Disney & Social Studies???

Since I've been away for awhile, I wanted to rewind a bit and share some of my lessons that I meant to blog about but never quite got around to during the school year.

In the mix of testing we also started our Colonial Times Unit. (One of my favs!) We spent a lot of time talking about Jamestown (partially because I visited Jamestown last summer and had some fun resources that I brought home with me!)

Let me first preface this in saying that I completely understand that Disney's Pocahontas

  is NOT an accurate depiction of the life of Pocahontas. I discussed this with my students and they had completed an accurate study of the life of Pocahontas during our Native Americans unit. 

To start of the discussion about Jamestown I started off by using this movie clip form Disney's Pocahontas

 (Yes, again, I know this movie is NOT historically accurate, but it was a great hook!): 

The clip is only about two minutes long so we actually watched it several times. 

Round 1: 

The first time we watched just to watch it no expectations. The students then pair-shared with there neighbors and discussed what the video clip was about. Lost of students recognized the clip.  "I've seen this before!" 

Round 2: 

Before playing the video for a second time I asked the kids to focus on making OBSERVATIONS. I was clear that these should be observations and NOT inferences. The students were supposed to look for the who and what when and where and why of the video. Some observations: "They're are getting on a boat", "I see mostly men", "They are in a city". 

After discussing the observations they could make inferences: "I think they are leaving England because of the flag on the ship and also because of their accents." Some students also made predictions:  "It looks like the mean are the only ones going because they are kissing the women and children goodbye. I think they might be going to work for the Virginia Company." 

Round 3: 

This time  as we played the movie they were given the lyrics and told to highlight anything that was repeated. From this they gathered lots of information: gold, Virginia Company, New World. Again, they had time to discuss this with their neighbors.                                                               

After 3 rounds of the video clip and discussions (all of which took about 15 minutes) we were ready to dive into our social studies books. My students were deeply engaged (which is not usually the case when we open up our textbooks). 

As we read the information about Jamestown, the students filled out a graphic organizer. They did an excellent job comprehending the information in the textbook and were quick to point out the historical inaccuracies in Disney's version. 

Round 4: 

After the reading, I had them watch the video one final time, this time looking for specifics like the date of the voyage. 

After this initial lesson, the students completed this reading comprehension sheet from Redworks.org. I love double dipping with reading comprehension in the content areas and this site is great for that! 

We also spent time working on some of the Jamestown computer lab activities I blogged about <HERE>. 

We completed Jamestown back in Mid March and April but the students were still talking about it as we wrapped up the year last week. I will call that a success!

Hope you are all on summer break and enjoying yourselves! If your still in school I hope you can see the light at the end of the tunnel! :) 

June Currently

I've been a little MIA lately but summer is (finally!) here so I am BACK! :) I'm linking up with the ever popular Farley for the June Currently. 

Explanations: 

Listening to Arrest & Development...and have been since Monday. :) 

Loving that I am officially on summer break. Our last day was Friday and I have been living it up (and sleeping a lot) since the final bell rang.  :) 

BUT...

I'm thinking about Summer School which starts in just a week. EEEK!!!! 

This should help with my want: more funds. Who am I kidding, I always want more funds but with all of the quick trips and mini vacays I have planned the extra funds are really a necessity. Work hard, play hard, right??? (And don't feel too bad for me because summer school is only 3 weeks.)

Bringing me to my 3 vacay essentials.....

1) Us Weekly --A guilty pleasure of mine which I enjoy so much more if read by a lake, pool, beach or other body of water. 

2) A floatie for said lake, pool, beach or other body of water. This one is my fav. It's from Target and super cheap, too! 

3) AC  If I'm inside I want to be cool....too bad my summer school classroom does not have AC. Seriously! No, AC. I do live in the SF Bay Area so it doesn't get hotter than 80 degrees but still....a little cool air would be nice! 

Hope you are all enjoying your first days of summer or your last days of school! 

Cards for Hospitalized Children

Today my kids and I spent about an hour of our time making cards for children who are hospitalized. The cards my kiddos made will be sent to Cards for Hospitalized Kids. They will then distribute the cards to hospitals like St. Jude's and Shriner's.  This is a great organization that was started by a high school student!

It always breaks my heart to hear about  sick children and makes me feel a bit helpless. How can I help???? Although these cards might not seem like  much, I hope that we brighten these children's day. It reminds me of this quote:

It made my heart happy to see my students working so hard on their cards and really thinking about the child who would be receiving it. \

This would be a great activity to do with your students, church group, girl scouts, etc. Pass the word along. :)

For more info about sending cards, check  here! 

Currently

Happy Cinco de Mayo, all! 

Well, I'm a little late to the fiesta but here's my May Currently:

Anyone else feeling that end of the year crunch?!?!?

 I am so ready for summer but I have about a million and one activities I want to throw in over the next few weeks. (Were outta school in 25 days....)  Not to mention the fact that I still need to plan the end of the year field trip and figure out the end of the year party stuff. So I sit here with my coffee cup (ready for a refill) and my laptop planning away....

Good thing I will be relaxing next weekend in one of my favorite places, Chico, California. 

I will be here: 

SOURCE 

And Here: 

(See more gorgeous shots of the market from Wayward Spark  HERE) 

And no trip to Chico would be complete with out a stop here: 

SOURCE

I'm excited!! Can you tell?!?!? :) Our annual May Chico trip always makes it feel like summer is truly here! So nice to take a break from the foggy Bay Area weather and head to my college home for a littlle R&R and summer sun! 

What do you have up your sleeves these last weeks of school???

Noodles & Marshmallows

Now, that testing is officially done, we are having lots of fun and getting excited about learning again.

 *Sigh* 

All is right in the world. 

With the testing season Social Studies has been pushed to the side. We were too busy prepping  and reviewing and prepping some more. But now we are back in the game and diving head first  into the American Revolution. (My favorite!) 

I have a couple of group projects in mind for our new SS unit and thought that we needed some review with group expectations so I've planned a couple of activities for the week. I'm hoping these will refresh our expectations when working in a group and give us some time to reconnect with classmates. 

Today's focus: TEAMWORK 

We defined teamwork (working cooperatively to meet a common goal) and completed a graphic organizer that detailed what teamwork, looks like and sounds like. 

Then the kiddos got to work! In groups they worked towards a common goal:  building towers using spaghetti noodles, mini-marshmallows and play dough. I got this idea from Danielle @ School Counselor Blog.

 It was so nice to see the kids working together and problem solving. As a class they set a goal of building towers that were @ least 15 inches high. Which is pretty tricky with the delicate noodles! 

The tower below ended up being a windmill. So creative! :) 

When we got back to class we reflected on how our groups showed teamwork. 

I'll call this one a success! What team building activities do you use in your class???

Five on Friday

This week was a short one for me...only 4 days. Woohoo! But somehow we crammed a TON into those 4 little days. I'm linking up with Teaching Doodle Bugs for a recap. 

1) Fun with Easter Eggs

Did you see this super fun freebie from The Happy Teacher in the teachers pay teachers newsletter last Sunday??? 

I love that it it is truly a product that can be used with any grade level. The example shows the activity as away to practice adding whole numbers.  My students worked on adding decimals and had a great time. 

Earlier in the week we also used the plastic eggs for test prep. I filled the eggs with test questions and they answered the questions with partners. Much more fun than traditional test prep. 

2) Peeps 

I sent my kids home with this sweet treat:

 (pintrest inspired of course!)

Of course mine aren't as beautiful as the pintrest version (especially with the glare!)  but my kiddos were still thrilled with the sugary goodness. :) 

3) Observation 

I had a formal observation this week. We were told that they would be looking for our use  differentiated instruction which was one of the things I've been trying to work on using more this year. 

By the way, I ordered this book a few weeks ago and I'm loving it! Lots of great stuff...

My lesson seemed to go well but I won't get the formal evaluation/meet with my admin until I return from Spring Break. It's always a relief to just have it DONE. :)

4) Parent Game Day 

This week we had parent game day. Parents could come after school and play board games in each classroom. We played chess (my boys are obsessed) and Headbandz (I'm obsessed with this one. So fun!). 

5) Spring Break 

I am officially on Spring Break...enough. said. 

Now, I'm off to blog stalk. Enjoy your weekend and have a great Easter! :) 

Linky Love

I've been wanting to blog all weekend but things have been crazy busy. Now that it's Sunday I am catching up on all things school (report cards, benchmark tests and lesson plans), but before I really get started with all that I think a little blog time is order. I think I have my priorities in the right place, right? :)

Time to link up with a couple of my favorite linky parties.....

First up, I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five on Friday.

1) Girl Scout Cookies

Five boxes might be a little excessive for my little household of two but they are just so yummy!!!

2) College Week = New Sweatshirts  

We are celebrating college week at the end of March. I loved Chico State!! And I think that college week justifies a shopping spree on my alma mater's website. I picked up a new sweatshirt, a t-shirt and cute little onesie for my friend's sweet new baby. 

3) Colonial America Unit 
I am loving our Colonial America Unit and have used this book a lot! It's a good one!

 

4) Planet Rap 

Our art teacher takes over one unit in Science or Social Studies each year and teaches it through art integration. She is amazing! This year she is teaching our space unit. Here is one of the resources she is using. The kids LOVE it. :) 

5) Task Card Scavenger Hunt
Time to start the major test prepping! I've been trying to spice things up a bit since it can be sooo boring. One way I've done this is by creating test prep task cards and taping them to the walls and windows around the classroom. Then the kiddos wonder around the room and answer the questions on there answer sheets. It is nice to get them up and moving!


I'm also linking up with Latoya from Flying into First Grade.

This week's topic: 2 Truths and a Lie 

2 Truths and a Lie 

1) I have three sisters (Jo, Jennifer and Megan). 

2) My favorite ice cream is Thrifty's Chocolate Brownie. 

3) My car has 150,000 miles on it. 

Well, there are my 3 random "facts". 

Can you guess which one is a lie?????

I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend! Enjoy your Sunday! :)