Wrinkled Hearts

While this lesson is a tad juvenile for my fifth graders, our amazing counselor did a very similar one with kindergarten:

We are a be kind school and we are continually emphasizing be kind rather than glorifying bullying.  Obviously we have a firm anti-bullying policy but we are trying to spotlight the positive behavior choices of students rather than continually talking about bullies.  Many of our students crave adult attention, so we'd rather they act correctly than act up to capture our focus.

(To learn more about the Be Kind program, please visit their website)

The challenge is to be extra kind to others on the fifth of every month.  Go forth and spread good karma :)

Chronological Order Sort: Loser

I first read Jerry Spinelli's Loser over the summer after a retiring teacher gave me a few copies from his library. 

I love this author, so I immediately ordered a few more from Amazon so I'd have enough to read the novel with small groups.

I'm almost done with the novel with my group (they're finishing over winter break) and I'm really impressed with how well they're doing.  Some of the members of my small group have been bullying others, so I decided to use this text as a teachable moment.  

They're having some great discussions about being kind to others and labels like "loser".  What we talk about in our small group literature circle is having a positive impact on their classroom and playground choices, which is quite exciting.

My teacher guide is available here.

I'm pleased to announce I've made a chronological order sort as well!

Happy reading!

New Product: Tiger Rising Novel Study

I stumbled upon Kate DiCamillo's The Tiger Rising when taking a professional development course on literacy, novels and the Common Core for my district.  I had high expectations for this course since it seemed to combine all my favorite things.  

There were four people in the class, including myself and my co-teacher.

Most of the class was geared toward making sure teachers knew that not all students needed the same things or read at the same level, thus the point of small groups.  Not quite what I signed up for.

Nevertheless, we were assigned this book to read as homework.  Technically, just the first 8 chapters but I don't like starting books and not finishing them.  I wouldn't read this with my highest readers but it's a good book for my slightly below grade level readers because:

1. It is a chapter book and that makes them feel grown upl

2. It's about animals and a mystery, which intrigues them.

3. There are social issues of bullying and feeling like an outsider that they (unfortunately) can relate to.

Scholastic has some decent free resources, but I didn't feel it was enough for my small groups.  So I made my own teacher unit, which you can snag here.  I included pre and post reading questions, homework, comprehension questions for each chapter (with answers), vocabulary and more!

Happy reading!

Lessons to Have with Students

I realize that as tied as I am to the Common Core State Standards, there are certain lessons I must have in my fifth grade classroom that aren't related to academics.  There are specific life lessons that elementary students should get before they head out to middle school.

Lesson One: Personal Hygiene

Many of my students don't get the awkward taking care of of our bodies talk at home, so it's up to the schools to supply these life lessons.  Luckily the nurse takes care of the our changing bodies talk in May, but the need for deodorant & antiperspirant comes much before that in Las Vegas.  Often resisting the urge to febreeze them down at the door after PE, I subtly resorted to a knock-off Scentsy from Hobby Lobby that not only masks the fifth grade smell in my classroom, but turns the whole hallway into a tropical oasis.  However, we still need to have that tough talk.

We ease into this chat by examining the prefixes "de" and "anti", so students think we are just having another chat about affixes.  We talk about the purposes of deodorant and antiperspirant and how they should look for a product that contains both.  I then ask students anonymously (heads down) who has talked about this with their families.  Very few students raise their hands.  I lovingly tell the boys that Axe doesn't replace a shower and that if they must, use one spray not four.  I tell the girls that they should pick one or two scents as to not smell like the entire fruit department.  Most importantly, we talk about needing to shower every day.  Then it's questions time and ten awkward minutes later, we may resume with our scheduled day.  

Lesson Two: "little kid" and "big kid" eyes

Based on the novel Loser by Jerry Spinelli, around page 97, the author talks about little kid and big kid eyes.  Little kid eyes are full of wonder and curiousity.  Little kid eyes want to learn everything.  Big kid eyes start to notice things, notice differences.  Big kid eyes start to judge and whisper about others.  We should practice using our little kid eyes more often.


Lesson Three: Circles of control

Many of us have things in our life that we can't control, my students being no exception.  This lesson goes along with Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day which we read within the first week of school.  For those of you not familiar with this adorable book,

the main character has a series of frustrating things that ultimately lead to a wretched day.  We talk about strategies for calming down and one of the tips is making a circle map about things that you can and cannot control, like this one:

It lends itself to important discussions about how to cope with difficult situations. 

Of course, this life skill isn't a one time discussion. It's a conversation we have multiple times over the course of the year.  We talk about it as a class.  I talk about it with small groups after a situation. But most often, I talk about it privately with a student or two in the hall way on a case by case basis.  Growing up is hard. Making good choices is difficult.  But it's up to us to help guide students to make the right decisions, even though it doesn't directly align with standards.

New Novel Unit: Loser by Jerry Spinelli

I just finished Jerry Spinelli's Loser and although the book is over ten years old (yikes!), its message is still quite relevant today. I plan to have some great class discussions about bullying and acceptance with this novel.  I know some of the upcoming fifth graders would really benefit from the contrast between "winners" and "losers" in the novel.  

I created a teacher's guide with comprehension questions, vocabulary and homework (for each chapter) that is now available at my TpT store.  Coming in at close to thirty pages and aligned to the Common Core state standards, it is really quite a good deal.  Grab yours now and get ready to rock those small reading groups!

Also available at my TpT store are the last 2 of the Percy Jackson series.  Many more will be coming, they're just stored on my teacher computer which I don't have access to yet :)

Ms. Vice