5thgradeitis = less than 20 days of school

Wow. 20 more days left of school…technically 15 after 2 field trips,our field day, the highly anticipated “puberty talk” from the school nurse, and an end of the year party.

My students who were “Oh so sweet” at the start of the school year, are now starting to turn into what I would believe are….6th graders. I am talking attitude-wise, personality-wise—and truly I think they are getting way too comfortable with their “old” teacher.

Funny, some of the kids in my counterpart’s class were working on a project and they seem to believe they are suffering from “5thgradeitis.” Really?!?! I would hate to see them when they actually are seniors in high school!

So, what is a teacher to do? Well, as I have been working on my lesson plans for the next two-three weeks, I decided to come up with the following projects:

In science my fifth graders are going to teach a lesson to a third grade class. They are going to follow the third grade state standards and create activities (worksheets if they want, labs, etc.) to teach the younger grade their lesson.

As we have just finished studying immigration and Ellis Island in Social Studies, the students are going to choose one of three events in history, World War I, the Great Depression, or World War II and create a presentation to share with the class. I am hoping they will be really creative with these presentations, maybe create a newspaper, or dress up as famous character and tell their stories--something besides just a PowerPoint.

For Language Arts, I am planning to have the students go through the writing process and they will create a children’s book from start to finish. Thanks to Mr. Campbell for suggesting this idea—something he does with his eighth graders. His kids always come up with some awesome books, and I am confident my fifth graders will do the same.

Yes, these projects should take a while. But, I am hoping they will be engaged enough that some of this craziness and silliness will stop. If they were in middle school and high school they would have finals to prepare for.

So, lets just say I will be dealing with their “5thgradeitis” for 15 more days. Hopefully the internet will keep working. Or I might have a mutiny on my hands.

Earth Day 2011

Today we celebrated Earth Day at our school. For several years I have wanted to do something cool on Earth Day. When I taught middle school I would try to take my students outside and we would do various activities but I never could organize something big.

When I was in school, I remember the Earth Days when our class would go clean up the Shiawassee River, or visit a local nursery. Those were some of my favorite days because they were a break from the usual monotony.

Anyway, one of the first year teachers at our school took the lead on planning the day and got permission from our principal to put it all together. Due to the fact that we are a STEM program, Earth day seemed to be a good opportunity for us to celebrate some of the things we have been learning and working on this year.

About two weeks ago, the kids were given a homework assignment where they were to choose a variety of projects; their choices ranged from designing/improving new products, researching environmentally friendly changes they implemented in their houses, or creating an outfit out of recycled materials.

We started Earth Day 2011 with our morning assembly, where the kids say the Pledge of Allegiance and listen to the announcements.

Afterwards, the kids presented their homework projects to the whole school and the kids who designed outfits walked across the “green carpet” and sashayed in their creations. The kids came up with some amazing outfits; there was a ninja outfit made out of garbage bags, a pizza box hat, and a dress that a girl sewed herself out of Capri Sun bags! I managed the kids as they made their way into the gym, so I was in the hallway--it appeared to go well. AND, we finished in about 15 minutes—which I found quite impressive, due to the fact that over 50 kids presented their projects!

From there we went into our rotations. Each of our 4 teachers led the kids in some sort of activity. I did an outdoor inquiry lab where the kids looked at how coloring helps different insects survive (one of the things I actually got from Laying the Foundation), one teacher had the kids create bird feeders, another did a geocaching activity, and in the fourth group the kids completed their study of ecosystems by digging and planting a butterfly garden in front of our beautiful school. (Manual labor is a good thing!)

Every kid in our 4th and 5th grade program got to participate in the 4 activities.

Thankfully the weather cooperated. The kids behaved, and at the end of the day every kid in my class told me how much fun they had. I truly think the kids learned a lot, and hopefully they will remember how they celebrated Earth Day 2011-- even after they leave us and move on to middle school.

P.S. Only, 25 more school days. So glad today was a good one. :)

Engineering and Elementary School?!?

An integral part of our curriculum this year has been Engineering is Elementary from the Boston Museum of Science.

The lessons all start out the same. Read a book about an elementary school age child (usually from a foreign country) who encounters some sort of dilemma that relates to a field of engineering. Then, the child meets this particular engineer who teaches them how to make/design a product and voila the problem is solved.

Then, there are some inquiry lessons along the way which all lead up to the big project.

The projects don’t all work the first time, which truly is part of the engineering design process. Some lessons need to be tried out by the teachers first—other times we give the kids the items and tell them to go for it, and most projects require quite a bit of advanced preparation and items must be purchased in advance.

It is not a curriculum for districts that don’t have disposable income/parents who can not donate items, but if you have the resources, it is worth it. I have been amazed by what the kids have created this year.

We have made solar ovens, parachutes, water filters, a magnetic levitation train, an alarm as part of an electrical circuit, and we are ending the year with simple machines, where the kids are designing a pulley system.

I will say this; the kids come to school and ask, “What are we doing in engineering today?” They are absolutely obsessed with working on the projects. They love to create the big projects—they are reflective and enjoy making improvements to their designs.

They always work well in their small groups. I hardly ever hear them arguing and when they are “engineering” behavior problems are nonexistent. The kids are so focused on creating their project; they don’t have time to misbehave.

I am so happy that our district has signed on for Project Lead the Way’s Gateway to Technology class, so that our kids can continue their engineering experience as middle schoolers.

It makes me wonder how many of them will actually stick with engineering as a career? Seriously, they are amazingly good at it! They come up with ideas that most adults probably would struggle with. It has made a believer out of me, I never thought engineering was for kids, but, boy was I wrong!

Team Teaching with my Mom...

My mom has been teaching for over twenty years. She has taught both elementary and middle school in various subjects. All year long I had been telling her great things about my fifth graders, so as she and my dad came to visit for her spring break—she knew she had to come to my classroom to meet my kids.

She told me she had purchased "The Legend of the Bluebonnet," retold and illustrated by Tomie DePoala. She wanted to read it to my students. I figured it would be a good break for them as I hardly ever read out loud to my students and they had to endure two days of state standardized testing this week.

Anyway, I had never read the book, so I did what any good teacher does. I went online to do some research, and did a Google search that I hoped would give me some worksheets. (Just kidding, worksheets are bad.) I found some discussion questions and some extension activities that I adapted to complete with my students.

My mom had perfectly timed her arrival to the end of the kids lunch. I had told them she was coming, and they were thrilled to see her. “Oh, y’all look so much alike,” one student quipped.

So, we made our way somewhat silently (school rules) to my classroom and got the kids settled. To intro the book, my mom and I started asking them different questions about legends. We decided to put the story on the document camera and my mom would read it aloud. I would show the kids the pictures as they ooohed and ahhhed at the pretty illustrations. As my mom was reading, you could have heard a pin drop.

Then we began the extension activity. They were to describe their three most prized possessions; their answers ranged from a bible, to a PS3, to one students education, and a teddy bear named Scratch. Nice.

We asked them what their lives would be like if they gave their possessions away, similar to what the heroine in the story decided to do. Some kids claimed they would be bored/lonely/more annoying than usual, but they would be able to survive. Their answers were interesting and insightful, as usual far beyond their years.

I would say the day went well and I really enjoyed team teaching with my mom We worked well together. There weren’t any crazy discipline problems (aside from the normal 5th grade stuff), and my mom was finally able to put some faces with names. She was impressed with how smart and motivated my students were. I could tell the kids really liked her as they made a card and passed it around and signed it. It was cute.

P.S. After listening to my mom that afternoon with my students I realized...I am turning into my mother. Truly, this may not be a bad thing. :)

April Fools Day in Elementary School...

Today was April 1st—obviously April Fools Day. My 5th graders were quite excited about pulling a few pranks on me. I on the other hand, warned them yesterday that I have no sense of humor, but I do have a huge pile of referrals that I would be happy to write if they tried to pull anything crazy. (This is a total lie, I don’t even know where the referrals are—but they believed me.)

Let me just say, the classes I have taught before in middle school/high school were always uneventful on April Fools Day. Usually one of my students would say something like, “Oh today was April Fools Day?” “Yep, its April 1st my friend.”

So, the day began. Our school has an all school assembly in the morning where we hear the lunch menu, say the pledges of allegiance and the Texas pledge. After the kids were invited to sit down, one of my students said to me with a very somber look on his face, “Mrs. Campbell, my dog died last night.” I love dogs, (and I am very gullible) and he knows this, so I said to him, “Ohmygosh, I am so sorry to hear that.” He looked at me and said, “April Fools!” Ugh. And so it begins…

Next, during recess a group of my darling girls, came up to my 5th grade counterpart and I; they were holding various body parts, one her head, another her elbow, another her knee, and one more was limping. (Strangely enough, my class is notorious for getting injured on the playground during recess. I usually have about one injury a week.) Thankfully the girls were smiling, and proudly said, “April Fools!”

During lunch one of my parents is a PTA officer, she was selling “Smencils.” Yes, pencils that have various scents, like cotton candy, watermelon, orange, etc. She had a bag of Fritos for her daughter that she had put celery and carrot sticks inside, and glued the bag shut. Oh, April Fools.

Then, with about ten minutes to go in the day, one of my boys rushes out of my classroom to go to the restroom. He returns about two minutes later with a Kleenex covered in red marker. As he is holding it up to his nose, I tell him, “Ok, I see that is red marker.” He was disappointed and said slyly, “but it’s April Fools Day!”

Ok, so fifth graders are lame. Luckily, no ones dog really died, no one got hurt on the playground and the day ended without a bloody nose. I think I will live to next year…Oh, and I just checked the calendar. April 1st, 2012 is on a Sunday.