Culture Clash! Understanding the Perspectives of European Explorers and Natives

This week in Individuals & Society, we focused on identifying the perspectives of European explorers and natives during their interactions with one another. We began our work by reading two articles that discussed how the cultures clashed with one another. Students worked in pairs to identify perspectives particular to trade, slavery, disease, customs, and power.

After anchoring into the topic, students researched the interactions between their expert explorer and the natives they encountered. We identified quite a few negative aspects of exploration!! Students were then given the opportunity to change history through our "What Would YOU Do" activity. Students stepped into the perspective of their expert explorer and determined what they would do differently to improve interactions between the Europeans and natives. After completing their thoughts, we discussed each topic via a "Chalk Talk". The depth of conversation was incredible. I love how much the classes push their brains and take their thinking to the next level!

"Pump Up the Volume" on Transitions

After our last round of writing conferences, we noticed as a class that our transition words were repetitive. In order to address this area, we practiced "pumping up the volume" on transitions. Students were given a list of the overused transition words I gathered from my conference notes. They worked together to come up with several alternatives.

Next, students read their informational essays through the lens of "transitions" and worked together to edit their transition words.

Author's Purpose, Text Structure, and Practicing RACCE Responses in Reading Groups

We discussed this week how the author's purpose in writing an article reveals the text structure or organization of a piece. While analyzing informational texts, students have been asking "why" the author wrote the passage and finding a text structure that best supports that purpose. This week, we practiced responding to text structure questions in writing using the RACCE strategy (outlined below).

The RACCE strategy helps students organize their thoughts into a well-constructed paragraph and ensures that they answer all parts of a question. We discussed how the sentence starters given are simply a "jumping off" point and that students can add their own as they become more secure with the strategy. 

 Adam writes about how the author chose the cause and effect structure because they wanted to teach the reader about why tsunamis occur and the destruction that happens as a result.

 Nate describes how the author's purpose in writing the article is to show the similarities and differences between tsunamis and hurricanes. He explains that the author organized their ideas using compare and contrast structure to support this purpose.

Jake shares his RACCE response with the group. 

Holiday Party Reminder!

ATL Focus-Communication

The ATL focus for our current Lang & Lit and Individuals & Society planners is communication. We have been discussing what effective communication looks and sounds like and have practiced these skills through a variety of activities.

This week in Individuals and Society, students put their communication skills to the test using their research highlighting the motivations and goals of their expert explorers. Students worked with three different partners. Each rotation required them to share their research, record their partner's research, and discuss/record similarities and differences between the explorers. This involved listening, speaking clearly, waiting for their listeners to be ready, as well as asking questions to clarify. Both classes did such a great job!!

Kindness Challenge!

This year, Mrs. Finke and I have stressed the importance of  #choosingkind and have implemented different systems to highlight kind acts throughout the school day. Students have always participated in "bucket filling". Bucket filling involves students writing fillers for specific students when they have done something well, need to be cheered up, or just a random comment to make them feel good inside. Student buckets are in the front of the room and they can take their fillers home each day.

 Alexis completes a bucket filler for a friend. 

Anthony fills a bucket to make a friend's day!

In order to build on our #choosekind focus, students began a kindness challenge for the holiday season. Our goal was to complete 100 acts of kindness before Christmas! After a student completes an act, they initial it on our classroom poster. At our daily class reflection meetings, a portion of our time allows students to share the acts of kindness they completed. 

Well.....we are only a few days in and we are close to meeting our goal already! The students decided that once the 100 acts are complete, we should erase everyone's initials and begin again! It's been wonderful watching the students take ownership of this challenge and spread cheer throughout our building. Great work kiddos!

Adeana and Brandon show off our 100 Acts of Kindness poster and our progress towards the goal!

Artifact Investigation-Is All Exploration Positive?

Our new Individuals & Society planner," On the Move", focuses on what motivated exploration, the role of power, and whether or not all exploration was positive. Students will be researching how explorations of the Western Hemisphere influenced and impacted the lives of the explorers as well as the natives of the colonized land.

Today, students participated in an artifact investigation in which they used their "See, Think, Wonder" strategy to analyze different aspects of exploration. This was a great jumping off point as we begin to research our expert explorers. The artifact investigation led to a class discussion surrounding the positive and negative portions of exploration.

Fun with Our Buddies!

Last week, students taught their buddies in Mr. Carr's class about figurative language. Each group read their buddy a story and then led a discussion on figurative language. Fifth graders helped their buddies identify examples from the story and explain their meanings. What a great way to build leadership and communication skills! 

Today, we joined our buddies for a special Thanksgiving activity. We read the story, Thank You Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story focuses on Sarah Hale who spent 35 years petitioning government leaders to preserve the observance of Thanksgiving. 

After listening to the story, buddies worked together to identify the steps Sarah took to solve her problem and to explain the theme (message) of the story. What a great way to start celebrating the holiday! 

Using "See, Think, Wonder" to Work on Making Inferences

Our "Lang. & Lit. Term of the Week" is INFERENCE. Inferring us a way of figuring out things that are not directly stated in the text. When inferring, students need to synthesize evidence from the text with information they already know. In order to sharpen our skills in this area, we used the "See, Think, Wonder" inquiry strategy to help us practice!

Students were given a variety of photographs. No captions or descriptions were connected to the photographs. Students were asked to record what they saw or noticed (clues in the photograph), what they thought (explaining what they think is happening based on what they already know), and then extended their thinking by identifying what they were still wondering about.

Peer Editing our First Informational Essays!

We completed our mini-lessons on informational essays this week. Our next step was to peer edit in order to receive positive feedback and make appropriate revisions. Peer editing involves students reading their essays aloud as their partner uses a specific checklist based on the expectations in our informational rubric. Students can choose to edit as they go, or take the feedback provided back to their seats to revise independently. Editing and revising is such an important piece of writing that helps us to reflect and grow in our skills...but these skills need to be modeled and practiced often. Below are pictures of our first time around! Next, students will print their final drafts and move on to selecting topics for our second informational essay!

Lindsey gives Will feedback based on our checklist and rubric. 

Jordyn and Liliana work hard to make revisions to their essays. 

Our "Be a Friend" from Merton Williams, Meredith, teams up with Hailey to work on her Titanic essay. 

Ride a Firetruck to School!

Hailey Cooper was selected to ride a firetruck to school today! We were outside to cheer her on!