"I want a present NOW!": A Grammar Lesson

While I do not condone screaming, bratty, kids, which I made very clear to my kiddos! That is what we pretended to be today during grammar in fifth grade. Last week, we discussed future verb tenses, today we looked at present tense.

With that said, in order to remember present tense, I told them to remember a whining child yelling, "I want my present NOW!" This helps us keep in mind that the present tense sentences include verbs occurring at this very moment. We had a good time with this, but I reminded them that if they were my child the consequence of that screaming display would not be a fun one ;0)


We looked at three present tense linking verbs - AM, IS, ARE - and how we always want to combine these with THREE little letters -ING to create the present tense. I found THIS great anchor chart that displayed this idea, plus a cute way to remember it with a 3 for 3 memory technique. Use one of the THREE linking verbs and and THREE letters -ing. I recreated this anchor chart for our room.
 Again, I gave them the task of looking for a present tense sentence during their independent reading time.

 When I was sharing with them how we don't say, "I is going to the movies" I explained that, while many of us may not struggle with the talking part of verb tenses, it is in WRITING that the struggle becomes apparent. SO often, kids, and adults, {myself included} will either get wrapped up in their writing, or forget to reread sections and find that their story ribbons through lots of accidentally written tenses. I explained that while sometimes this is intentional in a story, a lot of times it isn't and can really confuse the reader.

In order to practice staying within a verb tense, I had them take a look at a very "exciting" picture with lots of action going on {great for boys who struggle with writing} and had them write, as if they were a reporter coming upon this scene, what they are seeing, hearing, feeling, etc. AT THIS VERY MOMENT! They HAD to stay in the present tense using AM, IS, ARE and -ing verbs to describe the scene. They really enjoyed this activity and the picture spurred quite a discussion about how this appeared to be anarchy {yay previous government vocabulary word!} and what may have occurred to place the capital in danger.

For our assessment, I had them create a three sentences, each using one linking verb and adding an -ing verb.

Tomorrow we tackle Past Tense Verbs!
Do you do anything unique with verb tenses?

BACK TO THE FUTURE: A Grammar Lesson

I had been sharing Thursday with the kiddos how 2014 had sounded so futuristic to many of us and here it was! Many of them had seen the Back to the Future movies props to their parents! and I stated that the "future" in the movies was NEXT YEAR 2015! It is always funny how we all picture the "future" in our heads. My mom shared that her teacher in elementary school had had them write about what they thought the millennium 2000 would be like and she remembers including flying cars and jet packs. '99 did bring us the internet, however, many of us are still waiting on the flying cars!

I was ready to dive into verb tenses after break, but Thursday's discussion gave me a lesson idea for teaching verbs - at least future tense verbs. And thus was born "Back to the Future Verbs!" A grammar lesson.

For morning work, I had them draw a picture of what they thought life would be like in the year 2050. 

During writing class, we discussed three simple future verb forms. We also glued our lesson insert into our Thoughtful Logs and did some power teaching to help us remember them which included running around the room in a line shouting "I WILL run, I am GOING TO run, I am RUNNING TONIGHT"

As we went into independent reading and small group time, I encouraged them to identify at least one sentence using a future verb form from their books. Many of them did and we looked at them during our share time. After that, I explained that they would need to USE the different future verb forms during a creative writing where they answered future questions about themselves in the year 2050. I plan on putting this sheet, along with their future picture in their All About Me books that I bind at the end of the year and give them at graduation. It will be a fun thing to look back at 20 years or so from now :0)

For our lesson reflection, I had them write one sentence for each future verb form.

My professional learning goal this year is to encourage more student reflection both for their own learning and for me to utilize in pulling for small groups and to help adapt/re-teach lessons. I have been trying to find a way that I could document these in a tangible way so I could keep track of student reflections and see the whole class's data without hanging onto every little scrap of paper. I decided to create a google spreadsheet document and am using a "Blooms type" rubric to assess reflections. 

{2014} New Years Resolutions

What a week back! Like many of you, we did not have school Monday, Tuesday, OR Wednesday due to Snowmagedon! 

Hubby is such a trooper! 

It was like being back in college the break was so long! I would like to say that I utilized those days off in some productive, awe inspiring way, but I didn't. ha! However, I was 100% ready by the end of that relaxation to get back to work, and by George did we have a fabulous 2 day week ;0) 

On Thursday, the kids and I filled out our New Years Resolutions together. We decided we should have important goals that make us better people so... the first goal we made was a learning goal, something we wanted to get better at here at school. The second goal we decided should be a social goal - improving how we act, react, and interact with the people around us. The third goal we treated as our own personal fun, inspiring, traditional resolution. The kids wanted to hear all of mine so bad so I shared: 
Teaching Goal: Be more organized in my planning and teaching - no PILES on my desk! They giggled at this one ...
Social Goal: To be less defensive when having discussions with MR. B. I had to explain this one a little more ... they thought it was a good thing to work on. 
Fun/Traditional Resolution: To work out at least 3x's a week - Summer is 5 months away! At this one, one of my beloved students stated, "I don't know why adults always have this as a resolution. They never do it and always complain about how it isn't fun. I think they should take it off the list!" BAHAHA! Truth from the mouths of babes ...er...eleven year olds! 
Here are some of my cute kiddos goals. If you are interested in using the template it can be found, for FREE, HERE. A couple other cute one I saw can be found HERE and HERE. 

Happy New Years - 2014 Baby! 

Welcome Aboard AIRWAY 5!

Every year, I celebrate Christmas/Winter Celebrations around the world, however, with the shove push towards Common Core and preaching teaching only the standards listed, I have had to push a lot of these not important non essentials out the door. Don't I sound enthused ;) This year, as I was trying to figure out how I could still squeeze in my Christmas Around the World - I realized we could do it for the Christmas party! Genius.
WARNING: This is a LONG post with LOTS of pictures! You've been warned!

So with no further adieu, 

  WELCOME ABOARD AIRWAY 5 - ENJOY YOUR TRIP! 

Who says fifth graders wouldn't enjoy a plane trip in the classroom - don't let kindergarten and 2nd graders 

have all the fun! 

To begin our journey, we checked out baggage (brown paper bags turned into suitcases - idea from HERE), turned in our tickets (template from HERE), grabbed our passports (template from HERE), boarded "Airway 5", and headed off to INDIA! 

In route, we watched a safety video {this is an actual Virgin Airlines Safety Video} The kids LOVED it!

Once we arrived in India, we were greeted by costumed "Indians" who passed out a cultural snack for us to try. For many of the kids this was a new experience - good for some, not-so-good for others! Snack = Fennel seeds and liquorish candies - intended as a breath freshener sweet. 
We also watched a short clip about the winter celebration of Diwali pronounced "DiVali"

Our cultural craft included creating stained glass lotus flowers using laminate, tracing sheets, and permanent markers. 

 Our next destination was Sweden! 

In route, we read an informational article on their winter celebration St. Lucia Day and viewed a short powerpoint showing us the different aspects and the history of St. Lucia. 

Once we arrived in Sweden, we were greeted by our very own "St. Lucia" who passed out a cultural snack of sweet cookies to everyone.

In my partner teacher's room, we continued our travels to the country of Mexico where they celebrate Las Posadas! In South American countries, the nativity and story of the Christ Child is performed and reenacted by children. Poinsettias are native to South America and flower throughout the winter. The shape of the flowers petals are often referred to as the "Star of Bethlehem" which led the shepherds and wise men to the Baby Jesus. Here we learned about the celebration and acted out the story of Baby Jesus's Birth. For the cultural craft, we created paper poinsettias to wear. 

After re-boarding their plane, students found themselves arriving in the Land of Dragons! The largest winter celebration in China is the Chinese New Year. There are lots of similarities to this holiday and Christmas including eating special foods, giving gifts (of money), and celebrating with lots of light! In China, students created chinese paper lanterns and learned about this holiday through a short movie clip. 

The next destination was to the country of Israel. Many Jews, around the word, celebrate the winter holiday of Hanukkah. Students read about the Miracle of the Maccabees, lit a menorah, created a paper dreidel and played for chocolate coins. 

The final stop on Airway 5 found us back in our own country - the good old USA! Here we learned about the history of Christmas music and the different golden ages - we answered the questions, what is the oldest song? (I Saw Three Ships) When was the first golden age? (Victorian Era) Why did Christmas stop being celebrated for years? (Puritans/Pilgrims banned it) When was the second golden age of Christmas music? (1940s - 1950s)
We also looked at the history of Christmas Cards and answered questions like, When was the first Christmas card created? (1843) Who began the first "official" Christmas cards? (Queen Victoria) Who started the first US "affordable" card company? (John C. Hall - Hallmark!)
Our Cultural Craft included creating our parents Christmas cards to go along with our science ornaments - We hope, parents, all enjoyed these :0) We used stamp pads and markers to create thumb print holiday designs. 

We also made sure all of our items were packed safely in our luggage (paper bags) and that we had filled out our passports correctly and been stamped for each country. 

To end our day, we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas, ate cookies, created SUPER scrumptious cups of hot chocolate at our Hot Cocoa bar (yes, we fixed the sign! LOL), and opened our stockings. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!! 

Native American Inquiry Research {Web Quest Included}

We have been having a wonderful time discovering the different Native American Tribes through the process of Inquiry. Too often, kids are taught the information and not given the tools to learn, discover, and question on their own. During the process of inquiry, kids are encouraged to ask questions, wonder about the world around them, research answers to their questions, and make discoveries. 

Through inquiry based discovery HERE, we were able to evaluate "artifacts", infer what we believed them to be used for, ask questions, make wonderings, and come up with a plan of research. It also introduced us to the different Native American regions allowing us to choose which group we wanted to do more research on.
For the last two weeks in November, we went on a WEB QUEST attempting to help the Michigan History Museum replace their precious Native American Quilt which was "stolen"!

NATIVE AMERICAN WEB QUEST

We started by getting into our regional groups shown on the bulletin board above and creating oaths that promised we would be good group members, work hard together, participate, and encourage one another. We also chose which topic we wanted to help our group research in depth clothing, housing, religion/beliefs, natural resources.

Then, we dove into research. Thanks to an AMAZING grant, fifth grade has been BLESSED with a class set of Chrome books and we have been getting our money's worth out of them!

First, we began researching informational books and our text book and filling in our I-Charts based off the information we found. 

Next, we used internet websites and Google search options to find more information on our chosen topic. 

Lastly, we watched educational videos from our different regions and worked together in our groups to glean information that could add to our different topics.

Now that we have our research, we will be working on helping replace the Native American Quilt by adding illustrations that share our topics information as well as write short informational paragraphs about our findings. Please stay tuned!