Showing posts with label Lessons by Natalie Grimm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lessons by Natalie Grimm. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Provocation: Abraham Lincoln and Cabin Building


       In addition to our social studies curriculum, where we learned about George Washington, we took some of our morning work time to also explore more about Abraham Lincoln's life to celebrate President's day. I set up a provocation for the students where they were asked how they would design and build a log cabin. To aid them, I set out the following materials: books on Abraham Lincoln and a Eric Sloan's book American Yesterday--which has tons of illustrations on early American houses, a few drawings of log cabin plans and blueprints, the My Plan paper, Lincoln Logs, and a Presidents Field Guide
       Here were a few of their creations they built based off of the plans they drew...

       The students then brought their plans to our morning to meeting to share with one another and discussed what worked and what didn't work when they were building their cabins, as well as what sorts of items they would house their cabins with and why. 
       Later on, we extended our learning by taking the book Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books to further practice our ability to infer the meaning of unknown words when reading:

Snapshots: Going on a Noun Hunt!

     
       Here's a couple of quick snapshots from one of our recent language arts lessons where we learned about nouns. Students were introduced to the definition of a noun and its many examples through a read-aloud of the book If You Were a Noun by Michael Dahl. We then drew our own examples of nouns and created an anchor chart for them. Snakes and aliens were popular choices today =)


       Students then picked a book from their book box to use along with Beth Gordon's noun scavenger hunt printable (download here for free). They tried to locate as many different nouns as they could while going through their chosen book.

S.T.E.A.M. Basic Insect Hotels


       One of our recent STEAM projects came out of our entomology unit: insect hotels. After seeing dozens of elaborate insect hotels in my own Pinterest feed, I decided to try and find a way to let me students build a mini one during one of our afternoon science blocks. We had been reading about insects and their habitats, so we collected our research on what we had learned attracted really beneficial insects. Pine cones, dry leaves, branches, bark, and--yes--even straws--these were the (primarily) natural materials we gathered to arrange into snug nooks and crannies in tin cans to create these mini homes for our insect friends. 

 and here's a finished one...


We tied our up with Baker's Twine to be hung, and the students got to take them home to find a garden for them.

Snapshots: Exploring Herbs with Descriptive Writing


Today students had the opportunity to explore three different herbs--mint, sage, and rosemary--after having read selected poems from Anna's Garden Songs for our current study on botany and gardening. Before I gave each student their specimen we conversed on how these different herbs have and can be used. Students then had to use their five senses to then write descriptive words about each herb. Here's how a couple of students described sage:
"It feels soft and fuzzy--kind of like how the leaves on pumpkins feel soft sometimes."
 "It smells a little like mint, but it smells more like the stew my mom makes for dinner."
"It's furry-like and reminds me of fall."

Study on Mammals and Camouflage


       We recently wrapped up our integrated study on mammals, camouflage, and map-making (geography) in room 14. From day one of this unit the students have shown genuine enthusiasm and interest in learning about their favorite mammals and discovering new mammals from all over the world. 
        Our unit began with the reading of Mammals by Adele Richardson. From the read-alouds we learned what makes a mammal a mammal (as opposed to reptiles, amphibians, etc.) and mapped out our acquired information with a bubble map. I also took this opportunity to introduce features of non-fiction texts. Throughout the rest of the week we continued to participate in shared readings that introduced new vocabulary words, which we illustrated on post-it notes as we were reading.



       The historical figure that was integrated into the unit was Jane Goodall. We had two read-alouds that the students had to narrate back at the end of their reading on her life working with the chimps: Me... Jane by Patrick McDonnell and The Watcher by Jeanette Winter.


       The students were really excited when at the end of the week they were partnered off and given a big zip-lock bag of plastics animals, which they then had to sort out the mammals from the rest of the differing creatures found within our huge animal kingdom. They then had the choice to play some of the various mammal and camouflage file folder games I had on hand, or they could participate in a challenge sort: sorting their group of mammals into groups of carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores.


       Students were then divided into small groups to collaborate in designing and building a 3-D zoo with exhibits for four mammals of their choosing. The groups had to then look at all the materials provided to them (which consisted mostly of construction paper, markers, and various types of blocks that were pulled from our classroom tinker station), their mammals, and then consider what their exhibits would have to have in order to reflect the mammals given habitats. As the children were building, I interviewed each group--asking them questions to explain and support their decisions.





       The final component of our unit integrated information writing. Each student picked a mammal of their choice to research and write on. During this latter half of the unit, students learned that researchers read informational texts to gain knowledge on their topic, the difference between writing information and narratives, and the structure of paragraph writing. Student's were given a plan to help support them in their writing.
       After the students had written on their mammal, they then edited, and published a final paragraph as a zoo plaque (with accompanying picture they drew) onto our whole class zoo map.



Author Study Unit on James Herriot

       Using the beloved children's books penned by award-winning author, James Herriot, students will widen their knowledge in the following: animal life science, England's geography, watercolor as an art medium, music styles from the 1940's, measurment practice, and more. The unit seeks to integrate social science, math, language arts, science, art, and music together--over the course of eight school days.

Unit at a Glance

Grade Level: Second

Dictionary: Amphibian, Author, Life Cycle, Mammal, Reptiles, Setting, Veterinarian 

Objectives:
  • Practice respectful listening skills
  • Describe the author and his professions
  • Connect their own experiences to the reading materials
  • Retell and narrate a story orally
  • Create a storybook including proper story structure: beginning, middle, and end
  • Describe the setting (including its geography) of the stories
  • Explain how a country's geography related to how its people live
  • Measure objects in inches and rounding off to the nearest inch
  • Distinguish the difference between mammals, reptiles, and amphibians and their differing life cycles
Below is a brief outline of the learning activities of the unit.
  • Day 1: Students are introduced to the author James Herriot through a short video clip and the teacher's SMARTBoard presentation. Student's listen to a read-aloud of Moses the Kitten, followed by constructing a 7 Flip-Flap Booklet of key terms and vocabulary words they'll come across throughout the unit.
  • Day 2: Students listen to a read aloud of Bonny's Big Day and take a virtual field trip of where author James Herriot lived and worked.
  • Day 3: Students design postcards writing and illustrating about James Herriot's home.
  • Day 4: Student's listen to a read aloud of Blossom Comes Home and participate in the SMARTBoard activity: Animal Classification
  • Day 5: Working with partner's students will practice measuring
  • Day 6: Students listen to a read aloud of Only One Woof and begin their storybook projects
  • Day 7: Students listen to a read aloud of Market Square Dog and continue to work on their storybook
  • Day 8: Students share their storybooks with the class and assess themselves. 
*Additional and supplemental resources can be found here as well

Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.8, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.2,  CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.4a, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.4e, CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.1, CCSS.Math.Content.2.MD.A.4  
Author Profile of James Herriot. 

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Lessons: The Lorax

Unless someone like you care a whole lot, nothing is ever
 going to get better. It's not. ~The Lorax
        Hands down The Lorax was my favorite Dr. Suess book as a child. I always loved it's message of taking care and stewarding the environment wisely--a message I still appreciate as an adult.

Grade(s): Kindergarten, First, Second
Big Picture(s): Preservation, Sustainability, Earth-Friendly
Dictionary: Caretaker/Steward, Environment, Green, Habitat, Nature, Wildlife, Tree, Pollution, Park
In Class: This lesson began with a shared reading of the Dr. Seuss classic, The Lorax, followed up with How to Help the Earth by Tish Rabe. As a whole group, the students fill out a graphic organizer on the SMARTBoard addressing either of the two: What practical (big or little) things they could do to take care of their environment (if the group of students already had a basic understanding of sustainability), or list the different causes and effects that were present in the story as a way to scaffold into further discussions and learning on sustainability. Throughout this time various vocabulary words would be introduced and discussed as well.
    During the next portion of the lesson, students were released to individually write reflectively on what they thought about the reading, class discussion, and how the two connect to them each. As students finished they're writing, they gathered an assortment of art materials provided to them to make their own visual depiction of a Truffula forest around their writing which was mounted on construction paper. 

Further Resources:

Lessons by Natalie Grimm © 2014 

Lessons: Pumpkin Soup

"Deep in the woods in an old white cabin, three friends make
 their pumpkin soup..." ~Helen Cooper
       This sweet tradebook, Pumpkin Soup, tells the tale of how three friends, Duck, Cat, and Squirrel, learn to work together to make their favorite fall dinner. In the elementary grades, the book lends itself well to teaching process writing and verbs. Likewise, preschoolers can be introduced to the same topics of teamwork and friendship that are explored through the text through various play activities. Young children and adults will both love the illustrations and this simple story to celebrate the coming of autumn together.

Ages and Grades: Preschool--First Grade
The Big Picture: Autumn, Teamwork, Friendship 
Dictionary: Process, Sequence, Step(s), Pumpkin, Scoff, Trudge, Mutter, Wail
In The Classroom... 
  • Read aloud Helen Cooper's storybook Pumpkin Soup
  • Brainstorm a list using a graphic organizer of all the different foods we eat with pumpkins
  • Have students sort out the sequence of steps to making pumpkin soup based on what they heard in the read aloud
  • Process Writing Activity (1st Grade): Have students pick one of the pumpkin foods brainstormed, write the sequence (series of steps) of how that food is made, then add illustrations
  • Have students identify the verbs the author used throughout the book (e.g. scoff, mutter, trudge) through various vocabulary strategies and activities
  • For preschoolers discuss each character's job and how they needed to work as a team to make their pumpkin soup using this free job card printable from Learning Parade
In The Home...
Further Resources...

*CCSS: ELA-Literacy.W.1.5

Lessons by Natalie Grimm © 2014