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Upper Elementary Teachers Chatboard

in search of geometry activities

by 5thgradetch

Feb 7, 2009

I teach 5th grade and am looking for activities to use when teaching geometry. Right now we are focussing on measuring angles and finding missing angles in polygons.

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Jen in NY I use this site often when teaching geometry in our class.

[link removed]

Feb 7, 2009

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Most Enjoyable Thematic Units

by Michelle

Feb 7, 2009

What thematic units do you teach in grades 3-5 that your students seem to enjoy the most?

I was thinking of doing something new in both science and social studies and am looking for a jumping off point.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Michelle

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Erin Linda, What a great idea....I was curious as to what picture books you use...are they just general biography picture books or are they ones that have to do with important people from Ohio....is there any way you could give me like a week by week general layout to look at...I teach in Tennessee but think this would be a fabulous idea to do. :)
<...See More

Feb 9, 2009

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Linda/OH Of course this original idea was not mine, so thanks to whoever created this (I think I got it from this board!) Here's an outline that may help you get started: 1. Build background knowledge about biographies through read alouds (Wilma Unlimited, Rachel Carson, Teammates, Snowflake Bentley, A Boy Called Slow to name a few) over 1-2 weeks We make a...See MoreOf course this original idea was not mine, so thanks to whoever created this (I think I got it from this board!) Here's an outline that may help you get started: 1. Build background knowledge about biographies through read alouds (Wilma Unlimited, Rachel Carson, Teammates, Snowflake Bentley, A Boy Called Slow to name a few) over 1-2 weeks We make a big class chart with columns for accomplishments & contributions, important lessons we can learn, other interesting facts about the person.

2. Lit circles (Rachel Carson:LIstening to the Crickets, George Wahsington Carver, and others I can't think of titles...) 1-2 weeks They add to the class chart.

3. Students choose their Ohioan from a long list. Research begins and this whole process is another 2 weeks or so.They focus on the contributions and accomplishments of the person as well as just cool interesting facts about him/ her!. (I have gathered many books on the well known ones). I help them gather materials from the internet and our school library too.

4. Get ready for the Wax Museum-mostly done in class and finished at home. students create timelines, color code a map to show where they're from, gather pictures/photos/illustrations of the person, props (when appropriate-Edison always has to have a lightbulb!), ans write a short speech as if they were the person.

On 2/09/09, Erin wrote: > Linda, > What a great idea....I was curious as to what picture books > you use...are they just general biography picture books or are > they ones that have to do with important people from Ohio....is > there any way you could give me like a week by week general layout > to look at...I teach in Tennessee but think this would be a > fabulous idea to do. :) > > Erin > > On 2/08/09, Linda/OH wrote: >> My favorite to teach and the students respond well to is our >> biography unit that integrates some social studies-important >> OHioans. It's a 6 week unit that starts with lots of picture >> book read alouds , charting qualities of important people's and >> their contributions, then students reading in lit circles, >> finally choosing an Ohioan to research. it culminates with our >> Ohiobio Wax Museum-where classes and families come to tour. >> Students prepare a speech, make a trifold display and dress as >> the person-loads of learning and fun! >> >> On 2/07/09, Jen in NY wrote: >>> 5th grade in NY we have to study Mexico and Latin America. >>> We have chosen to study Mexico and its people through >>> chocolate. Students study chocolate, it's origins, history, >>> production and economics. Them they create a poster to show >>> what they have learned. At the end we hae a choclate >>> festival with center activites around chocolate. >>> >>> Here's a site to get you started... >>> [link removed];

Feb 10, 2009

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Teaching generalization

by 3rd Grade Teacher

Feb 7, 2009

Couple of questions, at my school the other teachers spend 2 weeks on this...is this too much time on this topic? Do you have any cute ideas on how to introduce this to the class? I've searched and came up with...well, not much. Any ideas you have would be appreciated!

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Revolutionary War Ideas

by new 5th teacher

Feb 7, 2009

I'm teaching fifth grade for the first time (previously in 4th) and I wanted to know if anyone has any ideas for teaching the road to U.S. independence. Any cooperative group ideas, games, or places to find lessons would be extremely helpful.

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paulaj On 2/07/09, new 5th teacher wrote: > I'm teaching fifth grade for the first time (previously in > 4th) and I wanted to know if anyone has any ideas for > teaching the road to U.S. independence. Any cooperative > group ideas, games, or places to find lessons would be > extremely helpful.

I would have a wall with a road on it...See More

Feb 12, 2009

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LINK [link removed]

Scroll down to the social studies units.

Feb 12, 2009

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McEducate

by cam

Feb 7, 2009

I'm off to a McDonald's fundraiser where teachers "work" the evening, and 20% of all proceeds go to the school. This sounds like a real money-maker, and my kids are excited to see me on a Saturday...go figure... The best part is that we get $$ from all sales, not just school related customers. I'll let you know how it goes, and whether or not I'd r...See More

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m This sounds cool, and I know my kids would be in to it big time! Where can I find out more information?

On 2/08/09, Melissa wrote: > We've done the McTeacher thing for 2 school years now. Last > year's turn out at the beginning was crazy! There were people > everywhere. We do this once a month on a Friday night from 5-8. > We a...See More

Feb 9, 2009

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cam One of our teachers approached the local store, and got the info that way. I guess it is a nationwide program that they do.

Feb 10, 2009

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Need Lesson for Greek, Latin Root Words-Ideas?

by Please!!

Feb 7, 2009

I need to present a lesson, or series of lessons, on Greek and Latin Root Words to my fourth grade class. I have a list of 'roots' that I need to teach, but I don't have a formal step by step lesson plan. I'd like it to be interactive, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

What I've usually done is, admittedly, very cut and dry. In the past...See More

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paulaj On 2/08/09, JAM, who loves teaching this stuff! wrote: > Kids really do learn the roots, and I add in quizes > etc. using the 42 roots that are on the cards. It's > fun,interactive, and there are many extensions! > JAM

What are some of your extension ideas, please?

Feb 13, 2009

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JAM, with extentions On 2/13/09, paulaj wrote: > On 2/08/09, JAM, who loves teaching this stuff! wrote: >> Kids really do learn the roots, and I add in quizes >> etc. using the 42 roots that are on the cards. It's >> fun,interactive, and there are many extensions! >> JAM > > What are some of your extension ideas, please?

The ga...See More

Feb 21, 2009

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Social Studies Learning Fair?

by teach4

Feb 7, 2009

Anyone ever done a grade level learning fair using Social Studies themes? Fellow teachers want to try this instead of a science fair this year. Our class's topic would be the Civil War.

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Jerry I was once in charge of a Social Studies Fair. Our theme was the American Revolution and I tried to incorporate a multisensory experience for the children using food, music, etc. Children dressed up in costumes representing the Minute Men, British soldiers, famous Americans and foreigners who helped us.

On the Civil War page on my website:...See More

Feb 7, 2009

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Jenn This isn't exactly the same as what you are thinking of but it's similar. Our entire school (K-6) does a "5 Themes of Geography" fair every May. Each grade has a continent - each class within that grade chooses a country in that continent, studies it through books, encyclopedia articles, news articles, web sites, visitors, etc, whatever is appropri...See MoreThis isn't exactly the same as what you are thinking of but it's similar. Our entire school (K-6) does a "5 Themes of Geography" fair every May. Each grade has a continent - each class within that grade chooses a country in that continent, studies it through books, encyclopedia articles, news articles, web sites, visitors, etc, whatever is appropriate for the age level. Each class then has students prepare age-appropriate written research as well as a project. For Kindergarten, it might be a class big book; for 1st grade it might be a few sentences, etc. We met as a social studies committee and planned it all out. The idea is that the students are exposed to the 5 themes of geography as well as learning about other cultures at the same time. We have a parent night for about an hour when parents and the community can come and walk around the classes and see the displays.

We've had a hard time with that because many of the kids don't want to come as a) they're required to stay in their classes for the entire hour to present their projects and answer questions and b) it's baseball season, so many of them have baseball practice and don't want to miss it. We tried making it mandatory but parents became angry. Some parents end up pulling their kids out of their classes where they're presenting to wander around the building with them, and many of the parents end up staying in the rooms talking with their friends rather than visiting all the classrooms. The following day we essentially devote to the classrooms visiting each other. We don't have time for every class to visit every other class, but we've set up a schedule where each class sees at least one country per continent.

It's a lot of work, and many teachers find it exhausting. Our librarian has spent a lot of time buying books that support each country so that we have the materials in the building. The kids do end up learning about their own country, especially in the upper grades where they have to do extensive research reports, but they don't come away with a lot from visiting the other classes. We do get a lot of neat projects from this.

Not exactly on your topic, but I hope some of it helps.

Jenn

On 2/07/09, Jerry wrote: > I was once in charge of a Social Studies Fair. Our theme > was the American Revolution and I tried to incorporate a > multisensory experience for the children using food, music, > etc. Children dressed up in costumes representing the > Minute Men, British soldiers, famous Americans and > foreigners who helped us. > > On the Civil War page on my website: > [link removed].

Feb 8, 2009

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Florida teachers-postcard project

by LS

Feb 8, 2009

I was visiting a California teacher's web-site and they were participating in a California postcard exchange to learn about the different regions in Ca. Would anyone be interested in doing this in Florida? (I would have posted on the FL site but it seems to deal with all things political and little on curriculum) I've included my email so I guess t...See More

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Great Fractions lessons -3rd gr

by ODNT

Feb 8, 2009

Does anyone have a great lesson for introducing/working on fractions with third graders? It's observation time again. Hands on, using technology (internet but no promethian board), higher level thinking, of course. Thanks!

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3rd grade teacjer If you teach Saxon Math, using pattern blocks and two-sided counters are a great way to teach fractions. With the counters, each student gets a handful. They shake them gently and drop them on their desks. The teacher asks for volunteers to share their ratios - how many yellow and how many red, then making a fraction from their ratio.

Pat...See More

Feb 10, 2009

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Eragon Help

by Emily

Feb 8, 2009

I'm reading Eragon with a small group of fifth graders beginning next week. The class is reading books that have been made into movies, like Eragon, Coraline, Bridge to Terabithia, Ella Enchanted, and Because of Winn Dixie.

I have been searching the Internet, but I am having trouble finding any helpful (free) activities, discussion questi...See More

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Kim Pederson Dear Emily,

There really isn't anything out there. I know because I have looked. :-) I ended up writing an entire curriculum for Eragon for my 5th graders, and have used it for three years now.

Things you can do:

Visualizations with captions from favorite parts of the chapter. Kids love to do visualizations!

...See More

Feb 10, 2009

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Emily On 2/10/09, Kim Pederson wrote: > Dear Emily, > > There really isn't anything out there. I know because I have > looked. :-) I ended up writing an entire curriculum for > Eragon for my 5th graders, and have used it for three years > now. > > Things you can do: > > Visualizations with captions from favorite parts of the...See MoreOn 2/10/09, Kim Pederson wrote: > Dear Emily, > > There really isn't anything out there. I know because I have > looked. :-) I ended up writing an entire curriculum for > Eragon for my 5th graders, and have used it for three years > now. > > Things you can do: > > Visualizations with captions from favorite parts of the > chapter. Kids love to do visualizations! > > Travel brochure for the places Eragon traveled to, complete > with "bad guy" warnings in certain areas. What are the > highlights, and why are they good places to visit? > > Have the children choose 5-10 unfamiliar words and make their > own chapter dictionaries, complete with illustrations and > synonyms. > > Make setting pyramids with captions explaining why each > setting is important. > > Character analysis. Have the children take a character from > whichever chapter you are reading, and have them pull text > from the chapter that explains or reveals character traits > of the characters. > > Sequence of events: This also involves some drawing and > writing. Choose a chapter with a great deal of action or > several chapters with big events. Have the children draw > and label a sequence of important events and what the bit > outcome is of these events (if there is one, considering > where you might be in the book). > > Do a Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram with Eragon and the child > doing the assignment. There should be some interesting > differences, to say the least! > > Have the children dream up multiple choice questions based > upon a chapter of the text, then give one another their > quizzes to see if they read very well. > > Summary: Choose 4 sequential chapters, have the children > take the main event from each chapter, then write a 4 > sentence summary of those events. You can do this with a > chapter as well, reminding the children to keep their > sentences limited to important events and IN ORDER. Short > summaries should not be more than 4 or 5 sentences, so this > really limits the children and forces them to think about > what the important events are. It helps to do this > assignment by putting them into small groups so they can > discuss it. > > Once they view the movie at the end of the novel, have the > children write short essay on the similarities and > differences between the movie and the novel. This should > happen, of course, after an indepth discussion following > viewing the movie. In my 5th grade classes, my students > loved being about to see Saphira and getting that > visualization, but they hated how the movie makers seemed to > ruin a wonderful story. They need to be able to write down > their opinions clearly and concisely, as though explaining > it to the movie makers, and why they should have followed > the book in a much better way. > > Write a letter to Christopher Paolini telling him what they > thought of his book and what their favorite parts were. Use > it as a Language Arts exercise, first doing a rough draft, > then writing the final draft to mail to the author. When I > started this four years ago, Mr. Paolini wrote us back, not > once, but twice. The students LOVED this. Since more > classes are using Eragon now, it may be that he's too busy > to write back, but it's worth a shot. :-) > > Anyway, these are just a few of my ideas that I used. > Unfortunately, since I'm not teaching 5th grade this year, I > gave my disk to a friend with the curriculum on it, and did > not keep one for myself (stupid!). It had been on my iBook > harddrive, but I upgraded, and much to my dismay, lost all > that work.... > > Hopefully these thoughts will be of some help, however. > > May Your Sword Stay Sharp!! > > Kim Pederson > > [email removed]

Feb 11, 2009

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