I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

Hi All!

Very few student chapter books surprise me because I have read so many.  However, I was pleasantly surprised after reading the I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 by Lauren Tarshis. This was my first I Survived book, as I plan to read the others this summer but felt it was a really well thought out book.

It conveyed the message at an appropriate level for my third graders.  For those unfamiliar with this book, it follows the adventure of an eleven year old slave named Thomas, who takes his 5 year old sister and abandons the plantation they were living on.  Later in the story, the two children meet up with some Union soldiers that form a bond with them. During the book, it gives aspect of the war and emphasizes the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg through several different point of views.

There are many reasons why you should use this book in your classroom. The main ideas the students can take away:

1. Different point of views through the eyes of a slave, soldier, etc.
2.    Why the South wanted to secede from the North.
3. Why Gettysburg was an important battle for the North and a turning point in           the Civil War.
4.    Why President Lincoln pushed for an end of slavery and to keep the South           from seceding.
5.    Why the Civil War was important and about the people who sacrificed their           lives for the freedoms we have today.

I created a literature story that goes along with this book.  In it I felt it was important to include a story that students could write from the perspective of the different characters in the book. When I did this unit in my classroom, the students really got into their character role when writing and were able to hold onto their point of view throughout the story.

Other things that I added were character journals to study character traits, question pages, vocabulary, and more. Here are some examples of the question pages and character journals my students worked on.

If you are interesting in this literature unit follow this link: The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. You may also want to follow my blog and on TPT as I plan to add many more units over the summer (which is days away, congrats we made it!).

Thanks,

Erin

Word Problems, gotta lov'em!

Hi Everyone!

WORD PROBLEMS! This has been the favorite math words for my students this last week.  I made 10 new medium to difficult multiplication and division word problems that have multi-steps in each problem.

This time I once again put kids into 6 math groups to work on a single problem together on butcher paper.  The thing that I did different this time is that I copied the same word problem for 3 groups and the same but different word problem for the other 3 groups. This way when one group was finished, I then handed them what the other group was working on.

After all groups had finished both problems, I used the SMART board to show them a possible way to solve each problem. We were then able to discuss additional strategies that other students had come up with.

Here are some pics of my class working on these. Since I have started these kids beg for these word problems.

Multiplication/Division Word Problems

Thanks,

Erin

Animal Research Reports

Hi Everyone!

     I have been so busy doing animal research reports. I recently made a product that has helped tremendously.  It breaks down the research into note gathering and taking, rough draft paragraphs for the different researched areas, and the final draft. However, this year I also added an example report that goes with the report templates.  My students really enjoyed learning about it and I saw firsthand how the visual aids have helped in their report writing and presenting. Below are some pics from the example research report.

Here is a link to this animal report.

-Erin

Hello,

I am back from hibernation! Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope everyone had a great break. I have many more posts coming this weekend but wanted to share a quick freebie from my TPT store. Come check out my store and follow me for more FREEBIES!

Click here for Freebie

Be back soon,

Erin

Snow Globe Adventure

Hi Everyone,

My class just finished something up that you can do this winter.  We read a story I created called, Snow Globe Adventure.  It is about two kids who aren’t used to winter but get to have a winter day anyway. I was inspired to write this story because I couldn't find a snow globe story I liked or even related to in a small way. I just wanted something with a simple plot and a purpose.  This story helps kids look at things from a different perspective.

As some of you know, I am a native to Arizona and did not grow up with snow, except the occasional trip to the mountains. So the story stems from a different point of view, than many others who enjoy (or not) a very long winter with heavy snow. I think it is shocking to those students living in states that have real seasons, that not everywhere does. 

One of the activities that I have that goes with the story is to write a story using the prompt, where would the snow globe take you?  This prompt allows students to dream up any magical place they are thinking of.  I have also done other prompts where students are trapped inside the snow globe and they have to figure out a way to get out. However, the great thing about this unit, it is up to you as the teacher to come up with whatever prompt that fits what you are doing in class. Here is the front cover of the prompt we used. 

What I did to help make these snow globe stories was to copy the front page template on card stock.  I also made many copies of the middle writing template (these are also adjustable to fit you classroom writing needs), and used the last page template as a place for students to write about the author.  Students got a chance to write about themselves and draw a picture.  I would also recommend if you had a student picture handy to add that on the last page (I just didn’t).

Here are some pictures of the final product.

If interested in the unit, just follow the link.

Snow Globe Adventure

Enjoy!

Erin

Polar Express

Merry Christmas!

Countdown to winter break, 6 more work days! There are lots of things going on this week and next. This week we are working on a snow globe project that I will write about in my next post.

I did want to tell you about next week and my class reading The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg.  This is actually the start of a month long author study I am doing in January (more to come about this as well). As I am sure you know, Polar Express is a cute book and great a movie you can squeak in just before break.  I have made a lit unit is great that goes along with it but I wanted to share the craftivity that goes along with the unit.

I am going to have the students put together a train that is travelling to the North Pole. On the train cars the students have to summarize the beginning, middle, and end of the book. The train goes onto a long piece of construction paper that can be either black or white. For my example, I chose black to represent the night sky. However, I think white can work well too, if students wanted to draw the setting as the train was travelling up the mountain.

Below is an example of the project.

Here is the link to the Polar Express Lit Unit w/craftivity and link to the Chris Van Allsburg Author Bundle.

Polar Express

Van Allsburg Bundle

Have a great break!

Erin

Turkey for Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for this post so close to Thanksgiving but as you know, school life can be crazy.  We are working this week on A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting for Thanksgiving week.  This is one of my favorite reads this time of year because many students have one perspective throughout the whole book and realize they were wrong at the end.

If you have not read the book, I’ll give a quick synopsis.  Mr. and Mrs. Moose are hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Mrs. Moose really wants a turkey for Thanksgiving, so Mr. Moose promises to get her one.  Mr. Moose goes looking for a turkey and runs into other Thanksgiving dinner attendees on the way that join the search (the Goats, the Rabbits, etc.). They finally find a turkey hiding by the riverbank.  They capture him and bring him back to Mr. Moose’s house.  They then all sit down to dinner only for Turkey to realize they got him a chair and he is NOT dinner but rather a guest.

One writing activity that I did with my students was to have them each disguise a turkey to hide from Thanksgiving.  Then write a story about how the turkey avoided being eaten.  My students came up with some great ideas such as a piano, peacock, rapper, ninja turtle, and more.  To give something a little extra, I had a bag of googly eyes that if students wanted, they could glue them on the turkey for eyes.

The students had a lot of fun and even asked if they could do this next week J. I always find that good news!

Click here if interested in the literature unit - Turkey for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Erin

10 Ways Parents Can Help Their Child With Math

Hi Everyone!

     Next week I have parent teacher conferences coming up and wanted to be able to hand out something for parents to help their child at home with math.  There are so many ways parents can integrate math with their children and have fun while doing it. I built a chart/poster for parents to use at home to help with math ideas. There is a color poster and a black and white version available.

    I plan on handing this out to parents as I go through conferences. I have posted them for free in my TPT store. If interested please follow the link and download them for yourself. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/10-Ways-Parents-Can-Help-with-Math-2195914

    Also, please consider following my blog and store for future updates, freebies, and products.

Thanks,

Erin Hansen

Mrs. Hansen’s Helpfuls

Clip art credit belongs to 

Creative Clips and Educlips

Sarah, Plain and Tall: Reading strategy for those reading strugglers.

Hi Everyone!

I just finished reading the small chapter book, Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan last week. I read this every year with my third graders but have also read it with my fourth grade class. I have taught this lesson with just me reading the book to the class and also in groups where everyone has their own book. 

This year, each student had their own book and I was able to integrate the reading strategy of breaking down each chapter of the book.  This is great for grades 2- 4 because when they are just starting chapter books, it helps them understand how to chunk information. We all have natural readers in our classes but this strategy really helps the struggling readers.

After each chapter students needed to think about the main idea/event in that chapter and then draw a picture + write two sentences about it. I was really happy with the results. Everyone passed the final assessments for the book and characters.

Here are some examples of what my students accomplished. 

This reading strategy really helped make my struggling readers more confident in participating and with overall understanding about the book’s development.

If interested in this particular unit just follow the link.

Sarah, Plain and Tall

I hope this strategy works well in your classroom too!

Thanks,

Erin

Multi-Step Word Problems

Hi Everyone,

Last week I wanted to have my students practice addition and subtraction multi-step word problems.  I really wanted them to dissect a problem and analyze it.  So I created some word problems to help them do just that!

The results turned out great. The students learned a lot and kept asking to do more.

Word Problem Example

Word Problem Example Answer

This is how I used the word problems in my classroom:

1.     I placed students into different math groups about 4-5 students.

2.    Each student had to have a different color marker from a person in their group (and no yellow allowed).

3.    I placed a butcher paper down for each group and gave them one word problem per group to solve.

4.    Each member had to work on the problem and had to be able to explain how to do it.

5.    For the final part: I did it two separate ways. One way, I had each group present one of the word problems to the class. The second way we went over each problem using the SMART board. (I used the answer cards given in this unit.

(I used these word problems for three separate math lessons but easily could have made an entire week out of it.)

Students working on one of the word problems.

It was great to be able to walk around the room and be able to observe the students working together and know what each had contributed.  It was really easy to see whose colored marker was not being used to help solve the problem.

Let me know how your word problem lessons turn out!

If you are interested in this one just follow link below.

Multi-Step Word Problems

Thanks,

Erin