Monster Genetics - GIVEAWAY


You can read all about Monster Genetics here  This is one of my favorite activities for this time of year! It is perfect way to introduce genetics and  for the students to understand.  I know the Rock, Paper, Scissors part can be confusing so this video clears it up pretty well.





Using Monsters to teach Genetics
Check out how I teach genetics using monsters - the students are so engaged and this introduces this tricky concept in a fun way!
Posted by SSSTeaching on Friday, October 23, 2015


Comment below with your favorite part from the video for a chance to win a copy!!


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Grammar Manipulatives - SAY WHAT?!

I am so excited about this resource!!

Remember those magnetic poetry sets that used to be around.  I thought that would be a great addition to my room but for grammar!

Each of my kids receives a bag of words (same words) that they keep in their desk all year long that we pull out to work on grammar topics!  It is AWESOME and lasts the WHOLE YEAR!  Not many things can be that useful!


I really love these because they get students actual hands on manipulatives in GRAMMAR! Who does that? 







We use these to make sentences following a certain concept

We use them for centers as task cards, or even SCOOT!  

We use them for assessment when they can send collages and pictures to me to show they know the concept!  




There are plenty of other ways to use these in your room in the download as well.  


I love Love LOVE this way to incorporate a kinesthetic option into grammar!  Grammar can be so tedious and this puts a fun spin on it.  It aligns with over 10 CCSS standards and I love how easy and literally no prep this is!  The variety of ways I can use it makes it a MUST HAVE for the classroom this year. 



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Cave Day!



I'm so excited to share CAVE DAY! I'm taking a page out of Hope King's playbook and if you haven't read or seen her blog then head over there now. I saw her Jurassic World day and knew it would be perfect for my students and I modified it since Missouri is "the Cave State" as well as the Show Me State.


I love LOVE how this encompassed every subject and fit in so many good standards - all in 1 day!  We did cover informational text in September but this would be a great review for ANY TIME of year!  I love how excited both the students and me were!!

*granted some of these I had taught before but touched on or reviewed today again but they got exposed to 13 standards today!

First up in cave day was making our headlights.  Every good spelunker has to have headlights right?!  I used headbands, hot glue and touch lights from Walmart.  No way around it - they were expensive, but I figured I could use them for a "surgery" day of some sort as well and for years to come.  The lights and headbands were not so much but each light took 3 batteries :(   I made enough for my class this year 14 and next year's group will have to switch off and share...gotta compromise somewhere.

We used this playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5uyhKdORS0  for some "Cave Tunes" while we were working all day. 




I found this headlight in hubby's truck so I get to be the official lead spelunker for the day.

  


Ok....the setup.....  I used extra desks to make a tunnel to come into our room and the students had to return their HW to get their ticket inside and a headlight.  This gave them some background knowledge of caves already and prepared them for the day ahead.  I used a Readworks Passage about caves for grade 4 and their comprehension questions (perfect!)





Once inside students were given their Caving Club card.  They had to participate in all activities (reading, writing, science, and social studies, +4 road blocks -grammar challenges)  to earn their spelunker license.)  I had stamps I used each time they completed part of their Caving Club challenge.  Each grammar "road block" they showed me had to be correct to get the stamp of approval!

Here is an example of a road block - they would have to fill it in correctly to move on and get back to their other work.



READING

We started with reading.  I used a Reading A to Z book focusing on main idea and text features - two things we have already studied extensively.  We also used the comprehension questions just to check for understanding.

*I love all the options of Reading A to Z - the books, and accompaniments are great!* They are usually more high interest too than just a normal reading passage.





They took a final assessment based on an article about Missouri caves linking to many covered standards from this year so far.   This was an assessment I created on Google Forms and was excited to have them take it for the first time.  I tried using the split screen technique because our state assessments look like that just so they are used to it and see it more.




We did have to read the passage together and explain some wording of the questions but overall they did great - I graded it with Flubaroo - EASIEST thing ever! - 1 touch and my grading of my Google Form was complete with assessing weak questions!


SCIENCE


We used the Caves Nearpod lesson (FREE) which was fantastic as we got to explore different caves. Nearpod is like an interactive Powerpoint where I have to advance their slides but this one they could explore different caves, answer polls and see our class results, type in answers, etc...


Nearpod has always been a great tool but the virtual field trips are even more exciting!! The students could literally turn the ipad 360 like they were in the room!! It was one of the most exciting things I have ever seen and the closest we could get without being in an actual cave.  I encourage you to try it out if you haven't!

looking at the ceiling of a cave
We also used the iPads and researched cave animals to make cave food webs.  It was awesome to build on our knowledge from last year about producers, consumers, etc.. and our last test on vertebrates and invertebrates!








     



Social Studies
We studied caves in Missouri and used this site - http://missouricaves.com/ to plot large cities (a SS standard) use the Google Map to find caves using intermediate directions. 
We also had to infer about geography and use the map to see if caves were just located near rivers or water sources and if that made sense with what else we read today.


At multiple points we stopped for "tunnel time" = Go Noodle along with recording our learning on different parts of this cave poster (what we read, caves in missouri, and cave ecosystems)



All the printables - speluner license, caving club, presentations, animal cards, HW card all included!

If you like any of these  you can check them out here!!  These would make great addition to sub plans or just added in throughout the year to science or nonfiction content - so many ways to fit it in!
Favorite picture of the day!


There's actually some free writing prompts in there we didn't get to!  Make sure to head over now and at least check out if any of this would be helpful!




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Quotation Marks in the Wild


Last year I shared some of our favorite ways to introduce and practice using quotation marks and dialogue and in our writing along with editing. 

You can find that post - here. 


Today, I have a new idea to add to the mix that we are trying this year. I made these animal posters to introduce dialogue and we are going to use them as a center.  

I plan to laminate them after printing multiple copies to a page and using dry erase markers to practice our quotation marks.

These would also make an awesome hallway display.


  Teachers have commented how much their students enjoyed these!  A class even wanted more for HOMEWORK! These are such a great way to practice without really thinking about it. 

This is a fun way to get students thinking creatively and involved in learning.  It is great practice outside of writing to reinforce the correct use of quotation marks!

This is always so tricky for my students so any practice is great.  You can click any of these pics if you want these animal posters for yourself.  

The pack comes with 23 animals posters for you to use - whole class, center, individually, as a hilarious display - TONS of ways to practice using quotation marks throughout the year!

If you want even more - there is now a bundle that has 46 pictures and a DIGITAL version for students to complete. 



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BEST Upper Elementary Review Ideas




Check out some of these NO PREP ideas great for any elementary class to review content!  My students love review time because of the excitement and games surrounding it!

1.  Hexagon Bean Bag Throw - great idea to do with ANY subject!  Includes a link to a freebie to get you started.  This is great for last minute!!

2.  Student Created SCOOT - I hand out notecards and whisper the word or concept and students create the questions, then we rotate around until we have reached all or most then go over the answer together - they LOVE THIS!

3.  Musical Chairs -   Great for memorizing items!  We play this with states and capitals.  You write down a state then I play music and whichever chair you land at - you write down the capital and then another state right below for the next person.  Music - writing - music  - writing ....sometimes we even thrown in a dance leader while we are rotating.  (I play kareoke versions of popular songs -  no words = no problems with bad lanugage!)


  • This version would also work great if you wrote concepts at each table and whatever table the students landed at they had to write what they knew - not looking at others just whatever first popped in their head then reviewing as a class to make sure any misconceptions are covered. 


4.  One Word - Divide into 2 teams.  One person on team is guesser. The rest of the team is lined up and can only say one word per person going down the line to try and get the guesser to get the word.  For example if the answer was "barter." First person would say "trade", 2nd person "goods"  3rd person "for" 4th person "other" 5th person "goods."  They would keep going until the person got it.  This really forces them to work together - it's another FAVORITE!

5.  Hot Seat - One person sit with their back to the board (a word/concept is written on the board).  They call on people to give clues to help them guess what is behind them.  Sometimes I limit them to only 3 words to really make them think. Another variation would be to have the class use dry erase boards to draw or write only 3 words so EVERYONE is engaged then the guesser has to pick 3 boards to flip over as "clues"  I love, Love, LOVE playing this one!

6.  Group Charades - divide into groups of 3-5. One person from group is facing out and the word/concept is behind them, the other players in the group are ACTING like in charades what it could be.  This works great for social studies content.  I also sometimes ask someone or myself narrate a little to help them out since it can get tricky.

7. Back Art/Spelling - have the class pair up, they have to draw or write on their partners back to get them to guess the concept or word.  So tricky! I like having them confer saying I drew this....and then telling what they are thinking and how it relates.  This could also be a like a pictionary game is doing it on another's back is too difficult.

8.  Guess Who - notecards are taped to their back and students have to go around and ask clues (not just guesses!) to find out what they are.  This one involves the whole class in on the action.

9. Grudgeball - visit the link to learn more.  Basically answering questions to knock out other teams - we do a version and shoot a paper ball in the trash can but we do it to earn "Xs" I didn't like the knocking the other teams out - just didn't feel nice and we play where each team has to reach so many Xs to complete the game and if your team finishes they get assigned to another team to help.  This version does away with the cutthroat competition that my 4th graders don't need!

10.   Snowball - write questions on sheets or half sheets of paper - then crumple up and toss in.  Students grab a sheet answer and throw it back in.  They could write a follow up question or just grab another question to answer.


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