Teach Sensory Details with Bacon!

One of the fifth grade TEKS (standards) in Texas is for students to identify how an author uses "sensory details"...It will most likely show up on our STAAR test. I LOVE this skill, because it is the perfect opportunity for our students to read like writers and write like readers, you know? They really have to think like an author! I have enjoyed working with them to locate ways the author uses sensory details in literature.

Anyhoo, we discussed how sensory details help us imagine how something would look, taste, smell etc. We used a sensory details graphic organizer to create a page in our reading notebooks. (wish I'd snapped a pic) This was all good, but I wanted to give the kids a super sensory *experience* that we could write about. I thought about many foods, and I decided that the experience of cooking and eating bacon is pretty darn appealing to all five senses!!

It was perfect, because you can use onomatopoeias to describe the cooking sound. Then, of course the smell...After that I made them write about the appearance and texture. Finally, we ate it!

**Here is my tip..I brought in a few slices of raw bacon to cook so they could hear the sizzling sound. For the rest, I brought pre-cooked "Microwave Ready" bacon. I just set it in the skillet for about 1 minute and it was hot and ready. It was very easy, and the kids have done well at remembering what sensory details are ever since!

What's New in Room 410

So, overall, I have really enjoyed my time in 5th grade. Over Christmas I spent some time re-thinking what I am doing in my class. I realized that what I missed most about teaching a younger grade is doing the Daily 5 for real. I LOVE reading with small groups of kids at the little reading table. It's my favorite.

I couldn't figure out how to make Daily 5 really really work with my 5th graders because my room is too small for all those bodies. We are all on top of each other, so moving all around to go to our activities and meet back on the rug was impossible. I think the problem was the part where you meet back up between rotations. So for the first semester, we did a Daily Reading workshop time, but never did the different rotations.

Well, now I've gone way back to the basics. No new ideas here. I'm basically doing centers 3 days a week. The centers include time with me and Read to Self everyday. Word work on the Smartboard, writing, STAAR practice, and read to someone get mixed in. I write the kids group names on the green card and I have a student rotate them after each round. I feel like I am finally getting some of the elements of Daily 5 back in my class, even though I can't do it by the book. It is nothing new, it's extremely simple, but it works! What REALLY works is getting to read with all my kids in a small group. It is the most valuable instruction time I have!

Also, like many of you, we are gearing up for STAAR! Trying to cover our last few TEKS. I have so enjoyed trying to apply some of these newly tested TEKS into our reading. Here is a couple we've been working on...

I know words like conflict, resolution, resolve, etc are really simple, but if you teach ELLs, they need to hear those words quite a bit so they understand them on the test. Some of mine had never hear these words. We've been using our sticky notes to write conflicts and resolutions we see in our own reading...This ties really well to summary. It's like the ole B.M.E., because a good summary is going to cover the conflict and resolution in a story.

And foreshadowing...I don't think I learned what that meant until like 8th grade, but my kids are doing well with it! We watched some movie clips with foreshadowing first, and then applied it to reading. We are reading "Sign of the Beaver" which has SO much foreshadowing. I snapped a pic when we first started this foreshadowing chart. Oh, and I sing "dun dun dun" ominously pretty much every time we discuss foreshadowing...

Teaching Themes

I am not sure if any Texas teachers are reading this! If so, did you see that TEA finally released samples of the new STAAR test?! I was very anxious to finally see it. It is different and rigorous, but it will definitely keep me on my toes! Bring it on.

In the past, "theme" and "tone" have not been concepts that they are questioned on. I had heard that now, they will be tested, so I had already planned them into some units. (I'm sort of excited, because these are fun concepts to teach!)Sure enough, this topic was on the sample STAAR.

So, I mixed theme in with my Native American Unit. We took the book chart I posted about on Tuesday, and connected it with themes. Literally, with string...



Sorry for the iphone pics, but you get the idea..."themes are ideas threaded through literature" is what is says on the far right...



Our discussions about the themes that run through different books have been great. We have a ways to go with this topic, but it's a start!

Legend of the Bluebonnet

The Legend of the Bluebonnet is such a great story of courage and sacrifice.

When I was planning this lesson, I was thinking of what vocabulary would be difficult for my English Learners. One of the foundations of the story is that the little girl has to sacrifice her most "valued possession" to save her people from a terrible drought. As I thought, many of my kids did not know the word "possession." So I showed them many of my own and we listed them--simple enough!

Then, we had a discussion about the word "value" and the term "valued possession." So, I told them the story about my engagement ring and how it belonged to my husband's grandmother. I bring in pictures and tell about her sweet personality. Then, the students discuss their personal "valued possessions" and the reason they have meaning. It may seem like a lot of effort for one term, but it really drives home the point when the little girl sacrifices her most valued possession.



After we read the story, it was a perfect opportunity to revisit our text connections. We quickly made the connection about valued possessions, but we also worked on making connections to the theme of sacrifice. Overall, I feel like this book gives a great opportunity for some deep discussions!

Favorite Native American Legends!

A Native American Unit is perfect for teaching about legends and folktales! These stories carry many of the same elements, so before I read any of them, I like to show my students this Smartboard Program...



Here are the books and the chart I use...Not my prettiest graphic organizer, but makes the point...



Elements of a Native American Legend...Nature/Setting means how is nature incorporated into the setting..


(I mention to my kids that "The Rough-Face Girl" is more of a folktale/fairytale, but it can still fit the pattern. Such a fantastic story!)

Some of my favorite Read-Alouds of the entire year!!



These are all beautiful stories, and they reinforce many concepts I try to cover about Native Americans.

Tomorrow, I will go into more detail about my lesson for The Legend of the Bluebonnet!

I ♥ Native Americans

Native Americans are one of my FAVORITE topics to teach about. When I was student teaching, I worked with a fantastic Kindergarten teacher. We did a Native American Unit that was a total blast! When I got our "History Alive" 5th grade curriculum, I was thrilled to see the focus on Native Americans. I used information from there, but added my own things to the topic.

Here are topics/vocabulary words I try to push:

survival, adaptations, culture, artifacts, shelter regions of the United States, analogies, Native American Legends, natural resources, harsh environments, nomadic, the impact of technology coming into the world, cause and effects: How the land effects the people, comparing and contrasting their lifestyles, Seriously I could go on...You can cover so much and do tons of critical thinking with this topic, and the kids eat it up because it is fascinating!

On Discovery Education (United Streaming Video) there are some wonderful videos for several Native American cultural regions. Just type in "Native Americans, People of the Desert" (and then people of the forest, plains, etc) I am working with my students on taking notes and organizing information, so we use these Cornell Notes as we watch the clips.

Cornell Notes Native Americans

We also added the information to a giant graphic organizer a little at a time. The labeling might seem a bit primary, but my ELLs still need the support.







For tomorrow, my favorite Native American Legends!

Classroom Changes

Moving to a new grade-level has a learning curve. Here is part of mine: I didn't realize how much space the kids would take up! I know they are bigger, but it is different than I expected when they are all in a room. I did not plan well for this ! Rookie mistake! :)

My 26 precious babies were squeezed in too tight with my old arrangement, and I knew I had to make some adjustments for the sake of comfort and organization.

I had these lovely round tables at the beginning...I love tables, but I didn't have enough tables for the kids. Plus I couldn't be as flexible with the room arrangements.



But I traded them in for desks...They are still in groups, so it is working out great!



Ah, my beloved table!!! It has been my favorite place in my classroom ever since I started teaching, but it is was too large..



But this smaller replacement table has been great...



Now we are enjoying a more spacious classroom! It is crazy how a more comfortable, spacious environment helps the kids behave better.


In other news, I am so behind on blogging about some of the things we have been doing! Here is our Idioms Chart!



Also, here is an anchor chart that goes with a lesson from Tanny MccGregor's book, Comprehension Connections. It is one of my favorite professional books ever, and I would HIGHLY recommend it!





So, not my best poster but it makes the point :)

Anchor Chart Models

The school district I teach for has been very big on Daily 5 and Reading/Writing Workshop for about three years now. The younger grades usually go by the book with Daily 5. The intermediate grades do "Daily 3" (readers/writer's workshop and some variation of word work).

So, now our 5th graders know the drill of the Daily 5 launching lessons. I knew I still needed to teach those lessons to set expectations, but I wanted to change it up.

Pinterest inspired me to do something different this year..I was loving the anchor charts that included pictures of students modeling the behaviors. I took that idea and ran with it. (Thank you to whoever in the world thought of it first!)

I had the kids work in teams to create their own lists of correct and incorrect behaviors. Then, they had to model the behaviors and take pictures. The students were quite literally "models" of the behavior! They had a blast, and thought they were just hilarious...We chose the best pictures to post on the anchor chart, so it was sort of a competition...I thought the kids did a great job!





They even gave away some of their tricks. :) Like being sneaky and writing notes behind their book...

They also told me that they sometimes "fake read" when they lay down...I was happy to hear these little tidbits ha!



(Do you like how I used sticky notes to cover the prominent faces? Haha)