Poetry Month Resources

April is National Poetry month, so we celebrate each year by creating our own poetry books. Each student creates his or her own poetry book, but we also compile our resources into a classroom anthology that I copy for each student. It truly is a unit I look forward to teaching each year. Figurative language, parts of speech, creative writing... it's all there!

If you want to try a poetry unit with your students this month but aren't sure where to start, you can grab my poetry pack in my TpT Store. I also made a short video to walk you through the process with your students. They're going to love it!

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, click over to visit me at Ms. Fultz's Corner.

Comparing and Ordering Integers

With Spring Break coming to an end, I am busy planning for next week.  Math is bringing us integers and I am hoping my little darlings don't get too confused!!  I created a number line for them that I will laminate and stick to the top of their desks so they don't have to squint to see the one on my wall!!

Click on the picture below if you need one for your darlings:

The Common Core doesn't get into integers until the 6th grade, but it is a part of my curriculum, so I can't not do them!!!  I am sure most of you are in the same boat as well.  I honestly believe that students need to "meet" integers before the 6th grade.  So, I am in the process of creating some fun integer games and task cards.  The first few are focused on just ordering and comparing positive and negative numbers.  I will soon be looking into creating products to help with adding and subtracting positive and negative numbers.

This is a fun twist on the old card game, War.  It is played the exact same way as well.  The students lay out a card and the highest card wins.  The person holding all the cards at the end is the winner.  Click on the picture to grab this from my store:

These task cards can also be found at my store:

If you like what you see, visit me at my blog for more fun!!  www.myjourneyto5thgrade.com

Thanks for reading,
Julie

Math Intervention! {Customary Conversions}

Are your students struggling with converting customary units of measurement?  It's a tough concept.  When used before introducing customary conversions to the whole class, my remediation students were able to keep up with the new concepts as they were taught.

The scaffolded instruction through 6 short lessons and a 4 question progress quiz helped them gain the skills and confidence to meet grade level requirements.

This intervention pack meets the customary measurement portion of the following Common Core Standard.
CCSS.Math.Content.5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

Included:
1- Units of Measurement- Reviewing customary units of measurement
2- Length- 2 mini-posters for 2 different problem solving strategies (5 Steps and Conversion Tables), 4 word problems
3- Weight- 4 word problems
4- Volume and Capacity- 4 problems
5- Extra Practice- 4 multi-step word problems
6- Task Cards- 8 review task cards
7- Progress Quiz- 4 question quiz

This product is available for sale in my TpT Store, The Science Penguin.

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog www.thesciencepenguin.com.

Scribble Stories for Creative Writing

If you want to get your kids to write, let them do a little art first.  With scribble stories, students take the scribble and turn it into something creative. They get to spend some time designing and even coloring.  I absolutely love seeing how different kids take the same scribble and make it become something totally different from others that have the same scribble.  By the time they have finished the art, they have already created some kind of story in their head.  Plus, for some reason, by simply allowing them to do the art first, they seem to take ownership of the paper and the writing will pretty much flow.  When I hang these in the hallway, I typically take any that started off with the same scribble and hang them right beside each other.  That way everyone can enjoy seeing how each child turned it into something different.  It's a fun and creative writing project.  Enjoy!

You can get my scribble stories pack by clicking HERE.

Thanks for checking them out.

Hover over image and click to pin to Pinterest. 

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog Classroom Confections.

 

 

Math Adventures with Jimmy Jump Drive - Rounding Numbers

 Meet Jimmy Jump Drive, an adorable character who will guide your students through the common core math.  The first of Jimmy's adventures will help students practice rounding numbers to the nearest tens and hundreds places.  Included in  this 11 page PDF, you will find 2 basic practice pages, 2 number sorting mats, 1 Jimmy Jump Drive hundreds board, and 1 Jimmy Jump Drive place value board with place value number cards and a student record sheet.

This is just the beginning of the fun.  For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog http://stimulatingsciencesimulations.blogspot.com/

Poetry and Figurative Language

We have been working on poetry and Figurative Language for the last couple of weeks.  

This week we started writing our own poems about feelings and emotions.

I started out by making up these sheets for the kids to do some brainstorming and pre-writing.

(I am putting together a file for TPT, but it is still a work in progress.)

I modeled one first on chart paper (sorry forgot to take a picture!)

Then I sent them out to fill in theirs with all things they associated with each feeling or emotion.

Today I shared with them the poem I wrote last night using the information from my chart.

We talked about spacing and line breaks,

similes and metaphors that we have been working on,

and the kind of format they should use for their poems

(any format they wanted for this one.)

I set them loose to write and we came back together after about 45 minutes to share out.

They blew me away!

I was so impressed with the kiddos who shared today.

They had some AMAZING poems.

I will definitely share them when we publish.

Tonight they were to be thinking about another of the 8 emotions to write about tomorrow.

I can't wait!

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog,

Confessions of a Teaching Junkie

Primary and Secondary Sources

I am not really sure what is so hard about determining the difference between primary and secondary resources, but some kids just don't get it.  And, of course, I am always looking for a game to help my kids learn material.  My kids had a lot of fun with this game.  The game board is one of my favorites!  Check it out and see if it will work for your students.

You can find this colorful primary and secondary sources game by clicking HERE.

Just a reminder....

A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person or work of art. In contrast, a secondary source  was created after the event happened. In secondary sources, the information has been interpreted, commented, analyzed or processed in such a way that it no longer conveys the newness of the original material.

For more Common Core aligned teaching ideas, please visit my blog Classroom Confections.