2nd Grade Lesson Plans - Week of April 11th

When I was teaching in a multiage classroom overseas in Morocco, I often posted my lesson plans here on my blog. Now that I am back in the classroom, I have had some requests from readers for the sneak peek into my classroom that sharing my lesson plans allowed others. So here is what my class is up to this week:

In the morning, we start out with Phonics/Writing Centers. This week we are focusing on the Long E spelling patterns. My students work independently on their Long E Spelling and Vocabulary Packet. 
Also during our morning block we work on writing. One of the great weaknesses for my class as a whole is writing conventions (capitals, punctuation and application of the spelling patterns we have learned), so every week we work on writing to a writing prompt. This week, my students will work on my Freddy Fish Writing Prompt (which you can download for free from my old blog post - 10 Free Writing Prompts). This writing prompt is graded strictly on conventions and gives me a great piece to conference with each child on using good conventions in their writing. 
After I have conferenced with each child on the conventions from last week's writing prompt, I will pull small groups and we will work on our persuasive writing. Right now we are working on the first prompt from my Opinion Writing Journal, which asks the students to write about the best book they have ever read. Most of my groups have finished brainstorming and are well into drafting. This week we will finish drafting and begin the process of editing and revising.

Our second block of the day is reading. We start out the reading section working on reading fluency. First we review our weekly nursery rhyme. The students are working on their Nursery Rhyme Response Sheets for homework, but we review the rhyme each day in class to help build fluency. Students also do one minute partner fluency checks using their weekly passages, which I have pulled from Read Works. (You can find the link for Read Works and other places to pull reading passages at this old blog post: Preparing for Reading Comprehension Standardized Tests.) 
Once we have finished our fluency checks, we will work on building a chart with the characteristics of different types of poetry. We have already read quite a few Shel Silverstein poems and classic nursery rhymes, but this week we will read a bunch of traditional rhyming poems and them to our chart.
Finally, we will move into guided reading. While I pull guided reading groups, my students work on a variety of reading comprehension activities using their weekly passage. After they have finished that day's comprehension activity, they have time to read independently. 
This class has many new readers who have never built up the stamina for silent reading. So I am promoting reading books from cover to cover by tracking the number of on level books each student reads. My students are also completing Book Review Bookmarks on some of the books they read, which we are displaying in our class library in order to encourage other students to read books their classmates have enjoyed.

After lunch, we move into Math. First we start with our daily routine of Calendar Books and Fast Facts Quizzes, which my kiddos call number sprints. The Calendar Books allow us to review multiple number concepts every day, including adding and subtraction 1, 5 and 10 and creating a number using base ten blocks and coins. The Fast Fact Quizzes help us to build number fluency. We are currently working on Subtraction Fast Facts, but by the end of the week I am sure that at least a few of my students will move onto the Addition/Subtraction Mixed Facts.
During these last six weeks of the school year, we are reviewing key concepts that students are still struggling with. Before Spring Break, the students took an assessment covering all of the standards covered this year. Last week we worked on skip counting with my Tiered Skip Counting Math Activity. This week we are working on number lines using my Tiered Number Lines Math Activity. 
I have split my students into three groups, using their data from this end of the year assessment. The prove it group will work with me to prove that the answers of three comparing numbers problems are correct by labeling and using number lines. The solve it grup will answer three comparing numbers problems, using number lines. The fix it group will "fix" number lines that have been mislabeled by common student mistakes. 
Once students finish their tiered activity, we move into math centers. Most of the students will be working on Moby Max and finishing up the creation of their fraction books. But my "fix it group" from last week's skip counting tiered activity will also spend time finishing the videos that they planned last week using my Video Planning Sheets. Their videos will teach others about skip counting and I am very impressed a their ideas. One group is trying to replicate an Odd Squad type of episode. Another group is teaching skip counting by subtracting life points when playing Yu-Gi-Oh. All of the groups are definitely extending their understanding by creating these videos.

So that's what my class is doing this week. What's your class doing?

Students Need to Work on the Writing Process Every Day

While some students are born communicators, few are born writers. Writing is an essential skill to be a successful student and to be a successful adult. Learning to write takes time, so we need to give students the opportunity to practice all steps of the writing process multiple times over the course of the school year. In fact, the Institute of Education Sciences advises that students should work on writing for at least an hour each and every day starting in First Grade. This time does not all have to be dedicated to writing for writing sake, it can be included in your content areas or be a response to a book you read. However, the Institute of Education Sciences also says that students need regular practice in the writing process. Students need to take their writing through all of the steps so that they can internalize the process. Students who have internalized the process will be more successful when it comes time to write college essays and professional papers.

 

 

In my classroom, the students work through all of these steps within any two week period. It is important that they work through all of these steps: 

Brainstorming – Students need time to think out their ideas before they begin to write. For young students this starts out as simply as a bubble map or a list of ideas. Older students can take it to the next step by adding an additional layer of detail bubbles, or by creating an outline.

 Drafting – Writing, sitting and getting the ideas in order is hard. This step takes a lot of time and energy for children. Putting it all down on paper is often the hardest part. Additionally students often think that once they are done writing, they are done and should not have to work on their story anymore. In reality we know that the drafting stage will often be revisited after revising. Realistically,drafting and revising is very circular. It is important to teach students about this circular process before they begin writing. Give them a heads up that they are not done just because they write “The end.”

 Revising – Both revising and editing happen after drafting, but it is important that students know the difference between revising and editing. Revising is the restructuring of wording and ideas, not the spelling and grammar. Revising works on story flow, sequencing, word choice and focus. When students have finished revising, they will probably need to go back to drafting. It can be a very circular process, but the ideas and words should be done to satisfaction before students begin editing.

 

 Editing – Editing is the process of fixing spelling and grammatical errors. This is the time to fix sentence structure, capitalization errors, punctuation errors, and spelling mistakes. Editing really should not happen until the revision/drafting cycle is complete. The only exception is in cases where the grammatical errors cause students to be unable to read their own work and are therefore unable to revise their work.

Conferencing – Before students publish any piece of writing, they should conference with peers and/or a teacher. This is a chance for students to get feedback about their work. Students should have already fixed the majority of their errors, but this is a time to help them continue to revise and edit. No matter who students are conferencing with, remarks should be made about both positives and negatives. I usually use the “Two glows and a grow” idea where so that students aren’t overwhelmed with a list of things they need to fix. After conferencing, students should go back to the revising and editing process. In some cases, they may also have to go back to drafting. This is still a working piece and they may conference on it multiple times.

 Publishing – I do not believe in having students publish every piece they write. Not everything that we write needs to be put on a blog or typed and hung in the hallway. Sometimes what we write is simply a way to practice skills or to help us remember something we learned. Instead of publishing each piece, I encourage students to learn from the mistakes they make in one piece when they write the next. Then, at the end of each genre of writing, they choose their “Prize Piece” and we do second round of revising and editing on this piece. We talk about the perfecting of the piece, and then they publish.

 

When teaching the writing process, it is important to teach students that the writing process is not linear, but circular. Some steps will get used multiple times for a single piece of writing. Building this process into our students helps encourage them to do their own revising, their own editing and their own “perfecting”. These skills are important, especially to students who will go on to write papers in high school and college, let alone at a professional level.

 

 

The Institute of Education Sciences also recommends that students write for a “variety of reasons”. Students need to know how to write in many different ways. This is why I teach students different genres. Writing a friendly letter is very different than writing an informational report which is very different from writing a poem. Students need to learn the techniques that are important in each specific genre. Just like students need to repeat the writing process multiple times, they also need to write multiple pieces in each genre. It is important for students to be able to take what they learned from writing one piece and use it to improve the next piece that they write in that genre. This is why I developed my genre based writing journals.

Each of my journals has nine possible writing prompts dedicated to one genre. Each prompt walks students through the entire writing process, including some form of reflection for conferencing. For primary students, that is a checklist form of rubric. For intermediate students, that is a category form of rubric. When I use these prompts with my students, not every student works on the same prompt at the same time. Instead, I let students choose the prompts that interest them and work at their own pace. Because each students’ drafting/revising circle may not end at the same time, this is a huge benefit to the children who need more time and the children who finish quickly. If a student completes their work work with quality work, they can move on to the next prompt without waiting around for their classmates. If a student needs more time, they can continue to work at their own pace. Some students will complete all nine prompts, but I always make it clear that you are not expected to. Instead I expect them to complete three to six quality writing pieces per genre. This gives students a good balance of structure and freedom.

 If you are interested in using my writing journals in your classroom, you can find both of these year long packets at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Each journal is also sold separately if you need just one genre:

I’d love to hear about how you practice the writing process in your classroom. Feel free to leave me a comment! Happy Teaching!

Student Created Comic Books

For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I use with my students. You can download my E-Book of Websites for the Elementary Classroom for free from Teachers Pay Teachers or Smashwords, or, you can check back here each week for the website suggestion.

I love finding new, interesting ways for students to write – and publish writing – on the internet.  I wrote about 10 of my favorite websites for this in my Top 10 Writing Websites blog post awhile back, but I am always finding new options.  This month, I found one one that would definitely be worthy of a place on a top 10 list: Pixton Comic Strip Maker.  If you’re familiar with Storybird, Pixton is a very similar concept, except that instead of making online storybooks, students create online comic books.  However, like Storybird, students can publish their work and leave each other comments.

If you register for a “Pixton for Fun” account, you can make and share as many comic books as you would like, but you can’t print them or have access to their community.  For those options – and a few others - you need a Pixton+ account, a Pixton for Business account or a Pixton for Educators account (which is about $8.99 a month, depending on the size of your class).  I’m a cheapskate and have signed my kids up for fun accounts, but the Educator version has some cool features and if I had the money available, it would definitely be up there on my list of wanted technology tools.

Within Pixton, you can create and save your own characters and backgrounds.  These characters and backgrounds can then be added into any variety of comic books.

 

My second grader recently finished his novel study of Mister and Me.  Before he took his test, I had him complete an Online Book Report, which didn’t have Pixton listed as an option.  However, he had seen me playing around with it recently and asked if he could do a summary using Pixton.  Here is what he came up with:

 

 

The results were so cool, that I have added Pixton as a permanent option on my Online Book Report.  However, book summaries are far from the only way to use Pixton.  Here are a few ideas that I thought of while I was exploring the site:

- Have students create a summary of important historical events – battles of the civil war, the discovery of the Americas, the writing of the Declaration of Independence, etc.

- Have students create a comic book explaining a scientific process like photosynthesis or meiosis.

- Have students create a comic book explaining the class rules at the beginning of the year.

- Have students create a comic book with a Good Character Super Hero showcasing a good character trait.

- Have students use a comic book to present a step by step or how to process writing.

How could you use Pixton in your classroom?

Give Kids Some Control Over their Writing

We’re always told that kids write the best if they write what they know, but then we’re also told that they need to write to answer this prompt.  So, how do we give kids a chance to have some control of their writing topics, and also prepare them to write for the prompts that show up on standardized tests all the way up to the college level?

The first step is to give them some sense of control in each and every writing task.  Emphasize for them where their choice lies, so that they can look at the various ways to answer a question, providing their own voice along the way.  If you need them to practice writing a summary, let them choose the passage.  If you need them to practice information writing, let them pick a topic they know a lot about.  If you need them to practice fiction writing, let them include characters or settings that are familiar to their life or books or movies that they enjoy.  When we grade writing prompts, we are always looking for “voice”, so we have to teach kids what their options are within the confines of the writing prompt, giving them the place to put their own voice. 

Use a writing journal – like my Narrative Writing Journal – that gives students 9 weekly prompts, but let them choose the prompts they want to work on.  Let them identify the prompts that make a connection for them and help them find their voice within each prompt.

Next, focus on organization.  Model organization for students in whole group setting, and have students use an organizer, like an organized bubble map or an outline each time they write, so that they get the feeling for grouping their ideas together.  Once students have a sense of organization, they are ready to break “out of the box” and add in the extra dialogue and examples that create voice.  However, if we develop voice without organization, we get funny writing pieces that go nowhere and say nothing, which is not helpful to our students or their grade on those writing prompts.

Improve revision and editing skills with the use of a specific checklist.  Let kids peer – edit.  Kids often find mistakes in their friends work, that they won’t find in their own.  After kids peer-edit, conference with each pair to help students provide constructive criticism without hurting feelings.  This may also be a good time to point out where one student is strong and may be of help to other students.

Finally, let kids choose what pieces they want to publish.  Not every piece we write needs to be published, and students should start evaluating their own writing to choose which ones are their very best.  Once they have picked their best work, they can “polish it to a spit shine” with extra revising and editing, as well as a fun way to publish – like typing it into a blog post or creating an online storybook at www.storybird.com.

Here are a few writing pieces my kids have come out with recently, both done with only some very general parameters given and a good focus on structure and revising and editing:

 

 

Get in Touch with History by Walking Around It

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

Historical Sites: Battlefields, lighthouses, colonial homes, ancient ruins, anything of historical importance can be of great insight to students.  Seeing how things once were helps them to better understand how things once were.  My best historical site field trip had to be the Ancient Roman Ruins at Chellah, which you can read about this old blog post.

Reading: Historical fiction stories come to life when you are able to visit the places where these stories take place.  Newspaper articles – new and old – make for great reading in connection to historical sites, as do “first person accounts” of what went on in these places.  This is a great time to talk about the difference between primary and secondary sources, as well as in comparison with historical fiction based off of these events.

Writing:  Once students have experienced the historical site, they can have a chance to write from the point of view of a person who lived or worked at this site.  Students may also write informational – newspaper articles – about the current site, OR about the site as it existed during it’s most important time period.  Taking time to write a descriptive essay that makes someone else feel as if they experienced the same field trip is also a great writing activity for historical field trips.

Math:  Using timelines is a great way to teach elapsed time.  Create a timeline of important events that happened at this location.  Have students create their own word problems based off of this timeline.  For example:  How long was it from when the castle was built until when King X moved in?

Science:  Students can explore the questions:  What materials were used to build this site?  How have they lasted as long as they have?  What types of preservation has been done? Were any archeological techniques used?

Social Studies:  Exploring the history of the area is huge, but students could also explore the time periods when this building was in its peak, the geographical and political elements that led to its creation, the elements that led to the downfall or closing of the site.  Creating a map or timeline of the site could also be beneficial.

To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.

What is your best field trip idea?

The Lawmakers Are In – Time for a Field Trip!

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

 

Government Buildings  Seeing how government works first hand can be extremely powerful and enlightening for children.  Most city halls and court houses will allow tours, and some might even arrange for children to speak with lawmakers.  Providing students with access to how and where laws are made gives them a sense of empowerment and may be the building of future political leaders.

Reading:  Dr. Seuss has a collection of stories that talk about government – without talking about government: Yertle the Turtle and If I Ran the Zoo are both great for beginning the discussion about government.  Most states these days of their own websites; let students explore the websites, reading for information about what goes on

Writing:  Create a list of questions you would ask if you were going to interview a lawmaker – if you get a chance to speak with one, be sure to ask some of the questions!  If you don’t get a chance to speak with one, do internet research to see if you can come up with the answers and create a “mock interview” with the information you find.  Write an informational essay about the history of the building you go to.  Make a list of information you would like to see added to the government building’s website.

Math:  Look for 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes in the architecture of the building: arcs are semi-circles, domes are half a sphere, columns are tall cylinders.  How long has this building been around?  Create a timeline to explore the elapsed time history of the building.

Science:  While walking around the building, think about these questions:  What type of architecture or engineering went into the design of the building?  What materials were used?  Where did the materials come from?  What repairs need to be done, now or in the future?

Social Studies:  What type of government work goes on in the building?  Explore the connection between this government building, and other government buildings at different levels (ie. the county courthouse vs. the Supreme Courthouse).  If the chance is given, talk to a lawmaker about their job and the laws they have worked with.  Find out where the money comes from to fund this building and the people who work inside it.  Discover the history behind the building.

To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.

What is your best field trip idea?

Beaches and Mountains – What Landforms Do You Live Near?

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.
 
Natural Landforms: beaches, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc.  Natural formations of the earth give us so much to talk about.  Being there and experiencing these places provides students with more than just a photo opportunity.  Landforms may differ depending on your location.  I have done beach field trips, mountain field trips and desert field trips – all helped my students expand their knowledge base and make curriculum connections like these.
Reading:  Non fiction reading about the creation, use or history of landforms in your area.  Fiction stories about a trip to the beach or climbing a mountain.  Read newspaper articles that talk about current events involving the landform – beach cleanups or wildlife protection acts.
Writing:  Write the creation story of a landform, from the point of view of a rock sitting near by.  Create a pamphlet convincing people to come and visit this landform.  Write a descriptive essay that would make someone feel as though they were sitting right on or near this landform – be sure to take notes while you are there to help you remember how you felt.
Math:  Count, or estimate:  How many steps to the top of the mountain?  How many tide pools on the beach?  How many fish in the river? How many grains of sand in a bucket?
Science:  Science connections may vary depending on the type of landform, but for all different landforms, you can learn about how it was created, what animals or plants have adapted to live there, how the weather, or other natural forces like tides, affects the landform etc.
Social Studies:  Landforms tend to be a big part of local history.  Was this landform a help or a hindrance to historical populations?  Are there any historical events which happened here?  Are there any laws protecting this landform?  Does this landform attract tourist revenue?
To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.
What is your best field trip idea?

Stop and Look at the Flowers – Oh and Learn Along the Way

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

Botanical Gardens:  Plants from all different habitats available in one place.  A chance to look at many parts of the life cycles.  Botanical Gardens provide so many different learning possibilities.

Reading:  There are great books out there about plants, including Diary of a Sunflower, the Great Kapok Tree and From Seed to Plant.  Reading the signs and placards at the botanical gardens is a highly overlooked skill – many kids walk right by without gaining that bit of extra information that they can get by looking at the posted signs.

Writing:  Write the life story of one of the plants – from the point of view of the plant.  Look at the scientific names for the plants – see what root words you can find in these names.  Write a letter to the editor about why we should (or shouldn’t) give more money to the Botanical Gardens.

Math:  Create a tally chart to track which types of plants you see – trees, flowers, shrubs, cactus etc.  Measure the height of different plants. 

Science:  Explore the life cycle of a plant.  Note down ways plants are specially adapted to their natural habitat.  Keep track of which plants flower and which plants don’t.  Learn about how plants help out humans.  Choose one plant you see and research further information about it.  Group related plants together and explain how they are similar and how they are different.

Social Studies:  Explore how people have used plants for their benefit – for food, for medicine, for decoration etc.  Explore laws protecting certain types of plants.  Bring world maps and have students label where each type of plant comes from.

To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.

What is your best field trip idea?

Exploring Nature Field Trip

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

 Nature Preserve:  Seeing natural animals in their natural habitat – outside of cages – can be highly beneficial for students.  Knowing how animals are helped to stay in their natural habitat can also be completely beneficial.  Plus, there are so many benefits from simple nature hikes.  Find a blog post I wrote about nature hikes here.    

Reading:  Any number of books about animals can be read before and after going to a nature preserve.  Non fiction books about the types of animals you will see.  Fiction stories about animals, like Winnie the Pooh, the Berenstain Bears or Make Way for Ducklings – Talk about the difference between fictional animals and real animals. Read news articles and opinion pieces about nature preserves vs. zoos.

Writing:  Write informational essays about the natural habitat of one of the plants or animals that can be found in the nature preserve.  Persuasive writing – which is better nature preserves or zoos?  Write a fiction story from the point of view of one of the animals.

Math:  Measure how wide the trees are; learn about tree rings and calculate the age of a tree stump.  Create a graph of the animals living at the preserve, or of a statistic (like survival rate or release rate).

Science:   Learn about animal habitats, animal life cycles and animal adaptations.  Learn about plant habitats, plant life cycles and plant adaptations.  Discover how to protect the earth.  Explore the interconnectivity of plants, animals and humans.  Look at leaves and try to identify the different types of trees.  Look for “proof” of animal activity – footprints, feathers, droppings.

Social Studies:  Learn about how native people used nature to live.  Research people like Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, who worked to set aside national parks to preserve nature, and complete a biography projects with the information.  Explore the laws and current trends that affect ecology.  Discuss what happens when gold or oil is found in a place that is protected by law.

 

To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.

What is your best field trip idea?

Behind the Scenes Factory Tours Have Learning Benefits for Kids

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

Factories:  Behind the scenes tours of any sort of factory can be extremely educational and can give students a chance to see a world they had no idea existed.  Need help getting into a factory?  Ask around, the families of your students often include someone who works in a factory of some sort, in some capacity, and can put you in contact with the right people.  I have personally done behind the scenes tours of furniture factories, baked goods factories, candy factories and power plants.
Reading:  Read a how-to manual or recipe to create a good similar to those who are created in the factory.  Read advertisements from the factory and determine the persuasive techniques used. 
Writing:  Write an essay from the point of view of one of the natural resources that comes into the factory, how it is then changed into a processed good.  Create an advertisement campaign for the factory.  Write an informational essay about how safety procedures are applied in the factory.
Math:  Keep track of the temperatures used in various departments and use that information to create a graph.  Look at the resources that come in to the factory.  How many items are in a package?  How many packages are there?  How many items altogether?
Science:  Search for machines – simple or complex, using my Factory Field Trip sheet.  Find examples of conductors and insulators or magnets or computerized techniques.  Look for safety methods used by factory workers.
Social Studies:  Choose a “good” and research all of the steps it takes to go from the natural resources to the processed good.  Then try to visit a factory that produces that type of goods.  Compare and contrast how goods are made today with how goods were made 200 years ago.  Map out the trip taken by the natural resources that come into a factory and the processed goods that come out of the factory.
 
To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.
What is your best field trip idea?

Making Museums Magical for Kids

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

Museums:  Science museums, natural history museums, art museums, local history museums etc.  Any museum, no matter how small, can provide a great learning experience for children.  Children’s museums gear their exhibits towards the interests and curriculum of children, and if there’s one in your area, you should definitely look it up.  However, don’t be scared to do regular museums.  I have walked through some of the fanciest art museums with a group of small children.  Set the rules ahead of time, let them know that this is a “look, but don’t touch” museum, and take plenty of time to TALK to the kids about what they are looking at.
Reading:  Any Magic School Bus or Magic Tree House book could possibly lead to great museum connections.  We read Vacation Under a Volcano before going to see the Roman coins and figures museum and Dinosaurs Before Dark before going to the local dinosaur exhibit.  Historical fiction stories also provide great connections.  One of my favorite museum memories is going to a local history museum with students right after completing the book Mister and Me and watching my students get enthralled with studying the old Singer sewing machines that had been a large part of the novel.
Writing:  Who hasn’t seen Night at the Museum?  Have kids write about what would happen if the exhibits came to life.  Create a brochure advertising the wonderful exhibits at the museum, or have students write persuasive letters to find more funding for an exhibit they would like to see added.
Math:  Elapsed time is a great activity to work on in museums, as so many exhibits will be marked with a date of creation.  Can students figure out how old each exhibit is?  Children’s museums often have exhibits with a focus on 3-dimensional shapes or building with odd shaped blocks.
Science:  There are so many science museums out there with exhibits on everything from paleontology to meteorology to various forms of technology.  Even art museums can give you a lot to talk about as you look at different substances used to create art and the engineering that goes into sculptures.  I always include a trip to a museum with old cars or trains in my Machines unit!
Social Studies:  Archeological history, local history, country history, ancient history, there is so much history that can be explored in museums.  Additionally, many museums include ancient coins and materials used in economies or daily living.  When I taught my Africa unit, the kids were thrilled to look at coins from all over Africa at a local museum. 
To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.
What is your best field trip idea?

Educational Benefits of a Trip to the Farm

During the summer, most teachers I know spend at least some time planning for the next school year.  My favorite “planning” to do during the summer is field trip planning, because it means I get to tour cool places I’d like to take my students to – often with my own kids in tow.  Here are some of my favorite field trip locations, that can be found in most every community, as well as a list of content connections you can make for your students.  Often as teachers we only include field trips in our science and social studies, but there are lots of reading, writing and math connections that can be made in these locations as well.  I am going to share one type of field trip a week and ideas for making curriculum connections with each field trip.

 A Trip to the Farm:  Pumpkin patches, apple or berry picking, milking cows, seeing maple trees tapped for syrup, viewing honey bees or just touring a working farm, there are many variations on the the farm field trip, but all are beneficial to students, especially in our current age where many kids have no idea that food comes from anywhere other than the supermarket.

Reading:  Connect to farm stories like Charlotte’s Web, The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash or Maple Syrup Season.  Read informational text about the working of a farm. Completing research about the process of producing the goods produced by the farm.

Writing:  How to writing about the process of producing the goods produced by the farm.  Fiction stories with the farm as the setting.  Chronological narratives of the trip to the farm.

Math:  Bring money and purchase goods from the stand – figuring out the change they would receive ahead of time.  Figure out the elapsed time that occurs from when a baby animal is born to when it starts helping out the farmer (producing milk, eggs, meat etc.)  Create a graph with data collected at the farm, or ask to look at graphs kept by the farmer – how many eggs are collected each day, how much honey is collected each month, how many visitors come each week, etc.

Science:  Look at the life cycles of the plants and animals that live on the farm.  Create a diet chart to compare and contrast what the different animals on the farm eat.  Interview the farmer about how weather patterns affect the farm.  Look at the chemical reactions that happen in producing goods like bread, jelly, cider and cheese.

Social Studies:  Trace the production of a good produced on the farm – from raw materials to sold product.  Look at the laws and policies that affect farmers.  Research trends in farming – organic vs. chemical based; local vs. shipped etc.  Discuss how farming has changed over the past 200 years.  Have students help produce a product – pick berries, milk cows etc. making them a producers rather than a consumer.

 

To make field trips more educational, I often use graphic organizers and other activities to keep my students focused.  Read more about the specifics in this blog post: Field Trips Aren’t Just For Fun.  Be sure to stop by next week for another Field Trip Curriculum Connection.

What is your best field trip idea?

Writing Requirements – Perfect Handwriting or Interesting Details?

Do you ever get sick of kids asking “How long does this have to be?” or parents telling you how great their child’s writing is because they “used such great handwriting”?  Overall as a teacher (and as a person) I look for function over form, and tell my students that while I want them to have significant detail and how long shouldn’t matter.  If they have significant details, they will automatically have good length to their stories. I prefer a story makes sense, has a good details and flow to it, but has spelling or grammar mistakes over a perfectly presented story that tells me nothing or uses the same boring words used over and over.   A few weeks ago, I was talking about this with my friend, Courtney Nassar, about this and she pulled a classic example out of her Year 2 (1st grade) writing pile.  Here it is:

On the left is a story with multiple spelling and handwriting issues.  However, if you read the words, it tells a quality story with action and dialogue.  “Don’t press the blue button.”  “She was in the precipice.”  On the right is a story that has close to perfect spelling and handwriting, but goes no where. 

When talking to the kids, I always tell them that great handwriting, spelling and grammar are the icing on the cake, but that you need the eggs, flour, butter, sugar and baking powder to make an actual cake, and that is where you characters, plot, dialogue, details and suspense come in.  What analogy do you use with kids (or parents) to help them understand the difference between form and function in writing?