Roller Coaster Unit is in the Books...

After 3 weeks of hard work, our roller coaster learning unit is complete! If you LOVE thematic teaching as much as I do, you have to try this out. We used the theme of roller coasters to teach the scientific concept of speed, direction and motion of an object. In Georgia, our second graders must learn about the changes of speed on an object. Since this was our first science unit this year, I decided to use this opportunity to teach the features of nonfiction text as well. These are the features we learned:

The nonfiction features were taught daily during our reader's workshop minilesson. The kids then went to independent reading time and guided reading groups. In guided reading groups we read nonfiction books to practice the skills of using our nonfiction text features. 

To integrate the knowledge of roller coasters into our vocabulary instruction, the kids used pic collage to create posters that explained the meaning of our roller coaster science words. If you are interested in how you can use pic collage to integrate vocab instruction, click to read another blog post here.

Here are the science words we learned in this unit:

Each day we would learn a new science word and complete a science/math experiment to make meaning of the words. The math skill of measurement was used greatly during this unit. 

After learning all about roller coasters and nonfiction text features the kids created a nonfiction book all about roller coasters. The books were published and binded for our roller coaster presentations to our parents. 

On the last day of the unit, our parents came in to see our "roller coasters". We used insulation piping, tape and marbles to create roller coasters in groups of 2 kids. The students were required to use what they have learned to make a coaster that had enough speed and momentum to make 1 loop without the marble falling off. The nonfiction books were sitting out for parents to see and our pic collage vocabulary creations were on a slide show on the smartboard. To top it all off, I borrowed a cotton candy maker to really give off the Amusement Park feel! The Coaster unit was a huge success!

If you are interested in using this thematic unit, you can check it out here!

Teaching Nonfiction Text Features

As many of us know, nonfiction reading has become a significant part of the primary classroom. Students must learn to navigate through the features of nonfiction text to learn to comprehend their reading as well as broaden vocabulary and background knowledge about our world.

Using anchor charts and text features posters, I will tackle a new feature of nonfiction each day in my classroom. Here are a few examples of those posters:

Students will be given opportunities to read nonfiction text during reading workshop, but to ensure their understanding of the features of nonfiction, I will meet with each of them in guided reading groups based on their instructional reading level daily. 

To end the unit on nonfiction text features the children will create their very own nonfiction books using the features that were taught in the nonfiction unit. Since I choose to teach thematically, the students will make a nonfiction book all about roller coasters. 

I will post about our roller coaster unit this week, but in the meantime, if you are interested in a thematic unit that teaches nonfiction text features as well as the science standards of push/pull, then check out this unit: Coasting Through Nonfiction Text Features!

Movie Premier Success!

Today was our class movie premier to end our Hollywood thematic unit. We had an absolute blast! 

Our "stars" walked down the star walk of fame before entering the "theatre"!

They were happy to see the popcorn popped by the machine!

After watching our class created movies, we presented the actors and actresses with "Oscars"!

You can really see how much fun we had by the aftermath! Haha!

Our Hollywood themed unit was so much fun... I can't wait until next year to try it again!

Grab the unit here!

Using Haiku Deck to Take a Virtual Field Trip!

Tonight I was so excited to explore an amazing ipad app called Haiku Deck. I've been seeing it around for a few weeks, but I'm not going to lie, the name kinda threw me off. I had no idea how AMAZING it was going to be. Just this evening I quickly put together a little slide show to "explore" Hollywood through pictures. I loved the simplicity and ease of the app, but I really love the fact that I can quickly make a slideshow and not run into the chances of innapropriate pictures popping up on the internet/smartboard. If you would like to check out my Hollywood slide show, just click on the picture below:

Another really cool feature is that you can take your own pictures to add to the slideshow. I'm thinking my next Haiku Deck project will include student work! Have fun with your new app... It's really making our Hollywood Unit that much better!  

Teaching Schema, Characters and Narratives with Hollywood!

You can't start out a Hollywood Unit without knowing who does and doesn't like popcorn!

Good readers always use thier schema to make connections to the characters in a book.

 Beginning stages of our hallway display! I downloaded a free "Hollywood" font and cut the letters out by hand. I really need to get one of those cameos!

"Stars of Georgia" on display! 
To integrate social studies with the Hollywood theme, we study the "stars" of Georgia. These posters and much more can be purchased here.

We are using the ipad app "Toontastic" to create our own cartoons. We discussed setting, characters, problem and solution. The kids really love this activity!

How can we call it a Hollywood unit without making a movie? We are also using flip cameras to video our very own classroom movie. The kids came up with the big problem and solution and I helped with writing the script.

The Hollywood theme has been a blast in our room! If you are interested in the unit you can get it here!

Back to School Sale and New Unit!

Visit my tpt store for a back to school blowout! 

Road Trippin' Through the Common Core:

A reading and writing unit that teaches the 5 w's and h as well as beginning, middle and end.

Includes posters for who, what, when, where, how and why!

As well as graphic organizers to help your kids organize thier thinking!

Get it here... Don't forget it's 28% off!

Roll Out the Red Carpet... We Are Going to Hollywood!

I am so excited to have finally finished my Hollywood reading and writing workshop unit! This unit is so much fun for the kids and for the teachers. I'm planning on starting it the second week of school, so I will post lots of pictures and ideas. The unit teaches the 2nd grade character standard as well as narrative writing. Also, if you are a Georgia 2nd grade teacher, we will be teaching the Georgia historic figures as "Georgia Stars". I also will incorporate a movie making aspect to the unit as well. The parents always love coming for the "Movie Premier" and see thier kids win "Oscars"! 

If you are interested, you can grab the unit here!