Chocolate!

Some people are not excited about all the hearts and love for Valentine's Day, but I think everyone can agree on chocolate! (well most anyways) The following is a reading lesson used with my Tier 3 fifth graders.

To begin, we completed a KWL chart about what we already knew about chocolate. Surprisingly, we found out that we did not know that much about chocolate. We also recorded several questions we had about chocolate.

Then I read aloud the book From Cocoa Bean to Chocolate. This is a great book that gives an overview of the chocolate making process in very simple language.

As we read the book, we stopped to add information to the "L" section of our KWL.

Once we had a basic understanding of the chocolate-making process, students read the Scholastic Superscience article Cheers for Chocolate. (If you have an ebsco host login, you can click on the link for a copy.) This article continues to elaborate on the chocolate-making process in great detail. For this article, we completed a sequencing graphic organizer on the steps of the chocolate-making process. We also continued to add information to the "L" section of our KWL chart. For a copy of the blank graphic organizer, click on the image below.

One particular question students were curious about was the difference between the types of chocolate. For this reason, I created the article below. You can get a copy of the article by clicking on the image.

We had to have a taste test to verify what we learned of course. The variety pack of Lindt chocolates pictured below just happens to include white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. Interestingly enough, the dark chocolate was the favorite. We also continued to add information to our KWL chart.

Once we knew about the different types of chocolate, we had a better understanding of just how much sugar can be in some chocolate. With this information, we started talking about whether chocolate was good or bad for you. Throughout our readings, we had learned that there were some health benefits to certain types of chocolate, but consuming too much sugar was a problem. So I asked students, what about chocolate milk? Is that good or bad for you? There was some disagreement on this issue. To help settle the debate, we read a short article from Scholastic News titled Is Chocolate Milk Junk Food? (If you have an ebsco host login, you can click on the link for a copy.) Then students wrote in their journals whether or not they thought schools should serve chocolate milk. They had to provide support for their opinion.

The students did a really nice job with their written responses. I was surprised how many of them were against schools serving chocolate milk. I hope you found something useful in this lesson. What kind of chocolate is your favorite? I am a white chocolate fan myself. 

Multiplication Fact Game

Today I am posting another math activity. I have used this game with my intervention groups in grades 3-5.  We are constantly working on our basic multiplication facts. In my opinion, games and authentic activities are much more beneficial than just going over flashcards over and over again. There are few things more boring than flashcards!

The game is called "Multiplication 5-in-a-row" and is basically a version of bingo. The object of the game is to get five in a row. I really like this game because students have to think backwards. The products for the basic facts 2-9 are provided. Students take turns picking what two factors they will multiply. They then move their two paper clips. Everyone else must also move their paper clips. (The paper clips hook on very nicely around the end of the paper and slide easily up and down the board.)

This game involves strategy since students know which products they need to make five in a row. They then have to think backwards and determine which two factors will give them the product they want. For struggling students, just seeing the popular products repeatedly on their boards is extremely helpful. I have made five different boards. For my personal set, I laminated the boards to make them more durable for repeated play. You can get your own FREE copy by clicking on either of the images above. You will be directed to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

With this post, I am linking up with All Things Upper Elementary for their "Free For All Linky Party." Head on over and check out what other great things teachers are doing!

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is just around the corner! January really flew by. I am really excited about the plans I have for my students in February. If only conference night wasn't on Valentine's day. . . . Anyways, my fourth graders specifically requested an article about the history of Valentine's Day. I couldn't find any articles I really loved, so I made my own!

For your own copy, click either of the images above and you will be directed to my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

To continue with the Valentine's theme, I found a great article on the way birds attract mates from the February 2013 issue of Ranger Rick. This magazine is one of my absolute favorite resources for nonfiction articles.  I actually have a subscription to the magazine. 

Once we have read the article, we will complete a main idea and supporting detail graphic organizer. (Valentine-themed of course!) The article Ways Birds Say I Love you has a very clear cut main idea that works well with the graphic organizer. 

For another one of my intervention groups, we will be reading Animal Sweethearts from Scholastic News. (I found the article on ebscohost) This article is a little more advanced than the birds article. The text focuses on how different animals attract mates, as opposed to just birds. The article reveals some pretty crazy facts, but also has a very clear main idea. I think the kids are going to be really engaged. 

A copy of the valentine graphic organizer can be found by clicking on the image below. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Anchor Charts

Today I am posting a special post! I am linking up with Miss Klohn from Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher for her anchor charts linky party. This is my first time participating in a linky party and I am really excited to see what other anchor charts teachers are making and using.

I absolutely love anchor charts! I use them all the time in my intervention lessons. Here are a couple of my favorite anchor charts from this year:

The above picture includes my anchor charts for elements of nonfiction, summary (for both fiction and nonfiction), and story elements. The picture below includes my anchor charts for cause and effect, compare and contrast, main idea, and author's purpose.

I create all of these anchor charts with my students. These charts are their ideas with just a hint of my guidance. This gives students ownership of the material and makes the lesson more meaningful. I usually set up the basics before the lesson, such as the title (the skill), any cute graphics, and any graphic organizers. (such as the cause/effect t-chart or the venn diagram) I don't want to be wasting time adding details when I am already racing to keep up with student ideas. That would really throw off the momentum of the lesson. 

Students have a "charts" section in their reader's notebooks. When finished with the anchor chart, I take a picture and make copies for the students. Occasionally I take a picture of the bare bones of the anchor charts and the students add the details to their charts as we go. For example, students filled out the venn diagram along with me. 

Then, as we continue to work on a particular skill, students refer back to their anchor charts. I love seeing students look back for information on their own without asking for my help. They are really becoming very self-sufficient.

I cannot wait to see how all of you are using anchor charts. If anyone else is using reader's notebooks, I would love to hear comments about how you integrate your anchor charts.

Compare and Contrast

Today's lesson is on compare and contrast and was used with a group of fifth graders. I began by reading aloud two books. The first book was The Three Little Pigs by Bernadette Watts.

Most students were familiar with the story, but I wanted  it to be really fresh in their minds for our compare and contrast activity. Then I read aloud a great book called The Three Little Tamales by Eric A. Kimmel. The students loved how this book had some Spanish mixed throughout.

These two stories were just similar enough to be perfect for comparing and contrasting. After I read the two books aloud, we created a venn diagram together as an anchor chart.

Students had a copy of the anchor chart to fill out in their reader's notebooks as well.

Next we moved on to the guided practice portion of the lesson. Students independently read the book National Geographic: Storms!. This book is about different types of severe storms. We picked two types of storms from the book to compare and contrast. (Hurricanes and Tornadoes) Together we completed a venn diagram in students' reader's notebooks.

For the independent practice portion of the lesson, students independently read a short story about two girls that went to space camp. In this story, both girls enjoyed space camp, but one wants to become an astronaut and the other is more interested in mission control. 

As an assessment, I had students independently complete a venn diagram in their reader's notebooks comparing and contrasting the two girls. 

Overall I was very pleased with the students' work. We still need to work on being very specific in our answers, but all the students hit on the major concepts of the story. 

Multiplying and Dividing by Powers of Ten

I thought it was about time I posted a Math lesson! The following is a lesson on multiplying by powers of ten. It can be used with whole numbers or decimals. With my students, I worked on multiplying both whole numbers and decimals by powers of ten.

Perhaps many of you have heard the popular saying "MR. DL?" Most teachers at my school use this phrase when teaching multiplication with powers of ten. It is actually an acronym that stands for Multiplication Right, Division Left. In other words, when you multiply a number by a power of ten, you move the decimal to the right, and when you divide by a power of ten, you move the decimal to the left.

To help my students with moving their decimals, I made boxes for students to put each digit in.

First, I gave students a number. (In this case 3.792) Students wrote the number on their paper with one digit in each box. Then, I told students whether we would be multiplying or dividing and by what power of ten. Students circled the correct operation and power of ten on their paper. Next, students "scooped" the decimal places the decimal would be moving. Since we were multiplying by 100 in this example, the students moved the decimal point two places to the right. Lastly, students wrote the final answer on their paper. (379.2)

Our math intervention groups change every two weeks. Each intervention teacher is given a particular skill, and students are assigned to groups based upon which skills they need help with. I love having a variety of skills and students, but sometimes it is difficult to figure out what is giving the students trouble if you have never had them in class before. With my group, I quickly noticed that they were weak in place value. The boxes provided additional scaffolding and a visual reminder that one digit goes in each place value spot.

I made a copy of the graphic organizer (shown above) for each student and laminated the paper so that we could use it over and over with dry erase markers. Initially I came up with the problems, but then let students take turns coming up with problems. They loved trying to stump their classmates.

A copy of the graphic organizer can be found by clicking on the picture below.

I would highly recommend laminating the paper so that it can be used with dry erase markers. Everything seems to be more fun with dry erase markers. Enjoy!

Character Traits

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about one of my fifth grade lessons on character feelings. Along with this lesson, I also taught a lesson on character traits. As with the character feelings lesson, the students and I focused on using strong adjectives to describe our characters. Words like nice and mean were not allowed!

To introduce the concept, I read aloud the book Rough, Tough Charley by Verla Kay.

This was an amazing book for character analysis. Charley is a complex character, which gave students the opportunity to explore many different character traits. The best part of this book is that Charley is actually a woman. Throughout the entire book, the author has you believing that Charley is a boy. The students absolutely loved this twist in the story.

As we read, we completed the following anchor chart.

For the modeling portion of the lesson, I completed the first character trait. I said that Charley was hardworking. As evidence for this trait, I explained that Charley worked in a stable as a child. I wrote both the character trait and supporting evidence on a notecard and added it to the anchor chart.  The students and I worked together to come up with the remaining character traits and evidence, which were also added to the anchor chart on notecards. The other traits included brave, tough, talented, and vulgar. 

For more guided practice, students independently read the short story "A Pet" from the book Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant. This book includes many different stories about children and animals. The students can really relate to these stories. The story "A Pet" is about a young girl that wants a pet very badly. Her parents finally buy her a fish, although that was not exactly the pet she had in mind. The girl takes care of the fish, but in the end the fish dies. Many of the students shared similar stories about pets from their own lives.

After reading and discussing the short story, we completed a character map for the main character Emma. We came up with four traits to describe Emma and evidence from the text to support the selected trait.

For independent practice, students read the short story Tough as Daisy from a past Highlights issue. In fact, the story was used in a past NAEP assessment. This story is about a young girl named Daisy who is the only girl at a wrestling match. A copy of the story can be found at https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fed.sc.gov%2Fagency%2Fprograms-services%2F44%2Fdocuments%2F2011-ReadingItemsFinal.pdf. (scroll to page 9) The questions from the assessment are also provided, if you are interested. 

With this story, the students completed the character map independently. The original character map is from Pomeraug Regional School District 15. You can get a copy by clicking on the image below and scrolling to page 3. 

Enjoy! :)