Students in 6th grade have chosen their Q2 research topics; the overall themes were music and/or their Individual Learning Plan (ILP) they are working on in Guidance. Here's are some of the ones they came up with:
The rise and fall of Alex Rodriguez
How songs can help you remember facts
Babysitting training
Why Michael Jackson was called the "King of Pop"
How Steve Jobs created Macintosh
Evolution of the blobfish
One Direction v. The Wanted
Guard dog breeds and training
Katy Perry's road to success
Finished products will include a variety of presentation formats, some of which we'll be able to post here. In the meantime, we'll be learning about wikis, primary sources, website evaluation, and bibliographic citation, all as part of the inquiry process.
Each January, the American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." Who will win in 2014? Well, first- and second-graders are going to make their pick in library, and we'll see how our choice lines up with the national award.
After round one, the following were cleared to move on with near unanimity:
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great Bob Shea
Despite a few concerns over the use of the word "stupid" and the "girly"-ness of unicorns, most students were highly entertained by this account of Goat realizing that Unicorn isn't all that bad to hang out with ... in fact, Unicorn is actually jealous of Goat in a few areas! The kids greatly enjoyed the spread where the protagonists imagine being superheroes: "Taste my cloven justice! You've been unicorned!"
That Is Not a Good Idea Mo Willems
Can Mo Willems do no wrong? From the silent movie design to the Greek chorus of baby geese to the twist ending, this is another instant classic. A lot of students recognized his name from the Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books. And they loved this one just as much as they love those.
I am a huge Buster Keaton fan and plan to introduce him next week before checkout ... see 1:04 and 2:48 for dialogue cards and 2:18 for an amazing stunt.
Remember to credit all of your sources when you're presenting research ... don't use someone else's ideas, photos, or bass lines and pass them off as your own. List the books, web sites, videos, interviews, and anything else you may have used in a bibliography.
Hey, kids! I'm going to order a few copies of the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck. I know everyone will be clamoring to check it out. So here's the deal:
If you're reading this page, then you qualify to be one of the first readers. Leave a comment below with your room number and initials (NO FULL NAMES), and I'll put you on the hold list. Just choose "Anonymous" from the "Comment As" drop-down list. Remember, initials only.
The library often sounds a little like a zoo, but this past month, it
also sounded like a farm! I read a selection of animal sounds books to
the kindergarten classes, including:
Because
students' animal sounds sometimes got a little ... enthusiastic ... I
taught them the conductor's cut-off signal. Which reminded me of The Sesame Street All-Animal Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa. The students got a huge kick out of it and yelled for an encore.
And finally, what discussion of animal sounds can now be had without wondering ... What Does The Fox Say?
As a follow-up to our last lesson, when fourth-graders figured out Dewey Decimal System categories,
this week they assigned a stack of topics to those categories. Each
table got a set of "playing cards" that they had to place in the correct
area of their "game board." Some of the cards were kind of tricky ...
you could make the case for a certain subject to be in more than one
Dewey category. So long as the students could explain their thinking,
they got full credit.
You try
Here are the categories:
500s = nature science
700s = fun activities
900s = social studies
Where would you put these cards?
You have to find out when dinosaurs lived.
You want to learn how to do some skateboarding tricks.
You are planning a trip to Hawaii.
You want to draw the flags of all the countries your great-grandparents came from.
You need to do a report on hurricanes.
You got a digital camera for your birthday and want to learn more about how to use it.
You want to find information on some famous paintings.
Do you have favorite books that you think other students should read
too? You can be in charge of the recommendation shelf for a week! Just
give Ms. Moore a list of 4-8 books that you love (and that we have at
the Stadium library).
Here are Emelia's picks:
Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
