We dove into setting again while reading Tuck Everlasting .  As we delve more and more into citing text evidence, I wanted the students to really see what that meant. Chapter one of the book describes the setting of the book in great detail.  In fact, it is so vivid that I had the students dissect the chapter to create a drawing.  On that drawing, they were only allowed to put something that appeared in the chapter.  If it wasn't written down, they couldn't draw it. Then, I made a copy of chapter one for each student.  They were instructed to cut the text apart, gluing the actual text onto their picture to prove that what was drawn was in the text. This really helped to show the students that authors truly do paint pictures with their words.  It also allowed them a chance to "prove" their drawings using text evidence. Wow...short and sweet!  How unlike me :)...
I have taught upper grades for a long time.  In all of that time, I am ashamed to admit that I have never taught multiplying fractions using a model <runs and hides in shame>.  The algorithm just makes sense to me, so that is what I have always taught. Well, the people who wrote the CCSS and SBAC think differently, so I am learning to adapt my craft this year and include far more models into my teaching. Now, if you have been reading my blog for a bit, you know that this "using models" thing isn't always the easiest thing for me (re: multiplying decimals...remember that fiasco??!) but I am getting more and more adept at it, and I think I am getting into the patterns of it all! So this week, when we were learning about multiplying fractions, I actually STARTED with the model.  I know....shocking. I started with multiplying whole numbers by fractions.  I taught the kids that if you have 3 x 1/5, that means that you have 1/5 three different times.  Just like re...
We started our novel study for Tuck Everlasting this week.  Now, this story is NOT a read aloud.  (we are reading Wonder for that.)  Instead, this is a whole group novel that we are reading to learn about story elements, figurative language, grammar, and fluency.  We use this book in lieu of the anthology, but are learning the same skills that we would if we were sticking tight to the basal.  So this book is something that will have the kids reading, rereading, and then reading again. To introduce the story, I had the students examine the actual physicality of the book before I told them anything about it.  We did this with our first novel study, Gregor the Overlander , as well.  First, I read the title to the kids.  I ask them to make an inference and predict what the story will be about, simply based on the title.   They wrote their ideas on a sticky note and we shared out. Then, I placed the book cover on the doc cam and asked them to make a new prediction on a sticky note.   ...
Foreshadowing is a technique that authors use all the time, yet I find myself rarely discussing it in class.  Well, I thought I would do a little close reading of the prologue in Tuck Everlasting and have the students annotate the text to show evidence of foreshadowing. We started by making an anchor chart for the literary technique.  The students took notes in their reading journals.  While we did this, the students naturally came up with examples from other books we had read aloud in class where the new-to-them device was used.  That was a promising sign ;) Then, I passed out a photocopy of the Prologue to each student (as I didn't want them writing in my brand new books!)  On it, I had them write the main purpose of our annotation at the top of the page.  We wrote: Purpose:  Underline evidence of foreshadowing in the text and write any thoughts about what it may be a foreshadow of. For five minutes, the students worked independently.  I wanted to see what they would ...
My classroom is an ever evolving entity (a Triple E if you will....).  I try something new and it may work or it may not.  Sometimes, things that I try actually grow even more from their inception.  That is what is happening with "The Answer Is...".   A few months back I posted about how I was using "The Answer Is" in my classroom (you can read about it here ).  I wanted to post an update to tell you how it has evolved and changed to become even more interactive. Each week, the students complete a "The Answer Is..." card, creating a good (usually multistep) word problem that goes along with each answer.  At the end of the week, I have been putting the cards with the problems into a little white container.  For a while, we didn't do anything with them.  But now, those little cards in the little container are a part of my problem solving station in the math rotation block. Now, each week, the students grab one of the cards out of the little con...
Fifth grade is the grade that I have spent the longest time as a teacher.  I have taught many other grades, but really, when it comes down to it, 5th is where my heart is.  Because of that, I am super excited to bring you, my loyal blog readers, an entire blog dedicated to fifth grade!  I am a contributor on Fifth Grade Freebies , a blog that strives to bring you the highest quality fifth grade ideas, lessons, and FREEBIES for you to use in your own classroom! I am teaming up with 14 of the blog contributors to bring you an awesome blog hop filled with great freebies along the way....and when you make it to the end, there is a special giveaway in store for you! So here we are, the start of the hop and I have a nice little time-freeing freebie for you.  This is something I use in my classroom to help the students with the scientific process.  It is a little trifold that we use for each and every experiment that our class conducts.  I find that it is really helpful in making...
This past semester, I implemented reading rotations into my classroom.  I am still tweaking them and trying to get them to work as fluidly as math rotations , but the one thing that has been SPECTACULAR for my teaching has been breaking the concepts I am imparting to 5 days.  Teaching these big ideas (such as conflict or theme or plot) within the span of one week has been a lifesaver for me!  I wanted to share the basic flow of the lessons with you, since it is this flow that has helped me so much. I begin each week by introducing the concept and creating some sort of anchor chart with the students.  These anchor charts become something we refer to each day the rest of the week.  They really help to cement the ideas for the students and are a key to the actual learning of the concept. Day one is basically a concept introduction.  Day two is when we interact with the concept.  Usually I give the students some sort of short story or a series of one sentence plo...