American Revolution Fun

Happy Summer!

We've finally finished our school year-and I'm looking forward to the break!

Although we didn't finish until yesterday, grades closed last week and report cards needed to be done by first thing Monday morning.

So, I needed something for them to do that was fun, but still educational and aligned with what we had been doing.

We just finished our American Revolution Unit (without my SMART Board-the projector broke about halfway through! A bummer because I think it adds some oopmh to the unit!) using the fill-in-the-blank foldables I made last year.

So I pulled out the American Revolution Mini Pack I had purchased last year, and had the students do the choice board! (I also had them take the vocab quiz as part of their assessment before I closed grades).

The kids LOVED the choice board! They were so excited about it, they kept asking me to work on it during non-Social Studies time.

And....the timing was perfect! I gave them three days to work on it (I originally had them choose three activities to do, but as some finished early, I had them pick another one.).

They came out super nice! The kids put a lot of work and effort into it.

I also pulled some book resources to read to the kids.

I did the Choose Your Own Adventure for Colonial Times, Boston Massacre, and American Revolution. This is also a SMART Board activity that mimics the books for the causes of the American Revolution.  The kids LOVED this (and this is when the SMART Board decided to die :( right in the middle of it!)-and they had some great discussion about their choices!
 
 I also did the Split History of the American Revolution, which gives the kids the British perspective.

They had a lot of fun with this unit- they were bummed when I said we were done!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Monday Made It

Happy Monday!

We have 14 days left-only 2 more Mondays after this one!

Another busy craft month for me!

I finished my blanket from the previous post.

As well as doing three more! Although these are baby sized, so they took less time :)

One is for a coworker-she's due in July!

These other two I made using up yarn I already had-trying to stash bust! I love both of them.

I loved the way this one turned out-I was just playing around with different stitches and color combos-it turned out nicely!

I love the edging on this one-the interlocking loops look so pretty-and they were easy to make!

I also did another two paintings! It is certainly nice and relaxing-my goal is to do at least one or two a month.

I think this is my favorite one that I've done yet! Plus, my sister and one of her friends joined me-when had a lot of fun!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Fact, Opinion and Frogs

We have done some fun things in 4th grade lately!

We did our Fact and Opinion unit.

And I tied that with Persuasive Writing. The kids really like that, and we worked on our five paragraph essay.

We've also tied two texts together-an interview from our series and a nonfiction article on frogs!

We worked between the two texts, comparing and contrasting them, as well as talking about how the information differed based on the genre-and the purpose of each!

More fun things to come-18 1/2 days left!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

The Race Never Ends...

Well, hello!

It's hard to believe that May is almost over-it seems like it just started!

Between Science NECAP testing, placement, a workshop, and MAP testing (for the rest of the week), I've felt like I'm running a race that has no ending (hence the no blogging thing).

I've also become...disenchanted? disillusioned? with our reading program.

I've been trying to figure out how to save it, make it more interesting to the kids and do the CC (which the program is no way aligned to even though it says it is)-and I've decided that I can't. (At least not at this point in the game-we'll try fresh next year)(hence the no blogging thing).

I've decided to do a whole-class novel study, focusing on the CC, making it fun and doing a lapbook for end of year fun.

Now I just need to choose! I'm thinking either Frindle (which some of my class has read/heard-but I can get enough copies for everyone) or Enemy in the Fort (which I might not be able to source enough copies-I'll have to check).

We still have a month left (exactly!)-but I'm ready for it to be over. My class this year has been good-but boy, I am tired.

This has been a very tiring year with piloting, new assessments, new district/state stuff, more students and more challenging students. I'm ready for a break!

To keep my balance, I've been crafting a lot-trying to make good use of that 'me' time! I've finished and done some pretty fun things! :)

Here's to the home stretch-hopefully the end comes in sight soon!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Monday Made It

Happy Monday!

April was a very crafty month for me (thanks for April Break in the middle)!

I did two paintings at a paint bar-which I loved and am definitely going back to!

I did these over vacation-most of the paint bars in my state are a little more than an hour away-so some planning is needed! If you are ever looking for one (and I can recommend that you do-tons of fun!) just Google 'paintbar' with your state and some should pop up!

I also finished the afghan I started last month.

And started on a new one!
This one is a 'corner to corner'-so I'm working diagaonally-I'm a little more than halfway there! It's working up fairly quickly-I started on the 29th!

(Thanks to vacation and Doctor Who marathon! ;)

I love the way it's turning out-it should be around 60 in. x 60 in. when I'm done-big enough for me! (which is how I measure the ones made for me...sometimes it pays to be little! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Picture Stories

After we finished learning how to write a descriptive paragraph about a picture, I wanted to teach them how to write a story from a picture.

So I whipped up an organizer, found some cool pictures and off we were!

I found an interesting picture that I thought we could get a great story from.

We first started by describing the picture and taking notes like we did for our descriptions.

Then we moved onto deciding characters, if they were good or bad, and some of their character traits.

After that, we tried to come up with a problem and solution based on the picture we were using.

The first one, we did together. I pulled up the picture, and had the kids tell me what to put in the organizer.

We talked about different ways we could like into our stories-what could make it more interesting to 'hook' the reader.

I showed them how to use the organizer we created to help form our story.

They got a new picture to do (and we took notes together) and off they went!

I tried to pick a picture that they could easily relate to a create a story from-making it a little easier on them!

Frame by Lovin' Lit, Kimberly Geswin Fonts, Clipart by Melonheadz Illustrating

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Workshop Wednesday: Biographies

Happy Wednesday! Only 2 days until April Vacation!

Today's topic is all about biographies.

My kids LOVE to read biographies-and I have a bin stacked full for them!

We also spend some time doing biographies!

I have them research an explorer (as part of our explorer unit-in collaboration with the librarian) and then they have to create a PowerPoint on their person!

I give them a list of criteria, for what they need to know as well as how to present it, they create a PowerPoint, and then they present it to their classmates!

They always do a great job...here's a peek!

Now, to get through the next 2 days...

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn