Sunday! Sunday! Monday?!

Have you ever had one of those weekends where despite no matter how many different ways you outlined your To Do list you didn't come close to accomplishing more than a fraction of it? Well, I definitely had several of those...and it JUST happened. While we were able to get several important things done (or almost done), I still didn't feel like I did nearly enough on Friday/Saturday. Sunday was reserved for the most important game of games...the Superbowl and with no other choice,  the Mister and I chose to support the underdogs, the New York Giants over the Patriots. We instead chose to don our own teams' respective colors, the Mister in blue/gray with his Dallas Cowboys hat and myself in black/purple (Go Ravens!) and the li'l mister in his Ravens' Ray Rice jersey.

All football aside...I did get a little bit of prepwork done in outlining the upcoming unit in math that we're due to start this week. I have to say, I look forward to the day when I can trade in my long-term sub "hat" for a permanent teaching position. I think I spend more time tracking down grade level curriculum objectives and concepts and figuring out what's essential before I can even get my modified lesson plans started. This week we're in our transition from one unit to the next (modifying the curriculum = condensed and sometimes off schedule starts/finishes) in math and science.  And in the midst of that, we've got our 2nd practice session of the state tests this week for our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Makes for a bit of an easier morning (lesson-wise), but disrupts the order of things and definitely throws my kiddos off a bit.

Either way, I'm excited to start our new science unit on Astronomy -- espeically after having read Zathura last week with my kiddos, outer space isn't an entirely new...and one that seems to really excite a couple of them. Ironically enough, my li'l brother is studying astronomy now in his 8th grade science class...so it's fun to compare textbooks and infromation - especially that my kids' 5th grade textbook is a much more recent addition including the revelation that Pluto is no longer a planet...which we can now say, "You know...when I was your age...Pluto was still  a planet!"

Now, I leave you with some snapshots of this past weekend and what we've been doing in class so far....

our paper snowflakes and snowflake facts...created after reading Snowflake Bentley!

my completed Find It! shakers

laminated directions for my Find It! shakers

my Superbowl sugar cookies...iced in Ravens purple!! =D

our K-W-L chart for Astronomy...

our 2nd Venn Diagram comparing/contrasting Jumanji and Zathura

Ju...Ju...Jumanji!!

Here I am...sitting in front of the computer when I should be tackling my always growing to-do list but instead of attempting to further modify a unit assessment...I'm much more motivated to play around in blog-land. I have a half-hour before the Mister comes home from work and we snuggle in to watch Paranormal Activity 3. Staying up late on a school night...bad form, I know.

Today was a test of teaching flexibility and adjustments. One of my regular paraeducators was out today and unfortunately, my favorite of the two since she supports me during my Reading block and is phenomenal with my kids. Since having started my Chris Van Allsburg author study, I've modified some of my literacy center activities to support this unit and unfortunately, without my regular para support...I had to tweak my centers and later ammend my afternoon lesson. 

Not being familiar with the book Jumanji, my supported-writing center soon revealed that my students were retelling and summarizing wrong/inaccurate events. I realized this was partly due in fault to my own lack of over-planning (in the event of an absence/substitute) and a indicator that my students were still struggling to comprehend the basic story elements of 'Jumanji' as well as being unable to retell the story accurately.

So...this afternoon, I quickly shuffled some things around and dived further into Jumanji and completed a Before/After Reading worksheet I created. We defined instructions and why this word is important in the context of Jumanji looking at the events that unfold when Peter and Judy play the game. I highlighted the importance of reading ALL of the directions, how the word 'and' is crucial in Judy's winning the game, and the use of all capital letters in the game isntructions indicating important details. We took this a step further and analyzed the last two paragraphs identifying what Mrs. Budwing (Danny and Walter's mother) was really saying and the implications of such. With some role-playing and overly dramatic gesturing on my behalf, we made predictions about the future of Danny and Walter. Perhaps they'll leave the jungle for outer space? ;)

I sent my kiddos home with a Story Map worksheet and encouraged them to complete it as best they could. They've been consittently struggling with identifying problem and solution and I'm hoping with repeated practice and more and more examples, they will finally be able to recognize this story element in their future reading.  I am eager to see what information they retained from today's immersion in Jumanji and what may need to be revisited before we dive into Zathura. *fingers crossed*

All things Allsburg...

This week I began a Chris Van Allsburg author study with my class. I recently discovered that the 5th grade highlights him as an author within their study of the science fiction genre. [Being a long-term sub + having just moved back to this state + no provided hands-on curriculum + modifications to meet my student's needs = lesson planning isn't as prepared as far ahead as I'd like...] Thanks to several online resources and OneExtra Degree and her awesome Allsburg author study for inspiring several activities/lessons! :)


Having a self-contained group of students allows me some liberties with my lessons and not having to adhere to the scheduling and deadlines that the 5th grade classes necessarily follow. And thus, my plans to drown *cough* immerse my students in all things Allsburg while incorporating as many of the other content areas as possible. We will be doing CVA-inspired reading, writing, science, social studies, and math...My students had some familiarity with Van Allsburg and two of his books: Two Bad Ants and the Garden of Abdul Gasazi during Read Aloud with the school librarian.

I had my students visit Chris Van Allsburg's website and complete an Author Study Info Sheet for their notes; I supplemented a completed copy of key events and books published (including publication year). Using this, they were provided an Author Study Timeline to complete -- which, much to my dismay...they struggled with. After a mini-lesson on time lines, dates and chronological order = smallest to biggest numbers, I tweaked my original Info Sheet and created a Timeline Sort which I will have my kiddos attempt during Literacy Centers.


This weekend I plan on revisiting my CVA Unit plans and making some much-needed revisions and modifications. I hope to put together some more worksheets and Allsburg-themed center activities. What's worked for you?? Suggestions???