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Connect learning with real life using projects and activities in upper elementary!

Understanding Story Elements

How do you help students understand story elements?  The plot diagram is a go to classic…but HOW are you using it?  I’ll give you a few tips to really knock this one out of the park.  Hint: It starts out with a read aloud picture book.

  1. Read a short picture book to your class (yes a picture book!)     
    I like to read my class a short little picture book that is interesting and captivates their attention (you will use this book to later teach the concepts of story elements).  Read the book before introducing the lesson.  It allows students to really enjoy the book and listen to the story without thinking about the lesson and story and getting lost.  This also helps to reinforce that reading ANY book is positive.  I find this really helps with my struggling readers, as they often attempt to pick up books far beyond their ability level, and spend more time staring at the pages than they do actually reading.  When students feel comfortable, they will read and reading helps them become better readers.  If you want to learn more about why I love picture books, See my previous blog post
    Hint: Here is a list of a few books that I enjoy teaching with along with a link to aYouTube read aloud.
    – “A Case of the Bad Stripes” by David Shannon.  Click here for YouTube read aloud link
    – “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister.  Click here for YouTube read aloud link.
    – “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!” by Jon Scieszka.  Click here for YouTube read aloud link.
    – “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf.  Click here for YouTube read aloud link.
  2. Introduce the concepts of story elements
    I like to start out by introducing a plot diagram with all of the main story elements labeled and defined.  This helps give students a visual understanding of what they are going to learn.
    Hint: Click here for  a free story elements planner, and click here for a great ELA lapbook for quick student reference, with plot diagram. 
  3. Re-Read the picture book
    When you re-read the book, be sure to ask students to keep in mind the story elements they just learned.  I like to re-read the book again because students are now able to focus on story elements, rather than the suspense of the book, because they know what to expect.  By re-reading they really get to focus their skills on listening for the story elements.
  4.  Discuss the story elements
    Have students participate in a small group or partner discussion regarding story elements that they heard during the re-read of the story.  Then have a whole class discussion and sharing time.  I like to put a blank plot diagram on the board and write in student answers.  When students give answers regarding a part of the story and story element it goes with I ask them to explain their reasoning.  This helps guide dialogue in the classroom.
  5. Watch a short film
    I also like to reinforce story elements with a short film.  It’s another way to get their gears turning, and really helps your students who have a hard time connecting with reading, books, and written language.  I find that a video often really helps my struggling readers grasp the concepts, and my students have a BLAST watching a movie in school (all while learning, but shh we’ll keep that our little teacher secret).
    Hint: Here are 2 short films that you can find on YouTube that would be great to show your class, and have a good message behind them, “Soar” and “The Present”
  6. Give students book buddy partners and plot diagram a new book
    Buddy up students of varying reading levels. I prefer to buddy up my low readers with middle level and my middle level with high level.  This allows my students to mentor each other through the process.  I encourage students to pick out a second picture book to plot diagram.  At this point, students have had 2 chances to diagram out a story, and have improved confidence.  They also have a buddy to assist and help fill in the pieces they might be missing.  It also allows for a great opportunity for students to lead and guide others who may be struggling.
  7. Start a novel study
    Now that students have a good grasp on how to use a plot diagram and really understand story elements, they are ready to give it a try with a book that’s a little longer and more challenging.  Always remember to keep the novel within each students reading ability level to decrease frustration level and help foster the love of reading.
    Hint: If you’re looking a good way to start novel studies, check out this resource.

Make the Most of Indoor Recess

It’s the dreaded call over the loudspeaker…rainy day recess.  All sense of being productive, a moment to breathe, and a second to scarf down my lunch, out the window.  Or is it??  Here are few tips and tricks to make the most of rainy day / indoor recess to keep kids busy and give you back a few seconds of your precious time.

  1. Put on an educational video. 
    My personal favorite is Bill Nye the Science Guy.  It’s a wonderful show that teaches kids to love science and sparks their interest.  It also helps to keep their attention.  By the end of the year, I have kids begging for indoor recess to watch Bill Nye.  So much so that we started watching Bill Nye during lunch hour in our classroom!  I also really like the Schoolhouse Rock series and there’s tons of PBS Kids videos that sneak in some science, too!
    **Hint: Bill Nye Episodes are on Netflix if you have an account!
  2. Pull out your math manipulatives. 
    Why not make indoor recess an educational moment?  I love pulling out the base 10 blocks, tangrams, snap cubes, fake money, etc.  I find that kids get really excited about free play with the manipulatives.  After all, they are unlike any other “toy” they might have at home, and with a little luck, they are even learning and reinforcing math skills!  It’s a win-win for all.
  3. Allow kids to access online math games. 
    I was fortunate enough to have classroom with multiple classroom computers, and my students loved the opportunity to play “games” on the computer.  Again, squeezing in so much education during the rainy day recess.  How perfect is that?!
    **Hint: I have compiled a list of my favorite student friendly sites, check them out here.
  4. Allow silent reading in reading corner. 
    I find rainy day recess a great excuse to let kids curl up with a good book and read away.  I let kids pick any book, picture book, short story, novel, etc. because it helps build their confidence and curiosity with reading.
    **Hint: Interested in my favorite picture books to read?  Check out this post.
  5. Put on a just move video. 
    Losing time to run and play, kids often get squirley in the afternoon and have a hard time paying attention.  I typically notice more behavior issues in the afternoon after indoor recess.  How do I combat that?  Before we start work again, I find that kids like to move around.  I love putting on a video that kids can move and dance to.
    **Hint: Check out “The Learning Station” on youtube for lots of kid friendly song and dance.
    **Hint: Check out “Go Noodle – Get Moving” on youtube for more kid friendly song and dance.
  6. Allow students to be creative.
    Letting students be creative is the best way to nurture their growing minds.  I let kids use colored paper and white computer paper, crayons, markers, etc.  I try to limit the use of scissors during craft time, as my room looks like someone threw confetti all over at the end of the day if I let kids use scissors as they please.  Seriously, why do they love cutting paper into the tiniest of bits?!  If you do allow use of scissors, I try to create a very small “craft station” to limit the mess, and I set a timer 5 minutes before recess is over to ensure everything is cleaned up.
  7. Encourage Independent Learning.
    Indoor recess is a great time to let kids take charge of their own learning, however, try not to use indoor recess as a punishment to catch up on late or missing work.  So how do I get kids to use their time wisely and independently choose to catch up on late work?  I use Mastery Club in my classroom which allows students to learn about 86 different topics of their choosing.  Once they have researched and learned about the topic they can demonstrate their mastery.  Students love using the extra free time at recess to master their topic and add their name to the hall of fame.  Most students are so motived to participate! If a student has late work or missing work, they must finish that before they can “master” a challenge in Mastery Club.  I won’t ever stop a child from learning and researching, but the motivation is there to finish their late work to earn mastery of a challenge.
    **Hint: Interested in learning more about Mastery Club?  Check it out here.

Why You Shouldn’t Read a Novel to Your Fourth Graders the First Week of School

I’m going out on a limb with a message I feel is super important. Don’t read a novel to your upper elementary students the first week of school.  Yes, really!  Don’t do it!

Instead, read picture books!  Read lots of them!  Picture books are fun!  They aren’t just for little kids.  Picture books are for big kids and adults, too.  Your school year together is going to be fun so shout it out by reading fun books (keep reading to find out my top 10 favorite picture books).  Model it by doing it.

The real reason to read picture books is to encourage students to read independently at their reading level.  Some of your students are not going to be good readers.  Some of your new students are excited for the new year but scared because they’re not good readers.  They know it, but they don’t want their friends to know it.  By reading picture books you take the focus off individual reading skills by asking ALL of your students to read picture books the first few weeks of school.  Silent reading can be silent torture for students who hold a novel of a much higher reading level than they are capable of reading.  It helps them “look” like a reader. But silently, they are staring at pages of words without meaning.  They are just waiting for the time to turn the page, timing it with their peers.  Silent reading is torture for struggling readers trying to save face.

During the first week of school, take all of your students to the library to check out and read picture books.  Tell them that’s their homework for the first week of school.  Have students fill out a story elements planner (get yours free here).  Picture books are a great way to teach and reinforce story elements.  Have kids record reading minutes in a reading log.  Back at school, don’t do “sharing”, do book reviews and let students tell their friends what their favorite picture books are, and why.Next, use picture books to teach literary story elements.  As you read, have students identify the setting, plot, characters, theme, conflict, resolution.  Discuss these when you’re finished.  Finding story elements will become second nature in no time.  (Click play to see inside the flip book.)

You can teach character traits through the use of picture books.  Picture book authors describe their characters in a short time period, so as you read aloud, have students identify the character traits and point to them on your character traits word wall.  This is a great way for you to point out the traits you expect for your year together.

As you read, connect the text and pictures, and ask students to relate the story to their lives (text to self).  Relate the story with other texts (text to text), and with the world (text to world).  Connecting deepens comprehension.

Save a spot on your bulletin board to post an, “Our Top Picks Books List.”   Allow students to nominate, review and rate their books.  Have students fill out a short book review which they sign and rate from 1-10.  Students complete the information on the wall chart and add their rating sheet to the ring so others can flip through and find the written review.  Students LOVE to add their name to the wall and you will find that students read each others’ reviews to get book suggestions.  This gives struggling readers to great reason to read more books.

Keep reading to find out what books are my favorite and WHY!

Here’s my top picture books to read aloud to your third, fourth, and fifth graders the first few weeks of school.  NOTE:  I have links to Amazon.  I am not an Amazon Affiliate and receive no compensation. I am offering the links to help.

1)  Math Curse, by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.  Math lovers will enjoy this book.  At the beginning of the year, I always poll my students on their feelings about math.  I’m always discouraged to hear that many students either don’t like math or it is their least favorite subject. I accept that as a personal challenge to turn that attitude around.  This book helps.  Math Curse is a fun story where a boy wakes up and sees math problems in everything he does.  Read it and point out real world math problems as you read it!

2)  Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon. This book tells of a girl who worries what others think of her as she picks out her first day of school outfit and later develops a case of the stripes. This story has a great theme, and in the end, she learns to be herself and not worry what others think.  You can talk about fitting in, being embarrassed, and trying to impress others.

While you’re reading, ask students to listen for the “great word choice”.  There’s lots of it!  Listen for similes and find the vivid verbs and awesome adjectives.  Listen and watch a video of the book at Storyline Online (12:00)

3)  The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, by Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith.  This book is just plain fun.  Students love the title.  I love it!  What kind of author says stuff like this?  I think it’s important as a teacher to have fun with your students.  You can accomplish a lot and gain trust with your students using laughter and by having fun.   Point out the writer’s use of voice.  If you’re teaching reading genres, read this when you’re studying fairy tales, folk takes, and fables.  Read the traditional stories and then read the versions in Stinky Cheese Man for a fun comparison.  See the book Amazon.

4)  Yo!  Yes?  by Chris Raschka.  This book has very few words but the message is big;  be a friend!  After reading the book, have a community circle talk about the message and its importance to a developing a positive classroom climate and culture.  Have students write a journal entry about what how to offer friendship to someone new.  See the book on Amazon.

5)  Thank You Mr. Falker, by Patrica Polacco.  This book tells the story of the author as a struggling reader.  At the height of the her struggle, the girl is a fifth grader and other kids are making fun of her.  Mr. Falker, her fifth grade teacher, works with her and helps her become a good reader.  The theme is never give up and hard work pays off.  The book is written from the third person point of view, but the story is actually about the author herself (first person), Patricia Polacco.  I love the message of this book.  You will have many students who can relate to the girl’s struggle.  Listen and Watch at Storyline Online (16:50):

6)  One, by Kathryn Otoshi.  This is a great book that highlights the importance of friends standing up to bullies. The characters in the book are colors, with blue being be main character and red being the bully.  The colors stand up and count.  This is a fun book with a great message.  Listen to Kathryn Otoshi read her book, One, while students act it out.

7)  That is NOT a Good Idea!  by Mo Willems.  This book is another simple, fun book that you will catch you off guard as it doesn’t end like you think!  Will the fox catch the hen?   It is great for making inferences. Be sure to have students predict how the book will end before reading it aloud.  You can have thoughtful discussions about assumptions of book. Relate it to making assumptions about new classmates as well.  Amazon link so you can see more of the book.

8)  What Do You Do With An Idea?  by Koki Yamada.  I suggest this book for the important message it sends.  You can change the world with an idea.  It teaches students to listen to their inner self and believe in their own ideas.  Our students have great ideas if we encourage them.  We don’t know it all, and can learn a lot from the students we teach.  See the book on Amazon.

9)  Salt in His Shoes, Michael Jordon in Pursuit of a Dream,  by Delores Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan.   Michael Jordan’s mom and his sister tell this great story of Michael’s hard work, determination and courage to achieve his goal of being a great basketball player.  Michael’s mom puts salt in his shoes and has faith that Michael will grow taller and be a great player. Definitely relate this book to the struggles students may encounter during your year together.  Stress the importance of never giving up and continuing to work even though things may get difficult.  Winners never quit!  See more of the book on Amazon.

10)  The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein.  Shel Silverstein is a great writer.  I like the theme of this book. The tree loves the boy in the story unconditionally.  The boy takes from the tree until the tree has nothing left to give.  You can talk about the tree being generous and selfless and what it means to give to another in this manner.  Talk about point of view from the boy’s perspective and how it is different from the tree’s point of view.  Discuss the boy’s motives and discuss how he takes and takes from the tree and isn’t the best friend to the tree that he could be, yet the tree is truly happy in the end.  Again, good discussion to be had with your students.  Excerpt and short video from Shel Silverstein’s website.

~ What to Read Week Three and Beyond ~

After a few weeks of reading picture books, begin reading novels.  I like to read novels that students won’t typically pick up and read.  I like to assign novels that build background knowledge for science or social studies units.  A favorite is Bound for Oregon, by Jane Van Leeuwen, teaching about westward expansion and the Oregon Trail.  It teaches of life and difficulties along the trail and talks about trail landmarks so when we study the unit, students have a great foundation.

Periodically throughout the year, reintroduce picture books.  As you read great picture books, make note of what you could teach using the book and repeat it next year, too.  You will soon have a great read aloud program interspersed with picture books.

~ Accountability for Reading ~

   

Be sure to stress the importance of reading for fun and lifetime enjoyment.  Ask students to read at home and fill out a monthly reading log.  Students record the number of minutes they spent reading or the number of pages (your choice).  You can incorporate math skills by having students graph their results.  These reading logs also make great data collection tools!

What are your favorite picture books for reading to upper elementary students?

Digital Task Card Tutorials (Boom Learning™)

Have you heard about the digital task card craze, and more specifically, Boom Cards™?!  If not, that’s okay!  I’m here to help you understand what digital task cards are, how they work, and what they offer you as a teacher.  If you have heard of digital task cards, hopefully these tutorials will help you to better understand how to use them and what features they offer.  Here’s a little preview. 🙂

Digital task cards are the perfect time saving solution to your classroom.  Because they are digital, it saves you the prep time and materials that paper task cards require.  They also can be used in a number of different ways, and it’s a great option for teachers in a 1:1 classroom to integrate technology into centers and student learning.

First things first (and probably the most important question you may be asking…HOW MUCH DOES THIS COST?!)  You’re in luck, it’s FREE!  Right now Boom Learning™ is offering 4 levels of membership, Starter, Basic, Power, and Ultimate.  Right now, all memberships are less than $25 for the whole year but it ends 12/31/17 so hurry!  The Basic membership is $9 for the year, however with the purchase of a Boom Deck via TpT (yes, this includes purchasing a free deck on TpT), your membership is FREE!  That means you can download a FREE TpT Boom Deck AND get a FREE year of Basic Boom Learning Membership but it’s only good until December 31, 2017!  How awesome is that?!  (This free deal is run through Boom Learning™ and is subject to change without notice.)

Okay, now you may be asking, how am I going to find a free Boom Deck to give this whole digital task card thing a try?  Guess what, I’ve uploaded a FREE Boom Deck to my TpT store for just that reason. You can download it for free to give Boom Learning a spin. Now that you have a free Boom Card set, let’s check out Boom Learning and all that it has to offer!

The first thing you will need to do is create a Boom Learning account.  Provided within your TpT purchase of any Boom Deck is a link to the deck.  By using this link, you will also get the free basic account, which allows you to track data!  Hold up a minute…did I just say these Boom Decks track data?!  You bet I did!  Data tracking has never been easier.  When a student plays a Boom Deck, you will receive their speed and accuracy scores.  How perfect!  Self grading assessment tools!  Life just got a little easier!  No grading, no precious time wasted.  Just log in, and record the data.  I’ll go into depth on how to get the data later in this post.

Now that you have created your account, you’ll want to set up a classroom.  Setting up a classroom allows you the opportunity to add all of your students (up to 80 with the basic membership) so they each have their own account to play their assigned Boom Decks.  When you set up your classroom, Boom Learning automatically gives your classroom a username (don’t worry, you can edit this, you’ll be using this as one way to log your students into Boom Learning) and prompts you to set up a password.

Now that you have a classroom you need your students!  You can add students by first and last name, initials, or whatever you choose.  Again, Boom Learning will give your students an automatic username just like it did for your classroom.  You can change this, as well as their password.  I recommend using something very simple for their password, such as initials and student #.  Example: Ben Apple is student #3 in my class, so his password would be “ba3”.  Just for ease of student memory, and to stray away from the strange passwords that students may create. Here is the tutorial for classroom setup and adding students to your class:

Now that you have a Boom Deck and a classroom set up, it’s time for your students to play!  The best part of Boom Learning™ is that you get to pick and choose what decks students play.  You are totally in control.  When you purchase a deck, they will appear in your library.  The tutorial below walks you through assigning decks to students.

Now you may be wondering HOW to use these new Boom Decks.  Here are a few suggestions. 🙂
~ Use them as beginning and end of the year assessment tools
~ Allow fast finishers computer time, and let them play any deck they want so that you can rest assured they are playing a quality educational “game”
~ Use them as part of your centers.  As students play during their center, they will receive immediate feedback.  So cool!
~ Assign specific decks to students, so they can master specific content.  Ex: if Suzy Grape is struggling mastering her multiplication by 6 math facts, assign her a deck to practice those facts.  If Joe Blueberry is struggling with his multiplication facts by 9, assign him that specific deck.  Boom Cards™ are great for allowing differentiation.
~ Use them as vacation assignments for students.  Students have a login of their own, so they can login to Boom Learning from any computer or device anywhere (as long as they have internet access).

Curious to see what the decks look like?  Let’s take a peek at a few to get you excited about the endless possibilities! 

You may also be wondering, how exactly does logging in work?  There are so many options!  You can log in from your teacher account by clicking on your classroom, you can log in using your classroom username and password, or students and each individually log in using their username and password.

If you are using Boom Cards as a center, I would suggest preparing for centers by logging into your classroom on Boom Learning™.  Now your center is set up and ready to go, and all students have to do is find their name and click login so that their data can be tracked.  Check out the login tutorial below.

And now for the best part, and probably most important time saver, the data tracking feature of Boom Cards.  When a student plays a Boom Deck, they get immediate feedback about their answer being correct or incorrect before moving on to the next card in the set they are playing.  At the end, students are given an accuracy score. But the best part, YOU get to see their performance.  Performance is in graph format, showing you if students got the card correct or incorrect, with red and green.  You can also view the cards students got wrong, and it will show you the most recent incorrect answer they chose.  For example: if the card asks “what is 2 x 8” and the options are a. 10, b. 16, c. 4, d. 14.  If the student first chose a then chose b.  The card would show exactly that.  IF however it took more than 1 try to get the right answer, ex: student chose c, a, b.  The card would tell you the student chose a then got the correct answer as b.  It only tells you the most recent incorrect answer the student picked (see picture below for example).  The data tracking tool also shows you the overall accuracy and speed.  Another note about accuracy.  If a student has played the deck just once, you will see the accuracy for that specific play.  If the student played the deck twice, you will see the average accuracy over the two plays.  Example: on the first play Jack Bean scored an 80%, and on the second play Jack Bean scored 100%.  On the teacher tracking tool, you would just see that Jack Bean has an accuracy of 90% for that specific deck.  The tutorial about how to view student performance is below.

I hope you have found this tutorial series helpful in getting started with Boom Learning™!  Get excited about digital task cards!  Just think about this – less prep, no printing (life saver when school supply budget is running low), time saving with the data tracking tools, and most importantly, a fun way for students to practice academic skills!  What are you waiting for?  Go on and give it a try!  Here are a few other Boom Card sets you can test out. 🙂
(and if you’re not 100% committed to making the switch to digital task cards, some of the sets include paper task cards as well)

          

     

Celebrate Independence Day!

Extra, extra, read all about it.  There’s a FLASH 1 day only sale coming your way!!  In celebration of Independence Day, I am offering freebies and sales for followers of my blog, Facebook, and Instagram.  It pays to be a Mrs. Renz Class insider!!

These offers are good at Mrs. Renz Class TpT Store, and are good on July 4th, 2017 only.  Hurry in and grab your FREEBIES and discounted U.S. History and Presidential items while the deals are still hot!

Are you wondering what’s on sale?!  Check it out. 🙂

Happy Shopping!!  Please feel free to share this post with friends and co-workers and remember to leave positive feedback on items that you love, so these sales and freebies can continue.  🙂

Multiplication Mayhem

Are your students reluctant to learn multiplication?  Do you find that your students are struggling to understand the basics?  I’ve watched far too many kids walk through the door of my classroom saying “I hate math” or “math is my least favorite subject”, which just broke my heart.  Math is near and dear to my heart and something that I find…dare I say, FUN?  Math is all around us, and multiplication is an essential skill that all kids should know.  Without multiplication, how are you going to tell how much you save from that spectacular sale at your favorite store?  Or how much you’re going to tip the waiter at dinner?  Or how much sales tax you’re paying?

Without the basic and fundamental skills to master multiplication, students get frustrated, defeated, shut down, and in turn dislike learning and school.  NOT in this teacher’s classroom!!  When students understand how to use their skills, they begin to feel confident, excited, and motived to continue learning.  And they too start to think math is FUN!!

So…I’m sure you’re asking HOW do I make math fun?!  HOW do I get students to understand multiplication?

  1. Teach the basics.  Yes, students do need to learn their times tables!  My best advice, practice, practice practice!  Paper and pencil, task cards, online math multiplication games, Boom Learning games, etc.  One of my favorites is giving students a pair of dice, rolling, and completing the multiplication fact based on the numbers on the face of the dice.  You can also do this with dominos!  Flash cards also work great to help students master their facts.  It’s also imperative that students understand their basic addition and subtraction facts prior to moving on to mastering multiplication as addition and subtraction play a role in multiplication with borrowing and carrying.  Try spinner addition and subtraction flash cards to help those struggling students master their facts (and it helps when the flash cards look the same so they fit in with their classmates)
  2. Connect math to real life!!  Help students make sense of WHY they are learning multiplication.  Motivation increases 2 fold when students understand the real life connection.
    Examples: Calculating how much an item is on sale, how much sales tax you are paying, how much to tip your waitresses
  3. Don’t teach tricks to get an easy answer.  Teach the math!  Tricks will be forgotten.  Logic will remain so students can reason out the task at hand.
  4. Put easily accessible references at their fingertips.   Help students become independent with their learning and take ownership rather than constantly asking for help, such as multiplication charts.  I also strongly believe in posting math vocabulary words on my wall.  This helps students understand the language of math.  If they understand what they are reading and being asked they are much more likely to be successful.  I LOVE my math word wall for this reason, and I know my students do too.  I constantly catch my students looking up at them and referring to them.  Ahh the beauty of allowing students to be independent learners. 🙂  Another great reference tool to put at the fingertips of your students is a math reference chart.  It is jam packed with all kinds of math reference tips.  This will help your students become more independent.  I also like sending reference charts home with students, so that parents can help their child with math skills that they may be more uncomfortable with.

  5. Provide students with ample opportunities to practice their skills in a non-graded way.  This helps provide students with the ability to practice without the associated pressure.  Math centers are a great way to do this. Students receive a task card at the center, solve, and self check using the answer key.
  6. Teach multiplication with body movements, visuals, stories, and manipulatives. Teach area when you teach the times tables.  You can relate words like 7 “by” 8 as 7 x 8.  For great visuals and stories, I love using Times Tables the Fun Way!  It’s a visual program with stories that students can relate to and remember the math facts.
  7. Teach other ways to multiply!  Use Lattice multiplication.  Area method.  Arrays. Partial Products. Grid method.  Traditional method. Using different methods allows students to choose the one they prefer. 

And remember….Make math fun and relevant!

Free Memory Books

I can’t even believe it’s THAT time of year again…the end of the year!  As you prepare to send your students off for the summer and on to the next grade, you want to make sure that you send them off with their memories in hand.

These FREE half page memory books are ready to print and go.  Students will reflect on the last year (and you get in some last minute writing practice!) and look back on their academic improvements, best memories, and can get signatures from their classmates.  As the year winds down, we know that teachers have so much to do with tons of things to do to get ready for report cards, end of year records, and readying your classroom for summer.  When you hand out memory books, students start busily writing down all of their memories and filling out all of the pages, which gives you so previous time to prepare for the summer!

Teacher Tip: Does your school do a yearbook signing day?  Do you have students who didn’t get a yearbooks and feel left out?  Problem solved!  I have found that when yearbooks come out there are always a few students who didn’t get to purchase a yearbook.  I printed off some of these memory books, and handed them to the students who didn’t have a yearbook.  On yearbook signing day, these kids felt included and were excited even though they didn’t get the official school yearbook.  They had their memory book that were able to ask their classmates to sign, and still had a great keepsake from the school year.Teacher Tip: Budgets running low at the end of the year? Paper supply running low?  We were always under a paper or copier count shortage at the end of the year so the smaller size was a fun size and helped our school budget!  I used whatever paper was left in the copy room, random color papers, and students loved that their book was multi colored!

Projects Galore

Students LOVE learning when they understand WHY they are learning what you are teaching them.  Connecting learning to real life is essential to engage students in the classroom.  I have had the most success connecting with even my most reluctant learners through the use of projects.  The projects I use in my classroom integrate real life, technology, and the skills that you are required  to teach.  Here are some of my favorite projects to engage ALL of your students (differentiated to meet all learning styles and needs).

Click on each project to learn more about it.  Right now these link to the item on TpT until I can write blog posts.   Check back!

Love Poetry

Students LOVE learning when they understand WHY they are learning it.  I have had the most success connecting with even my most reluctant learners through the use of projects.  The projects I use in my classroom integrate real life, technology, and the skills that you are required  to teach.  Some of my favorite projects to engage ALL of your students (differentiated to meet all learning styles and needs).

Do you like teaching poetry ?  What kinds of poems do you enjoy?  If you teach upper elementary students,  you’ll want to use poems that will connect with students, and I’ve found that means humor!  If you can get students reading and writing poetry, that’s what it’s all about!

So how DO you begin teaching students how to analyze poems?  I recommend starting by reading your favorite poems aloud.  Dig out your childhood poetry books.  What poems do you remember from your childhood?  Can you recite any poems?  What were your favorite poems?  Who were your favorite authors?  If you share your love of poetry, students will see that.

Bring poetry books from the library into your classroom and set up a big display area.  Use post-it-notes with arrows and put them on the pages of the poems you enjoy and write things like, “Great use of alliteration!”  and “The author repeats the word, ‘thump’ three times.” etc.   This simple task shows students what’s in your mind when you read the poem.  Talk about the message of the poem.  Talk about what the poem is about.  Reread the poem, listening for patterns and for the overall flow of the words.  Do any words stand out?  What words?  Why do you think the author chose the words she or he did to convey the meaning?  Read the poems more than once.  With each reading, you’ll discover things not seen before.  These pieces of the puzzle help create the mood, feeling tone, and message of the poem.  Most importantly, do this process with students so they realize you can’t read a poem once and “get” the meaning on the first go-round.  It takes many readings.

One of my favorite poets to read aloud with students is Shel Silverstein.  Possibly my favorite poem is, “Sick” with reasons that . . . “Little Peggy Ann McKay cannot go to school today.  She has the measles and the mumps, a rash, a gash, and purple bumps.”  {You have to put on your silly acting hat and use a great voice when you read this poem!}  At this point all of the students are with me!  {Yessss! Insert another teacher happy dance!}   Next up, I read Silverstein’s poem, “Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.”   Video of the Poem Read by Shel Silverstein.  Now students are hooked!  The walls of resistance are coming down.  All students can connect with these two themes of being sick and not wanting to take the garbage out.  {Yay!  A text to self connection.}

The fun part of analyzing poetry is figuring out what the poet was trying to say.  This is where the use of figurative language comes in.  It’s what makes the poetry have that music-like rhythm and flow.  It’s the flow of the words, the rhythm of the beat, the pattern of the syllables, it’s the words carefully chosen to create images in the reader’s mind.  THIS is the fun part of poetry.  Finding all these written treasures!

I must say that my personal experience with analyzing poetry as a high school student was not easy. Flashback to my 10th grade year; one of my most challenging years because I attended school that year in England.  My uncle, aunt, and cousins were kind enough to let me live with them to get the foreign exchange student experience of a lifetime but that year was far and away one of the hardest academically.  One of my favorite teachers taught English literature, but I had never ever analyzed poetry and his class was a university-bound level literature class.  My English classmates had lots of previous experience analyzing literature.  We analyzed two of Shakespeare’s poems and it took us ALL year.  Yes, we  spent the entire year on those two poems!   I remember translating the meaning of each word in every line.  I had notes scrawled in between the lines to decipher Shakespeare’s meaning.   We analyzed “King Richard II” and “Anthony and Cleopatra.”  To help us learn, my teacher took our class to see Shakespeare’s birthplace at Stratford Upon Avon and we watched a Shakespearian play in the theater in London.  What an experience it was.

Elementary school students today are being taught to analyze poems early on in their school career and as a result, I can tell you, today’s learners will be much more prepared to tackle Shakespeare’s works one day because of it.

Another key to success is you really delving into the poem and understanding it before you attempt teach it to students.  Teaching children to analyze poetry isn’t one of those things you can just pick up and teach; some poems really are hard for adults to understand, let alone ask students to understand. You really need to spend time thinking, reflecting, asking questions about what you’ve read, and really understand the poem yourself.

If you teach the Common Core curriculum, your fourth and fifth graders will read nine poems on the task exemplars list.   (CCSS-ELA Task Exemplars: pages 66-70)  I happen to LOVE poetry and spent two weeks reading these nine poems with a critical eye and decided to do the hard work that teachers don’t have the time to do.  I set out to create 4th and 5th grade poetry analysis task cards for each of the nine poems on the exemplars list.

Here’s how I would suggest learning about poems.  First, learned all about the life of the poet to get a sense of his or her background and life.  Next, search the web for online links that you can use to show students the poem.  Next, read all you can about the poet and his or her life.  Understanding the time period the poem the poem was written and the background of the poet is essential to drawing conclusions about the poem’s meaning.  Then read the poem line by line, searching for words that students need to understand.  Now search for underlying meaning.  Look for metaphors, use of similes, alliteration, and other figurative language that is used to convey meaning and paint the visual picture.  Now come up with lists of questions you can ask students about the poem.  Next, list possible answers students might come up with.  Determine the mood and theme.

Next up in importance to teaching students to analyze poetry is giving them time to become poets and write their own poetry.  Teach students that poetry doesn’t have to rhyme.  Let them experience the fun of writing their own poems about what interests them.

If creating your own poetry tasks isn’t your thing or if you are just flat out of time (I get it!!), I have you covered!  I created a huge bundle of Poetry Analysis Task Cards that are ready to print and use!   You will get analysis task cards for each of the 9 poems on the CCSS Text Exemplar list, teacher summary, poem web links, task cards and answer keys, a recording booklet you can use for all of the responses, poet biography, how to read a poem, and more!   Poems included are: “The Echoing Green,”  “The New Colossus,”  “Casey at the Bat,”  “A Bird Came Down the Walk,”  “Fog,”  “Dust of Snow,” “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf,”  “They Were My People,”  and “Words Free As Confetti.”   I’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to!  Heres a small peek at the materials.
To see the full bundled set on TpT, click HERE.

In my TpT store you can find lots of poetry products like poetry vocabulary posters with definitions and examples, PowerPoint slideshows, an interactive notebook set of figurative language foldables, Cootie Catchers that practice figurative language, 33 poetry vocabulary terms and more. The bundled poetry project gives 5 poetry products to give you everything you need to teach a 6-week poetry unit.

My independent poetry project teaches students about different poem forms, gives the definition, and examples so students get the hang of the poetry form.  At the end of the unit, hold a “Poet Celebration” and have people review the poems students have written.  I taught and refined the unit and the set on TpT is my best selling item and is a loved favorite by students, teachers, and parents. Here’s a peek at some of the poetry project pages. It comes in black and white as well as color.

Teach, LOVE Poetry!

Welcome!

Welcome 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers to my new blog!

Out with the old, in with the new!  Spring cleaning took on a whole new meaning for Mrs. Renz Class.  This year I made the jump to do a complete redesign of Mrs. Renz Class, and along with that came a new blogging platform.  Welcome to the new and improved Mrs. Renz Class!

My hope is to be able to engage with you all more than ever, provide resources at your fingertips, give you the inspiration you need to succeed in the classroom, provide tips and tricks to save your valuable time, and most importantly provide resources to engage and empower YOUR students!

Some of you may remember my classroom website for years ago, mrsrenz.net and my old blog, mrsrenzclass.blogspot.com.  These resources will remain active so that you don’t lose your beloved favorites. However, mrsrenz.com is where you will find the latest and greatest from Mrs. Renz Class!!  🙂

I hope to provide you with bi-weekly internet resources to bring technology into the classroom.  These resources will come in the form of themed blog posts related to classroom subjects such as (but definitely not limited to) ELA, Math, Science, History, and the special Holiday posts.  Each post will provide you with a variety of information to boost your student engagement and outcomes including things such as links to teacher approved websites, print and go resources, youtube videos to reinforce topics, etc.

I would love to hear what you YOU want to know more about!

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