Gingerbread- second grade

My December activity for second grade had to be short and sweet.  Since we lost two weeks with Hurricane Sandy, we had fallen behind on projects and were running out of time before break.

I loved the idea of adding culture to my activites in the third grade so I tried to do it with second graders too.  We started by reading "The Gingerbread Man" by Jim Aylesworth. The students love to read along and I love when they do.
Then the students created Gingerbread Glyphs on the computer.

The next week we read "The Matzo Ball Boy" by Lisa Shulman and compared the two books.  We also kept a list of all the Yiddush words and their definitions on the SMART Board.  After the story students began using a program called The Graph Club. (I really wanted to introduce Excel but time constraints prevented it.)  We began graphing the students answers to the glyph about the activities they like to do.

In the third week we read "The Runaway Rice Cake" by Ying Chang and compared the cultures.  The story is a bit different from the gingerbread man but it was great for the students to recognize that.  This story is very cultural. Students completed their graphs.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
 

Owls- fourth grade

While studying ecosystems the fourth graders complete a research project on Owls.  Students worked in groups to research one of six owls found in New Jersey.

This project is great because of the vast amount of resources used to complete the project. 

The students use:

1. information text to learn traits and behaviors of the owls
2. dictionaries to define words such as habitat
3. World Book Online to learn the traits of all owls in general
4. websites for additional research
5. PowerPoint to create a presentations

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com


Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

A bonus allows students to take a field trip see the owls live.

To complete the project students I teach students how to speak to their classmates while having their PowerPoint up the SmartBoard.  Student's love having their projects projects onto the board while they practice standing at "the angle" where they can see the both the board and talk to the audience. 

This year was tough.  With 2 weeks off for Hurricane Sandy it felt like this project went on forever.  I'm proud of my students for hanging in there.


A link for the files will be here soon.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

Winter Theme

This winter the media center's theme is to help encourage students to reccomend books to each other.

"Warm Up With A Good Book"

It's hard to see in the photo but the mug in the middle says "Ms. Goldstein recommends The Time Warp Trio Series by Jon Sczieska".  There were mugs in the library for students to fill out and hang up.