Earth Day and Poetry Month- second grade

April is always fun with the second graders.  We read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss and discuss as many ways we can think of to help protect the Earth.  In pairs students are each assigned one way they can help the Earth and they brainstorm ideas.

The next week I read variety of poems by Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and "In the Wild" by David Elliot. 
Students took their brainstorming ideas and wrote couplets to match poetry month.

Each pair worked together to record their voice a class podcast and draw a picture to go with their piece of the podcast.

Playing the Object

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Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
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.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Dewey Radio- fourth grade

As a class we read and discussed "Bob the Alien Discovers the Dewey Decimal System" by Sandy Donovan.  By fourth grade the students know how to find books using call numbers but they do not that each number has a meaning.  This book is fun for them. While discussing the book, I show students the Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index. I turn to random pages and tell them what some of the numbers mean and they always want me to keep going. It's great.


After, I am finally able to use QR codes again.  Students worked in groups and scanned a QR code at each of the 10 Dewey sections. The code took them to a website and the groups wrote down topics of books found in that section and then found exact titles to match the topics.

Last, students we discussed what makes them exciting: sounds, tone of voice, content.  Each group was assigned a Dewey section and they wrote and recorded a 30 second radio commercial using Garageband. Take a listen.
  

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
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.