Wednesday, May 25, 2016

5th grade STEM Team Challenge

Since it's so close to the end of the year, I thought I would switch up my lesson plan and incorporate some Makerspace/STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) activities. My 5th graders were given a cup challenge in 3 groups. Their team goal was to create the highest cup tower without touching the cups with any part of their body! They had string, tape, scissors, straws, craft sticks, and 60 cups to work with. It was certainly an exercise in teamwork, patience, and creativity. I have never had so many kids peeking in the library to see what we were doing! The winning team had a tower 37.5 inches high but admitted they touched it near the end, so the winners had a 33 inch tower but I rewarded all teams for good teamwork, sportsmanship, and imagination!










Friday, May 20, 2016

Ms. Collins' Class stated their cases to the judges on why they should go to 3rd grade. Check out the video below! Please be respectful of students' privacy by keeping this off social media websites and sharing with immediate family and friends only. Thank you!

Click HERE to see it!


Thursday, May 19, 2016

First Grade Signs of Spring Collages

My first graders are working on seeing the signs of spring. They took photos using the ipads throughout a 6 week period and then I uploaded them to our student shared drive. One class is working on Animoto videos with their book buddies and another made picture collages using Picmonkey. They turned out amazing! Here are a few!




Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Fable Stories in Google Slides

My 3rd grade classes are doing a unit on fables. We have read many, did a socrative survey on the moral/message, and then wrote our own! Today we started typing them in Google slides. I love how many are turning out! They are working on adding photos using the Tools-Research and even a little animation on the photos...

Mason's Fox Story
Kiera's Bird Story (not quite finished)

I have never seen these 3rd graders so focused!






Thursday, May 12, 2016

Characters WANTED!

This week, 5th graders worked on character development through "Wanted" posters.

They could choose a book they had read or a picture book to quickly read and use. Then they had to fill out information about the character, description, and why they were "wanted"! Here are some of them....




Friday, May 6, 2016

Fact and Opinion

2nd grade is working a lot on facts and opinions through literature. Last week, we read I Wanna Iguana to talk about the boy's opinion on getting a pet. (book covers from bn.com)
Then we played Fact & Opinion bingo. This week, we read a book by Mark Teague that focused on one opinion. Then we sorted fact and opinion cards with our tables.






Tuesday, May 3, 2016

It's Big Idea Week!

This week, many grade levels are working on the BIG IDEA of the story. Sometimes we call it the big idea/message, sometimes we call it the lesson, and sometimes we call it the moral of the story (based on age/grade). Here are my K friends working on the Big Idea of this book!
Some thought it was looking for information in the library (love this idea!!), some thought it was planting seeds to grow new plants (another great idea) and others thought it taught us about guinea pigs and what they eat. They were all on the right track!!