The day before the big test, I gather my students on the rug give them a pep talk.  Not a "you better do this" kind of pep talk, but an "I'm proud of you, you've worked hard, you've got this" kind of pep talk.  I don't want them stressed.  I want them confident in their abilities and relaxed.  I tell them that they have important homework tonight--to go outside and play, eat dinner, and get some rest.  At the end of our chat, I give each kiddo a treat.  This year, I placed a small plastic diamond in each of their hands and told each one to "Shine bright like a diamond."  They laughed because it's cheesy, I know, but they loved it and were so excited when they got THEIR diamond.  It was a fun, and hopefully memorable, experience letting them know that I believe in them and know they will do their best. 

NOTE:  Ring Pops work well for this, but in Texas we aren't allowed to give out candy during the school day, which is why I chose the plastic diamonds instead.  They sell the little gems at Party City as a table decoration for wedding showers.  I bought the jumbo bag that probably has 300 or so diamonds, so I'm set for the next several years!

Looking for simple ideas to help your students succeed on your state reading test?  Click HERE to read my top 11 reading test-prep tips. 

Thanks for stopping by!

--The Pensive Sloth
pensivesloth@gmail.com

Teach History with Me: 5 Ideas for Teaching the Civil War

Get your upper elementary students excited about history!  Here are five ideas for teaching your 5th through 8th grade students about the Civil War.

1.  A Nation Divided--Help students understand the causes behind the war by comparing how the north and south developed very different economies and ways of life.  I like to have students make a giant division sign in their social studies notebooks and describe northern was of life in the top bubble and southern ways of life in the bottom bubble.

2.  "Bull Run" Read-Aloud--To squeeze in a little literature, I read the novel "Bull Run" by Paul Fleischman aloud to the class.  It is written from the perspective of different characters in the north and the south, and the reader has to piece together the story as each character tells their part, all leading up to the battle at Bull Run.  I'll be honest, it's a challenging book, which is why I do it as a read-aloud.  To help students (and me) remember who the characters are, we make a chart of who's who to refer to as we read.

3.  Goober Peas Song--Exposing students to music from different eras can be lots of fun.  The son, Goober Peas, is a traditional folk song that Confederate soldiers would sing.  It gives students a glimpse of what life was like for soldiers during this time period.  Limited food supply, being away from family, boredom, and lots of sitting around waiting for battles.  Play the song, give students copies of the lyrics, and discuss what can be inferred about a soldier's life during the Civil War.  A quick Google search brings up several YouTube videos for students to enjoy. They always grumble and giggle at first, but the song has a catchy chorus and after introducing it, I hear the chorus all year long!

4.  Underground Railroad Interactive Journey--If you haven't seen Scholastic's interactive journey on the Underground Railroad, you must!  Students explore the life of slaves on plantations and travel the treacherous journey towards freedom in the north.  There are wonderful photos, descriptions, and a few audio clips to engage students along the way.  When they finish, I have them write a diary entry as a slave who escaped to freedom on the Underground Railroad.

5.  Make a Civil War Museum Exhibit PBL--I like to end the Civil War unit with a hands-on project.  Students choose a topic related to the Civil War, do some research, and construct a museum exhibit.  Then, invite students from other classrooms to come to 'The Museum" and interact.  Students love having an audience, and knowing that someone other than the teacher will be interacting with their work can be a powerful motivator.  I've included a freebie with a list of possible topics and guiding questions below.  Click the image for a PDF of this handout.

Hey upper elementary and middle school social studies teachers, looking for more ideas to make history fun?  I'm starting a blog series called Teach History with Me.  Here's the first post on World War I and the Christmas Truce.  More posts coming soon!

 --The Pensive Sloth

Warm Up and Chill Out Test Prep Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!

Thanks for hopping through with us!  I never say good luck to my students, instead I say, "Do what you know how to do and be your very best!"  Be sure to enter to win the $50 Starbucks Gift Card AND the Test Prep Bundle.  We hope you can use these to make your life a whole lot easier over the coming weeks.  Winners will be notified on Monday morning!  Happy Hopping!

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A Time for Giving

My school means a lot to me.  Not just because that's where I work or because the kids are great (which they are).  It's the school where I went in elementary school and high school.  I had some of the same teachers who are still there now.  They have a heart for what they do.  So, as my school gets ready for its annual auction, I thought the best thing I could do was try to give a little bit back.

A group of teachers donated products to create this bundle for upper elementary teachers.  All proceeds from the sale will go directly the my school.  We don't receive any funding outside of our tuition and individual donations, so this auction is a big deal. There's about $130 worth of products bundled together for $25. Awesome deal for some awesome products!

Please check out the specifics in the link below.  And if you think this is a worthy cause, please pass along the link.

Thanks!
Martha from "The Owl Spot"

Poetry Prompts

This Friday, my fourth graders will participate in the 4th annual Poetry Slam at my school. It is actually something the music teacher and I cooked up a few years ago, so my students have an opportunity to share their favorite original poem with each other and their families. 

Before our school music teacher gets involved, my students study five different figures of speech and create five poems that demonstrate each figure of speech at least one time. Writing poetry can be intimidating for kids, so I break down different poems and types of figures of speech into simple activities to help students create their own poetry.

• Take an existing poem by a famous author and borrow the structure, repeated words, or style. While reading the novel, HATE THAT CAT, we use the poem, "Love That Boy" by Walter Dean Myers to create an "inspired by" poem.  My students keep the beginning of most of the lines and develop their own simile (so I get to teach simile at the same time). My son is actually in one of my language arts classes this year and his "inspired by" poem made me cry. He does not know I am reprinting his poem here... and sharing it on Facebook... and Tweeting it... and Google+'ing it because I thought it was so sweet.

• I try to match up adjective and adverb grammar lessons with my poetry unit. Give the students an everyday object and ask them to generate a list of adjectives that describe the object. This year, I had my students use one of their shoes as the everyday object. They used a template with blank lines and dropped the adjectives onto the lines and then designed a concrete poem.

• I have a big list of topics that I cut into little strips and put into an envelope. Each student draws a topic from the envelope. I like to choose topics from nature like a cloud, mountain, tree, flower, sunset, or ocean. The students write five sentences about the object, but each sentence must use personification. We spend some time talking about human traits, and I provide a traits list on their class activity page. The cloud could offer comfort. The mountain could glare down at you. The flower could dance. The students list the five sentences and then move the sentences around a little and edit to create a poem.

• A fun activity I used with my early finishers during our poetry study was book spine poems. You may have seen book spine images floating around on Pinterest. I have a vast classroom library, and the students stacked books to create a poem from the book titles. This year, they took a picture with our class iPads and inserted the image into a PicCollage and added an explanation of their poem. In previous years, students have used MSPublisher to publish their book spine poems.

Poetry can be fun for students and offer a creative way to express feelings students might not share otherwise. I have also started to realize how much poetry enhances all areas of language study and because poems are often short, it provides a great literature alternative when teachers run short on instructional time.

Need some new poetry resources? 

Here are links to great products by our Lesson Deli members:

TheRoomMom's Poetry Unit and Figures of Speech Game (includes activities listed above)
The Owl Spot's Robert Frost Author Study (and other author studies)
Teaching Ideas 4U's Poetry Writing Unit
JB Creations' Revolutionary War Poetry Unit

Happy Writing!
TheRoomMom

20 Things We Should Say More Often

I love Kid President. This is a good one to show any time of the year. Some of the words on the list are please, thank you, excuse me, I'm sorry, you can do it, and just to say nice things.

www.simonesmathresources.com 

Super Bowl Sunday Sales LINKY

Whether you are trying to get your lesson plans completed before the start of the game, or it is the end and you are scrambling to get your school week organized, we can help!  Check out each of the ON SALE store links below in order to find resources to make planning your school week CHEAPER and EASIER.  We hope your team wins or won! 

An InLinkz Link-up