Sunday, March 31, 2013

Resources for Project: Uncle Reuben

Project: Uncle Reuben begins in two weeks! I'll be posting resources as I find them on this post.
Uncle Reuben was born in 1903 and traveled the U.S. from 1925-1935. At some point I will move this information to its own page but for now, I will add to it from here.

Music for Reading Fluency Practice:

  • This Land is Your Land - Woody Guthrie
  •  How about the Charleston (they could learn the dance, too)
  • California, Here I Come (written in 1921)
  • Happy Days are Here Again
  • The Entertainer (ragtime)


I now have The Uncle Reuben Project on it's own blog site.
Click here to look - http://unclereubenproject.blogspot.com/ 

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Pondering and Inquiring


The easiest way to get young students used to asking their own inquiry questions is to practice two types of statements. 
  1. I noticed...
  2. I wonder...
I use these strategies often to help develop the art of questioning to further learning. Bringing in realia, for students to see and feel, makes this process even easier. The statements generated by students push learning further for everyone and can be used during the rest of a unit to tie everything together.

I use inquiry with realia, interesting pictures, reading passages, and informational text.

Below is an article I wrote after visiting Adena's 1st grade classroom. She kept her students wondering, noticing, and learning throughout her unit on pumpkins!



Pondering Pumpkins

Mrs. Connelly holding a pumpkin during a discussion as the children watch and discuss.

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in October and 17 first graders sit on the carpet listening to Mrs. Connelly read from a book called, A Day at the Pumpkin Patch, by Megan Faulkner. Next to her rocking chair is a chart stand with a large piece of paper on it. The paper is covered with sticky notes arranged in groups. Two pumpkins sit on a table; a large one with a stem and a smaller one that is too small for a carved face. She pauses in her reading to refer to a sticky note. “I think this page might have answered one of the questions we had about our class pumpkins last week,” she says.  Then she reads from one of the notes, “I wonder why one is bigger than the other one?” Several hands pop up as a little girl infers that their smaller pumpkin is a “pie” pumpkin. Other students nod, and then, Mrs. Connelly reads on. She stops several more times to think aloud or ask questions. One little girl asks if they can make a pie with their little pumpkin. A boy raises his hand and announces that he wants to plant the seeds and grow more pumpkins in his backyard. A girl volunteers that the word “related” must mean that gourds are kind of like pumpkins.
This isn’t the first day this class has been wondering about pumpkins. Last week, when the two pumpkins arrived in the classroom, the questions and “I wonder” statements flew about the room. Each question was carefully recorded on sticky notes and the class sorted them into groups of questions that might belong together.  They had been reviewing their chart a few minutes before beginning the book so their thinking was current and their minds were looking for answers. As they started the book, Mrs. Connelly had reminded them that they were continuing their research and that is their attitude as they delved into the topic.

 First graders write in their pumpkin journals.


After finishing the book, the students return to their desks amid conversations with each other about pumpkins at their house or a trip they have taken to a pumpkin patch. They pull out and open their pumpkin journals, which are decorated with colorful pictures of first grade pumpkins. On the inside of each one is bright orange paper on which to write their wonderings and learning. Today, they are beginning their sentences with, “I learned…”
I spend some time visiting with some students about pumpkins as they share with me what they have learned. As I leave the room, I take with me some words I don’t usually hear in a first grade room. Slimy seeds inside the ribbed fruit, tendrils curling around vines, peduncles on top of pumpkins…

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The Importance of Knowing Your Plants

Journey spotted this trouble making plant last summer in Missouri. I snapped the shot in hopes that it will prevent my 2nd graders from making the same mistake my former students did a few years ago...

I teach my students about plants by using wild ones that we find on the playground. Some people may call them weeds but they are readily available, free, have the same parts as any other plant, and are more interesting than you would ever believe!

That highly engaged class, nearly 20 years ago, was just learning to identify the plants on our school grounds. We were out on the playground doing a little exploring and picking out the plants we remembered when Jason came running up to me. Before I realized what was happening, he had shoved a large, bushy plant into my hand, saying, "Teacher! What is this?" I looked down out at a plant I was certain hadn't been on the playground. Within a couple of sinking seconds I had noticed the shapes and numbers of the leaves and realized what I was holding. "Jason, this is poison ivy. Where did you find it?" Jason pointed to a chain-link fence on the perimeter of the grounds. He had somehow pulled it out of a neighboring yard and through the fence!

After disposing of the plant over a wood fence into an empty lot, we all headed into the school. Not knowing who else had come in contact with it, we all washed our hands and arms with cold water and detergent and I hoped that Jason and I had been the only ones with direct contact.

We were all very lucky that spring; all but poor Jason. He was out with a severe case of poison ivy for two weeks. I had checked the school grounds over very well but had missed what was growing in the neighbor's yard.

Now, the first lesson of my plant unit is about the dangers they may encounter as we explore the grounds. We look at pictures and sketch the leaves of poisonous plants. It's actually a very intriguing way to start a unit and they all learn what they should do if they find themselves in Jason's shoes.

I also remind them not to put plants in their mouths. We never know whether or not the plants have been sprayed with herbicide or other dangerous chemicals. Allergies can also be a concern in some cases.