Interactive Art Journals Colonial Unit (Part 1)

Tomorrow, the primary students that I work with will continue with our Common Core reading interactive art journals.  The focus will be on examining text illustrations as well as reviewing main idea (Common Core Standards RI.2 and RI.7).  We completed the hands-on main idea lessons before students were introduced to authentic text.  

Each student has an interactive art journal.  We will walk through the process of discussing which illustrations were used to support the text as well as how certain illustrations help a reader understand what they are reading (Common Core Standard RI.7).  I always have my Common Core aligned rubrics handy to evaluate student progress.  Click the link if you would like to access them.  Click Here

This is raw flax.  I watched this flax get wound into thread on an actual historical loom.  All I can say is amazing!  I will show the students my pictures during the lesson.

This loom was used to weave some of the dyed flax.  After completing our interactive art journal lesson, we will spend a few minutes carding and spinning cotton into thread.  We will use our hand looms and my over-sized bamboo knitting needles to weave and stitch the thread.

More pics soon!

For copies of the Mayflower Compact and passenger list as classroom props Click Here

Preparing for Our Pilgrim and Colonial Life Unit

This is going to be a fun unit!  There are a zillion things going on at the same time, but I have to admit that we are having so much fun.  For the past two weeks, my third and fourth graders have been reading about the Pilgrims and early Colonies.  If the timing is correct, we will be finished just before Thanksgiving.  The students are developing their own interactive art journals to accompany the unit and their journals are soooo cute that I will be definitely sharing pics.  In the next few days, we will experience what life was like in the past.  One of the things that we will do is make our own textiles!

Students will card the wool that is shown above and will then wind it into thread.  I have been making popsicle stick weaving looms over the past few days as one of the small group activities.  More pics will be posted soon.

Use wood glue to attach the sticks

Common Core Reading Interactive Art Journals

For the past two years, I have been using interactive art journals with students and they absolutely love them!  I really love them too. I call them interactive art journals because they integrate reading and art into instruction.  This technique is great for different student learning styles.

My middle school students are about to begin a new unit on character analysis and plot RL.6.3., RL.7.3, and RL.8.3.  This is a sneak peak of what we are doing this week.

  

We are learning the difference between static and dynamic characters first.  

Students will be handed short excerpts of passages.  They will be asked to identify specific details that assist them in determining a character's dominant character trait.  As we continue to read more novels and short stories, excerpts will be added to the same card when we find characters from other stories that have the same traits.  This will assist them in making generalizations about specific details to key in on when determining what a character is like.

This pocket will contain graphic organizers that cover the same standard.  As students read different stories, their notes will be handy for making generalizations across texts and themes.

Before the school year began, I developed Common Core graphic organizers for each grade level.  These will also be attached to their journals.  The wording for each Common Core Standard is different for each middle school grade level. To make sure that they are covering the complete standard at their grade level, a graphic organizer was designed for each grade as well as a question answering frame.  For students that do not know how to answer a Common Core aligned question, the question answering frame is a huge help!  It contains many of the key words from each standard and helps the students know how to respond to each one too.  I will share more Common Core interactive journal pics soon.

Click Here For Common Core Aligned Graphic Organizers

Click Here For Common Core Aligned Rubrics

Organizing for the Common Core Standards Third Grade

The Common Core Standards can feel overwhelming at times.  A few simple organizational tricks can really make it so much easier. Above is an organizational list of all of my Common Core informational text centers for grade 3.  Each center is aligned to each specific grade 3 Common Core standard.  By keeping a checklist, it is easier to make sure that each student is working on the literacy center that best fits their needs during center time.

Prepare labels and charts for small groups ahead of time.  Phonics, comprehension, and fluency are already categorized on these charts to make life sooo much easier.  I can easily determine which students need more time with the Common Core Foundational Skills or learning standards.  After I fill out a page, I cut them, attach them onto index cards, and place them in a mini index card box organized with each student's name.

Use Common Core aligned checklists and rubrics.  They are fantastic for specific communication with parents and for ensuring that students respond to each entire standard.

Click Here For Common Core Aligned Literacy Centers

Click Here For Common Core Graphic Organizers

Click Here For Common Core Aligned Rubrics

Interactive Art Journals (Literary Devices)

Have you ever used interactive art journals with your students?  If you have, you can truly relate to the great resource it can be for students.  Students are able to track their thinking processes over time and have an organized method of storing their notes and thinking processes.  Each day, my students record their thinking and notes in their journals.

This journal entry lists different similes that can be included in future writing.  

Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking is integrated into the lessons. Stage one includes students knowing figurative language.  This page illustrates different idioms.  Stage two moves on to students using their collection of figurative language in their writing.  Stage three of the instruction process includes students analyzing the effect of figurative language in the writing of others.  This last stage relates to Common Core Standard RL.4.

Onomatopoeia

Hungry Dino Math!

We have so much catching up to do since the last post about classroom goodies that can be made from Dollar Store finds.  And yes, these dinosaur grabbers were actually purchased from Dollar Tree for ONE DOLLAR!!!!  Try to find them in the kids section as quickly as you can.  These grabbers can also be found in toy stores for five dollars or less too.

Hungry Dino Greater Than and Less Than Game

This game is for two players.  Each student gets a grabber (or substitute with plastic spoons).  Place blocks inside of a plastic container.  Both students get 20 seconds to place as many blocks as possible into their own plastic containers (sanitized Wendy's baked potato containers were used here).  They play at the same time using a timer.

After the twenty seconds, the students determine who has greater or less than and write it onto a recording sheet using the proper symbols.

Common Core Standards Task Cards for Each Grade Level!

Common Core Task Cards for each grade level!  These are great to use in learning centers, for guided reading, and book discussions.  Each grade level covers ALL of the major categories in the Common Core Standards for both the literature (fiction) and informational (nonfiction) sections.  Use them with any book or magazine.  These are great resources for the Common Core Standards.

Click on the link below.
Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6

  

  

primary 1, year 1, primary 2, year 2, primary 3, year 3, primary 4, year 4, primary 5, year 5

Organizing for Interactive Reading Journals

Interactive journals are so much fun.  My experience has been that students across the grade levels really enjoy creating them.  This post is devoted to providing tips for organizing for interactive reading journals.  This is part one of two parts.  

Materials:
You will need a blank journal, notebook paper, notebook, or blank book.  I usually prepare the night or week before by writing my lessons in the journal. 

I keep a journal as an example for my students.  When I work with them in small groups, it is convenient for me to hold up my journal as a model.  The students then copy my notes or write their own from the reading lesson that is read or spoken aloud.

I usually begin with a blank template.  The illustrations have been drawn.  I will write my text in each empty rectangle.  The students usually ask me if they can copy my illustrations, if time permits, I allow them to.

Using colored pencils or crayons, students begin a lesson by shading the background of their pages.  It is not necessary but having notes of different colors does make finding information so much easier (and more interesting!)

On this page I cut one page at a diagonal. The edges were glued on three sides.  One side was left open for notes.  This makes a great pocket within the journal for storing flashcards and paper handouts.

Both journal entries are for a unit on Colonial America.  These are my notes and illustrations.  Students summarize what I say and record them in their own journals.  I have found that students cherish the information that they create way more than any guided reading book that I provide.

Allow students to create a border or illustration on most days of journaling.  Students will really enjoy this.  This really helps them to connect to what they write.

Grade 5 Common Core Assessments

Are you looking for quick and handy grade 5 Common Core resources?  Below are links to materials that will make the Common Core even easier!  Each document includes an assessment passage plus assessments in two formats. Choose from the written response or multiple choice format in each document. Or, use both!  The written response rubric included in each document is aligned to each specific standard that is being assessed.  An answer key for the multiple choice assessment is also included.

Click Here for Inferences Standard RI.5.1 Assessments

Click Here for Determine Two or More Main Ideas RI.5.2 Assessments

Click Here for Cause & Effect RI.5.3 Assessment

Click Here for Compare Text Structure RI.5.5 Assessment

Click Here for Point of View RI.5.6 Assessment

Hands-On Main Idea: Comprehension Manipulatives

Have you ever wished that there were manipulatives to teach reading?  There are so many math manipulatives out there to make math concepts so much easier to grasp.  I wished so badly there were manipulatives to teach reading concepts, so I developed my own.  The concept of using manipulatives to teach comprehension is huge. It supports brain research about incorporating multiple senses while learning.  I have always wondered why something as abstract as comprehension had not been made concrete in some way.  This is often what is needed for struggling readers or students that have additional reading concerns.

These ideas have worked so well with my students over the years.   They have been used with high-achieving, below grade level, and autistic students in my classroom. With this method, students are able to use manipulatives which helps them see main idea and feel what main idea means.  

 The entire document includes lesson plans, games, and more.Click Here

Step one in teaching main idea in a hands-on way is to make sure that students know what main idea means.  This can be done using bean bags, blocks, or printable manipulatives.

The big idea with understanding what main idea means is to understand the concept that it tells what most of the text is about.  While holding mostly objects of the same color, ask students to tell which color they see the "most" in front of them.  Explain that this is similar to main idea.  Main idea means to tell what "most" of the sentences are about.  By actually holding the bean bags (or other objects), seeing them, and hearing the meaning, the information is stored in many sections of the brain.  I have used this technique with high achieving, below grade level, and autistic students.  It works like a charm.  

This is just one step in using main idea manipulatives.  The complete set of lesson plans and printable manipulatives teach students the meaning of main idea, how to identify it in a text, and how to state it.  After teaching students using these manipulatives, I scaffold instruction by having students practice main idea with authentic text and other traditional methods.  Not only are there lesson plans, the activities provided in the document can be used as a differentiated main idea center.  To access the entire document, lesson plans, and additional activities, click this link Click Here

More researched-based comprehension manipulatives and teaching tips will be featured soon so stop back by!