After doing our reading groups, we were looking for a project to wrap up what the kids had learned. In the fast finishers Jennine had developed, she had Book Trailers as one of the activities students could complete. We decided to give it a try using books by Deborah Ellis. Students were challenged to find images and words to represent the book without giving away too much. They also had to think of which trailer template best suited their book.
First students took a look at the different templates to see which might work for the theme of their book. They then went to this site to print a planning template.
This is extremely important. There is no question the kids could have quickly whipped off a movie, but this forced the students to think of powerful images that represented the book.
Students then used the iPads to search images and used iMovie to create their trailers.
Today in class we played "Word Wall Bingo". The kids absolutely loved it! For the rest of the day they asked me when we would play again. This idea would work in various grades with any type of word wall. First I gave the students blank bingo cards and instructed them to fill in each blank space with words from the wall. I gave them specific word families to choose from, but you could modify this based on your grade and the type of word wall you use. We then played bingo with the cards that the students had created! The students enjoyed that they had a part in creating the game and were extremely engaged throughout this lesson.
For students to take ownership of their own progress in AR, I have the kids set their own goals on the second term. During the first term, I set the goals according to the results of their STAR tests. Before setting their goals, they must first reflect on how the first term went. We regularly check in with the kids throughout the term, but I think it's important for them to see if they achieved their goal and why they did (or did not as the case may be). Then, they are given the job of setting an achievable goal for the next term. It is always interesting to see that many kids who did not achieve their goal fully recognize why (whether it be attendance or difficulty with certain books, etc) and they will make a plan on how to get their goal on the next term.
I think that Google slides is my #1 go to web tool for creating learning activities for students. One thing that I love is that I can use it to create interactive texts/ activity booklets for students to use as they research online. If you haven't tried it, you should! Here are some examples from my classroom. You can also make notebooks etc. and print them out using slides- all you have to do is change the page size. Another thing that Slides has going for it is that you can include content outside of the printable page that students can drag and drop. You can also create pictures to use as the backgrounds, which is really handy for graphic organizers for students- They just have to insert text boxes over top. We recently did this for a flow chart of a food chain, and I am going to make the story arc in there for students to plan their writing. Really, the possibilities are endless.
I also use it to make posters for my classroom, and this is what I used to design my teacher planner this year. With a bit of creativity, you can make some seriously cool stuff in Google Slides :)
We are beginning focusing on place value in grade 4 this month. I found this idea on pinterest and quickly made a template. Please feel free to use this in your classroom. For some students it may be helpful to have them representing the numbers in the houses using base ten blocks on a mat. Students may also need to use the back of the form to draw their picture.
One thing I have introduced in my classroom this year is a book blog. After reading a particularly good book, students are encouraged to write about it on our class reading blog to share the book with the world. When a student posts, I will often tweet out the link to get visitors to our site. The kids LOVE to see how many people have visited. This establishes a sense of authentic audience for students, and encourages them to improve their writing, since they never know who is reading it. It is also a good opportunity to discuss how to write about the book without spoiling it for the reader.
I created the blog on Weebly, as I find it really easy to use for the kids with the drag and drop options. If you want to check out their book posts, the address is:
