Sunshine State Readers 2012-2013

My school is always encouraging students to read, as I know all schools do, we use Sunshine State Readers to help motivate our students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. 

The state of Florida has a list of books they release each year of books for grades 3-5 and 6-8. The students that choose to participate read a book from the list and take an AR test on that book. If they pass 6 test they become a Sunshine State Reader, have there name posted in the library, and are able to go to the party at the end of the year. If a student reads all 15 books and passes the test they become a Super Sunshine State Reader an have their picture put up in the library, are on the morning news, and are able to attend a special lunch in addition to the Sunshine State Reader Party.

I have found that this does motivate the kids to read and when their friends are talking about a book they want to read it. I usually read 2 aloud to the class and also have a bulletin board that displays the number of books each student has read. Throughout the summer I plan to read a few of the books. Check back for more information about the books. Happy Reading!

Sunshine State Reader List

Glogsters In the Classroom

My students have use glogsters twice this year. It is a website you can use for students to create their own website. My 4th graders used it to create pages about their Florida city. 5th grade used the page for their Black History Month biographies. This is the link to the site, Glogster EDU 

       Black History Month Biographies

• Muhammad Ali
• Jackie Robinson
• Florence Griffith Joyner

      Florida Cities Project 

• Tampa 
• Everglades 
• Key West  
• Cape Canaveral  

Holes - 4th Grade

I recently read Holes by Louis Sachar to my 4th graders. Even though most of them had already seen the movie this is the book they picked as a class to read. Below is a list of things we did as we read and after watching the movie.

• Comprehension quizzes throughout the book. 
• Sequence of Events for the Curse (not whole book, just curse)
• Compare Characters
• Differences between the movie and book 
• Essay - Which did you like more, the movie or the book? Why? 
• Ad for Camp Green Lake
  
  

  

  Camp Green Lake Ad

  
  

  

  Camp Green Lake Ad

  
  

  

  Camp Green Lake Ad

  
  

  

  Camp Green Lake Ad

  
  

  

  Essay: Which did you prefer, the book or movie?

  
  

**If you watch the movie with your class be aware that there are a few cuss words. I sent home permission forms for the movie.**

Civil War Lapbooks - 5th Grade

Before reaching the Civil War in our study of US History, I asked my class what they knew about the Civil War and very few students could tell me basic facts. I decided that we would learn just the basics about the Civil War, an overview is what I called it, to get their feet wet. I stumbled across lapbooks online and loved the idea. This is a great way to display information for any topic. The links below show other examples of lapbooks.

• Civil War Lapbook
• Lapbooks
• Lapbook Examples
• More Lapbook Examples  

My students started the lapbook only a few days into our study of the Civil War. As we learned about a new area or topic they would add that to their book. We were limited in the time they had to work on it each day so it took about 4 weeks to finish the project. I loved the lapbooks and how is allowed the students to learn just a little bit about many different areas/topics of the Civil War and put all the information together in a fun way. I have attached the assignment my students received and a few pictures of our lapbooks.

• Civil War Lapbook Assignment

Student Lapbook

Lapbook stretched out.

Timeline on the back of the lapbook.

Flip books in the lapbook are a great way to display information.

Pockets can hold cards with information.

The 'Who, What, Where, Why' flaps are an easy way to organize the information.

Florida Cities Project - 4th Grade

At the end of 4th grade the students complete the Florida Cities Project. Each group chooses a city in Florida for their travel agency. The students are responsible for creating a poster, brochure and glogster. (Glogster links are found below) Students use each of these items to persuade visitors to travel to their city.

This project is a lot of fun and a great way to wrap up all we have learned about Florida throughout the year. On the last day we invite the 3rd graders, 5th graders, and parents to come see our travel agencies. Our visitors also vote for the most persuasive city. Check out a few of our cities!

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral had an astronaut at their booth.

Sarasota

Tampa

Daytona Beach

Key West - they included Box Jellyfish and a standing Key Deer.

Florida City Glogs were completed in tech class.

• Sarasota
• Miami
• Tampa
• Everglades