Discover the Room: A Black History Month Activity

First of all, I am a complete sucker for anything Educlips produces.  I'm surprised I don't have her whole collection!  She is an amazing clip artist (?) and comes up with some of the neatest ideas!  So, when I saw her items for Black History Month, I decided I need to buy them and come up with something!

Being in the library, it's nice that I can kind of pick and choose my lessons.  (Notice the "kind of" in there!).  For the month of February, I am focusing 4th and 5th grade on African-American history and so far, they have really enjoyed it!  This past week, we focused on segregation and read about the Greensboro Sit Ins (4th) and desegregation of schools (5th).  Here are some excellent books I used from our library:


So, tie that in with the clip art I purchased, and I came up with a "Discover the Room" activity.  I use Write the Room/Count the Room with my Kinders-Second Graders.  This was a nice "older" version I plan to use first with my 4th and 5th graders, but might also invite second and third to use as well (we're finishing up Virginia Readers Choice, so we'll be doing some of the Black History Month in about another week).

In the packet, besides the cards, I added a recording sheet as well as bookmarks where students write down 3 facts about a chosen person from the cards.  I thought that might be a fun culmination to our studies at the end of the month!    If you'd like to see more, click on the pictures above to take you to TPT or {here} for Teacher's Notebook.

Currently, Library Helpers, and Thoughts of Snow....

First up - Currently!  I haven't taken the time to do this the last couple of months so while my daughter's at OM (and I have high speed Internet!) I figured it was time for me to get back into the swing of things!

Meet Thor:  we got him as a companion for our beagle.  Seriously.  Our other beagle passed away last winter and poor Molly's been so lonely.  So, we took her to our local animal control after seeing this handsome fella on their Facebook page and they tolerated each other nicely.  Granted, sometimes Thor gets a little too nosy and Molly gives a growl as a warning.  Funny thing - this dog that our beagle can walk UNDER will listen to her and back off good naturedly. :)  He is such a gentle giant and has captured our hearts, especially my son's!

As for the big snow - don't hate me - but we've been losing out here in central VA!  Our ONE snow day this year was for maybe 2 inches that was gone by the next day.  Everywhere north has been getting slammed....please send some our way!  One good snow before the end of winter (preferably before March!).

Ruler of Books - hah hah, so obvious with my position this year!  I've been getting good feedback from teachers and students about library, which makes me happy :)  So far, no one dreads coming!  I started the year with so many ideas in my head that I finally had to tell myself that some would have to wait until the summer or next year to implement!  One that I don't need to wait any longer on is my library helpers.  I've opened it up to 4th and 5th grade (with 3rd coming in as soon as I feel my older kids are comfortable with their role) and it's been a great success!  Granted, they LOVE checking books in and out on the computer, but I have them also helping shelve books, straighten up the library, and do other clerical tasks that take so much time out of our day!  I haven't had a huge gap of time open up, mind you, but it's been nice to have help!  It's just me and a few parent volunteers during the week so it's nice to have the kids help.  Plus, it gives them a sense of pride and responsibility!

So after looking at samples online of what different libraries have used, I finally came up with my own form and, after much thought, a daily checklist.  I have my library helpers from 7:50-8:30 each day (my first group is special needs at 8:45).  The students help one day during the week (although some want to help more!).  The application and checklist is a freebie I've uploaded to my stores.  You can click {here} to take you to TpT or {here} for Teacher's Notebook.  I hope you can find use for it! :)

Virginia Readers Choice Isn't Necessarily Limited to Virginia!

So Virginia Reader's Choice - if you teach in Virginia, you may have heard of it.  Each year, the VSRA selects 10 books per category (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) and students read and get to vote on their favorite.  It's a fun activity for students who love rooting for their favorite book!

This year is the first year I'll be promoting this as a Library Media Specialist.  Already, some of my fifth grade girls have read through most of the books (I put them out in the Fall), but I waited to introduce it until January.  Too many things going on this Fall, and I wanted to wait until after my professional conference.

There are LOTS of ideas out there for each book, but what I created was a packet with ballots, a Bingo type game, a "Memory Book" for my younger students (because you can't remember 10 books after reading #10!), as well as creating an Animoto video for the Primary level and finding book trailers for the 3-5 crowd!

I compiled it in a pack and shared with the other LMS in my district, but wanted to share it with you as well!  Click on the picture to take you to TPT.  If you are a TN user, it will be uploaded there soon!  Right now, I need to get off the computer and help my son celebrate his 14th birthday (as soon as he finishes this level of "Halo Reach").  Happy New Year to each of you and even if you're not a Virginia educator, these are some pretty cool books!  I hope to have book activities out there soon as well and add to the pack!  Check out the VSRA website for more details:  https://www.vsra.org/virginia-readers-choice/

Winter is A'Comin'.....

Well, it seems to be when it snows the day before Thanksgiving!  Yikes, not in Virginia, people!  We had 70s on Monday...what happened?  A friend of mine posted this perfect graphic:


Well, we're not the beach, but take that off, and it definitely describes the state!

I wanted to let you know some of the activities I've been working on for the kiddos.  We're going to be doing the "Hour of Code" for 2nd-5th this coming week (the next week, they're putting the "Holiday Shop" in the library, so we're doing coding - with the help of the ITRT - a week early).  I have 2 combined Autism classes, a PreK of 4 yr olds and a Special Needs PreK of 2 and 3 yr olds.  I've been in this long enough now I find that creating activities comes much easier than just finding things!

Of course, being a librarian, I pair everything with a book, so don't be surprised to find book recommendations in a lot of my newer packets!  I think books do such a good job of introducing topics.  It's been a habit of mine before, especially with History and Science, and even more now!

I know I've already shared the "Build a Snowman" packet with you.  For my special needs, having these sorts of activities are so important!  Expect to see some each season.  That being said, they need to know how to dress for winter, right?  That, and using some books to introduce winter created this freebie packet:

For my K and 1 students, I'm going to focus on Hibernation this week.  That's where this comes in:

It's not many pages, but I have at least 3 different activities prepared for the animal cards in this packet.  It'll definitely be enough for the kids to show me what they know, but also have some fun as well!  As always, packets are differentiated for different learners.
 
I hope you continue to stay warm.  Tomorrow is another 60 degree day with Tuesday being a high of 39....craziness!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish every one of my readers a Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Of course, part of the new tradition of this time of year are sales!  Working enough Black Friday sales myself in retail, not much gets me out to shop the sales!  In fact, as my kids get older, I tend to shop more online.  My son is into more "retro" things that I can only find online, and of course my daughter wants everything! :)

That being said, several teacher sites are doing sales!

Enjoy, have a great holiday with family, rest and relax, and of course, happy shopping! :)






 

Woo Hoo! A Success!

Don't you love those?

I wanted to share about this past Friday.  Now, I've created lessons that I thought the kids would be excited about, especially the fourth and fifth graders.  Into Wimpy Kid and Bone?  Let's look at videos about the artists talking about how they draw/get inspired, then have our own session on cartooning!  Nah, not so much.  Using sidewalk chalk and going outside to draw real-sized animals?  Running around the courtyard and not really following directions.


Our resource team has been, um, strongly encouraged to do a "Focus Friday" with our students.  The way our schedule runs, we see all classes Mon-Thurs, then on Friday, we repeat (first nine weeks, Monday's groups, second nine weeks, Tuesday's groups, etc).  My current fourth and fifth grade groups are kind of tough to please.  Fourth grade is the gifted class, so it's challenging them (and keeping them focused and listening), and fifth grade is one of the struggling classes, so keeping them interested and engaged.  Oh, and on Fridays, we don't do check out, so that means its a 45 minute lesson (instead of a 30 min one with 15 min of checkout).

So...this Friday was fractions.  I KNEW there was NO WAY I could read a book on fractions, or related to fractions, with students.  Not this time of year, especially.  So, I thought about it for awhile and looked at my resources.....Cyberchase DVD on equivalent fractions (one episode).  Okay, PBS Kids is always popular and many have watched the program before.  Now....what to do for a follow-up activity?  That's where fraction war came in.

I'm a sucker for clip art.  LOVE adding it to items, and the kids seem to respond to it as well.  So, why not Star Wars?  Good vs evil.  High interest, high recognition.  Competitive.

It was a HUGE HIT!  The kids were so engaged, that I made sure to send my file to their teachers to use for math centers (the kids actually requested me to do so!).  Even my worst discipline problems decided it was much more fun to play cards than to cause any drama.  Woo hoo! Score a win for me!  They even asked if they could play AGAIN next week!

Click on the picture to see it up close.  By the way, did I mention there was a dance for grades 3-5 after school that day, and they were STILL engaged???  Made me feel like the coolest teacher ever! LOL

Oh, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen....Snow?

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best take on the song title....but it seemed catchy! :)

I've really enjoyed making centers/activities for my autism and special needs PreK classes (2 and 3 year olds).  I've also kind of developed a pattern as well.  Since what they need is so different, it's taken me in a new direction.  We have been "dressing" kids for Fall, putting faces on scarecrows, and now we're dressing firefighters!  While my 2 and 3 year olds can't really "count the room," I added this activity on as well since my PreK (4 year olds) and K-1 Autism class really enjoy this activity!  In fact, once my first and Kinders saw them up, they wanted to do it, too!

So, once I saw that Krista Wallace at Creative Clips created a "Build a Snowman" clipart....well, knew I had to get that!  I probably will wait to use this activity in January, but got inspired by her clipart...that and looking through the shelves for Christmas/Winter picture books the students are already requesting!  (Of course, maybe that's because all my turkey books are checked out!).

I love the "Snowmen at Night" series, so I put that to the side and thought that would be a great read aloud for that lesson.  Pair that with "Snowmen All Year", and you have a nice review for seasons for K and 1 students!  Throw in a "Write the Room" and "Count the Room" (which work fantastically for Library centers!), and I've got activities for PreK-1 about snowmen!  (I can also see my 2nd graders wanting to do the "Write the Room" as well!).

So, I've included below the pictures of both activity packs.  Click on them if you'd like to see them up close and in more detail! :)