Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

For the past two weeks, we have been learning a lot about Martin Luther King Jr! Each student created a basic timeline of his life, and some students worked in small groups to create a more detailed timeline

We also did a MLK webquest, completed some writing prompts about MLK, read some short stories about his life and legacy and finally, took a post assessment to demonstrate what we had learned. 

Students made some wonderful connections and asked many higher level thinking questions about MLK. Nearly every student finished a Google presentation about his life as well. 

Learning New Vocabulary With PicCollage

On Friday we competed in our first of three WordMasters Challenge meets of the 2014-15 school year. The WordMasters Challenge is a vocabulary competition based on completing analogies. Analogies involve higher order thinking skills which is based on logic and reason. We have been working on analogies and higher level thinking all year.

To prepare for the meet, students took up to three vocabulary words expected to be part of the WordMasters Challenge, looked up the meanings of the words and created a PicCollage using an iPad to demonstrate the meanings of their words. Students then presented their vocabulary words to the class and we discussed possible analogies and relationships for these words.

PicCollage is a fun, free iPad app that allows students to easily create beautiful photo collages. This app is easy to use and has lots of options to add text, stickers, different backgrounds, rotates photos, etc. 

Students really enjoyed becoming an expert on their new vocabulary words and sharing the information with the rest of the class. Our first WordMasters meet was very successful and the top five scorers were announced at the end of the day. This is a cumulative competition so scores from our next two meets will be added to the scores from this week to determine our final winners at the end of the year. 

Curriculum Night Presentation

Biography Book Report

Can You Spot Helen Keller, Ronald Reagan and Abigail Adams?

We had a lot of fun presenting our biography book reports and most of the students got really into his or her character!

Can You Spot Thomas Edison, Jackie Robinson and Christopher Columbus?

Watch the video clip below to see exactly who we had in our classroom!

Career Interviews

We have been learning about communities and careers in Social Studies.

Each student had to choose someone to interview about his or her career and present the information to the class. We learned about doctors, lawyers, musicians, athletes, engineers and many other fascinating professions! Click the clip below for a peek into the student presentations.

Curriculum Night

Thanks so much for attending Curriculum Night this evening. If you were unable to attend, or need to reference my presentation, it can be viewed here. 

A Few Of Our Favorite Things...

Every student brought in a colorfully decorated "Getting to Know You" bag this week. Throughout the week students presented their bag and its contents to the class. Students were eager to show everyone what prized possessions they had brought in to share. I love this project because it gives everyone a chance to share a piece of themselves and we all get to know each other a little bit better.