Q & A Journal

Have you seen this book?  My wife came across it on Pinterest the other day and absolutely fell in love with it, as did I.  We both found it very pinteresting! (Insert eye roll here.)

The idea behind the book is for your child to answer a question a day in just a few short lines.  It's billed as a family keepsake to keep treasured for a lifetime.  What a wonderful idea!

Then my fourth grade educated mind...wait...can I try that again.

Then my educator of fourth graders mind...there we go...went into high gear.  Can I use this in my classroom?  And the resounding answer inside my mind was YES!

And then my edtechy mind took over and I began envisioning my fourth graders tweeting an answer a day to the question in 140 characters or less.  While tweeting may not be the way to go, maybe blogging, I still love this idea.  Asking a question a day; some questions dealing with content and CCGPS, some dealing with current events, and some just dealing with life.

How will my students respond?  How will I respond?  Since this is a new idea I'm not sure if I will start it this year.  I think I'll make some questions up with a cutesy font and whimsical pictures and make a million dollars on Teachers Pay Teachers!  

Any ideas on how you could use this idea in your classroom.  I'd love to for you to share so I can steal it!!  (It's called collaboration, right?)

Until next time.

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Mythology

Okay...so the Common Core has arrived in Georgia and we have jumped in head first.  (And here I forgot my floaties, because I think I'm sinking!)

Um, yes I believe I am adjusting well.  Or is it, well I am adjusting.  Not sure of the correct syntax for that sentence.  Two very different meanings!  And that's mainly because of this standard:


ELACC4RL4:  Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in 
a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology 
(e.g., Herculean).

In order to determine the meaning of words as they allude to mythology the students must know mythology.  Do I really spend precious time teaching mythology just so they can determine the meaning of an illusion...er, allusion.

Well I guess so, and recently Richard Byrne posted about Hero's Journey from Read Write Think.  While it's designed for more advanced learners, I do believe it holds some potential for my 4th graders.

Within the next few weeks my students will pick from a list of mythology.  I plan to give them a list of options of different mythologies from different cultures to choose from; mostly Greek/Roman, but also some Native American and Chinese.  This will be a great opportunity assess on several of our new Common Core standards!!

I'm excited to see what my students discover...and maybe they can venture out and write their own mythology.

BTW...Check out the Myth-O-Mania books(if you haven't yet) by Kate McMullen.  My LBK's love them!

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Jello: Liquid or Solid? Your Thoughts...

The definition of a solid--it retains it's shape as it is moved from one container to another.

The definition of a liquid--it conforms to the shape of whatever container it is placed in.

So...the question of the day in science was: Is jello a liquid or a solid? That really wasn't our main focus today, but I just rolled with it! My LBK's were really arguing this point...so we focused on the properties of a solid and a liquid.

We looked at examples of solids and saw how they did not change shape no matter what you put them in or on. We determined that jello has properties of a solid after it gets cold.

Then we looked at an example of a liquid and saw how it changed it's shape according to what we put it in. We determined that jello has properties of a liquid before you put it in the fridge.

Fifteen minutes later (yes, it took my precious ones that long) we determined that jello is a solid. (Unless it breaks, then it's a liquid according to one of them!)

I love my Little Big Kid's!!

Back on Track...with the American Revolution!

Whew! What a crazy past few weeks it has been. With all the goings on I have neglected my blogging and reflection duties...but now I'm back on track.

And I wanted to get back on track with this wonderful little tool I have discovered.  It's a newspaper clipping generator! Check it out.

My LBKs have been working their little fingers to the bone on their persuasive writing.

The assignment: You are a reporter in 1775 America and you have to pick a side. Are you crown or colony? You must write a persuasive newspaper article to tell your side of the story to convince your readers to join you. Thank you Liberty Kids for the idea!




So far we've gotten some wonderful writings! Look for some of the articles soon.

Until next time (and this time it will be sooner!!),

Mr. A

The Moon is Made of Cookies!!

For the past week (and a couple of days) my LBKs and I have been discussing the moon. And no, not because they are all space cadets!! It's actually one of our state standards for fourth grade.

Anywho...we have been discussing how the moon orbits the Earth, that it doesn't actually change shape or size, and that it goes through phases. Well, the phases of the moon is what we had a sweet time with today. I grouped my LBKs and passed out some cookies...and I didn't let them eat any! Mwaa-ha-ha-ha (that was my evil laugh!)

I told them to show me what they knew about the phases of the moon and this is what they came up with!

Pretty sweet, huh?!

The LBKs really enjoyed this project.  I think it had something to do with being able to eat the cream that they scraped off!

BTW...I did have some extra cookies on hand to let them enjoy after we all finished!

Until next time,

Mr. A

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Very Good Grasshopper

So...being new to 4th grade classroom management has been something that has kept me up at night.  Not that my students are running around like wild little monkeys! I actually think I have very good classroom management, but I've never really had a set tool that was used in the classroom.

Some of my fellow nut jobs...er...4th grade teachers use a positive/negative system.  At first I really didn't like the idea. (Mainly because there was a lot to keep up with!)

But then a fellow (super) blogger came to my rescue. It's like she jumped into her phonebooth, changed into her red and blue pajamas, and saved me from the ledge I was dangling from! Well...not really like that, but close.

Ginger Snaps posted about a website called Class Dojo.

It is a classroom management tool that works through their website that can be projected for the whole class to see. But the interactiveness (is that a word?) is not the coolest thing about it.  This site is most awesome because I can give positives and negatives through my phone and it will *bing* up on the screen!! I don't have to say a word!

(Not real students!)

If a student is on task I simply select that student and give them a positive for being on task and it will show up on the SmartBoard. That way the students can see who is getting the positive and for what. The past two mornings have been wonderful! Whenever my LBKs get a little off task I simply pick one that is working hard and give them a positive and everyone settles down. Not a single word was spoken. (It's really fun to do it when I'm outside of the classroom!)

Not only does it do all this but check out the weekly report I can print off and send home...

There are some improvements that need to be made but my initial review is that this is a wonderful tool for classroom management. I'll let you know what I think a few weeks from now.

Until next time,

Mr. A


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Collaboration-Day 1

Ahhh...Google Docs. Who doesn't love it?! (Well, I know a few. But they don't love tech of any kind.)  Now, I'm hoping to help my LBKs fall in love with it.

Today was Day 1 of our collaboration slide show project.

We have been studying the 13 original colonies and I have been racking my brain as to what we could do for a final project. So, off to do a search with no map...only a destination. With my trusty laptop by my side (well, on my lap...it's close to my side :-P) I went venturing into the world of the online educator and came up with...nothing.

Don't get me wrong, there was T-O-N-S of stuff out there. But I could never find anything that really struck my fancy. So, to Google I run. And as always they had the answer...Docs!

So, I divided my class into three groups for the three colonial regions.  Then each group divided up the project into the assigned sections and off we went following the yellow brick road to the computer lab. No, there were no lions or tigers or bears but there was one really grumpy teacher...

I linked up each slideshow project on our class website and off we went! They were excited to see that they could work on the same project together. In fact, I had some issues with some of my sweet LBKs going on someone else's slide and messing with them. Once we got settled down they really seemed to take to it, but all we could get done was a brief intro and they got their title on their page.

As we progress we are going to discuss more about aesthetics and animation...but for now we have our titles!

I'll keep you up to date on how this goes because this is my first experience teaching how to do a slide show and this is most of the LBKs first experience with making a slide show.  I love it when we get to learn together!!

Until next time,

Mr. A


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Babbling Explorers

Whew!  This has been a long week...

It began with a dead rat in my air conditioning unit...and, well, that's pretty much where it ended too!  It's always nice to walk into your classroom and be knocked over by the stench of something rotting.  It was later discovered that a little varmint had crawled into my unit and get electrocuted.  Anyways, as a result we had to switch rooms and have class outside.  Needless to say we got as much as we could get done the first two days of this week.

Now, because of the Great Rat Incident of 2011, we have finished our unit on early European explorers several days behind schedule...but we have finished!  And to be honest that rat served a purpose, because two days ago our media specialist introduced me to a fun new website!  If it wasn't for that rat...we wouldn't have our fun new project.  Thank you Mr. Rat for your sacrifice.

Anywho.

The website is blabberize.com and it is super fun!  It lets you upload any picture and talk through the picture.  The mouth moves and everything!  So...I took this site back to my class we became the explorers.

Assignment: Pretend you are an explorer telling a class about your voyages and explorations.

Result:  Super fabulous writing and this...




How flippin' awesome is that!  My LBKs l-o-v-e-d doing this.  They are actually wanting to do more research so they can do other explorers.

Now the question is...how else can I use this site?  Hmmm...

Until next time,

Mr. A

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What's My Speed?

Putting social studies on the back burner for a couple of weeks, we are diving head first into science!!

Force and motion to be more specific. One thing I've noticed about fourth grade, and most other levels of the education of students, is that they L-O-V-E science!  And my LBKs love them some science!  (I hope I can keep this feeling goin' all year...)

In the beginning stages of this unit we talk a little bit about speed.  So...yet another impromptu project.  This time it's in science.  --I've got a feeling we're going to be doing a lot of impromptu this year.--

We took some notes...and more notes...and then just a few more notes.  By this point I was b-ored!!  The LBKs checked out about 15 minutes ago.  I think I did too but it just took me a little longer to realize it...

So we are talking about speed and discussing how fast a car travels in kilometers per second...and then the little light bulb in my went off.  Mr. Bulb said, "Why don't we actually measure speed instead of just talking about measuring it?"

"Great idea Mr. Bulb!" I said.  (One day I'm going to say that out loud and then my kids will think I'm crazy...ummm, I think they already do.)

So off I ran to my on it's last leg trusty computer and sent out a message, "Help, I need some stopwatches!"  Those who ask shall receive.

Off we go, my LBKs (Little Big Kids) and I, out to the ball field.  We measure out 50 feet, we group up, we get our timers out, and off we go!!  Did I mention we L-O-V-E science?

We called our experiment "What's My Speed" and we got out our handy-dandy science notebooks.  We wrote down our materials, our question, our hypothesis, our method, and what happened.

Our Handy-Dandy Science Notebooks.

Each student was timed in how fast they ran 50 feet and how fast they walked 50 feet.  Then they took the distance (50 feet) and divided that by their time.  They figured out how many feet per second they could run and how many feet per second they could walk.  We all had a good hypothesis for this experiment!

No...this is NOT a picture of me at the end of school running to my car!!

What's on tap for our science class tomorrow?  Who knows! ;-)

Until next time...

Mr. A

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A Finished Product

Okay, so apparently this blog is turning into more of a Social Studies project blog than a great fourth grade ideas blog.  Oh well...I'm having fun with some projects!!

Well...today our Native American Quadrama Projects were due.  After all the questions (and prayers!) they turned out well.  I had never assigned one of these types of projects before.  Sure, I've done regular ol' dioramas in a shoe box.

Don't get me wrong, they always turned out great.  But I always wind up wanting more from them...

Answer: Quadrama!  The students were required to show four different scenes instead of just one.  And it seems as if they had fun with them.  I got the idea from Shelley over at Blog Hoppin'.  Her examples were great and I thought this would fit perfectly into a Native American unit...and they did!

Anywho...check out some of the splediforous (yes, it's a word...I think) projects turned in today!!

A collection of my LBKs wonderful Native American Quadrama Project!

A view from one side.  Here is a student's view on the Hopi.

Here is a view from the top of one of the quadramas.

We had a wonderful time making these!  Presentations start tomorrow...please pray!

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Impromptu Social Studies--Results!

Hello all! Recently I published a post on a Social Studies project that I researched, worked on, and really prepared for...um, actually I just pulled it out of thin air! And because of that I was a little, or maybe a lot, hesitant to see the results.

But they came out wonderfully! The projects turned out great and the LBKs learned more with this project than they would have watching movies for four days in a row.

You can check out some of the presentations here! (We def need to work on our presentation skills!)

Anywho...check out the results.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Celebrate!

One of the many joys of teaching is getting to celebrate the  accomplishments of your students.  Whether it's a student struggling in math and finally passing that unit four test or seeing their eyes overflow with understanding when they pull the rope on the pulley.

But I also like to revel in their accomplishments outside of the classroom walls...

I love getting to be there when one of my students scores a touchdown or gets runner-up in a beauty pageant.  Being a teacher is the toughest job I have ever had (and I h have had dozens), but it has also been the most rewarding.  Getting to celebrate with my students both in and out of the classroom has been one of those rewards.

I type this part as I sit backstage at our local beauty pageant and watch some of my students, old and new, boldly step out on stage and give it their all.   (My wonderful wife is taking the pictures backstage.)
My students are seeing me outside of school and they know that they are important to me.  They know that someone, other than those that should, cares about them.

A teacher should always encourage within the classroom, but don't forget to encourage outside of it also.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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Impromptu Social Studies

Moving from little kids to little big kids one of the biggest things I have had to get used to is teaching Science and Social Studies.

Wait! Before you throw up the "I Can't Believe You Didn't Teach Science and Social Studies to the Little Ones" flag and wave it all around...I did teach them. There was just not a huge focus since they they didn't even know quite how to read yet.

Okay, now that we are all off of our respective soapboxes...Social Studies has turned into one of the highlights of my day!

We are currently doing a unit on Native Americans. For our standards they are to become experts on six different tribes, and so our grade level plans reflected this... But I got bored (and so did the LBKs)... As a result, Impromptu Social Studies project was born!

As I was getting ready to start the umptenth video for the students to take notes on I realized that I was really dreading the next hour. So I said to myself, "Self, this is boring. Let's do something fun that makes them learn how to work together."

Then I group the kids, randomly, and gave each group one of our Native American groups to create a poster on and WOW has it been fun!

First, we created a design for our poster on one sheet of copy paper.

Next, we took over the computer lab and did a little research.

Now we are in the process of completing our posters. And I think they can tell me more about the different groups now than they could have if we just had five straight days of videos and notes. They are even learning more about the groups they are not assigned simply by working next to each other. I can't tell you how many times one student has said to another, "Hey, look at this!"

They are excited and having, and so am I...finally! Fourth grade may work out after all.

Until next time...

Mr. A

P.S.  You can grab a copy of the rubric I'm using here.  Thank you Rubistar for the free rubric generator!

Diving In to Guided Reading

So here we go...diving in to the educational blogging world.  Finding inspiration from many wonderful blogs I've decided to document and share my  classroom mishaps stuff.

I've decided to begin with my Independent Guided Reading Project.  This is my first year in frightful...errr...fabulous fourth grade and coming from guided reading with little ones to guided reading with big little ones I was a little nervous.  So...across the hall I go to my fellow fourth grade adventurer.  I stuck my head in and said, "Sup?"

After sticking my nose into what she was doing (and hiding a copy of it behind my back) I decided to do a little more diving.  And after a little searching and reading I came up with this project that, so far, I have loved.

My LBKs (little big kids) are about to finish their first book.  There have been many questions and a lot of modifying, but today was the first day that they all worked independently on their projects!  They are due tomorrow by the end of our guided reading segment and I am excited to see how they have turned out...pictures will be posted.

In the meantime you can take a look and grab a copy for yourself here.

Until next time...

Mr. A

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