Youtube as an educational resource

Youtube is blocked in my district. That means I can't show Youtube videos on my Smartboard. This has been a source of frustration for me for years. Over vacation I was determined to find a way to download Youtube videos so that I could bring them to school on my zip drive. I figured it and I've been downloading like crazy.

America The Story of Us is a great documentary from the History Channel. It is possible to download short clips from the documentary from Youtube. The one above is about the battle of Lexington and Concord. In Science we are building ladybug laboratories to study the behavior of ladybugs. To build background knowledge I will show my fifth graders this short clip about ladybugs:

The fourth graders are writing personal narratives about a great day at an amusement park. The small moment we have worked on together is a ride on a roller coaster. I showed this short clip during writing class to inspire them:

Who would of thought Youtube was so educational? Christine

What I am reading right now

This is a great professional book for K-6 writing teachers. I love to use mentor texts when teaching writing but it is hard to find a picture book  which matches the skill you are trying to teach. . This book contains lists and lists of good choices when you are teaching writers craft elements like alliteration, flashback, onomatopoeia, point of view and many others . It also contains lessons using the specific book mentioned. While reading the lessons I found I needed to have some of the recommended books in front of me so I took a bunch out of the library. None of them were a disappointment. Here are a few I really liked:

This picture book is recommended for teaching personification or point of view. I also like that it was full of facts about our ocean.

This cute story could be used to teach hyperbole, similes or voice in a writing lesson.

Good choice for teaching creative language, metaphors, and repetition.

Funny story that is a great choice for teaching voice and alliteration

I am so happy I found this new resource to help me teach writing. Now the next step is to find copies of some of these books. Christine

Watch & Learn: Writing

writing small moments

I found a turtle in the pond. Then we went to McDonalds. This is how 4th graders write. I like to use pictures to help them expand on those small moments. ( I like to call it stretccchhh the slinky). Here is a lesson using a picture of a small moment two boys have in a pond. Why did I pick this picture? Because this small moment could be tucked into many of our personal narratives that we are practicing for the MCAS. For example: Write about a special time you had with a friend. The lesson went like this: We listed the nouns in the picture and possible adjectives to describe the nouns. Then we explored many different verbs we could use in our paragraph. The big question in this picture is: What did they find in the water? Next I showed the children my model. (I wanted to find a a baby turtle). I also have the students close their eyes and I walk them through a visualizing activity having to do with the picture. What do you see, hear, smell? What does the water/sand feel like...and so on. The paragraphs came out quite good! Christine

A small moment:Saturdays and Teacakes

If you haven't read Lester Laminack's Saturdays and Teacakes go get a copy. I just love it! It is Lester's memoir about Saturdays spent at his grandmother's house. Its a great mentor text for teaching writing to elementary age students. He also wrote Cracking Open the Author's Craft which is full of writing lessons geared toward the picture book. Cracking Open the Author's Craft comes with a DVD of the story Saturdays and Teacakes. We watched  on our Smartboard as Lester read the book to us. I used the pages on baking teacakes with his grandmother as springboard for teaching a small moment: Baking cookies with someone special. Christine

Smartboard writing pictures

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7F2yr3X_5kzMWRiOGNkM2QtOWFhYy00MTkyLWJkZmItMDA0OGY5ZGUzNmQ0&hl=en

I have figured out how to post a Smartboard lesson! (Little things make me happy.) I have been trying to think of new ways to teach writing a small moment. I used these pictures recently to brainstorm vivid verbs and great adjectives. Take a look. Christine

Personal narratives

We are writing about a great day at an amusement park. I used The Screaming Mean Machine by Joy Crowley as my anchor text for writing a small moment on a roller coaster.

"map" of our roller coaster ride. The stars indicate great moments we could write about.

Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee is another option, but I think The Screaming Mean Machine is a better choice. I love the use of vivid verbs and similes. After we read the book, I did a Smartboard lesson review Joy Crowley's use of creative language. I have posted the link to the Smartboard lesson at the bottom of the page. Next, I had the children draw a "map" of what it would be like to go on a roller coaster ride. This helped enormously when we sat down to write. Here are some pictures of our writing folders. I used a binding machine to bind together three pocket folders. You can see that I labeled each pocket (rough draft, final copy and so on). The last pocket is for miscellaneous papers, mostly handouts. It really helps to keep things organized during writing class.
Christine

we take notes when we run across great words



We use stickers to show when we used one of our writing skills

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B7F2yr3X_5kzZDdjNTk4MTItYWIxMy00ZGU0LTgxN2EtYTNmN2I2YTU1ZTg0&hl=en

Beth Newingham writing lessons

We have been working on great leads for writing personal narratives. This post by Beth Newingham was awesome! Christine
http://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/2011/01/my-january-top-ten-list-writing-lessons-and-resources.html

writing website

Melissa Fourney athttp://www.forneyeducational.com/ has some great free resources to help teachers teach writing in elementary school. I really liked the vocabulators and the young writers survival guide (it says this will only be available through the summer). Go check it out! Christine

these are the vocabulators, directions to make them are on the site

favorite lessons

A copy of Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express comes as a nonfiction companion book with the 4th grade Trophies reading series. Its the true story of a young girl who rescued some drowning men and then went on to stop a train from crashing through a bridge. Its an easy read, though very suspenseful (high level grade 3).My friend Nancy the awesome sent me the following lesson: Read the story together (I have gotten a class set from the Used Book Superstore) and have the children write a newspaper article using a who, what, when, where, why template. You can see from my picture what the final product looks like. I have them add some pictures and a catchy title for their article. Christine