The Human Body Unit - Making Learning Gross!

What is the best way to engage students in a unit on the human body? Make it a little gross!

My students spent two weeks learning all the parts of the body and digging in deep to the content. They weren't thrilled with all the content by itself and if science should be anything, it should be fun! In comes a slew of projects, activities, writing assignments, and excitement!

We kicked our unit off by learning about the Circulatory System and the blood.

We started by reading a little about the circulatory system in our science packets. Our 5th grade team uses this as our science curriculum. It is not my favorite source for teaching, but it does beat our old science books that I can still find my name in from when I was a student. (Have I mentioned how excited I am for the Next Generation Science Standards? Science is changing folks! Hooray!)
These lessons in this packet are short and sweet and don't go in depth, so we had to do a project and our own research to learn more! 

After reading, we popped on over to BrainPop to watch a great video on the Circulatory System. BrainPop never fails to impress in my room. Students beg me to watch more videos when we are done! There are also videos on the human body, blood pressure, the heart, and the lymphatic system.

The circulatory system video was wonderful, but we wanted to focus on the blood in our body for our research and project that we were going to complete. I pulled up another BrainPop video on blood. I had students take notes on the video that they could later use in their reports.

Now watching videos on something is pretty exciting, but it isn't gross and it doesn't get students to have a hands-on approach to learning about the blood.

Enter Runde's Room. She has some great ideas and I couldn't have done this lesson without her wonderful post which you can find here:
http://www.rundesroom.com/2012/10/our-classroom-was-covered-in-blood-today.html

We grabbed our (reused) water bottles, cheerios that I dyed red, salt, yellow food coloring, and marshmallows and set to work. Jen from Runde's Room explains the steps in detail on her blog, so I won't go into much detail about that, but my students rocked this activity.
My students were hooked on blood by the time we finished this! It was only natural to continue that excitement and research in depth about our blood.

My school is very fortunate to have Chromebook labs on all 3 floors in our building, so we grabbed those and set to write a research report on the 4 parts of our blood: plasma, white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. I set my students up to use Google Classroom at the beginning of the year and we absolutely love it! I could write a whole other blog post on Google Classroom (which I will one of these days). They used the research notes sheet (attached in this post) to record their findings and then presented that information in an expository text on Google Classroom.
The great thing about Google Classroom is that you could have your students create a powerpoint presentation, an essay, or anything else you can think of pretty much!

When they were finished with their essay we graded it using a pretty standard rubric, which I have also included.

What did my students get out of this lesson?
They were engaged the ENTIRE time, which doesn't always happen. They were able to experience the blood model first hand, they got their hands on some technology, and they wrote at the end of it all! I could not have asked for much more than that!

Check out my next post on the Respiratory System Project!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-vrpG2Ue121Q0FITXFoazlEdlE/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-vrpG2Ue121VVExQ1JwT19UOE0/view?usp=sharing

Math on their desks!

I'm finally back! I admire the bloggers out there that are posting every day! This is hard work and I can't seem to keep up. :) 

Today I'm doing a short blog about writing on desks! What a way to get your students motivated.

I found this idea floating around on Pinterest a long time back and I was too nervous to try it. I was afraid that my principal would walk in, see my students drawing on their desks and I'd get in trouble. I was also terrified that we would be drawing all over desks and it wouldn't come off and I'd get in trouble! Basically, I was scared of getting in trouble. 

However, I'm somewhat of a rebel and I have days where I want to liven up a difficult lesson. I started this last year and I loved the students reaction when I simply started writing on their desks. Thier eyes got so wide and they looked at me as if I was nuts (which I kind of am...)! So began the writing on our desks. 

Last week, my students were struggling with bar models/word problems and they were shutting down. They weren't enjoying it and their regular whiteboards that we use in class were just too small. In comes the writing on the desks. 

I started by telling them that we were going to continue our lesson on bar modeling. Groans could be heard down the hallway. Then I tell them to put their whiteboards away and clear their desks off because we are writing on our desks! 

Cheers! They were elated! 

That day was the best bar modeling and problem solving that I got out of them the entire unit. They wanted to draw on their desks, so they were working hard the entire time! 

Now that I've introduced it to this class, I use it as a bargaining chip. When they need a little motivation or I know a lesson/topic is going to be difficult, I will let them draw on their desks. It is an easy, fast motivation tool. 

Clean up: the fear I had all along. Easy! 

Clorox wet wipes! 

We have students donate those at the beginning of the year to our classroom. Not only does the dry erase marker come off easily, it makes our classroom smell fresh and we sanitize our desks! Goodbye, germs! 

So next time you need a little pep in your otherwise drab lesson, grab those dry erase markers, clean off those desks and get writing! 

-Small Town Miss Browne

Reading Centers - The management side of things

How many of you find yourself looking for new ways to manage your centers for math or reading?
This year I did something that I am really excited about! 

Over the summer, I was shopping at the Target dollar spot (of course!). I found 4 paper bins for a dollar. I picked them up not really knowing what I was going to use them for, but I knew they would come in handy at some point!

As it turns out, they came in handy in the best way! I decided to put a label on the front with a group number. I have 4 groups for reading. I bought an extra basket in case I need to change to 5 groups.

Every day I load the baskets with the materials each group needs for that day. When it is group time, my students come and get their baskets and get started on their first center. The great part is that there is no wasted time because all the materials are at their fingertips and when they are finished, they just leave their papers in their trays. The baskets allow me to differentiate materials a lot easier and the students aren't any the wiser. 

What do I put in the basket each day you ask? Let me tell you!

Each day I load up the basket with the things they need for each center. I also include a directions sheet with directions for each center. 

In each basket, students have a pencil pouch. This pencil pouch is the best! I have my classroom parents to thank for these for grabbing a helper card at Open House and donating 5 of these bad boys to our classroom!

In the pencil pouches you can find:

highlighters, post-its, mechanical pencils, tape, scissors, glue sticks, and their student group rate sheets. 

You can find the rate sheets here for free!: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Student-Accountability-During-Reading-Groups-1666846

How do you deal with the paper management side of groups? Do you have a fool proof way that you operate your groups?

Have a great day!

Classroom reveal in 3...2...1

I got a lot of positive feedback on the facebook teacher's helpline about my classroom photos and a lot of questions, too! I thought I would share pictures and explain what each of my bulletin boards were used for in a new blog post! 

I'll start with these 2 bulletin boards in the picture below:

The board on the left is my reading challenge board. My school does a 3-5 Reading Challenge. Our students are challenged to read 20 minutes per day for an entire quarter. Students who make Reading Challenge, earn a prize. The prizes are supplied by the school and can include a bowling night, a trip to the local movie theatre, extra recess, etc. We do one prize per quarter! It is definitely a challenge!

The board on the right is my "Homework Tracker" board! I must say that I am absolutely head over heels in love with this board! My first 2 years of teaching, I really struggled with keeping track of students late and absent homework. Now we use a post it system that I found on pinterest here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/531776668473834691/

I modified it to fit my needs and it has worked great! 

How it works: When a student is absent they come back and grab their homework from the bin below the HW Tracker board. After they have a day or two to turn in their absent work, they get a post-it for each assignment they haven't turned in yet. I place it on the day they were absent, so that I can see when it needs to be turned in to get full credit.

Same goes for my late homework students. I give them a post-it with their assignment that is missing for that day and they place it on the day that it was due. We have a 2 week late policy before it becomes a 'ZERO' (I am more lenient than I ought to be). It allows me to see what assignments haven't been completed and how long they have been late/absent.

The next board is my "Early Finisher" board. I love this board! I haven't ever done an early finisher board before, so I am excited to see if it gets any use or if it is just taking up space. 

There are 4 different subjects on the board and each subject has a color associated with it for students. 
Math, Reading, Writing, Science/S.S.

Some of the tasks include: writing a story based on a picture that I have printed out and in a basket next to my reading corner, creating math problems that are related to our unit, researching a new place/another country and comparing and contrasting it to our state/town/country, and writing a book review that I will post for the class to see when they finish. Overall, I am so thrilled with how this board turned out. Now just to hope they use it and love it! 

This was by far the most popular of all my posts and the one that most people wanted details about! This bulletin board was inspired by one of my teacher friends after a workout session where I was picking her brain. She said that her school does a 4th grade 40 book challenge and she suggested I do '5th Grade 40'.
How it works:
My students each have a pocket stapled to the wall. The white basket on my bookshelf will be filled with those wonderful paint strips that you can get from the local home improvement store or Walmart. My students will fill out their strip with the name of their book, the author's name, and then on the back their name so they can get credit in case it falls out of their pocket.
Students will be rewarded for hitting 40 books at the end of the year with a special treat.
The question I am most interested to find out is how I manage to make sure students are truly reading the books and not just trying to trick me. If you have any ideas on how to solve that problem, please leave me a comment!! 

My Math Mania bulletin board gets changed out throughout the year to reflect our math unit at the time. As you can see, we begin our year with place value!

My behavior marble jar and my behavior cards. 

My marble jar might just be one of my most favorite things of all time. I've had this thing since I started teaching 4 years ago and it is still going strong. Surprising, fun fact: this marble jar was for sale at a teacher store to be used for a 100 days count down. I thought it was a great idea to take the marble jar idea and be able to show a more visual picture to students. My students love to be able to see how many marbles they need before they get their prize.
They usually only fill it up 2-3 times a year, but when they do, I buy them all pizza! The second prize is an ice cream party!

The How Are You? Board is my easy behavior board. Students who are not following our class rules will have to flip a card (it is much like the clip system, but with cards.) It has worked for 4 years, but I will say that I have other positive rewards that help. I plan to do another post about my incentive stickers.

My favorite new board! I know I keep saying that :)

Students get to submit facts that they research and I will choose one a week/day (haven't quite decided). They must give me the fact and also the resource and tell me why it is a reliable resource and why we can believe it!

And last but not least, my I Can bulletin board. It was a quick way to cover up some nasty whiteboard that has long since peeled off. This is my go to board for my students to see just what we are learning in 5-3!

Genius Hour and My First Blog Post!

I'm sure by now most of you have heard the buzz word floating around the teacher sphere, Genius Hour. You may be asking yourself what Genius Hour is and how it will benefit your students. I'm here to share with you how I made it work in my 5th grade classroom. I'll warn you now that I tend to be a bit of a rule breaker when it comes to trends like this, so if you've read and read about Genius Hour and think I'm nuts, then that's alright! Take what parts of this you like and throw out the rest. 

To start, I went to the best place to find anything and everything, Pinterest! I did a simple search on Pinterest and up came TONS of links and teachers' blogs who have implemented it with success in their own classrooms! I was floored and also a little overwhelmed! I sat down and decided to take it one step at a time. I started with how I would introduce it to my students. 

I will admit right away that I did a lot to introduce GH to my students because I really wanted them to buy into the idea of creating something entirely on their own.


My introduction started with this video of the Kid President giving a 'pep talk'. My students always love a good Kid President video, so I thought it would be a great intro! 

Next came a book of course! My teacher heart soared when I was browsing B&N for books one afternoon and stumbled upon this fantastic book that fit right in with the idea of GH! 
What more could you ask for than a book all about sticking with ideas and turning them into something great?!

Finally, after I felt like I really had their attention, I had them watch this video by Big Brain Academy. It really does a great job of explaining to students exactly what Genius Hour will look like for them.

Once I finished introducing them to the idea I thought it would be great to give them some examples of student GH projects. Boy was this hard! I had never done any projects with my students, so I had none to show as an example. I did what any other teacher does. I hit Pinterest, Youtube, and Instagram for ideas. I showed my students all sorts of ideas and then gave them a graphic organizer to start brainstorming! 

If you are looking for the materials to start Genius Hour in your classroom, I strongly suggest checking out Literacy for Big Kids TPT store. She has the most incredible resource for GH! I used her entire packet and it honestly saved me from muddling through trying to create my own materials! 
Link to her store:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Genius-Hour-Classroom-Materials-Teacher-Student-1713126

Finally, we can talk about management! WHEW! This first post is a doozy! I hope you are hanging in there!  
I put my students' materials in a folder with their number on it and that is where they kept all of their materials that they would need each hour we worked. We kind of cheated the system (I warned you earlier that I don't like to follow all of the rules). We didn't do it one hour a week like other people that I researched. We were short on time because I started this project after spring break right in the midst of state testing and end of year testing. We were in crunch mode! We ended up working on it whenever we had a spare 30 minute time block. Some weeks it was twice a week and some weeks we only got to it for 30 minutes that whole week! I don't think it so much matters that you commit to the full hour each week. My biggest challenge with only having 30 minutes is that I couldn't pull my students away. They wanted to keep working! (Not a bad problem to have!)

Let me share a little story from this experience that may convince you to give it a whirl this year.

I had a few stubborn gooses this year and I thought that this would be a difficult task for them because they struggled with reading and comprehension, which is pretty much what skills you need to be able to research and write about a topic. I was NERVOUS! I took the leap anyway. I was right though. I faced some challenges. One of my students started out on a project and became frustrated and refused to work (my biggest fear!). I found out that his topic wasn't something he was PASSIONATE about! We switched his topic from baseball, which he had never played to Clash of Clans. When you get to tell a kid that generally struggles with school, that he can research information on game design and create a presentation of a beginner vs an expert gamer to share with his classmates, you are going to have one engaged student! It was incredible! He ended up succeeding by putting together a powerpoint presentation on game design and Clash of Clans. He researched its development and who created it, how many people play the game, and what went into making the game. For his project, he built a game from scratch and instructed the class on how to make it to expert level. I was one proud teacher!


If you are interested in learning more on Genius Hour, I am attaching a link to my Pinterest page where I have pinned a lot of informational pages about Genius Hour. 
https://www.pinterest.com/jazzyjay/genius-hour/


Good Luck! 
Small Town Miss Browne

I'm finally a blogger!

Hip Hip Hooray! I am finally a blogger (kind of)! 

I am making many goals for myself for the upcoming school year and one thing that I wanted to accomplish was to launch my own teacher blog.  Finally, after lounging around by the pool all summer, I decided to get it together and start checking things off my list.

Fellow teacher friends, I introduce you to Small Town Miss Browne. This blog will contain many different teaching tips along with a few of my classroom blunders that you can learn from.

I hope that as the year goes on that I can gain more followers and help my fellow teacher friends like they have helped me so many times over the past few years.