13 Colonies Project

I am a little behind on posting this project, blame it on my pre-Spring Break vacation. :) The project was turned in a month ago but I was busy then forgot, so here is it. 

My 5th graders each completed a 13 Colony Project, personally I would rather be given a fun project than a test. So, I tend to assign projects over test for social studies. For this assignment I picked 4 different projects that I thought the students would enjoy making and required the students to learn about different aspects of the Revolutionary War. 

This project is a switch up from the 13 Colonies Project that my 5th graders did last year which was a power point.  This year I decided to go with a more hands-on project.

Project Options:

1. Hands-On Map: the map showed the 13 colonies and included 6 major events that were hidden by a flap, sliding window or other moving part. 

2. Newspaper: the paper was written as if the the Revolutionary War has just ended and includes editorials, news stories, political cartoons and other columns commonly found in a paper. 

3. ABC Book: each letter represents a person, event or item from the Revolutionary War. There was also a short description included. 

4. Coffee Table Book: one topic from the Revolutionary War was chosen and written about in detail. 

Five for Friday

 This week my Five for Friday is all about the family cruise we took this past week. Doodle Bug Teaching, Five for Friday.

1. Swimming with stingrays in Grand Cayman. It was amazing! 

2.Desserts and sweets! Sometimes before lunch and dinner and ALWAYS after :)

3. No cooking! Enough said.

4. No clocks or windows in our room. Waking up with no windows or clock was the best part of my morning. What time is it?? I have no idea or reason to find out.

5. Family. This was a family cruise with all of my husband's family. We were able to celebrate my sister-in-law's birthday and spend the week together experiencing something new. Priceless.

Five for Friday!

I am linking up with Doodle Bug Teaching for another Five for Friday.

1. FCAT Writes is over! YAY! Now on to Student Treasure Books and Reading FCAT. 

2. I found  the bottom of my teacher bag! It does exist! Grades for report cards were due today, which forced me to clean out my bag.

3. Report cards are done and turned in!!

4 & 5. The Mud Walk field trip was so much fun it counts for two numbers on my list :) 

Mud Walk!

Today the 5th graders went on the annual Mud Walk. It is the one trip the kids look forward to for years. It was AWESOME! I have never been before so this was a first for me. It is literally a mud walk.

We started with a half mile walk into the woods. Then the students fished organic matter from the river with nets.

The students searched through the organic matter (mud) for animals. They were standoffish at first then they really got into it. They found tiny worms, dragonfly larva, a small fish, snails, beetles and other things we had never seen.

Next up was the mud walk! The parents were "trees" for the kids to hold onto. We started on a normal trail then it became a mud festival. Some of it was wet and DEEP and other parts were STICKY. If we had not Duck Taped our shoes we would of all come out barefoot. It was so much fun!!

I love having fun with my students and seeing a new side to them.