Who hasn't seen a fire of some sort? They are destructive, scary and they hurt people. They take away homes, cars, and even lives. Can you think back to when you were a child and you learned that "Only YOU can prevent forest fires"? Does anyone remember who said that ? If you guessed Smokey the Bear, you are right!!
In this activity, meant to teach the reading comprehension strategy of synthesizing, students will build upon their background knowledge of forest fires, read a book about forest fires and then be able to synthesize the two forms of information together.
Prior to reading the book Fire in the Forest: A Cycle of Growth and Renewal,by Laurence Pringle, students will be given a graphic organizer that looks like a bulls eye. In the inner most circle, students will write down key concepts from their existing knowledge of forest fires. During the reading of the book, the students will write down key concepts that they learn from reading the book. These concepts will be written in the middle circle. Once the book has been read, students can look at what they wrote in the inner circle, and then what they wrote in the middle circle and synthesize the two together. The key concepts for the synthesized information will be written in the outermost circle.
For example: If I were doing this activity about a book on being a teacher, my inner circle might have key concepts such as "summers off", "coloring all day"and " playing with toys". In my middle circle, I would have concepts similar to "assessments", "CCGPS" and "EOCT". In my outer circle, I might synthesize this information into something like "teachers no longer get to play with toys and color all day since the school systems adopted the CCGPS".
This comprehension strategy helps students connect what they are learning with what they already know.
What do you know about forest fires? What might you be able to learn when you read our book? Do you think that your opinion of a forest fire might change when you are able to see a bigger picture?
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Problem Solving Monster
Everyone has that one certain food that they just hate to eat! Who hasn't tried the oldest trick in the book, the feed your dog the nasty food on your plate trick? When your parents weren't looking, or you thought they weren't looking, off the plate and under the table went the green beans! In the story The Monster Who Ate My Peas, the main character cannot stand peas. He is forced to sit at the table until every last pea is gone.
All of a sudden, his problems are solved!!! A HUGE, UGLY monster appears and offers to eat the little boys peas....for a price. At first, the monster just wanted the boys soccer ball in return for eating the peas. The next time around, the monster wants the boys bike in return for eating the peas. The little boy hesitates but gives his bike away. The third time around, the monster wants something so big, the boy doesn't think he can do it!!! The monster wants the little boys dog! The boy decides that he just can't give away his dog. He will just have to eat the peas. In the end, the boy realizes that everything comes at a price and that peas aren't as bad as he thought.
We would use this book to help teach the reading comprehension strategy of visualization and inference. Each of us can think of that one food we don't like to eat. Mine is bananas.... This will make it really easy for students to visualize what is happening in the book as well as make connections to their own lives.
A visualization strategy that the teacher could use is to have the students visualize that one food in their mind. They can then draw a picture of their one food they just can't eat. The teacher would then ask the students to keep that image in mind as the story is read. At the end of the story, students can share their pictures and tell what they would do if they were in the little boy's shoes.
All of a sudden, his problems are solved!!! A HUGE, UGLY monster appears and offers to eat the little boys peas....for a price. At first, the monster just wanted the boys soccer ball in return for eating the peas. The next time around, the monster wants the boys bike in return for eating the peas. The little boy hesitates but gives his bike away. The third time around, the monster wants something so big, the boy doesn't think he can do it!!! The monster wants the little boys dog! The boy decides that he just can't give away his dog. He will just have to eat the peas. In the end, the boy realizes that everything comes at a price and that peas aren't as bad as he thought.
We would use this book to help teach the reading comprehension strategy of visualization and inference. Each of us can think of that one food we don't like to eat. Mine is bananas.... This will make it really easy for students to visualize what is happening in the book as well as make connections to their own lives.
A visualization strategy that the teacher could use is to have the students visualize that one food in their mind. They can then draw a picture of their one food they just can't eat. The teacher would then ask the students to keep that image in mind as the story is read. At the end of the story, students can share their pictures and tell what they would do if they were in the little boy's shoes.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Sheila Rae, the Brave
In our book, Sheila Rae, the Brave written by Kevin Henkes, we meet a mouse named Sheila Rae and her sister Louise who are polar opposites. Sheila Rae is not afraid of anything and is quite honestly, a daredevil. Louise, on the other hand, is very quiet and afraid of nearly everything. Like most siblings, these two deal with plenty of sibling rivalry. It takes something happening to Sheila Rae that was so scary that even Sheila Rae was scared, for the sisters to decide that loyalty and love could be better than sibling rivalry.
We would use this book to help teach the reading comprehension strategy of making text to self connections. Text to self connections involve a reader reading a passage or story and picking out different ways that they can relate to the story. Not everyone will relate to the story the same way and the students can be given the opportunity to share their feelings and work collaboratively to gain a better understanding of the book.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Adventures of Pocahontas: Indian Princess by W.S. Craig
Have you ever been going about your normal daily routine, just like you do every day, and have done for as long as you can remember and then realized that suddenly, EVERYTHING has changed? Nothing will ever be the same again.
Pocahontas had that experience. Everyday, she would fill her baskets with red berries from the forest trails. She was doing this very thing on a very average morning when suddenly she came upon men at the beach that she had never seen before. They were not her color, they had a boat much bigger than those she had seen. Everything about them was different.
She raced back to the village to excitedly tell her father, the Chief, what she had seen. He was not near as excited as she was and realized that just like in times past, the white man had returned. All of the tribal council agreed that this meant one thing...TROUBLE.
The Indians compromised with John Smith and his people and agreed to share a small piece of land and the hunting rights above the river only. It wasn't long however, before John Smith's men got hungry and greedy and broke the agreement. The punishment was so severe that only one thing could save John Smith... her name was Pocahontas and she defied her father to do the unthinkable.
This variation of the Pocahontas story is illustrated in very kid friendly colors and draws the readers into a story that the average child can understand but not be afraid of. It would be a good book to read to students in the 4th grade to introduce GPS SS4H1 which states that "the student will describe how early Native American cultures developed in North America." SS4H3 which states that "the student will explain the factors that shaped British Colonial America (including Native Americans)" It would also align with SS4H6c which states that students will be able to "Describe the impact of westward expansion on Native Americans."
The GPS standard that we think this story best aligns with is SS4CG4a. This states that students will "explain the necessity of respecting the rights of others and promoting the common good." John Smith and his men agreed to respect the rights of the Native Americans, yet went back on their word and hunted on the Native American's land. This made the Native Americans angry and John Smith had to represent his men and take their punishment. The only thing that saved him, was a Native American woman named Pocahontas. She believed that John Smith really wasn't trying to disrespect the Native Americans and steal from them, so she used "the Right of Claiming" on John Smith. John Smith was now owned by her, but she did it for the common good of both groups of people. They each had plenty to teach the other one and in the end, everyone survived the winter and both groups of people learned to get along.
(Side note: we know that book titles are supposed to be underlined or italicized, but for some reason, our blog format won't allow that change. Here is the book title and author in the correct format. The Adventures of Pocahontas: Indian Princess by W.S. Craig)
Pocahontas had that experience. Everyday, she would fill her baskets with red berries from the forest trails. She was doing this very thing on a very average morning when suddenly she came upon men at the beach that she had never seen before. They were not her color, they had a boat much bigger than those she had seen. Everything about them was different.
She raced back to the village to excitedly tell her father, the Chief, what she had seen. He was not near as excited as she was and realized that just like in times past, the white man had returned. All of the tribal council agreed that this meant one thing...TROUBLE.
The Indians compromised with John Smith and his people and agreed to share a small piece of land and the hunting rights above the river only. It wasn't long however, before John Smith's men got hungry and greedy and broke the agreement. The punishment was so severe that only one thing could save John Smith... her name was Pocahontas and she defied her father to do the unthinkable.
This variation of the Pocahontas story is illustrated in very kid friendly colors and draws the readers into a story that the average child can understand but not be afraid of. It would be a good book to read to students in the 4th grade to introduce GPS SS4H1 which states that "the student will describe how early Native American cultures developed in North America." SS4H3 which states that "the student will explain the factors that shaped British Colonial America (including Native Americans)" It would also align with SS4H6c which states that students will be able to "Describe the impact of westward expansion on Native Americans."
The GPS standard that we think this story best aligns with is SS4CG4a. This states that students will "explain the necessity of respecting the rights of others and promoting the common good." John Smith and his men agreed to respect the rights of the Native Americans, yet went back on their word and hunted on the Native American's land. This made the Native Americans angry and John Smith had to represent his men and take their punishment. The only thing that saved him, was a Native American woman named Pocahontas. She believed that John Smith really wasn't trying to disrespect the Native Americans and steal from them, so she used "the Right of Claiming" on John Smith. John Smith was now owned by her, but she did it for the common good of both groups of people. They each had plenty to teach the other one and in the end, everyone survived the winter and both groups of people learned to get along.
(Side note: we know that book titles are supposed to be underlined or italicized, but for some reason, our blog format won't allow that change. Here is the book title and author in the correct format. The Adventures of Pocahontas: Indian Princess by W.S. Craig)
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Vesuvius Erupts!!!
Once upon a time, (actually, in 79 AD), in a place far, far away (like Italy), there was a huge mountain. This mountain was actually an inactive volcano in the city of Pompeii. It was like any other normal day, and no one had any idea that chaos was about to erupt...
The ground began to rumble and shake, and the people of Pompeii thought it was just another earthquake. Little did they know, that Mt. Vesuvius was about to explode. The smoke and ash went up into the sky, creating darkness in the middle of the day. A fountain of fire shot upward and the lightning storm began at the same time. Hot tennis balls of rock and ash began to fall from the sky, hitting homes and people. The ash just got deeper and deeper. The town was not only devastated, it was pretty much buried in the ashes. Soon, the rains began, the few people who escaped the town thought the rain would cool everything off. It did, but it also turned the ashes into concrete.
Mt. Vesuvius has been an active volcano since then. It has erupted 40 times since that fateful day. Who knows when it will decide to erupt again?
The book we chose was Volcanoes and Other Natural Disasters. We chose to use the chapter titled "Vesuvius Erupts". This book could be used in conjunction with 3rd grade Georgia Performance Standard S3E1. This standard covers the different types of rocks and minerals and characteristics of those rocks and minerals.
We would teach the lesson on rocks and discuss the 3 times of rocks found in the earth. These are sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Igneous rocks are called "fire rocks" and are formed underground when the heat of the earth's core melts them. They are then called magma and when they erupt from a volcano, they are called lava and as they cool off, they turn back into a solid form of igneous rock.
Because many children from this area, have no way to visualize a volcano, several books, pictures and other resources should be involved in the lesson. One creative resource or experiment that can be used is shown here. We have seen this video and done the experiment ourselves and got the same results as the first part of the video. Enjoy....
The ground began to rumble and shake, and the people of Pompeii thought it was just another earthquake. Little did they know, that Mt. Vesuvius was about to explode. The smoke and ash went up into the sky, creating darkness in the middle of the day. A fountain of fire shot upward and the lightning storm began at the same time. Hot tennis balls of rock and ash began to fall from the sky, hitting homes and people. The ash just got deeper and deeper. The town was not only devastated, it was pretty much buried in the ashes. Soon, the rains began, the few people who escaped the town thought the rain would cool everything off. It did, but it also turned the ashes into concrete.
Mt. Vesuvius has been an active volcano since then. It has erupted 40 times since that fateful day. Who knows when it will decide to erupt again?
The book we chose was Volcanoes and Other Natural Disasters. We chose to use the chapter titled "Vesuvius Erupts". This book could be used in conjunction with 3rd grade Georgia Performance Standard S3E1. This standard covers the different types of rocks and minerals and characteristics of those rocks and minerals.
We would teach the lesson on rocks and discuss the 3 times of rocks found in the earth. These are sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Igneous rocks are called "fire rocks" and are formed underground when the heat of the earth's core melts them. They are then called magma and when they erupt from a volcano, they are called lava and as they cool off, they turn back into a solid form of igneous rock.
Because many children from this area, have no way to visualize a volcano, several books, pictures and other resources should be involved in the lesson. One creative resource or experiment that can be used is shown here. We have seen this video and done the experiment ourselves and got the same results as the first part of the video. Enjoy....
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Math Curse
The Math Curse
Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
“You know, you can think of almost everything as a math
problem.” Yes, I suppose you can…But what if you don’t like Math? What if you
REALLY don’t like Math? That is the main problem in this book. This child (who
remains nameless but could easily be named Michaelanne) thinks she has been
placed under a Math Curse! Her teacher explained to she and her classmates that
nearly everything can be seen as a math problem.
This book talks about telling time, which is taught in 1st
and 2nd grades, using standards MCC1.MD.3 Tell and write time in
hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks and MCC2.MD.7 Tell and
write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using
a.m. and p.m.
There are LOTS of word problems used in this book.
One page has lots of measurement problems and this page
would fall under standard MCC2.MD.9 Generate measurement data by measuring
lengths of several objects to the nearest whole unit, or by making repeated measurements
of the same object. Show the measurements by making a line plot, where the
horizontal scale is marked off in whole number units.
There are several places in the book where it talks about
interpreting data in graphs, which coordinates with standard MCC2.MD.10. Draw a
picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set
with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems
using information presented in a bar graph.
The book talks about fractions, which is standard MCC3.NF.1
Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is
partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity
formed by a parts of size 1/b.
The book also integrates social studies, by talking about
the Mississippi River as well as several different counting strategies.
The math curse is finally broken, only to be replaced with a
science curse…
This book could be used with children of nearly all ages 2nd
grade and up. We would use it in our classroom as a read aloud activity, and
then go over the vocabulary terms that are new. We would use our inference
skills to have students predict what kind of problems the science curse would
involve. We could then have the students work in pairs to come up with all of
the problems they can think of and then switch papers with a new group and
answer the questions on their new paper.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
47 Hours and 52 Minutes of Terror
When the patriarch of a family dies very unexpectedly, the family, with all of its dysfunction and drama comes together to mourn their loss. When this family involves 3 children ages 9,9 and 7 who don't understand the family dynamics and want to escape the chaos of the Ashton family home, this story takes a very unexpected turn...
The title of this book is 47 Hours and 52 Minutes of Terror. The author is my sister, Elizabeth Fentem. We chose this book as an example of contemporary realistic fiction. Books in this genre "include stories about animals and people that could actually exist along with events that could actually happen in today's world or in the recent past". One of the important values of contemporary realistic fiction is that it "offers readers a window into the human condition through reading about how characters cope with issues and challenges in their lives". This book definitely fits both of those definitions.
The characters that the author of this book used are definitely based on actual people. For the most part, they are credible and multidimensional and readers of this book who actually know the family it was based on will find humor in the personalities of the characters seen through the eyes of the young author. The main characters of this story, also known as the protagonists, would be Lexie, Aaron and Grace. Many other characters are mentioned in the book. They add to the story, but are not the main focus. There are also several different antagonists in this story. Their names are never mentioned; only how they antagonize the main characters.
The plot of this book does develop logically with the "events evolving plausibly from what has previously occurred". The children get themselves lost in the woods and have to overcome the elements in order to survive. This book is a great example of person against person conflict as well as person against nature conflict. The plot is definitely not predictable.
The author of this story wrote in the forward, "It is the story of how a tragedy, combined with a horrifying few days of extreme danger and exciting adventure forever changed the way the youngest members of the youngest generation would mesh for the rest of their lives. It also changed the way a large and detached family would interact for generations to come." This is the general theme of the book is focused on the choices the children made to go on a walk through a place they knew they weren't supposed to be, and the frightening adventures that followed as they tried to find their way home.
The setting of the book is Softfur, Oklahoma. This is a make believe place based on a very real place. Having been many times to the places this story is based on, I can tell you that the author did a great job with the details and descriptions she chose of the characters and the settings.
This book shifts the point of view at different times throughout the story to different characters. It is almost always a first person point of view, it just changes from character to character as the story progresses.
Pick up your copy of the book on Amazon to see if the children ever make it back home and how the dynamics and relationships in the Ashton family are changed.
We think that this book would be great to use towards the end of the 5th grade year. It could be used as an introduction to a writing contest. The intent would be to inspire the students to do their best work for a culminating assignment and show them that children CAN have their works published. It would be a good fit for standards ELACC5W3 as well as 4,5 and 6. The students could vote on the best author in the class, and the teacher could do just like this author's teacher did, and submit the best entry to a publishing company.
The title of this book is 47 Hours and 52 Minutes of Terror. The author is my sister, Elizabeth Fentem. We chose this book as an example of contemporary realistic fiction. Books in this genre "include stories about animals and people that could actually exist along with events that could actually happen in today's world or in the recent past". One of the important values of contemporary realistic fiction is that it "offers readers a window into the human condition through reading about how characters cope with issues and challenges in their lives". This book definitely fits both of those definitions.
The characters that the author of this book used are definitely based on actual people. For the most part, they are credible and multidimensional and readers of this book who actually know the family it was based on will find humor in the personalities of the characters seen through the eyes of the young author. The main characters of this story, also known as the protagonists, would be Lexie, Aaron and Grace. Many other characters are mentioned in the book. They add to the story, but are not the main focus. There are also several different antagonists in this story. Their names are never mentioned; only how they antagonize the main characters.
The plot of this book does develop logically with the "events evolving plausibly from what has previously occurred". The children get themselves lost in the woods and have to overcome the elements in order to survive. This book is a great example of person against person conflict as well as person against nature conflict. The plot is definitely not predictable.
The author of this story wrote in the forward, "It is the story of how a tragedy, combined with a horrifying few days of extreme danger and exciting adventure forever changed the way the youngest members of the youngest generation would mesh for the rest of their lives. It also changed the way a large and detached family would interact for generations to come." This is the general theme of the book is focused on the choices the children made to go on a walk through a place they knew they weren't supposed to be, and the frightening adventures that followed as they tried to find their way home.
The setting of the book is Softfur, Oklahoma. This is a make believe place based on a very real place. Having been many times to the places this story is based on, I can tell you that the author did a great job with the details and descriptions she chose of the characters and the settings.
This book shifts the point of view at different times throughout the story to different characters. It is almost always a first person point of view, it just changes from character to character as the story progresses.
Pick up your copy of the book on Amazon to see if the children ever make it back home and how the dynamics and relationships in the Ashton family are changed.
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