you haven't used Google Docs as a class, I suggest going over a procedure for erasure. If someone accidentally deletes the graphic organizer, we all stop immediately and take hands off the keyboards until the mistake can be fixed by the person who deleted or until the previous version can be restored.

The great thing about this lesson is that I have adapted it for you so that it can be used in whole or in parts, independently or in small or whole groups. This would even be great if you homeschool! Rubrics are included for different expectations. You also don't have to search for resources to make sure they are appropriate since I've included links for you!

See more pages and download this resource in my TPT store.

We also watched his I Have a Dream speech 

and made this beautiful dove bulletin board. 

Students wrote ways they will and already do use peaceful, powerful words.

Who else would you like to see included in another compare and contrast project?

Oliver K. Woodman Letter Writing Project

In third grade, we read The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman by Darcy Pattison.

A fun extension we did was to write letters to friends and family across the U.S., North America, and all around the world. We asked them to send us a letter or email back tell us what they did with Oliver.

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oliver-K-Woodman-Letter-Writing-Project-4401747

We posted mini Olivers on a map with their location so that we could learn more about geography and landmarks.

It was a blast! If you want to join in, here is a link to our letter as well as a map and printable Oliver you can mail out to others.

Here are some other cool resources we used to track Oliver's journey in the book, plus a neat video of the book in case you don't have it.

Check out my other Oliver K. Woodman post!