Classroom Crime Scene

I am super excited about the lessons on inferring that I taught my 5th graders today!!! It is so much fun when we can do something different that really gets the kids thinking. 

Above is what my 5th graders found when they came to class in the afternoon. I walked them to class and when we reached the door they all started asking questions, most asked if someone had died. LOL! My only instructions before we went in was 'this is a crime scene so you should not touch anything'. This is what they found.

After the students came in they took a few minutes to just look at everything. Then they create two columns on their paper, Clues and Meaning. They then wrote down everything that was out of the ordinary for the area of the crime and what it might mean.

I reminded the students that they had to use their background knowledge of the room and the clues given to understand what happened and why. 

*There was a missing round chair that only two students noticed. Which was funny to me because the chair I removed is their favorite of the comfy chairs. 

The students had tons of ideas of what happened, how and why. After we talked about the scene of the crime and what they inferred we then looked closer at each clue.

When we looked closer we saw the magazine was a gaming magazine and that the receipt was from Game Stop. We also talked about the missing chair that some of the students had not noticed. When we put these final three clues they all known what had happened and why. It was fun to watch the kids put everything together and figure out the crime. Below are the details of our classroom crime. :)

Crime Scene: 

- one of the reading chairs was removed

- chair turned over

- snack and drink left on table (empty Pringles can and a half empty soda)

- open gaming magazine

- crumpled up receipt from Game Stop on floor

- Target bag with extra snack and drink left on another chair

What happened? 

Someone came into the room and ate a snack while reading their gaming magazine. They stole the chair and left behind their extra snacks and the receipt was from Game Stop. We inferred that the person had bought snacks to have while playing games and stole our comfy chair to sit in while playing games.

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I have to thank my husband for the crime. I racked my brain and could not figure out what to do, but he came up with the whole crime.

Explorers and Compare & Contrast

In my 5th grade class we have just completed our study of explorers. The students completed a project where they each studied an explorer and presented the information to the class. We used our information about the explorers with our compare and contrast lessons. 

Compare and Contrast

I broke compare and contrast into two weeks, one week for non-fiction and one week for fiction. The first week we compared and contrasted non-fiction we discussed Christopher Columbus and Ponce De Leon for two days and then Sailors and Pirates for two days. 

After reading the article about Christopher Columbus and Ponce De Leon we discussed how they were alike and different. The students took notes as they read to help them with easily finding information. The students then worked with a partner to write down three other ways that they were alike and different. They wrote their answers on sticky notes and then posted them on the board. 

The students also recorded information on a Venn Diagram worksheet. We then wrote together as a class a paragraph explaining how the explorers were alike and different. I gave each student a Compare & Contrast list of words to use when writing. As we read the articles and discussed how the Christopher Columbus and Ponce De Leon were alike and different I also discussed with the students why they were important explorers. This was actually a two day lesson because of all the discussion that went on. It always amazes me how many questions students have when we learn about American History. 

On Thursday and Friday (we were out of school on Wednesday) we compared and contrasted life at sea for Pirates and Sailors. We followed the same format the students read the articles taking notes as they read, complete the Venn Diagram, and wrote a paragraph discussing the differences and similarities. The students loved reading about pirates, they are my favorite too! After reading each article I asked the students if they would be a sailor or pirate. It was fun to hear their thoughts.

Explorers Project

Each student picked an explorer to study, created a mini poster and gave a presentation to the class.The project directions are found at this link, Explorer Project. Check out the students projects below.

Students researching their explorer.

Comparing Cinderella Stories

I love using classic stories like Cinderella in a new way when I teach. This past week in my 4th grade class we discussed compare and contrast with fictional stories. The class read Rough Faced Girl by Rafe Martin and Smoky Mountain Rose by Alan Schroeder. After reading each book we discussed the setting and how the location affected the story. (Smoky Mountain Rose is written in a very heavy Appalachian Mountain dialect.) 

We created a character trait list for each of the main characters. Then, the students completed a story map for each story and discussed how the stories were different from each other and the original Cinderella.

Instead of a Venn Diagram worksheet we created Venn Diagrams out of paper plates. The students loved this and it looks much better than a worksheet. :) 

The students also wrote a paragraph comparing and contrasting the two stories. The students used a worksheet with a list of words for comparing and contrasting: Words Used to Compare and Contrast.

Stressed Much??

Anyone else feeling overwhelmed and stressed????? I know I am! It has reached that time of the year when everything starts to pile up. The crazy part is in the last two weeks we have had two days off and I still feel like I need a break. At times like this I have a love hate relationship with teaching. I love the kids, the actual time that I am teaching and coming up with new ideas for lessons. I dislike all the OTHER stuff we as teachers do. There just isn't enough time in the day to be a teacher, wife, mommy, housekeeper and cook. Thankfully I have a wonderful husband that supports me and makes my life easier. He is always reminding of what really matters and that stressing doesn't help anything. With that in mind I am going to finish watching Cars with my little girl. :)

Native Americans and a Bit of Theme

 Native American Project

In my 5th grade class we have spent the past few weeks researching the 5 regions of Native Americans. The class was split into 5 groups and each group picked a region they wanted to study. As you can see by the map above there were more than 5 regions, we looked at the regions more commonly known. Great Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Southwest, Northwest Coast, and Middle America.

Each student took notes on each region's presentation. The students then wrote an essay on their favorite region and completed a poster and presented on their region. Several students came dressed as Native American's for their presentations, others created props. I also tied theme into this, see below.

An Igloo, drum, and Totem pole.

Below is the requirements for the project, rubric and outline for the essay.

 Lesson Plan for Project

Native American Project 

Rubric

Essay

Native American Stories and Theme

We also were discussing theme, I used Native American 
stories to tie the two areas together. There are tons of stories online that you can use, below are the stories that I used. The students read the stories, taking notes to track their thinking as they read, and them wrote what they thought the theme would be for the stories. We discussed their answers and I was amazed at how well they understood the stories and themes. Theme is a hard concept for students to understand, but my class this year seems to be truly understanding theme. YAY!

How Raven Stole Crow's Potlatch and Wise Owl

Weasel and Eagle

Coyote and North Wind