Sunday, May 17, 2015

Picture Review of our Year (PART 2)

As promised...here's a continuation of our year in review.

READING BUDDIES:
Every other Thursday, we read to our second grade buddies. In addition to reading together, we performed readers' theater for them, created crafts for a 100th day celebration, and had an end-of-the-year party to celebrate a year full of awesome growth! 















POETRY CAFE:
After spending weeks writing poetry of different forms and compiling it into a poetry booklet, students shared their hard work in Poetry Cafe. We transformed the classroom, played jazz music, enjoyed hot cocoa, and read poetry. We even snapped instead of clapping after each poem. :) 












COWBOY DAY:
After studying westward expansion before the Civil War, we experienced life as cowboys did. Students went on a MAJOR scavenger hunt throughout the school. They lost cattle along the way, had to make quick decisions, enjoyed biscuits and a campfire, listened to cowboy music, and encountered Native Americans. In the end, they were paid for however many cattle they had left. 











BIZTOWN:
If you haven't heard of this field trip, LOOK INTO IT! Students study economics and business in a free enterprise system for weeks in preparation for this event.Then, they head to downtown Charlotte where there is basically a city run completely by students. Every aspect of the city is covered, from banks to food. Each business has a CEO, CFO, and employees. The kids learned soooo much and enjoyed every minute! 















Picture Review of our Year (PART 1)

Err...

11 months later.

Y'ALL. WHAT. A. YEAR. I can't even put into words all of the amazingness we experienced, so I'm just going to upload five kagillion photos and hopefully find the time to explain them throughout the first few weeks of summer (WHAT?!) break.

For your viewing pleasure...

READING OLYMPICS:
We enjoyed Reading Olympics, where students chose projects to create after each novel study. We then presented their projects and turned the room into a museum of student work, where the students could walk around and interact with each other's projects. 













GRAMMAR PROJECTS:
Students in 4th grade created projects to practice prepositions. This was called The ABC's of Prepositions. Each group had to create a prepositional phrase containing different prepositions and then provide an image, either on a poster board or on a power point. They created one prepositional phrase for every letter of the alphabet. It had to start with a noun and the object of the preposition had to start with the same letter. They had a BLAST! 





















CINCO DE MAYO:
Fourth and fifth graders joined together to learn more about the history and culture of Mexico through a Cinco de Mayo celebration. Stations included: 
- expository power point and quiz
- library book scavenger hunt
- Mexican flower making
- Mexican vocabulary crosswords and word searches
- pinata
- chips, salsa, and queso
- authentic Mexican music
- an informational video
















RUNNING CLUB:
In preparation for our 10k/5k/1k I led our first ever running club! The kids learned a lot about pacing, correct form, the importance of a running buddy, and just how to have fun while running and taking care of our bodies! 

















MORE READING OLYMPIC PRESENTATIONS:
Check out my TpT store to access the pamphlets for each level of projects! 
















TITANIC PROJECT:
We did a research project in teams about the wreck of the Titanic. Students broke up into groups to identify different issues that could have been changed to help prevent this terrible disaster. Each team was in charge of a different category: Passengers, Technology, Ship Building, and Passage. This group chose to display the answers to their questions in the form of an iPad, because they were the Technology group. SO COOL!!! You flip up every flap to see the typed answers underneath. They developed each "app" to represent the main idea of the answer or question. 












USA PROJECT:
Students completed a 4 part project on a state of their choice. The parts included:
- drawing of state map and flag
-alliteration booklet 
- research paper
- presentation day complete with a speech, costume, and food from their state

Head to my TpT store for this awesome project packet! 











FIELD TRIP TO CHARLESTON:
Yep! A two day, one night trip to wonderful Charleston! It was incredible! We study the Civil War, so this was the perfect place to check out Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, the USS Yorktown, Magnolia Plantation, downtown Charleston, the Slave Mart, the Charleston Museum, Blackbeard's Cove, and soooo much more! 













Thursday, June 19, 2014

June Currently

Hi there!

Sooo...I've joined up with my first Linky! I think that's what it's called...haha. Here's my June Currently, thanks to Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

I am joining a new community: bloglovin!!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/12397309/?claim=wejfgwzmmxk">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Edible Landforms

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? Today we did a culminating activity as an assessment for the students' landform unit, and it was so cool!

Students were given an assignment to create a "cookie island" including every landform we have studied this unit. Once they split up into groups, their first task was to plan out their island (where each landform would be located, what they would use for each item, etc.). Each group was given a cookie cake, mini donuts, chocolate chips, cookies, and three different colors of icing (green, brown, and blue). 

Once students came up with their plan, they began the creation of their cookie island. It was amazing to see how creative they could get with the materials they were given! 

After they created each part of the island, they placed a vocabulary flag on each landform.

Next, each student created a hand drawn map of the island, including every landform, a key, and compass rose. Once they drew their map, they colored it in. I am so impressed with how they turned out!!

Finally, once maps were drawn and messes were cleaned up, they presented their islands and then ate them! 













You can purchase this activity packet here! Just click the picture below to head to my TpT store.