Hashtag That

Last week I was teaching on the Civil Rights era when this picture of the 1963 March on Washington prompted a bit of a silly moment...

We were looking at pictures as a way of brainstorming for our upcoming historical fiction pieces and got hung up on the guy taking pictures on the right, about three rows back.  We started imagining him taking "Washington Selfies" and then joking about what he would probably hashtag....which turned into this:

 

I love instructional moments like this...when something organic and memorable makes a connection to students.  Don't you think I can count it as formative assessment?!  :)

Welcome to the Midwest!

Sweet Student Teacher (SST) did a great project with my students a few weeks ago.  They were given several options to present their learning about the Midwest region, including a brochure, poem, poster, or song.  Of course, I am biased to the songs.

Anyone else a TOTAL sucker for a kid singing to you?  Especially a witty parody?  Like "What Does the Midwest Say?"  Yep.  Here are the lyrics:

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

And Kansas

Michigan

Missouri

Nebraska and Ohio

North and South

Dakota

Minnesota and Wisconsin

Those are the states

In the Midwest

What amusement park

Ce-ce-ce-ce-cedar point

Ki-ki-ki-ki-Kings Island

Si-si-si-si-Six Flags

What crops are there

Co-co-co-co-co-co-corn

whe-whe-whe-whe-whe-whe-wheat

So-so-so-so-so-soy beans

Some monuments

Jewely-jewely-Jewel Cave

Pipy-pipy-Pipe Stone

Homy-homy-Homestead

There are others

Scotts-Scotts-scootts-Scott Bluff

George-George-George-George Carver

Effi-effi-effi-effigy Mounds

The Soo-locks

Carrying barges

Up and down

The greatest lakes

Chicago Cubs

Play at the

Wrigley Field

Wright brothers made

The first airplane

They lived in Ohio

But Henry Ford

Made the motor

And was from Michigan

He-e-e-e-enry

He-e-e-e-enry

He-e-e-e-enry

And Edwin E. made the

Kool-ol-ol-ol-ol-aid

Kool-ol-ol-ol-ol-aid

Kool-ol-ol-ol-ol-aid

Epic!  Try it out.  You won't be sorry.

And check out this video of "Welcome to the Midwest" to the tune of "Radioactive."  I totally sing this chorus when I hear it on the radio now!

Love seeing kids get this creative about their learning!

Western Treasure Hunt

Did I tell you how much my student teacher rocks?  Well, she does.  A lot.  She has been so professional, dedicated, and creative.  It's so fun to watch her grow and take on each challenge I throw her way. 

Like this one.

Sweet student teacher (henceforth SST) created a rockin' treasure hunt to help my students learn about the western region of the United States.  The premise was they had to find No Beard the Pirate's treasure in the West by following clues around the school.

Not only was it fun an exciting, but they learned a ton! 

 

Here are some pics of the hunt in progress.  I loved that she had everyone dress in their team colors!

 

The Green Team Working on their first clue



 

Blue Team is almost ready to look for clue #2!

One of the stops included our school secretary showing the students how to hula!  And SST provided leis as a souvenir of their stop before getting another clue.

Our secretary went above and beyond by dressing up and playing hula music in her office! It was the total highlight!

At the end, the clues led right back to our own classroom where No Beard's (chocolate) gold treasure was waiting! 


The Pink Team tells one fact they learned before getting their gold!


 

I am so grateful to SST for working so hard on this lesson and can't WAIT to use it again next year!



Four Score and Seven Years Ago

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  So as a good Social Studies teacher ambassador, I would like to share this video of all living US Presidents (and a few other politicians and celebs, too) reading the Gettysburg Address.

Click here to watch!

Ken Burns produced this video with the aim to encourage people to learn the Gettysburg Address...so get after it!

Tacky Tourist Day

 Happy Tacky Tourist day!  To wrap up our study of the Southeast, we're celebrating with a day of dress up!  Each student was asked to think about tourist destinations in the SE and to dress like their visiting that location.

We also had props available for students who wanted them.

These pics will be the front cover of a scrapbook we're making about the southeast region.

Check out some great examples of costumes below, including yours truly as a hiker on the Appalachian Trail.  And my sweet student teacher from the Grand Ole Opry!

While we did our classwork, we listened to a soundtrack of Southeast songs, including "Georgia on my Mind," "Calling Baton Rouge," "Walking in Memphis," "Sweet Home Alabama," "My Old Kentucky Home," and "Good Old Rocky Top."

Thanks to Mrs. Hall at Fabulous in Fourth for sharing this great idea!

America Before Columbus

Happy Columbus Day!  I'm enjoying a nice day off.  We've never had Columbus Day off and it's more a matter of coincidence with the way our calendar fell this year, but I am celebrating (brunch & a massage, what, what?!)!

I also thought I'd share a great resource with you, America Before Columbus, produced by National Geographic.  This video is engaging and informative and a great tie to our curriculum.  It really does a nice job telling about life before Columbus and his crew landed at San Salvador and showing the impact of their expeditions.

Here is a link to view the full video

Wishing you a day of good retail sales and no infectious diseases.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Thoughts on the OCSS Conference 2013

Yesterday and today I had the privilege of attending the Ohio Council for Social Studies State Conference for the fourth time. 

As I realized this, I did a little reflecting on my previous experiences...

In the spring of 2006, I attended and presented as an undergrad.  My amazing and inspiring professor, Dr. Jim Sheehan encouraged me to attend with a group of peers.  I'm not sure we shared anything ground-breaking in our panel discussion presentation, but talk about a good way to get your feet wet with being involved in a professional organization!

In the spring of 2010, I attended with a few Mason colleagues, including my one-and-only mentor, lovingly referred to as "Mamasita"  (read more about my mentor and her words of wisdom here).  We didn't have the *best* attendance to the breakout sessions that year, but it did remind me that half of the fun is networking and bonding with colleagues.

Last year, I joined two Mason teachers from the upper grades and loved getting to learn alongside them.  Read more about that experience here.

This year was my favorite trip so far. 

I got TONS of new ideas that I'll be sharing soon, mostly from David Harms, who teaches at Penta Career Center in Northwest Ohio.  His presentation on flipped instruction is available here.  I can't WAIT to use some of his cool apps and tech ideas. 

In addition, I enjoyed presentations from some of my favorite colleagues, including one on the new C3Framework and one on a new module for OCSS resource sharing.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the experience of presenting.  This time, I definitely knew my stuff a bit more than as an undergrad, and had the benefit of representing the Ohio Writing Project. 

 

I shared some of the work I have done with OWP on integrating reading and writing into social studies, including lots of strategies like VIP notes, ranked reading, one-word notecards, It says/ I say notes, and text sets.  We jam packed that 100 minutes! 

 

 

Best of all, I had several attendees tell me later that they learned a strategy to use right away from my presentation.  Wooot!

 

This year, there was also a very moving tribute to Dr. Jim Sheehan, the professor I mentioned earlier who first got me involved in attending the OCSS conference.  Dr. Sheehan passed away in 2008 after a battle with cancer.  This year an award has been named in his memory to help get new social studies teachers involved in OCSS and encourage them as future leaders. 

 

 

It really made me realize how much I owe to those educators who have shaped my path to becoming a teacher.  I miss you, Dr. Sheehan!  Thanks for all you taught me and so many others.

 

 

 



Splat!

This week ATP introduced me to a great vocabulary/ review game, Splat!  The game is super simple and all you need is a couple of fly swatters.  We played using geography terms like latitude, globe, and specific physical features. 

To play, first write all the terms on the board.  Then have students line up in two lines.  The first students in line listen as you read the definition then have to be the first to "splat" the word with the fly swatter and call out the correct word.  We didn't keep points, just kept it moving fast to help students grow in their familiarity with the terms.

I forgot to take a picture of our class, but here is a pic from another blog (2nd Grade Pad) with a math fact review game so you can get the gist.  You could totally use the desk tops with cards just as easily as writing the terms on the board.

History Class Take-Aways

This week ATP and I, along with some other colleagues, took an American History class.  The class was very lecture-heavy with content much deeper than we would share with 5th graders.  But there were some take-aways I want to remember to incorporate into future teaching.

The focus of the course was on ecological and geographical connections to history.  (Fancy, eh?)

Day one focused on the demise of the buffalo (yup...5 hours).  The presenter's argument was that much more of it was already in motion before the white hunter/settler.

I particularly liked this infographic that was shared.  I think it's a great way to show students the deep impact that the decline of the buffalo had on the culture of the Plains indians.

 

On day two, we started with a presentation on ArcGIS software.  GIS stands for Geographic Information System. 

 

The software has been purchased by the state of Ohio for K-12 classrooms, but is still in the roll-out phase.  There are lots of potential uses for our newly geographic-focused curriculum, especially in allowing students to make inferences about different thematic maps and what they reveal about the city/region.  Check out some of the data available here and some examples of maps below.

 

 

 

 

The software is limited right now by the fact that students have to have a unique account linked by email.  Also, right now all the free accounts are public, so make sure to remind students not to mark their own homes.

 



Disclaimer: a LOT of this seems very complicated and to my untrained eye.  I would prefer to use Google Maps/Earth for most of the same type of lessons.  I'm sure if you really get into the ArcGIS software there is a lot more depth, but I'm not sure I'm totally ready to dive in.

 

One feature I am eager to try is the newly developed addition of Story Maps.  Basically, they are animated maps that cover an event, from the Moore tornado to the Battle of Gettysburg.  I want to remember to look into this more this school year.

 

Since then the take aways have been minimal, but we did take a walking tour of downtown Hamilton to learn about the Flood of 1913.  I'm not sure if there is enough history in our school district to actually do this, but as AC (awesome colleague) shared, it would be an interesting project to have students create more of a "virtual" walking tour of some sort.  AC's idea was to create a larger "walking tour" of a region.  This could also be incorporated locally with the impact of European exploration. Perhaps a walking tour of nearby English, Spanish, or French architecture? 

 

Overall, I'm thankful for the credit hours and the few nuggets of ideas, but mostly, it was a good week to catch up with colleagues before heading back into our classrooms.

 

 

 

 

 

Historical Perspectives, pt 1

This past Tuesday I met with the teachers in the online class I have been coteaching this summer for the Ohio Writing Project: Historical Perspectives.  We have been reading one of my favorite texts, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  TGLAPPPS is set in post WWII England and consists of letters between characters in London and a book club in the English Channel.

It has some majorly endearing characters and is a charming historical fiction work.  It's lovely and compelling and has been perfect for our class. 

As part of our time together yesterday, SATP (Summer Awesome Teaching Partner, of course) shared a text set that we created as a companion to TGLAPPPS.

What is a text set you ask?  Well, here are three quotes from the experts that may help you shape your own definition.

● A collection of ... texts that have some connection to one another. "Text" can be defined as
a book, an article, a poem, a movie ... The connections are the reader's and are connected to
personal response.... Any classification that expresses a commonality of ideas or authorship or
time or curricular issue would be the basis of a text set [The Reading Teacher]
 
● Collections of resources from different genre, media, and levels of reading difficulty...to
support learners with a range of experiences and interests more than any single text. They are
particularly supportive of less-experienced readers [NCTE leader, Laura Robb]
 
● The idea is centered around the standards and the requirements of argument, perspective, and
multiple texts [Ohio Writing Project Asst. Director, Beth Rimer]

Basically, a text set is what lots of smart teachers have been doing for years to help students connect literature to all sorts of genres in order to think more deeply about a text/era/theme.

SATP shared our Guernsey text set.  It's yours to browse here if you're interested in seeing an example or you perhaps teach WWII. Among other materials, it includes an interview with one of the authors, Annie Barrow, and several primary source images.

We also wrapped up our book club discussion on TGLAPPS.  But that's not all!  I'll share next week about our Skype session with author Lynne Dorfman.

The Great Lemonade War

Do you ever have those moments when you say, "Next year!!"  (I'm guess alllll the time, because that's what good, reflective teachers do!)

Yesterday I shared information about our "Lemonade Day" Project tied with the book The Lemonade War.  NEXT YEAR, I want to step up our game by making this project extend beyond my little classroom.  And I discovered The Great Lemonade War, a charitable giving contest to raise money for childhood cancer.  How awesome is that?  Jacqueline Davies, the author is even affiliated.  Read an interview with her here.

All the money goes to Alex's Lemonade Stand, an awesome foundation helping kids who are fighting cancer.

And THAT is totally a great reason to get involved on its own, but the winning school also get a visit from Jacqueline Davies!

So next year we'll be asking for donations for sampling our tasty treats!  I'm excited already!

ABC Economics

We're about to wrap up our last Social Studies unit of the year.  As a review, we played "ABC Economics."  For each letter of the alphabet, students had to list a term related to economics. 



First I gave the students about five minutes to see how many words they could come up with on their own.  Then I gave them about five more minutes to get with a buddy and add to their lists.  We share out and I was pleasantly surprised with all the terms they have learned.  The winners got reallllly close to being able to find one for each letter! 

The challenge was "X," for which we decided on "X boxes are scarce goods!"  Does that count? 

Bonus, every student said they did much better with this activity than they would have at the beginning of the unit.

It's a great informal assessment that could be used with many, many subjects.  Any good ideas?

How it's Made

I hope you've caught the Science Channel's show, "How It's Made."  I find it completely mesmerizing to see the process that makes so many everyday objects: from laundry machines to apple pies.

As part of our economics unit, we teach the concept of specialization.  In class we do a demonstration of specialization in an assembly line production, but I wanted to let the students see specialization by machines and people in action.

I'll share a few of my favorites with you.


1. Baseballs!  Did you know they take a week to make?

2. Crayons!  (Who doesn't remember the video from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood of the crayon factory?  Classic.  Here's the H.I.M. version.)

 

3. Who knew baseball gloves were SOOO labor intensive?  This one clearly shows how each worker has a unique role in the production process.

 

4. Donuts...I dare you to watch this and not get hungry!



There are so many more on the How It's Made website.  Consider me addicted.

Question Blitz & Quick Research

We're doing a Document-Based Question (DBQ) this week on Westward Expansion. (Check out my page on Teachers Pay Teachers for your very own copy!)

The last two days we looked at the documents and I was struck by how many great questions the students asked. So today we explored these questions in a "Question Blitz." I gave the students five minutes to see how many questions they could come up with.

Then we took about ten or fifteen minutes to find as much information as we could to answer our question online. I mean, isn't that how we do research these days anyway? Have a question...ask google!

It was awesome to see the students so engaged and eager to see what they could find. And I learned a TON, too!

Immigration Museums

Friday we wrapped up our Immigration Unit in Social Studies with a museum.  It was way better than a test!

For this assignment, each student chose one country and researched the way that culture immigrated to the U.S. as well as its cultural influences.  They created lovely, informative, interactive displays to show off their learning to our guests.  Costumes encouraged!

 

 

 

 

What a fun way to celebrate our learning!

 

Make Your World a Little Bigger

I'm watching the inauguration and marvelling at the poetry of seeing President Obama sworn in for a second term as he looks out on the crowd, and just beyond, the new MLK Jr monument and hears the beautiful invocation of Myrlie Evers-Williams, wife of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

...and of course I'm scrolling through Facebook while I watch :)  Once again, my buddy Cynthia Lord nails the sentiment of a day like today by sharing this quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

Every stretch, every risk, every new experience changes you. I encourage you all to try something new with me this week in honor of MLK. To take that first step on the staircase, even if you don't see where it leads. To risk reaching out to people and experiences outside your usual comfort zone.

As Cynthia put it, "To make the whole world a little smaller.  And your own world a little bigger."

Martin's Big Words

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr, Day!

To celebrate this amazing man, ATP and I created a lesson integrating primary sources and the text Martin's Big Words.

We started with reading the book My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.  This sweet book details MLK's childhood and tells about a time white friends in his neighborhood suddenly decided not to play with him.

Then we shared images from The Library of Congress.  We also shared a shortened clip of the "I Have a Dream Speech."  Students had a copy of the text to follow along with and added their own thinking and questions as we watched.

 

After discussion, we read Martin's Big Words.  The students each selected one quote from the book to analyze and reflect on.  [By the way, if you want to hear the text of the book, check out this video. The quality isn't great, but it is the full text and images.]

 

These reflections will become part of a display in our wing with a timeline of important African American figures.  It's a great way to talk not only about this time period, but how we can continue living out the 'big words' of MLK.

I really enjoyed teaching this powerful lesson on a important topic.  What are you doing to keep the dream alive?

Happy Veterans Day!

On Friday we celebrated Veterans Day at school.  It's one of my favorite days of the year as we honor more than 300 special vets, some of whom have never recieved proper recognition.

My favorite sweet visitor to our team is a 92-year-old veteran who came to visit one of my students.  Her dad works at a nursing home and had a special connection with him.  He spoke a bit about his World War II experiences and even brought in mementos to show the students.  It was awesome to see so many 10-year-olds crowded around to look at his photos and treasures.  (And funny to help him get out to his bright red Camaro after the program!)

After a parade through the building, the vets enter our packed gymnasium and are honored with songs, thank you's, and poetry.  Two great teachers established a "Just Three Words" slideshow the students help create.  It's a special part of the program and you can view it here.

Thank you, Veterans.  Thinking of you today, Grandpa Ted!

Vote for Somebody!

One week to Election Day! 

One of Awesome Teaching Partner's students found this video today.  Isn't it adorable?!  Fourth grade students at Harlem Prep sang "Vote for Somebody" to the tune of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."

Hopefully this will inspire YOU to vote and show your students the importance of exercising one of our most important civic rights and responsibilites.  (And it will probably be stuck in your head the rest of the day!)

Happy Columbus Day!

Another post coming at you compliments of sister...

In honor of Columbus Day, a poem for you:

Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

Columbus sailed the ocean blue
Back in 1492.
He sailed across and spotted land,
A beach, and people on the sand.

He called them Indians because
He had no idea where he was,
India was just a guess.
When in doubt, declare success.

 

by Ramon Montaigne

 

I hope you have a good one!