Silent Hallway Drag Race

We are nearing the end of our Motion and Design unit.  In our unit we have learned many different ways that a vehicle is capable of moving.  Our most current way to have a vehicle move from point A to point B is using a propulsion unit...in this case a rubber band wound around a free spinning axle, while the other end is attached to a fixed axle sent our vehicles flying.  To put our vehicles into action, and for a little competition, we had a "Silent Drag Race" in our hallway.  The car that traveled the shortest distance was eliminated from competition until only one car remained.  Check out our race:

Stepping Stones in Our Classroom

The following is a quick video showing what our class so far has enjoyed about our new Stepping Stones math curriculum.  In the video you will hear from several students about how they think about math and learn about our Think Tanks.

Winter Sing Along a Success!

Our students put on a great winter sing along this year.  They definitely have us in the spirit for the holidays.  Enjoy the pics and sounds!

3 x 6 Writing Slam

In writing yesterday we had some fun with spontaneous writing.  We did a "3 x 6 Writing Slam."  Students were given a silly sentence starter.  In this case, the sentence was "'Quick, over here!' said the caveman as he tumbled over the waterfall."  All of my students had to start their story with this sentence.  They then had 3 minutes to write as much of their story as possible.  When the three minutes was up, they had to stop (finish the word they were on) and rotate to the next person's story.  They had 30 seconds to read and then 3 minutes to write.  We did this rotation six times until they got back to their original piece.  Today, students will practice editing the story on their own.

Check out the video to get an idea of how our class looked/functioned....

Motion and Design with Google Spreadsheet

Our current science curriculum is "Motion and Design" through the Einstein Project.  In this kit our students get hands on experience learning about how and why vehicles move the way they do.  We spend time learning about Newton's Three Laws of Motion as well.  

This year I have been trying to incorporate more Google Drive tools, especially when opportunities arise to use Google Spreadsheet.  In our most recent lesson, students had to learn how an unbalanced force effected their vehicles' movement.  In this case, the unbalanced force was washers.  At first, their vehicles did not move with small amounts of washers, but eventually, as you will see below, they got their vehicles moving very fast.  The faster their vehicles went in combination with the washers hitting the ground, made actually seeing inertia (vehicle moving without a force acting on it) possible.  

While students made these observations, they also collected data on a Google Spreadsheet.  The spreadsheets were simple, three column, designs.  With their data, students quickly created graphs showing their results with basically one click of a button.  This was a fun, simple, and quick way to collect and analyze data in our fifth grade classroom.

Word Relationships and Nuances - Part 2

To review word relationships and nuances in LEAP today, we created Word Relationship Word Clouds.  In doing so, students had to choose which category of word relationship was most interesting to them, or one they wanted to explore; like synonyms, antonyms, homophones, multiple meaning words, "stronger" words, etc.  Students explored thesaurus.com and to find word relationships for a ONE starting word if doing synonym, antonym, or "stronger" word.  If looking for homophone pairs or multiple meaning words students explored Google Images for words that appeared on classroom posters.  

As students explored, they added their words to ABCYa!'s word cloud generator.  They had to include Word Relationships five times (so it would be the biggest word on the cloud), their category three times (the next biggest), followed by as many words as they could find once.  It was a fun way to conclude our second week of word relationships and nuances.  Here are some of the results:

Opinion Writing: Warm Me Up!

In yesterday's post I shared how we were doing pre-writing in our classroom.  Today students shared their pre-writing with one another and have began to create a more finalized draft using their Chromebooks.  The following video shows work in action.  Believe it or not, during activities like this, it is generally as quiet as you hear.  When used the right/write way, technology can engage kids with more than just games!  Proof in action...

Word Relationships and Nuances - Part 1

In our LEAP class (RtI) we have been focusing on discovering word relationships and nuances in our everyday reading.  This has been tricky, to say the least.  I learning about word relationships and nuances we have identified word relationships as synonyms, antonyms, homophones, same spelling / different meaning, etc.  In learning about nuances, we have learned how nuances are simply a subtle change in the way "something" appears.  Nuances, in our classroom, have been described as subtle changes in color, mood, or even within synonyms - eventually perhaps changing into an antonym...CRAZY!

Today, as a wrap-up to my first group's rotation, we are using the app Pic Collage to collect nuances (around our school) in color.  The following are various examples we collected today:

Words their Way and SpellingCity.com

In our fifth grade classroom we use Words their Way as our core for word study curriculum.  Now that my students have become fairly fluent with most of the word study activities, I have added I. The option to practice word study and spelling using the website Spelling City.  This website has a lot of engaging games for students.  Plus it is fair fairly simple to set up.  In my case, since is like the site, I have paid subscription, which offers more variety in activities, besides just spelling activities. Check out some of our fun today.

Opinion Writing in the Fifth Grade

12323234 Paragraph Template

In keeping up with CCSS, we are currently in our mini-Opinion Writing unit.  We have been practicing writing our opinions, by keeping our ideas brief and to the point (in most cases).  Our opinions have been shared on the topic of what our Social Studies project should be on (Pilgrims or John White) and whether or not students should climb into random holes they find in the ground (kind of goofy).  

Opinion Writing Template

For teaching opinion writing, we have been using a "Step Up to Writing" model/strategy for building a brief and to the point paragraph.  In fifth grade, we call it a 1,2,3,2,3,2,3,4 Paragraph.  Check out this simple Google Presentation to get the general idea: 12323234 Paragraph.

When my students use 12323234 paragraphs, they initially have access to an organizer (either paper or digital).  They simply fill these in, and then proceed to writing a real paragraph either digitally or by hand.  

Transitions Poster

For our current opinion piece, my students are using the following organizer/worksheet: Opinion - Hot Chocolate or Soup?  I want to figure out how to make the previously mentioned document more of a "fill in the blank" style document, so that it is more digitally friendly.  If you have ideas, please share!  In the pictures below, you can also see students using a transition words poster to "beef" their paragraphs up.  Check out our writing session from today.

 

Fictional Narrative Pre-Writing: Monster in a Jar

In class we have begun working on our next narrative.  We will be writing a fictional narrative.  Our "prompt" will revolve around the idea of having to capture a monster in a jar.  To get "things" going, we captured our own classroom monster: Lenny.

With Lenny in captivity, we began describing what type of monster Lenny is.  As it turns out, he lives underneath students' beds and/or in the depths of their closets.  He makes very loud screeching noises.  His beak like mouth is extremely sharp and his eyes can blast lasers beams.  What a creature.  

The next step in our pre-writing process was for students to create their own, squished, "Monster in a Jar."  They needed to imagine what their monster looks like, what sorts of features it has, where it lives and more.  All of those characteristics helped students imagine what their monster looks like.  Today, we voted for favorite monsters.  We even brought in two fourth grade classrooms, so our votes were unbiased.  While only one could win, all of the monsters have turned out great.  Can you find Lenny in the picture below?

Tomorrow, we will begin imagining our narratives.  We are excited to see where our imaginations will take us.

Making Word Study Fun!

Understanding how to create, spell, and analyze words is a very important part in becoming a successful reader and writer.  Using the Words their Way curriculum, we do a variety of activities to get better at our word knowledge ranging from meaning sorts and activities to several strategies for better spelling of words.  Throughout the day, students have many opportunities to get better at using words and to become better spellers in general.  Below are some pictures from some of the activities students did today:

"Banana Grams" with Large Magnetic Letters

"Written Blind Sort"

"Scrabble" with Magnetic Letters

"Secret Decoder" Spelling Cups

Rebooting our Imagination with Katy McKy

Our school PTO generously brought our students the great fortune of meeting author and educator Katy McKy this week, as our author in residence.  To begin the week, Katy McKy, surrounded by nearly 600 eager students, transfixed us with her exciting tale of how pumpkins took over the small, quaint village: Pumpkin Town.  The show was entertaining, start to finish, with Mrs. McKy developing much of her fun story using our school's principal (Poppa) as her center of attention.  Quickly, she brought nearly 80 students up to the front stage to become instant props, while bringing forth staff (myself included) and students to act out various parts one might read in her book.  As she retold the story Pumpkin Town, all legs sat criss-crossed, backs were straight, and eyes were glued to what might happen next.  The morning was a success.

However, our class' individual time with Mrs. McKy this morning may have taken her presentation to a whole new level.  Regularly she asked my students if they were "Tough enough to focus."  You bet they were!  In her energetic ways, she reminded them to REFUSE TO GIVE UP!  Our morning was based largely on her tale Wolf Camp.  As a group, my students had to identify every single element her story might include using the props around us.  We used leaf blowers for wind, squirt bottles for rain, feather dusters as creepy crawly bugs.  My students quickly memorized the "things" they need for a camping trip, from a water canteen and filter to an emergency pack.  Before we knew it, we (myself included) were crawling around on the floor pretending to be bears or packs of wolves invading an imaginary camp which Katy and one of my students inhabited.

With our remaining time, Mrs. McKy had my students write their own story using all the elements we learned about in the first 45 minutes.  Their stories had to include: a setting, a problem, a bigger problem, an even bigger problem, and a solution.  With students camped up into tents, Mrs. McKy and myself wandered our campgrounds causing rain, wind, and creepy bugs to invade the tents.  These distractions were no match for my focused writers.  Many of my students were upset to end / leave, because as they might tell you, they still have a long way to go on what some of them see developing into a great story.

Mrs. McKy taught my students that each of them has a extraordinary power within them...their brains.  Their brains are capable of anything they want them to be, so long as they have will power and courage to do their best.  McKy provided me, with a much needed (though I did not realize this) professional development session.  I learned that my students can be very focused with the correct cue, and that some directions don't need to be so dragged out.  I also learned to power of oral editing.  I cannot wait to integrate Katy McKy's strategies with my own to create a very positive and unique learning environment.

We will have one more all school assembly with Katy on Friday, where she will then let our students tell their parents all the "Truths" about what she really told them...giving her just enough time to get out of town.  The following are some pictures from our fun writing session this morning:

Guys Create - Summer School 2013

The first two weeks of summer school are complete!  That went fast!  So fast that there was little time to update every couple days on what sorts of great activities my students did.  That said, even though I taught two classes, the one I will go into detail about right now is "Guys Create."

In this class our goal was to take part in creating, as well as see how "stuff" is created.  We were able to do both in ways that guys would enjoy.

After day one of the class I was a bit worried about whether or not my lessons plans could withstand the group of boys that had just left my classroom.  I called our district technology coordinator and asked for some ideas...which between the two of us...the thinking caps got to work.

In my class the boys went on three field trips to two local businesses to see how they create.  Last week we visited Dynamic Designs, which is a family owned business in our village who creates screen printed clothing, embroiders clothing, does web design, and much, much more.  Our task was to have them help us take our designed T-shirt from day one of class, and turn it into an actual T-shirt our students could wear.  In rewind, on day one students had to provide a design for a particular letter/word/number in "Guys Create Summer School 2013."  The design had to reflect their creativity.  They also voted on a shirt color and ink color (green and orange...in that order).  Next we delivered the design and got a tour of their building.  The boys got to see all the different "things" that Dynamic Designs does.  Two days later we returned, only this time to actually create our shirts and bring them back.  Check it out:

This is the original design the Guys created.

Our next field trip, just this past Wednesday took all of our boys to Bay Tek Games, in our village's business district.  At Bay Tek, our boys were treated to an incredible tour showing them how an arcade style video game is constructed, beginning with a lot of plywood to a finished product.  The boys learned that their is a lot more to the video game creation, than just plopping one down in the middle of an aisle and waiting for quarters for eager players.  Many of the boys were surprised to learn that Bay Tek's games travel all over the world.  They were also excited to recognize many of the games built here.  They now have a better respect for the creating process.  This trip was incredibly interesting and really made an impact on many of the boys.  To top it off, they got to test out one of the games ready for production: Dizzy Chicken.  

Along with these great field trips that we were fortunate to be able to either walk to or take a brief bus ride to, our class also focused on using iPads and Chromebooks for the creating process.  

We made action movies using an app called: Action Movie FX.  SUPER FUN!  BOYS LOVE IT!  Girls probably would too.  Since this was a summer school class, and BOYS, my technology director gave me permission to download this app.  Permission needed, because basically the app takes live video footage and adds special effects; such as boulders falling from the sky, laser beams, cars rolling, missiles launching, and much more!  Check out my example:

Another iPad Creation apps that we had fun with was Coaster Frenzy.  This is a roller coaster creation app.  Sky is the limit with this app.  The user literally creates and tests their coaster(s).  Today they had a final challenge of creating a roller coaster which lasted 2 minutes, within 10 seconds, and had to exceed 65 MPH. They had 20 minutes to do this, and a lot of fun!

We had a lot of fun with many other apps.  I should also mention that my students used our Chromebooks for some fun, creative creation projects.  We used a Chrome app called: Lego Builder.  This app is a simulated, virtual Lego world.  You can build almost anything to your heart's content with this app.  The boys did say it was challenging, and made their brains hurt.  To me, that sounds okay...it challenged them!

We also used our Chromebooks and Google Presentation to create business cards for a fake business idea.  Of all the activities, this one probably presented the most challenges, because many of the guys lacked needed background knowledge on using either Google Presentation or Microsoft PowerPoint.  Some business cards turned out really great.  In addition, we played with a Chrome app called Cargo Bridge, in which the goal is to create bridges for the character to carry a load over...lots of fun.  Lastly, the boys created animations using ABCya!'s animation creator site.  This both challenging and rewarding, once the final product is complete.  

Overall, we had a great two weeks!  It is hard to believe it is already done.  Scary to think...but bring on July!

Inventorying Grade Level Guided Reading Books

One last BIG project.  Our students inventoried over 175 guided reading novels from our grade level library.  They organized all of them, added lexiles, and created a HUGE spreadsheet for our teachers to use for years to come!  They did incredible!

We had a great school year!  Best wishes to our fifth graders as they move on to the middle school!  Have a great summer!

Next up...summer school...then presenting on 1:1 Google Chromebooks in the classroom at SITA...then get ready for the next bunch.

Blog entries might get slow for a while.  Enjoy the summer!

~ Mr. H and Mrs. O.