Teaching Children about September 11th.

For many of us, September 11th is a day that causes us all to stop and remember. We trade stories about where we were when we heard the news and morn the losses that happened that day. Many of our students weren't alive for 9/11, either that or they were too young to remember. That makes this topic something important to discuss with our students. Below is my post from last year sharing what I did to teach my students about 9/11.

To start this conversation I ask my kiddos to tell me what they know about 9/11. We listen and talk. As the conversation turns into more questions than facts I play a video from BrainPOP.
The video is normally the featured video on Sept. 11th, so even if you don't have a BrainPop subscription you can still show the video for free.

After the video the kids and I read the story Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey. The students and I talk about the book, and how normal people became heroes that day. Fair warning to read it first before you read it to your kids...I get choked up every year.

Then we read September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right. This book was written by a first grade class. It shares how the students knew everything would be okay. Many of you know that I am in a private school, so I am able to share with the kids that we can trust in God when bad things like this happen. I remind them that it isn't a surprise to God, and that even though we don't know why He allows bad things to happen we can trust that He will help us through it. It's a good lesson for me to remember too.

How do you explain 9/11 to your students? What are your favorite activities to do with your kiddos to help them deal with such a heavy topic?

Social Studies Simulations Giveaway

When I was a student in high school, one of my favorite teachers was a history teacher, because he was the first teacher that made history come alive for me. When I decided to become a teacher, I knew that I didn't want my students to have to wait until they were in high school to have social studies come alive.

This past year, I discovered that most of my class (all but one if I am honest) hated social studies through a graphing activity I use in the beginning of the year. I decided I needed to do a little more to liven my curriculum up even more than I have in the past.

Early in the year the students had their first experience with an Underground Railroad simulation that I found on TPT the year before. It was a perfect way to make things come to life in a short time period.

Throughout the year I made three new simulations for my students to enjoy:
Pilgrim Dice Simulation

Oregon Trail Dice Simulation

Gold Rush Dice Simulation

Each of these simulations comes with a list of suggested books, a writing prompt, and the actual simulation. The simulation takes about 15 min, (it may take longer if you have a larger class.) I normally use the rest of the class period having the students work on their writing prompt and debriefing from the activity. I use these simulations as a wrap-up for our unit...however some teachers prefer to use them to kick off a unit. It is totally teacher's choice!

It can get a little crazy with all your students walking around the room at the same time, since they move from station to station at their own pace, so it is really important to lay down some ground rules before you start. I have found that the simulations do leave a lasting impression on the kiddos. They remember their results of the simulation more than other things we do in class.

Since I've had such a great experience using simulations, I want to give you all a chance to use them as well! I'll pick two winners on Friday, they will be able to choose any two of the three simulations for themselves.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One more thing...
Now that I am taking time off to start a family, I'd love to make more simulations. What topics would you love to have a simulation for? If I use the topic you suggested you will receive a free copy of that simulation when it is completed as a thank you!
 

Word Splash: A Pre-Assessment Activity

It is amazing how quickly time passes by...I can't believe it has been months since my last post. Life has totally gotten away from me, so blogging had to be put on hold for a little while. Now that summer is here and I am awaiting baby girl's birth, I have a little more time to work on the blog posts that I started but didn't finish!

I don't know about you, but I have always had the hardest time pre-assessing my students in science and social studies. I didn't want to give them a test...and unfortunately I don't have enough time in a day to have a conversation with each of my students about a topic, so I tried to think of a better way. Because of this, I want to share an activity I love to do with my fourth graders, and with adults when I am leading a workshop. It is a strategy I picked up from a dear friend of mine, and I have used it for years now, Word Splash!

Word Splashes are a fun and easy way to take a quick assessment of a large group of people. The beauty is, that it can be used for any subject matter. With my students I type up a list of words that I feel are most important to our unit of study. For example my kiddos and I were beginning our study on New England. I gave my students words like; Plymouth, Pilgrims, 1620, Textile Mill, Puritans, etc. Once my kiddos have the words, they work in groups to organize them. They can organize them in whatever way they see that the words fit together. I do allow the students to have up to three words in a category called, "I have no idea" This allows me to see what topics or words they really don't know anything about.

Once the kids have their words organized we travel together as a class from table to table to listen to each group explain how they organized the words.

As we travel, I just listen. I don't give any suggestions or opinions on their categories or placements. They will learn the correct meaning of words as we work through our unit...this just lets me see any misconceptions they already have before we start the unit. It is always amazing to me how the kids do pick up on things. I will often have students say, "Oh, that is what that word means." When we are working through our unit, and it is because they remember the word from this activity.

When I work with adults, I will modify it a little. I do not give them the words on paper, instead I put the words up on a Power Point and have them jot each word on a small post-it. Since it is at a workshop setting I normally have them arrange their Word Splash on a piece of chart paper to hang around the room for the day, just so they can look back at it throughout the day. Adults will often get up and rearrange their word splash as they learn something new...which is a neat way for me as a presenter to see who is really getting what I am sharing.

Have you ever used Word Splashes before? What strategies/activities do you use to pre-assess your kiddos in science/social studies?

Players in Pigtails (Social Studies Mentor Text)

Time certainly does fly by! I can't believe it has been over a week since my last post. I'm excited to link up with Collaboration Cuties to share a social studies mentor text with you.



I'm always on the lookout for books that teach students about something they have never heard of before. Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey does just that. This book is during the time period of World War II, all the men were heading off to war and President Roosevelt became worried that the nation's national past time, baseball, was going to fall apart. Philip Wrigley decided to open it up to girls, and that is how the All American Girls Baseball League began. 


My students love the book. Most of them have never heard that girls played baseball, in fact a few of my boys tried to correct me and tell me that girls play softball. They were amazed that the book was based on a true story. I love using this book during our Historical Fiction Unit.

Do any of you have a favorite mentor text for something that isn't very well-known to students?

Birthday Blessings and a Field Trip!

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you have all had a lovely week! Thank you all for the birthday well-wishes. I had a great day. When I arrived at school on Monday morning I discovered this on my door.

My homeroom moms had come back after school the day of our Thanksgiving break to decorate the door for my birthday! How sweet is that? Each post-it was a note from a student or a parent telling me what they enjoy about school. It was such a blessing. One little boy wrote that "I hated to read, but now because of you I love reading." Talk about bringing tears to my eyes! I don't know about you, but some days I feel like I don't make a difference, so this was really a blessing. This motivated me this week!

My students and I also went on our first field trip on Wednesday. We took a two and a half hour bus ride out to our state capital, Harrisburg.

The students and I (along with 10 parents) went on a tour of the capitol building. We were able to go into the House, Senate, and Judicial rooms. Then, because our senator was there we were allowed a special trip onto the Senate Floor to meet with him. The kiddos had a blast!

After our tour, we spent the afternoon at the Pennsylvania State Museum. The museum had a great scavenger hunt for the kids to complete. They were able to fill in some facts they already knew, but also learned some new things along the way. It was a great trip that really made history come to life!

What field trips do you take your kids on? How do you spark student motivation? Be sure to check out Joanne's blog for more motivating ideas!

How Many Days to America-Mentor Text

Happy Sunday before Thanksgiving! As busy as this time of year is, I really do love it. I love the extra time we have to celebrate with friends and family. I love that we have a day that reminds us to be thankful for the little things.

Because I teach in a very "middle class" area. I like to remind my students to be thankful for all the little things as well. To help them with this I like to share a book with them this time of year by Eve Bunting. How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story is a wonderful book to use during Reading Workshop.

 

This book tells the story of a family leaving their country and heading to America by boat. They are trying to escape their home country because "they don't think the same way." The book ends with the family making it to America on Thanksgiving Day.

 

It lends itself to all types of reading skills, inferring, questioning, connections, etc. I like to use this book with my students in a lesson called "Reading is Thinking." This is where my students are encouraged to think using all the skills we have taught them, not just the skill we are focused on for the week.

 

 What are your favorite social studies mentor text to share this time of year? Do you have a favorite informational Thanksgiving book you share with your class? Be sure to head over to Collaboration Cuties to grab some new mentor text suggestions! (Just think, with Amazon's cyber Monday sale you can pick up some new books for a great price! Anyone else have a cart waiting for the sale?)

Spark Student Motivation-Landform Project

Happy Saturday! It is a nice chilly day here in Pennsylvania...I have a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee and am catching up on blogging-what a great start to the weekend! I'm linking up with my dear friend Joanne at Head over Heels for Teaching for her linky party.

Today I want to share a project with you that I did with my students a few weeks ago...I just didn't have a chance to blog about it when we did it! My kiddos and I have been studying our home state of Pennsylvania. When we first started our unit, I wanted them to have a solid grasp of our state's geography. What better way to have them really learn about it than by having them make a model of our state?

I don't know about you, but my kids love working with clay. I partnered them up, gave them the directions to the project, a paper map of our state, clay, and a few resource books and they went to town. A few of them needed to be reminded that our mountains are not rocky like the Rocky Mountains...they had to tone down their "peaks." Here's a picture of many of the finished clay products.

If you are interested in doing this project with your students you can download it here for free.

 

What do you do to motivate your students?

Tried it Tuesday-Causes of the American Revolution with Smarties

I love starting back to school on a Tuesday...if only every weekend was a three day weekend! I'm linking up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday

Last week my students and I studied the causes of the American Revolution. Earlier this year Mary from Fit to be Fourth blogged about a Smarties activity she used to introduce her students to the causes of the American Revolution. She was so kind to send it to me.

Since I only have 14 students I had my student teacher be the Queen. I was Parliament, two of my students were tax collectors and the rest were colonists. My student teacher read out the new tax laws while the tax collectors collected the taxes from their classmates. They passed the "taxes" to me and I passed a large share onto the king. The tax collectors were able to keep one Smartie for each new tax, I as Parliament kept two and we gave the rest to the Queen.

The students got very vocal about the situation and quickly let us know that they did not find it very fair.

As you can see the Queen had a very large share.

The colonists did not end up with much.

Once the activity was over, we had the students reflect on how they felt about the activity (after I gave them all more Smarties so they stopped thinking I was the unfair one,) and how they thought the colonists felt when they had to give up their money.

It was a fantastic activity that really helped the kids have a taste of what the colonists may have felt.

What have you tried recently? What do you do to help your students understand the American Revolution?

Thursday Throw Down-Native American Project Freebie

Thursday already? This week is flying by! I'm excited to link up with Erin at I'm Lovin Lit for her Thursday Throw Down.

At the start of the school year I learned through different activities that my kiddos did not enjoy social studies. One of my goals was to make social studies fun again for them. I have been working on different projects to help the kids learn what they need to learn in a fun way.

This past week my kiddos have been learning about the local Native American tribes from Pennsylvania. The students were broken up into four groups, and they had to research their assigned tribe. Once they found the facts they needed to find the students created interview questions and answers to share about their tribe with their classmates.

 

I forgot to bring my camera home from school, so I don't have any pictures to post tonight, but you can pick up this project for free from my TPT store. If you download it, please leave some feedback and let me know what you think.

What do you do to make social studies more interactive for your students?

Social Stuides Mentor Text and a Peek at my Week

Happy Sunday! Time is flying...I can't believe it is already the fourth Sunday in September! I'm linking up with Collaboration Cuties to share a Social Studies Mentor Text suggestion, as well as Jennifer at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for a Peek at my Week.

My students and I have just finished our geography unit. In this unit we talk about the relative location of both our country and our state. We also spend time talking about the basics of landforms, climate, and natural resources. All of these topics lay the ground work for the rest of our units of study. The National Geographic Kids United States Atlas  is a great resource for those topics.

I wish I had more copies...but the atlas is great to teach kiddos the basic geography topics. It is a lot more interesting to read/look at than our text book.

We started our study of Pennsylvania on Friday. For the next five weeks we will learn all about our home state. I try, when possible, to incorporate writing into the content areas. To do this I created a descriptive writing activity that my kiddos will work on this week. In this activity the students need to pretend that an alien is visiting from space.

They need to describe the relative location, climate, and natural resources that the alien discovers on its journey. I've used it for a few years and it is a fun way for kids to show and explain what they know. I allow my students to refer to the atlas to help them. You can check it out at my TPT store.

Another fun project that my students will be working on this week is Exploring Ireland. This project is from Teaching with a Mountain View. It is a great way for kids to see how they will use adding and subtraction multi-digit numbers in real life.

What are you up to this week?