Looking Ahead

Next year we're trying something new.  

Well, not new, we're going "old school".  We're going back to units of study.

We haven't discussed it as a grade level because not everyone wanted to meet over summer to get ahead for next year.  Not that I blame them, especially since one has been subbing (year round schools) on a frequent basis.  However, since I've got to completely move back into my classroom (because of summer school and my room being painted), have no prep periods, and am still (tentatively) scheduled for sinus surgery in early August, I want to get a head start on next year.

We want to blend reading, writing, language arts, science, and social studies into units to make learning more authentic for students.

We've got the backbone of one of our four units mapped out.  We decided to cluster all the standards into social studies units.  Next year we'll be focusing on Native Americans, Explorers, Colonies, and the American Revolution.

Social studies standards allow us to use both informational and literature standards, blend in all types of writing (narrative, expository, and persuasive), integrate language mini-lessons, and imbed technology and science content.

We're using a modified version of Engage NY's curriculum for math which is why that subject isn't included in our planning.

You can snag our unit planning template guide {here} for free!

We left ourselves space for including vocabulary, primary source documents, ideas for close reads, and more!

Oh...hey October

I'm pretty sure I blinked at here we are in the beginning of October.  I glanced back at my {September Goals} and realized I didn't accomplish all of them.

Here's the recap:

1) Catch up on blogging
      This one is a work in progress!

2) Nail down a wedding date and venue.
      Check! November 11th, 2016 at a gorgeous venue.  Outdoor ceremony, indoor reception.

3) Finish Al Capone Does My Homework
      ...still working on it.

4) Put the house back together
      It's in it's normal state of relative cleanliness. 

5) Decorate for fall
     Done!  Now I need to get out my Halloween decorations!  Yes, I have fall ones and Halloween ones.  I'm not putting the fall ones away, just getting out more pumpkins...with faces.

6) Get Waffles to obedience school
     We've paid for it, we've just got to schedule it.  That's one of our weekend tasks

7) Long term social studies plans
     Yes...and no.  They're evolving as I'm getting more input from the rest of the grade level.  We finished the intermountain region and I got some feedback on things to revise for next year.  The format is way more consistent then last year's, so we're moving in the right direction.  However, there should be more information on why each state has it's specific nickname, what makes a mountain and canyon, and more explicit instruction on the Rocky Mountain range.  All totally valid ideas.

I'll need to tweak that and then re-upload the ppt {here}.  The great thing about TpT is that if I upload a revised product, previous purchasers are able to redownload it for free!

The next region is the West Region.  Ms. C is from California, so she was super eager to sit down and help me include lots of information on that state.  We also imbedded earth quakes (CA), tectonic plates, glaciers (AK), underwater volcanoes (HI), calderas (OR), and volcanoes into the unit, so it hits both our science and social studies standards.

8) Finish thank you cards.
      I need to give Katie hers tonight, but then I'm done!

9) Walking schedule.
     In progress. It's still in triple digits in October.  I've got a sinus infection, so being outside isn't pleasant.  We're working on the walking.

10) Adjust the budget. 
     Another work in progress.  I know feeling this financial crunch won't be forever.  His truck is almost paid off, the security door and dishwasher are almost paid off, and we don't have to make another big wedding payment until July (hallelujah!).  We are both working overtime on things and it's a nice feeling to have a partner who is also making sacrifices for our shared dreams.  I'm working overtime on {Jamberry} and {Younique} parties and online fundraisers, having one here, selling my prep whenever possible (to cover another class that doesn't have a sub), and developing more products for {TpT}.  He's working longer hours, on call for one weekend a month, and looking for grants to help pay for school.  We used up Target gift cards to cut down on expenses and are eating out less.  I didn't really buy any back to school clothes and luckily grading has me so busy that I don't have time to go shopping for fun.


So looking over September's goals, I accomplished about half...and I'm okay with that.  I got sick (curse you nature!). I had work commitments. Life got in the way.

Time to revisit my list and make some {October Goals}.

Revamping Regions

As I {previously shared}, I'm in charge of social studies long range plans.

I thought I'd just be able to reuse what I made last year, but after I looked at it again with fresh eyes, I decided that I needed to just start over. 

I wanted to focus more on the landforms of each state so students could see how regions were geographically similar.  I wanted to include vocabulary that they'd hear in the FOSS Landforms Kit (which is being taught in humanities).  I wanted to be more consistent with each state including the same information (images of state flag, state quarter, state seal) and the same basic layout.

This, unfortunately, is a massive undertaking but all the fifth grade classes are not only using it, but enjoying it as well. 

Last night, many, many hours after my contract time ended, I finished the introduction and Intermountain region powerpoint.  Coming in at 119 slides, it took quite a while to upload to Dropbox and TpT.  I designed it to be a ten day unit, with the first being an overview of what defines a region and how they're created.  The next eight days focus on the eight states in the Intermountain region, with one day at the end for a test.  I zoomed in on Yellowstone National Park, so that could be a day within itself.   

You can snag it {here}.

I designed the lessons to be about 15-20 minutes per day, since that's all we seem able to squeeze into our schedules.

This weekend I'll jump into the West Region with an additional topics on volcanoes, the Northern Lights, and tectonic plates.  From there, I think the Great Plains and the Midwest will be the next two regions, followed by the South, New England, and Mid Atlantic.  After all the states are covered, we'll be working on Native American Indians, Exploration, Plymouth, Colonial Times, the American Revolution, and the foundation of our government.  The year will end with a civics and government unit.

Hopefully this year (lucky #7) will feel like the last year that I have to keep reinventing the wheel and working so hard to create curriculum for my students.  There will always be tweaks and trying new things, but I feel like a first year teacher all over again.  It's a little rough this year.  But at least it's Friday!

Social Studies Long Range Planning

We are sharing our planning responsibilities as a grade level this year and I get to take the charge on the social studies (government, civics, geography, and economics) plans.

This is how I feel:

My undergraduate focus wasn't education, it was pre-law.  However, you can't major in pre-law, so it was Political Science with a minor in Global Studies and certificates in Civic Education as well as Philosophy, Politics, and Law.  However, I didn't end up in law school and thank goodness for that!

I do hold a master's degree (and thirty additional credits) in education, so I have a pretty good idea what to do in the classroom.  (Seven years' worth of experience helps too!)

I'm excited to get to synthesize my extensive background knowledge into a cohesive, scaffolded introduction to the social sciences.

We are starting with {What is Geography?} and the {5 themes of geography} before we move into different types of maps, including this {sort}.  From there, we'll dive into regions utilizing Mystery Skype and the map.

You know, the map:

After that we'll move into Native American Indian Research Projects and have them write a fiction story based on their research.  They'll create diaries as a member of a Native American Indian tribe.  This will tentatively be happening as our culminating writing project in November, thus integrating social studies and writing.

From there, we'll review colonial history before moving into branches of government.  I plan to embed economics into each region (in addition to land forms to pre-teach the FOSS kit they'll be doing in humanities).

I hope to have all of this fun wrapped up around winter break, but know I have a much larger window if needed.  I know GATE is focusing on multiple perspectives in history this year with a focus on the colonial period, so that's exciting to have that built in extension for my students.

As I finalize products and plans, they'll be available on TpT!  Stay tuned :)

The Map Update

This week we are finishing up the West Region.  We've covered the intermountain states, California, and Washington so far.  We took a three day break to cover volcanoes, which was naturally super exciting for the munchkins.

We've been studying erosion, deposition, and weathering as well.  We're writing a guided expository essay, so it's nice that the subject areas are blending together.  

We had inclement weather last week due to rain, so we took advantage of the extra long morning to watch some Discovery Education videos on erosion and haboobs (giant dust storms that are typical in Arizona).

They loved it.  

It's so nice to see them get so excited about everything we're learning.

This week we're doing Oregon, Alaska, and Hawaii.

I just wanted to thank everyone again who has sent in post cards.  My students love looking at them!

Our next region will be New England, to tie in with colonial history.

Narrative Informational Writing

In whole group reading, we've been working on narrative informational texts.  This concept was a tad difficult for our students to wrap their brains around.

The text is informational and designed to provide facts to the readers.  However, the text is also written as a story.  These texts aren't literature because the characters and settings are real people.

We used historical passages from the American Revolutionary Era to help students with this concept.  We chose this because students were already familiar with some of the key historical players and we could incorporate social studies content.

When students were reading, they also had to analyze the text to determine the text structure.  They made organizers in their notebook and I used the social studies readers. 

 I split the class into groups and gave them different sections to read.  

After giving them time to struggle with the text, they met with another group to compare answers.  For the most part, both groups came up with the same answers.

They did really well with this concept! 

Upcycling for social studies

So I'm all for centers that give a fun twist on authentic, meaningful work.

My favorite new idea is taking an old "Guess Who?" game:

And upcycling it for social studies or book characters:

I think it'd be challenging for students but they'd love it!  I'd probably laminate the cards for durability but I think the few hours of teacher prep would be worth it.

Let's put the joy back in teaching :)