Wow, the last day of January AND the last day of week 21! Here are the highlights as we say hello to February! Food Drive, Review Quotes, Spreading Sunshine, Polar Vortex Closet Cleanout, Paleo Bread and Meatloaf. Plus a Bonus of Rocket & Ruffy!
1. Food Drive – Okay the BIG news this week is that it is our annual Middle School Food Drive for Hunger Task Force. Every year, we have a homeroom competition for 1 week to see who can bring in the most food. Each day, there is a special item worth double points (pasta, peanut butter, juice / water, canned fruits / vegetables), and on Friday, the special item is canned soup, worth 5 points. Lemme tell ya, the competition is palpable. Teachers and students alike are strategizing and scheming to win the coveted SOUPerbowl trophy on Friday. In fact, I can’t even tell you who won yet because I’m waiting with bated breath to find out! It is so touching to see how much the students really care about this project – I know it hits home for so many of them. Going without food is something you would never wish on another human being. This is especially poignant this time of year when cold weather and rising costs of electricity compound the problem for many families. So my students all happily participate in this project, and many get creative to raise funds and/or collect food. In my homeroom, I ask that even if we don’t win, we must have 100% participation. Everyone donates at least 1 can of food or some change so I can go out and buy food. Well so far my students have donated over $165! I took the money to Aldi to purchase soup for SOUPerbowl Friday, and that’s what you see above. $165 worth of soup! I sure do hope my kiddos win, but even if they don’t, they win a valuable lesson about empathy, values, and the joy of giving.
2. Review Quotes – We have begun our short story unit for Quarter 3. After each short story, I have my students write a “Review Quote.” They wind up writing about 10 of these, and they get very good at them through the process. It is a combination of creative and expository writing. They must be very selective about their word choice as they attempt to ‘sell’ the book, but they must also cover all the material required in a thorough review / critique. The image above is just a teaser of this mini unit, which I am working on getting up on TPT soon. It is currently 9 pages of ideas and instructions that the students find very helpful to guide them through the process. I get excited to see how much they grow through this unit! They carefully pick and choose their words, deliberating every detail. It’s a fun unit!
3. Spreading Sunshine – I had so much fun this week spreading ‘sunshine.’ Florida sunshine, that is! This is a crate of oranges imported directly from Florida. Before school, I went from classroom to classroom delivering oranges to our hardworking, deserving, and oh-so-exhausted teachers. I hope it made them smile!
4. Polar Vortex Project – We had 2 Cold Days this week, which meant I didn’t leave my home (or my pajamas!) on Monday or Tuesday. I got a little bit of cabin fever. What? I just don’t sit still well. Most teachers don’t – we like to keep moving. So I kept busy by cleaning out my entire closet and dresser. Now, it’s an organized masterpiece! The second picture is a pile of clothes I donated. Most of them went to my students who asked for or needed warm sweaters and other clothing. So I got a jump start on my Spring Cleaning!
5. Mmmmm – Another way I kept busy during the Polar Vortex Cold Days was baking and cooking! I made Against All Grain’s Paleo Bread and Nom Nom Paleo’s Super Porktastic Bacon-Topped Spinach Meatloaf. Y’all, these things CHANGED. MY. LIFE. Seriously. I can eat ‘bread’ again! It was so great to smear it with almond butter! And the meatloaf? I’m never NOT topping meatloaf with bacon ever again. Adding the spinach made the meatloaf so juicy and delicious. These women are geniuses, and I hope they make millions off of their cookbooks.
BONUS
6. The boys got their hairs cut. They are so cute. I just love them so!
Last week, I shared about our current LA-Technology Project of creating PBIS Behavioral videos in our school. I am reporting back that it was such a fun project and a major success! Every student was ‘in the flow’ and fully engaged. Everyone was able to contribute with their own strengths, from planning to acting and editing and using technology. The final products are in, and they are AWESOME! I thought I’d share with you a few screenshots, with faces obscured, of course. Next week we will pick the winner, and that group will receive a pizza party and gift cards. WOW!
S’long week 20, and welcome Quarter 3! Here are the week’s highlights.
1. Transcripts – A huge milestone on my way of reaching my New Year’s Goal to finish my dissertation, I finally finished transcribing over 24 hours of videotapes and interviews. You’re looking at 12 two-hour student interviews, over 120 pages. Feels so good to be on to data analysis now!
2. Breakfast – These egg muffins are the perfect grab-and-go breakfast for teachers. I can’t even believe I’ve gone my whole career and never discovered these. So easy! I make a big batch on the weekends, and my husband and I have them as a quick breakfast on the run. I microwave them for 1 minute, et voila! To make them, I begin by sautéing any vegetables I happen to have in my fridge, add diced ham or bacon, then stir that all into 8 eggs, a dash of coconut milk, and a dash of coconut flour (with lemon zest and fresh cracked pepper). YUM! And it’s all of your food groups in one healthy bite!
3. PBIS Videos– You may have seen my post from earlier in the week about the PBIS Video Project that my students are working on this week. They are having so much fun, and I love seeing how creative they can get. Across 3 classes, I have 20 different groups making 20 very different final products. In the photos above, you can see on the left that they are editing using iMovie. I love the picture on the right of my brave group that is demonstrating how to behave appropriately on the playground (Side note: It is 3 degrees outside, and they are coming inside to warm up between takes. “Where are your mittens?” I ask, and am answered with blank stares…) It’s been a great week, and a much needed break from traditional reading and writing!
4. Florida Oranges – We have a sweet aunt who lives in Naples. For the past couple of years, just when Winter has officially overstayed its welcome, she sends us a care package of native Florida Citrus. This is a LOT of oranges, people! We can’t possibly eat them all, so I will enjoy spreading the sunshine even more! Mmmmm… delicious!
5. Adolescent Literature – To gear up for my upcoming graduate class that I will be teaching, I am reading and rereading a few favorites that will become required texts for my class. We are definitely going to read Readicide and The Book Whisperer, but then as a class we will select 3 other adolescent fiction books to read and use for our book chats. Which 3 would you pick? Or did I miss your favorite?
A BONUS:
6. Minor Disruption – Okay so you tell me how productive you think we were after the custodian zipped by our room on a giant Zamboni. Hilarious! I just had to pause and take a picture, because we were all laughing so hard!
I have this giant STOP sign that I put in the hallway when we have important announcements or schedule changes to communicate with the students. I found my sign slightly…. altered this morning. Goofballs! Gotta love 8th grade! Bonus points for spelling.
This whole week, my 8th grade students are working on a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) Video project. In small groups of 4, they are making short videos about the behavioral expectations at each of the locations within our school. This is the project description they received:
Here is our schedule:
Monday: Introduce project, select groups and stations Tuesday: Watch model videos on Youtube (Discuss and analyze), learn about iMovie, begin writing scripts Wednesday: Complete scripts, practice, rehearse for teacher Thursday: Videotape, begin editing Friday: Complete editing, submit Monday: Watch videos as a class
While viewing the videos, we were sure to analyze them for content and cinematic technique. We discussed how they conveyed their message(s), the use of audio, text, and other modes of expression. We discussed DOs (have music in the background, use transition screens with text, insert still photographs, etc.) and DONTs (use too much text, tiny text, long clips, repeat ideas).
It’s probably an overly ambitious schedule, and I actually think we will still be working on this next week. At any rate, they are very motivated and excited, and many students have been emailing staff around the building asking them to stop by and make a cameo in their video. It’s been a great opportunity for connections and relationships. I love how excited everyone is!
The students are taking all of the video and photographs on their iPads, then editing it together in iMovie. iMovie actually has some really easy-to-use options for creating videos, such as the Trailer feature. The transition screens and music are already formatted – the students just have to drag-and-drop their own video and photographs and change the text. Easy Peasy, right?! Who knew!
All I can say is thank goodness for our Technology Coordinator, because she has been just fantastic. She came into the classrooms to give short presentations on how to use iMovie, and she has been helping support our students through the process. She found out that we can use up to 30 seconds of music without violating copyright, and that there is a lot of great, free music (organized by genre) for students to use at http://freemusicarchive.org/
There are 6 classes each creating 9 videos, so the first step will be that the teachers will vote on the best video for each station. These 9 semi-finalist groups will be invited to a pizza party. Then, the whole school (students grades 6 – 8) will vote on the ONE BEST video, and that group will also receive iTunes Gift Cards and have their video featured on the school website. Plus, you know, bragging rights!
This project actually meets many of our Common Core State Standards in addition to being a strong part of our PBIS initiative at our school.
Finally, this is the rubric we created to give students feedback on their final products:
I’ll be sure to add updates and photographs of our progress throughout the week. I can’t wait to get to school today and continue working on this!
It was 30 degrees today, which is a wonderful break from the bitter temperatures of the last few weeks. I took a long walk in the afternoon sunlight – the first in a long, long time. It felt glorious!
We are beginning our new fiction unit this week, which will take us through 3rd quarter. I always like to kick-start the unit by first watching WALL*E to identify elements of fiction and figurative language, then reading a favorite short story “Love” by William Maxwell.
The story is not a happy one, but rather bittersweet. The narrator reminisces about his 5th grade teacher who died at an early age of tuberculosis. He learns hard lessons about love and the ephemeral nature of life.
This is a perfect short story for introducing your students to figurative language and foreshadowing. First, we read the story as a class. Then, there are 8 comprehension questions that require some inferencing and evidence from the text, as well as analyzing quotes for imagery and mood. Finally, I have my students go back to the story and look for figurative language and foreshadowing of Miss Brown’s early departure from this world.
Oh to see the looks on their faces when they start finding all of the hidden clues. Honestly, they were having FUN. Yes, it was like a giant game of iSpy with words instead of pictures. It became a challenge of who could find the most clues.
Then, I project the story on the SMARTBoard and invite students up to the board to underline the examples of figurative language and foreshadowing, as well as explain the 2 layers of meaning for each phrase. All of my students can do this, and some even surprise themselves. Even though the story is a sad one, they are laughing and smiling with confidence as they realize that they can find complexity and meaning in a seemingly simple story.
If you’d like to purchase your own copy of this 2-day activity, click here!
Happy end to week 19! The highlights this week are: The Science of Tubing, Endless Grading, War Horse, WALL*E, and Wordless News. Have a great Friday!
1. The Science of Tubing – If you didn’t catch my post last week, we had a great field trip last Friday. The students completed and turned in their packets this week in Science. They said it was the BEST field trip they’ve ever had. Even though it was educational? Yup, even then.
2. Grading – Uhhhhhggggg – it’s the end of Quarter 2, and I have SO MUCH grading to do! I know the students worked so hard on their Argument papers, and I am so very proud of them, but I secretly wish Dembrobot could just blow up that pile of papers with his little red laser… The students handed in their Argument papers on Monday, and I have until next Monday to finish grading all 90 of them. The good news is that I only have 3 left – yessss!!!!
3. War Horse – I went to see the Broadway Theatrical production of War Horse this week. I was completely blown away. The puppeteering is mesmerizing! I was particularly amazed at how ‘cinematic’ this production was, replete with slow-motion and lighting effects that rival the silver screen. Particularly captivating was the portrayal of action and movement, even while the ‘horses’ and actors stayed in place.
4. WALL*E – To introduce our new fiction unit, my students are watching WALL*E this week. Oh you should have seen those ecstatic smiles turn right upside down when I announced that we would be watching WALL*E (YAY!)……and ALSO completing a film analysis (boo, hiss, grumble). They were not happy with me. However, we are enjoying watching the film. It’s great to see 13-year-olds completely hypnotized by a Disney film. While watching, they are identifying elements of fiction (setting/mood, character/traits, perspective, plot, and theme) as well as keeping an eye out for symbolism, foreshadowing, and allusion.
5. Wordless News – This week I learned about Wordless News, “a weekday creative ritual starting at 4:45am. Maria gets up, reads the news, sketches, digitizes, and posts an editorial illustration for a selected headline.” This seems like an excellent opportunity for incorporating current events into the Language Arts classroom, as well as an opportunity to discuss and analyze images as multimedia texts. This picture, for example, relates to the NPR article “More Than 300 Sharks in Australia Are Now on Twitter.” In a nutshell, “Government researchers have tagged 338 sharks with acoustic transmitters that monitor where the animals are. When a tagged shark is about half a mile away from a beach, it triggers a computer alert, which tweets out a message on the Surf Life Saving Western Australia Twitter feed. The tweet notes the shark’s size, breed and approximate location.”
Students could view the image and discuss how it relates to a main idea in the news story. They could identify elements in the image that connect to evidence from the story, and use close-reading techniques to provide supporting evidence. Additionally, they can discuss the use of color, size, perspective, and other multimodal elements that are used to convey meaning without the use of text. I think this is such a neat project!
Can you believe it’s almost February? I’ve seen Valentine’s Day items popping up at stores around town, and I suddenly realized it’s only one month away! I have 2 great Valentine’s Day reading activities to share with you.
First, I will share with you a close-reading activity on The History of Saint Valentine’s Day. This 10-page activity includes a 3-page handout about the mysterious history of St. Valentine the martyr, and the evolution of today’s Valentine’s Day holiday. It gives 2 different historical accounts of the Christian martyr’s life and death, plus an explanation of Pagan influence on this celebrated holiday. There is also an explanation of Valentine’s Day as it is celebrated today, and the symbols and traditions around this special day.
This is a close-reading or text-based reading activity because the text is divided into smaller, manageable chunks with follow-up questions after each section. The student must find evidence within the text to answer the questions (following Common Core Standards and language) by highlighting or underlining.
This would be an excellent activity to do with your entire class, or with an intervention group of struggling readers. It would easily align to your Language Arts / English, Social Studies / History, or Religious Studies curriculum as a cross-curricular lesson. You can use this text any time, not just for Valentine’s Day! If you would like to purchase this activity, you can click here.
The next activity I will share with you is Author’s Purpose Guided Practice for Grades 6-10 a FREE activity. In this activity, students will learn about PIE: Persuade, Inform, and Entertain. Then, they will read 3 sample texts and discuss how each is an example of persuasive, informative, or entertaining writing.
If you enjoy this FREE mini activity and want to purchase a full lesson plan on Author’s Purpose, I also have the Identifying Author’s Purpose full lesson plan.
The Identifying Author’s Purpose activity includes 15 writing samples that students will first identify as either persuasive, informative, or entertaining. Then, they will decide what the author is trying to convince them of (persuasion), inform them of (informative), or entertain them with (entertain). It includes a handout explaining the key features and genres of persuasive, informative, and entertaining (PIE) texts, model/sample writing for each category (3 total). Read and discuss as a class, and guided practice sample writing for each category (3 total). Students can read, discuss, and identify the sample texts in small groups, while they also engage in close reading to determine the type of writing (PIE) and the author’s specific goal.
I hope these activities can help you and your students to engage in some close reading strategies and techniques throughout February!
We had a blast on our annual Science of Tubing field trip. Every year, we go to Sunburst Winter Sports Park and the students engage in a day of science and fun! They are given a packet to complete and 2 hours to calculate data about the hill, mass, friction, average speed, acceleration, work, and power for snow tubing on the hill. They work in small groups, and they are given a spring scale, angle finder, and stop watch. We also used the iPads and downloaded apps like Speed Box, which has a speedometer function. It was the perfect balance of education and fun!
Field trips are wonderful opportunities to teach the ‘Hidden Curriculum.’ We learn how to behave on a bus, behave in public, be responsible for tools and equipment, clean up after ourselves, thank staff for their assistance, and how to have fun in a safe and respectful way. I love having a chance to bond with my students outside of the classroom. Believe it or not, they ask the teachers to join their group, ‘link up,’ and do a tube run with them – just for fun.
The teachers have a lot of fun, too! In fact, I don’t know who has more fun – the students or the teachers! We race kids. We joke and have a great time. We lend students our extra hats and scarves to let them know we care about them. We sing songs on the bus. These are the lasting memories that make school fun and learning possible. These are the memories that make it so hard to say goodbye to them in June!
