Fifth Grade is Fab!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Summer Road Trip

So, most of my summer road trip has nothing to do with school or work (except for the historical sites that we will see in Boston- yay, Revolutionary War), but many of my students asked me to post pictures so they could see them. So, that's the main purpose of this. Kiddos, if you're checking these out feel free to leave a comment. I hope everyone's summer has been great so far!

First stop- Vermont

We aren't actually staying or doing anything in Vermont, but we were driving through a cute little town with a cute little bridge and had to stop for a quick picture. It is the first time either of us has been in Vermont.

The sunglasses were a must. We drove straight through from IL.

Second stop.... New Hampshire

This was the view of the mountains from our ground level patio.

While we were in NH, the weather stunk so we did a day trip to Maine, and it has been the hilight of our trip so far. So, I will get to that right now.

With the weather being so horrible we did what anyone visiting the area would do- visit lighthouses and eat (and eat and eat).

Here are a few photos of Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was amazing. It was originally constructed by George Washington in the 1700's and the entire monument/ area was rededicated in 1982 by George Bush when he was Vice President. The crashing waves and boats in the distance was like nothing I've ever seen. Really, really breathtaking...

Now for the food. First of all, if I ever HAD to move out-of-state, I'd be in Maine in no time. The gluten free choices were endless, the seafood was outstanding, and every place we went had their own personalized flair on things.

Here I am in front of Bam Bam- a 100% GF Bakery. The lemon bars and chocolatey/peanut buttery/crispy bars were out-of-this-world!

Here's Tony at Gritty's. Neither of us knows why he looked at the menu. We knew he would want the fish and chips, which he said were delicious. Really fun, oceanside atmosphere.

Stop 3.... Boston

This was definitely the most historical part of our trip. It was awesome. We spent several hours one morning traveling along Freedom Trail (on foot). It pretty much hilights the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, which laid the path to our freedom as Americans. Pay attention, kids. Most of these pictures are things that we learned about this year.

Here I am in front of Patriot, Paul Revere's, house. It's the oldest standing (non-government) building in Boston and the only one left that was built in the 1700's. We toured it but couldn't take pictures inside. (Don't worry, I bought some postcards with photos.). The photos that follow show other things outside of Revere's house.

One of the many bells Paul made.

Here's a mall called Paul Revere Mall. There's a school there, a large statue of Paul on a horse, and the Old North Church, where Paul ordered two lanterns to be hung in the steeple to signal to the colonists that the British were invading by sea.

There was a huge memorial cemetery called Granary Burying Groung right in downtown Boston that has the burial sites and tombstones of several American Patriots and their family members.

Samuel Adams

Paul Revere

The tombstone for the men and one boy who died during the Boston Massacre.

You can see that it's a pretty large

cemetery. The large tombstone in the middle is for Benjamin Franklin's parents. Ben Franklin is not burried there.

Next is the location (which is not 100% for sure but what historians think) of the famous Boston Tea Party. The ship is just a replica, but you can go on and actually dump tea into the harbor just like the colonists did!

Next is The Old State House, which is where the colonists started throwing sticks and snowballs at the British Sentries on guard there. This led to the Boston Massacre. There's a memorial circle built into the ground to mark the spot where the dead fell and to honor those men.

Old brick streets

Next are some pictures of the current Boston Common. It's a huge park now with several memorials.

I'd definitely recommend this experience to anyone who visits Boston.

Of course, the other experience we just HAD to have was going to a Red Sox game at Fenway. Here are a couple pictures. Oh, and the craziest thing happened- one fan caught 2, yes that's a 2, home run balls during the game.

Yes, that's gluten-free pizza and was so tasty!

I might as well continue with sports. We left Boston and stopped in Foxboro, Massachusetts on the way to Cape Cod. Mr. Kruse was so excited. This is where the New England Patriots (football team) play. It was a really cool area with restaurants, a hotel, shopping, a museum, and Gillette Stadium all on campus. The area is called Patriot Place.

As you can see, it hasn't stopped raining.

I think Paul Revere is the ultimate Patriot, but Mr. Kruse thinks Tom Brady is.

Vince Lombardi (Super Bowl) trophies.

Mr. Kruse is giving the guys a few tips

for the upcoming season. Think they'll listen???

Up next...Falmouth, Mass in Cape Cod...

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Writing Centers

On Sale Now...

This set of 4 Upper Elementary Writing Centers is now on sale. Writing is always tricky in the upper elementary and middle school grades because students often see it as a daunting task. These centers are fun, differentitated, and engaging. Each of them comes with a pre-writing organizer and a rubric. There are even several pages of decorative writing paper included.

Centers included are:

- Are You Kidding Me? (based on the activity Would You Rather...)

- R.A.F.T.

- Let Me Help You With That

- Picture Prompts

I have used them as whole class and intervention activities also. Click below to preview the set. Enjoy!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Writing Center: Would You Rather...?

I have to admit that I really didn't do much with literacy centers until about 5 years ago. Up until then, it was something that always seemed more "primary" than "intermediate" elementary.

BOY WAS I WRONG!!!! Centers are what keep me sane (minus the planning and organizing of them). My students love them, and they have really helped to keep my students engaged, on task, and have allowed them to really take a concept that we have learned and expand it.

So, I created some writing centers. The one that I'd like to share today is called "Are You Kidding Me?" It's based off of the game Would You Rather?

I created some of my own Would You Rather Cards and even bought the card game. I laminated them, cute them out and out them in a tin can,. Easy so far....

Then came the more difficult part- what do I want the outcome to be for my students?

I developed a planner/organizer in which students have to choose which item they would rather do (for example- Would you rather wear boots all summer or sandals all winter?). They have to write down their choice and think of three reasons why they chose this. Then, they have to list three details to defend each reason. So, it became an expository/persuasive type or writing. I created and gave them a rubric so they could do the next step- the official writing!

This is what amazed me. I was so shocked at the increadible writing that they did. Some used humor, some were extremely serioius, and some were a combination of both. They were so fun to read a share with each other.

So, I am now trying this with only 6 days left of school, and becuase of the timing I have to spruce it up a bit. Today, students paired up, and went through the cards until they found one that they disagreed on. Then, they started their organizers. We will start the writing tomorrow with the editing and final copies to follow next week. The new part of the assignment is that they will have to convince the rest of the class that their opinion is the more desireable one. They will present their writing to the class, and the students will vote for which person convinced them the most. This is definitely more persuasive writing than expository. I'm excited to see how it turns out. They could't stay quiet today becuase they kept telling each other why their choice was better.

If you'd like to check out these materials, click here.

Click here to preview an entire set of writing centers.

Upper Elementary Writing Centers with Rubrics, Organizer, and Writing Paper

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Literature Circles

One of my favorite activities to do with my students is literature circles. I think it's because they love them so much. It wasn't always like this for me. Why????? Well that's because it used to seem like a daunting task. With literature circles, it's all about student generated discussions to foster deep understanding of the text. It's very difficult to get students to be able to discuss among themselves. So, I spent a lot of time several years thinking about different learning styles and Bloom's Taxonomy to develop activities, games, and journal pages for students to use in literature circles. Now, with some training, students are able to run their own groups while having powerful discussions in which they learn so much from one another. Below are some of the materials that I use and some pictures some AWESOME fifth graders working on the activities. Click on any of the materials (or this link) to get them for yourself!