End of Year Book Exchange

Students celebrated our last day of school with an exciting book exchange.

A few weeks ago, I sent home a letter asking for book donations.  Students brought in old, age appropriate books, that they no longer wanted.  I spread them out all around the classroom along the window sills, along the desks, and along the tables.  

I put together bags for students to use to hold their new summer book collection.  I started their collection with two brand new books ($1 books from Scholastic), bookmarks, stickers, and a CD with our class photos.

Students lined up and took turns walking around the room and filling their bag with new (to them) books, one at a time.  

Students were excited to bring their summer book collection home to kick start their summer reading.

 How do you encourage summer reading?

Fun Beach Themed Day

Friday was our last full day of school so we decided to celebrate with a fun beach themed day.

Students spent the day participating in various beach themed activities!

Upon arriving, students greeted each other by saying, "Aloha."  They gave each other a colorful Hawaiian Leis.  I got a 6-pack of Leis at the Dollar Tree for $1.00.  What a steal of a deal.

Outside we played a fun game of Octopus Tag.  Students would line up on one side of the field.  One student was selected to be the Octopus.  They would try to tag students as they would race to the opposite side of the field.  Students who were it had to sit in the ocean (the middle of the field) and assisted the octopus in tagging other students.  Last student standing won and became the new octopus.

Have you tried GoNoodle yet?  GoNoodle has lots of child friendly brain breaks.  Today we danced to Wipeout and Surf's Up.

I actually stole this idea from Thursday's Field Day but it fit right in with our beach theme.  Students dressed up in scuba gear, life jackets, held a fishing pole, and then raced to the finish line.  Have you ever ran with fins on your feet?  Forget running, I can barely walk with them on.

Students brought beach towels, sunglasses, and a good book and read outside along the creek in the warm sun!

After a long and fun filled day students sat down to enjoy a crazy, cool, colorful treat:  Sweet Philly Swirl Italian Ice.  They loved the various flavors and delicious candy sticks to dip in it.

Lastly, students ended the day by blowing up a beach ball, grabbing a permanent marker color of their choice, and autographing each other's beach balls.

Graphics and background for this post are from the lovely Krista Wallden.

How do you celebrate the end of the school year?

Science Research Museum

Looking for a fun way to enrich your students in science, while also studying for the upcoming state test?

Why not try creating a Science Research Museum?

A few months ago I submitted a proposal for materials through the website Donors Choose and it was fully funded.  Eeeekkkk...I LOVE Donors Choose!  We received $694.75 worth of materials such as a magnetic easel, construction paper, crinkle-cut craft scissors, glue-dots, t-shirts, fabric makers, and iron-on transfer paper.  I also had a class set of tri-fold poster boards left over from a previous school year.

Upon receiving these materials, students selected a science topic, of their interest, to further research (based on science concepts learned this year) and began collecting resources and gathering facts.  

I collaborated with special area teachers throughout the last month to work on this project.  Our librarian assisted students during library time to find books and articles to learn more about their topic.  In the computer lab students used child-friendly search engines (such as Kid Rex, Fact Monster, and Kids Click) to further their research.  Our art teacher assisted with creating t-shirt designs.

Students decorated t-shirts to wear at their museum presentation.  They created an illustration with fabric markers on the front of their t-shirt.  They traced their design on to the shirt using a make-shift light table.  I purchased Sterilite Organizing Trays and placed Christmas lights underneath them.  The t-shirts fit perfectly over top of the "light table."  These photos really don't do them justice.  They worked out very well.  

Students used the website www.abcya.com/word_clouds to create a word cloud with key vocabulary based on their science topic.  This design was printed and ironed on to the back of their t-shirt. 

Students organized interesting facts, typed paragraphs, and collected pictures and photographs.  These were used to create a tri-fold poster.  Posters were set up on display in the Large Group Instruction Room for other 4th grade students to view throughout the day.  Classes signed up for a time slot to view the museum.  Upon entering, students grabbed a pencil, clipboard, and packet.  The packet was used to record interesting facts learned from each poster.  This served as a great review for the upcoming NYS Science Test.

Parents also came to view our Science Research Museum.  Students presented to them while cookies and juice were served.

All in all, our Science Research was not only a fun way to review for our New York State Science Test,  but was also an engaging vehicle to motivate students to research science topics of their interest further.

How do you review for state tests?

Final Interactive Notebook File and Rain Gutter Bookshelves for Monday Made It

Whew, can you believe May is finally here?  I know many of you are excited that you are in the final weeks of school.  Here in New York we still have another 2 full months.  However, we have some very exciting activities, field trips, and events planned. 

I am truly loving being a new mommy / teacher and am finding it easier and easier each day to balance all my new responsibilities.

So, in honor of my new mommy / teacher balance I would like to share two "Monday Made It's" with you:  one for school and one for my sweet baby Natalie.

The first thing I made this week was the final Math Interactive Notebook File for Customary Measurement and Multiplication.  This notebook will fit best with Engage NY's Module 7.

I am super excited to have all my 8 Interactive Notebook files finally complete.  Here is a little preview of a few sample pages:

This notebook focuses on customary units of length, capacity, weight, and time.

There are word problems and examples of how students can show their work in multiple ways.

 

 

This file has a notebook page or multiple pages for each major topic taught in module 7 and is aligned with the Common Core Math Standards.

Want a FREE copy of this notebook?  Simply comment below how you plan to use it and I will randomly select 1 winner tomorrow (5/6) night.

The second thing I made this week (with a little assistance from my amazing husband) is Natalie's Pinterest inspired rain gutter bookshelves.

We purchased the gutter at Lowes and they were nice enough to cut it into 3 pieces for us.  We used a stud finder, drill, and a few screws to install the gutters.  It took a total of maybe 15 minutes.  Definitely worth it to see Natalie's toothless smile as she reaches for and selects her books each night before bed.  Ugh, she melts my heart.

Check out all the other "Monday Made It's" on Tara's blog.

Happy Monday!

Human Footprint

Did you know that the average American will consume 43,371 cans of soda in their lifetime?  You would use enough cans to stretch 3.42 miles.  That's 50 football fields with end zones.  The human footprint on the environment is enormous.

Around Earth, wild habitats and the wildlife they support are threatened because of human activity.  Only 17 percent of Earth's surface remains untouched by human influence.

In fourth grade, we have been studying the human footprint on the environment.  National Geographic has some amazing resources to assist in teaching and learning about this interesting topic. 

We started out by reading the Human Footprint, By Ellen Kirk.  The illustrations and facts in this book are really eye opening.

Then we explored National Geographic's Human Footprint website interactive.  You can type in how much you consume and it will calculate and compare your lifetime average to that of other people around the world.

There is also an amazing map on the National Geographic website that shows what parts of the world have had the greatest human impact.

 

After spending a lot of time researching and discussing our human footprint we completed a culminating activity with a reading from the National Geographic website.  Students read an article about the human impact on the environment of two animals:  the gorilla and the okapi.  

 

 

Although this was a challenging text, students were easily able to use their comprehension strategies, and a dictionary, to decode and comprehend the text.

 

 

As a group, students selected one animal to focus on and then brainstormed a list of steps people could take to reduce or reverse the problem. 

 

 

Lastly, students created a presentation consisting of a poster, storyboard, PSA, graphic novel, skit (or any other idea they prepared) that communicated the key issue and suggested action steps.

 

I recorded each group's presentation so students could watch themselves while completing a self-evaluation.



After about two weeks of researching and learning about the human footprint, students were still eager to learn more. 

Be sure to check out all the amazing resources on National Geographic's website!

The Friday Before April Break - 5 for Friday

As I sit here, typing away on my laptop, I can't help but smile.  Not only have we had the best week (since I returned from Maternity leave) but I am now officially on April break!  That means more family time, more sleeping in, and more blogging and creating!

Here are some of the highlights of our week in 4th grade:

 The 4th grade New York State English Language Arts test is finally over.  After three rigorous days of testing I decided to reward students with a little treat!

Today we had a Bear Hunt!  Students were given a specific type of bear to become and imagined that they were in a forest foraging for food (a.k.a. colorful eggs filled with food cards).  This was part of our lesson on key science concepts such as survival of the fittest and animal adaptations.

After finding their eggs, students recorded the amount of food they found, made predictions about how much food other bears found, and discussed our data.  Then students created a "super hero" bear with a special adaptation.

Have you seen these National Geographic Ladders books?  They are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  They come in various Lexile levels so that all students in your class can read the books at their own reading level.  Each book contains 3 different genre stories/articles that focus on the same science topic.  Throughout the book there are various text features and thoughtful questions to ask students.  I am currently using these books during guided reading so that I can integrate science with language arts to better prepare students for the upcoming NYS Science Test.

We have been using Kindles in our classroom for over a year now.  I am very excited that we will finally be getting wireless Internet installed in our classroom.  I'm to receive permission shortly to use the wireless Internet on our Kindles so we can finally access apps such as RazKids and Brainpop!

Last but not least, don't forget to link up with your 5 for Friday at Doodle Bugs Teaching!