Habitat Collaboration

Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of collaborating with my 3rd grade and kindergarten bilingual classes on a great science research project. It just so happened the while 3rd grade was learning about ecosystems and food chains, kindergarten was also learning about animals. During an afternoon discussion with one of my amazing kindergarten teachers, she brought up the idea of having kindergarten engage in authentic research as opposed to the traditional full class research project that they usually completed.

 I knew from working with our 3rd grade bilingual classes on a regular basis, that they truly understood research and how to complete a research project at a high level of excellence. Our 3rd graders went through the entire research process beginning with coming up with good research questions and ending with presenting their projects to their peers and even creating an MLA formatted bibliography. These kids were so excited about their projects. I sat in class while they worked on giving feedback to each other. These 3rd graders knew how to give meaningful, specific feedback in a way that is helpful and not hurtful. They ended up with presentations that were truly excellent.

 Thus began a great collaboration experience. The 3rd graders started learning about their habitat and specifically about endangered animals within that habitat. They were then paired up with a kindergarten friend who chose one of the endangered animals to learn more about. The 3rd graders came up with the research questions to help guide the kindergarten students and then assisted them with finding the information online and in books. What they ended up with was an awesome google slides presentation created by the 3rd grader and a book created by the kindergarten student with assistance from the 3rd grader about the endangered animal. We scheduled time in the library for our students to present side-by-side. Administration, parents and other teachers and students were all invited. The outcome was amazing!

If you would like to see some of the presentations, go to this site: 

http://mrsgoregrade3.weebly.com/my-students.html

The presentations are embedded on their science page of their blog.  

Fifth Grade Book Trailers

As our fifth graders finished up their unit on Theme, I challenged them to create a trailer for a book that they had read that represented the theme of the book.  We talked about how music and transitions and design all contributed to the overall effect of the trailer.  Here are some of the great products that our students came up with

An Ethic of Excellence

At the beginning of this school year, a co-worker mentioned this book to me and suggested that I order it for the professional library at my school.  It took me a while to actually pick it up but I am so glad that I did.  Ron Berger definitely has a lot to say about educational reform and what true learning should look like.  The basic idea steams from the need for a culture change, a paradigm shift in our schools and in our classrooms.  Learning has become so prescribed and tailored to standardized tests that students are missing out on the experience of true learning and a culture that holds all students to high standards that transcend curriculum and traditional strategies.  

Berger teaches in a small public school in rural Massachusetts.  The culture of the school is one of excellence.  This excellence is seen in every part of the school day.  Students are taught to go through multiple drafts of work, give meaningful feedback and receive feedback from others.  All students create portfolios that are presented to a panel at the end of every school year.  The work included in the portfolio is evidence of true work that matters to the students and the schools.  Content is delivered through thematic units that include all core subjects and revolve around real world problems and activities.  

This has to be my favorite quote from the book: 

Imagine...Wouldn't that be amazing! 

Here is a link to the introduction on the book for you check out!

February Library Newsletter

TCEA 2016 - My Take-Aways

Perhaps my favorite part of TCEA was the privilege to represent my district and the library program by sharing all of the great MakerSpace collaboration that we have done in the library this year.

December Library Happenings!

I'm a little late in posting but we had a blast in the library in December.  We had our annual Winter Wonderland week complete with all types of great activities.  Here's a highlight of my two FAVORITE activities from the week.

How to Catch Santa 

If you did not discover this book during the Christmas Holidays this year, then you are truly missing out on some great fun!!  From the same author as How to Babysit and Grandpa and How to Babysit a Grandma, this book gives you a hilarious Holiday How-To.  After we read the book, we talked about procedural text and how it is organized step by step.  The students then created their own guide telling how they would catch Santa. 

Flying Elves 

Can you create an elf that will fly when attached to a balloon?  What do you need to take into account so that your elf is aerodynamic?  How do you account for friction?  Does weight make a difference?  These are all questions that our students had to think about while creating their flying elves.   They had minimal supplies and 8 minutes to create an original elf and name it.  Here are a few of our creations.  

Next, cam the fun.  We had a track set up across the library that was made from string.  We used a straw attached to a balloon so that the straw would travel down the track.  The elf was taped to the top of the balloon before we began.  As we allowed air to release from the balloon, the elf was thrust forward across the library.  Students timed each elf as it traveled.  

  

Rudolph's Nose Went Out!!

During December, our students worked on a very important challenge in the library.  We read Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but then we learned that his nose had went out!!

We had kindergarten, first and second grade classes that participated in the challenge.  They were given a paper circuit with a break in the path of the circuit.  They had to find the right materials to complete the circuit and make Rudolph's nose light up.  

They had a great time trying different things and finally fixing Rudolph's nose.  There were lots of great connections made.  

  

Ninja Story Time with a Snowball Fight (of course)!

When I discovered that December 5th was National Ninja Day, I knew immediately that we MUST celebrate this day of awesomeness in the Joy James library. So, we set up our Ninja celebration for Friday, December 4th.

We started out with the EPIC story of Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas by Rubin Pingk.  The kids loved the story of the little ninja boy who wanted to chase Santa away.  He felt that Santa was ruining his fun.  None of his ninja friends wanted to have a snowball fight because they wanted to stay on Santa's nice list.  Little did he know, Santa loves a good snowball fight as well.  

Once we finished the book we talked about what an epic snowball fight would consist of and how we would protect ourselves with a fort if we were involved in such a snowball fight.  The students were then given the challenge of creating a fort from boxes to protect their teacher from a snowball that would be launched by students from another class.   They loved working together to decide how to protect their teacher.

Students were then given a large ace bandage (with elastic) and a few plush snowballs.  They had to problem solve to decide how to launch the snowball into the fort.  Many of them made a connection to the game of Angry Birds.  We practiced using vocabulary words like pull, push, force, heavy, light, motion and energy.  

Needless to say, the kids and teachers had a blast.  I think that Ninja Day was one of our favorites!