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Tag: fifth grade

Spring Poetry Writing

Posted in bilingual, and displays and deco

April is National Poetry Month! Third through fifth grades had fun in the Jackson Library writing Spring poems! Some wrote diamante poems about the atmosphere layers, some wrote acrostics in English, and some wrote Spanish acrostics. We used kite templates (see TPT links below) so we could post them on the library windows. The kids had fun writing the poems! 

stu acrostic poems

#nationalpoetrymonth

poetry kites

acrostic poem on kite

 

link to Spa acrostic template
link to Spa template

 

Spring bulletin board kit- acrostic kites
English acrostic kite template and SPRING banner

 

Boo Haikus! 2021

Posted in displays and deco, holiday, picture book lesson, and technology

Last week, in the Jackson Library, fifth graders had fun writing spooky haikus! This idea is from the book, Boo! Haiku. To get our brains warmed up, I showed the kids some student samples from a couple of years ago and then had them draw a spooky scene.  Thinking about how to describe the scene helped the kids to get ideas for their haiku. The bilingual classes chose to write in English or Spanish. Other helpful tips:  scatter SPOOKY words1spookywords2 on the tables as vocabulary enhancers, don’t ‘require’ use of the form/template- many kids wanted to write their poem rough draft right next to their drawing… Check out their spoooky creations! 

boo haiku
Review

5th grade boo haikus 2021

Eng. stu sheet
Student sheet- Eng.

MODIFY LESSON: SPOOKY words1

spookywords2

 

Stu Sheet Spanish
Stu Sheet Spanish

Spa haiku sample

 

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stu boo haikus 2021
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More books by Deanna Caswell
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Note on how to embed a Google Doc popout:
Share your Google Doc.
Go to the three dots at the top.
Choose ‘open in new window’- this used to be called ‘pop out’
open goo doc in new window
Then choose: embed item
choose pop out
Copy the embed code URL
embed code
Change the ‘height’ to a larger number so more of the document can be viewed at once:
I think I made the height of this one 3000

Tracking a Hurricane

Posted in current events, picture book lesson, and science

Fifth graders learn how to track a hurricane after reading A Storm Called Katrina. We discussed Louis Armstrong and listened to his cornet skills.  I showed them some elephant ear plants and we discussed why we are reading this story now and not in January. We talked about coordinates and mapped out Katrina’s path.  The author’s use of imagery and foreshadowing was the reading focus of the lesson. We discussed what a levee is and showed photos of a levee break. The kids turned and talked with each other at their tables about the one thing they would grab if their home was about to flood. The author is very good at making the reader empathize with Louis and his family. You could tell the kids were really thinking about what the people in Louisiana had to endure and the resilience of the parishes rebuilding after every disaster. 

 

 

storm called katrina book
Review

photos Katrina lesson

Reading TEKS

elephant ear plants

discussion

 

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Tracking  a Hurricane

Teacher’s Guide

Read Aloud on Safeshare

Hurricane Tracking 

Track that Hurricane

Hurricane Tracking clearer

NOAA chart – use for copy center

Hurricanes now 2019

Aim a Hurricane game

Exploring The Garden of Abdul Gasazi

Posted in picture book lesson, and reading skills

This week in the Jackson Library, fifth graders explored the fascinating picture book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.  First, we discussed topiaries and looked at pictures.  Then we discussed foreshadowing and prepared ourselves to find how Van Allsburg uses the literary technique in his book.  During the story, we completed the puzzle and discussed the vocabulary words.  During check out, the kids rotated on the computers to play a Quizdini game about the book. After the story, the kids had to decide if the magician tricked Alan or if he really knew magic. It looks like FOX/Disney might be adapting the book into a movie version soon!

Garden Abdul cover
Review
Gasazi puzzle
puzzle

Gasazi puzzle key

5th Gasazi lesson

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Garden of Abdul Gasazi Safeshare video 
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Houghton Mifflin Teacher’s Guide
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Quizdini
game

 

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CVA
Frequently Asked Questions

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news article
click to find out more

 

Our ‘Expert’ Alphabet Books

Posted in nonfiction lesson, and picture book lesson

In the fall, fifth graders had fun sharing their ‘expert knowledge’ on different topics by creating an alphabet book. Since I started taking guitar lessons on Zoom last July, I created a sample ‘book’ to use as a model and then also shared the book, Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer’s Alphabet by Chris Barton. They had fun and we all learned so much!

Based on the book:

attack boss cheat code
click to go to Chris Barton’s site

 

Samples

Student Book Excerpts
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Dear Basketball

February of this year, we read Kobe Bryant’s Dear Basketball poem (we used MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Questions) and watched the Oscar-winning short animated movie. Then, third through fifth grades wrote a “love letter” to SOMETHING they love. Check out their awesome work! Then, watch our video and check out the three-pointers!

Kobe Bryant's Dear Basketball
poem

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MrsBlewettELA’s TPT Dear Basketball Poem and Questions

MrsBlewett ELA TPT

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Dear Basketball short
Oscar-winning short

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Student Writing

 

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Student Three-Pointers

This idea came from Mr. Bonner! Check out his site: Bonnerville

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Dear BB collage

Harlem Globetrotters

Harlem GT

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Bonnerville

kobe quote

2020 Quotable Quotes, Assoc. Press

“We are all Lakers today.” — Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, in a remark to reporters after the death of Kobe Bryant, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 26

Studying the Impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted in character education, holiday, picture book lesson, and Social Studies

Last week in the Jackson Library, fifth graders listened to the read aloud, Martin’s Big Words, and we discussed the impact those words had on America. Then they used Kally Miller’s Seesaw activity and the dates in the back of the book to sequence the major events in Dr. King’s life on a timeline. Finally, they wrote their own ‘I Have a Dream’ excerpts to convey ways they want the world to improve. 

MLK Martin's Big Words lesson

Seesaw activ Make a MLK Jr. timeline

More of Kally Miller’s Seesaw activities here

ANSWER KEY

key

I HAVE A DREAM SHORTENED POEM TEMPLATE

I Have a Dream Poem Template - short
short template

 

pollution article 2021
article, Jan. 2021

Student Poems
5th I Have a Dream poems
Nancy W comment

Using Active Voice: A Jeff Anderson Lesson

Posted in bilingual, and picture book lesson

Today in the Jackson Library, fifth graders practiced using active voice during writing. First, we read Chall’s Up North at the Cabin. During the story, I pointed out the author’s use of active voice, personification, and imagery. I used Jeff Anderson’s Patterns of Power book, lesson 6.5. Then the kids used a Seesaw template I created to sort sentences from the story by active or passive voice. After that, I gave them dry erase boards and they wrote an active voice sentence about the school camping trip. As you can see, it rained during most of camp this year! 

active voice

up north at the cabin book

Jeff Anderson – Patterns of Power- 6.5 What Do Verbs Do? Finding Your Active Voice 

“The sunshine sits in my lap…”

“The river spills over rocks and whispers to me…”

“The [boat’s] motor sputters softly, waiting…”

“The boat roars forward…”

“blood thumps through my head…”

“when frosted windows cloud the sun”

 

seesaw

 

 

active voice

Puddles of ink stained the blank paper.

Little dots of paint sketch a beautiful dog.

I just ordered the bilingual edition of the book but it hasn’t shipped yet, so I talked to our bilingual team leader and we guessed at how to translate this lesson for the bilingual kids: 

El libro fue liedo por Juan.

Juan lee el libro.

Patterns of Power

5th shearman

5th kuw

Burkhead's class

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