Giveaway!

Who doesn't love a giveaway? I am excited to announce I have joined with other collaborators to provide this giveaway opportunity.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:  

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Giveaway Organized by: Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), 

Co-hosts:   An Apple for the Teacher, Mrs Hansens Helpfuls, A Place of Story, and Kathryn Watts.

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter. Giveaway ends 11/26/16 and is open worldwide.

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

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Attachments area

Differentiated Time Lessons

Hi!

I have been working on time, elapsed time, and adding and subtracting of time for a while now. Teaching third grade and others, we get stuck with several different levels of where students are when telling time. We can go from the basics of counting the clock by 5’s to adding and subtracting time easily. I have created a product that can help scaffold telling time and more, a little easier.

There are four differentiated sections in this product for telling time. Each section is scaffolded or differentiated into varying levels of difficulty. When I first used this product, I copied each section and as a class we scaffolded to the more difficult levels together.

The first part of this product includes the basics of telling time with quarter of the hour, five minutes, and to the minute. This section increases with difficulty.

The second section is for beginning elapsed time while using a number line. In this section, students will have to be able to tell time (decipher the beginning and end time) and then be able to show how much time has elapsed using a number line.

The third section is adding and subtracting time when given the amount of elapsed time. Students will also use a number line to figure out each time measurement as well.

The fourth and final section, looks at elapsed time a little differently. Students have to complete charts to discover the missing time variable.

Overall, I felt my students really did well with this approach. I was able to go back and use the different differentiation levels with the appropriate math group for reteach if necessary.  This lesson also provided a challenge for those needing an extension. Finally, each section also provides a quiz.

If you are interested in this product click ---> Telling Time

Enjoy!

Erin

Race the Wild: Savanna Showdown

Hi All!

    Race the Wild: Savanna Showdown is the last book in the Kristin Earhart ecosystem series. Similar to the other books in this series, this book delivers ecosystem and animal interactions in a great way.

    This book series is most appropriate for students in grades 2 – 4. A brief overview of this last book includes the last leg of the four-leg race. The Red team continues its journey through the African Savanna. The team comes across many different animal species but also shows an inner conflict amongst the characters. This story is great to use for character development and problem/solution.

The main ideas students can take away are:

1.     The greatest migration on land.

2.    The African Savanna food chain interaction.

3.    Wildlife facts on the aardvark, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, termite, wildebeest, Nile crocodile, and more!

4.    Ngorongoro Crater and how it supports life in the savanna.

    This book is worth the read and I highly recommend this series. If you are interested I did complete a literature unit on this book as well as the others. The literature unit focuses on comprehension, character traits and development, fact journals, maps, persuasive writing, and more.

    These are some pics from the unit. If you are interested please click on this link: Race the Wild: SavannaShowdown.

Thanks,

Erin Hansen

Types of Apples

Hi!

I have been up to a lot lately.  I wanted to try tying in more into my annual Johnny Appleseed unit. So I decided to focus more on different types of apples and integrating it into the different subject areas.  I came up with a simple theme of small research on 10 of the most popular apple types and use a timeline to sequence when they surfaced on the mass-market.

For the other subject areas:

Paragraph writing tie-in: Students taste tested six different apple types and then wrote about their favorite type of apple and why. This turned into a craftivity.

Poetry: Students taste apples and then write a triante poem about an apple.

Math tie-in: Students measure different apple types with measuring tapes, spring scales, and a balance. (This I did as a teacher led center). Pic below.

Science tie-in: Students conducted apple experiments to look for solutions to stop the oxidation process.

Overall, this theme has created a lot of motivation, learning, and great writing results.

For the first two days I have decided to post the product as a FREEBIE for FOLLOWERS, as a thank you!

Types of Apples Link

Enjoy!

Erin

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Hi All!

One of the books that over the years I felt has made an impact on understanding differing cultures and immigrant struggles includes Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan.  I have read this book several times and even created a reader’s theater play to accompany the book and literature unit.

This book is about a young girl named Esperanza who grows up a wealthy child living on her family farm in Mexico. When unexpectedly her father is killed, leaving the mother in a difficult position. She must either marry her cruel brother-in-law or sneak away.  Esperanza and her mother chose to flee to America leaving the grandmother behind to follow later. The book follows Esperanza through many difficulties and shows how she matures, including how she starts to understand the enormity of her new life situation.

The main ideas students can take away are:

1.     A drastic character change from the beginning of the story until the end. Showing how Esperanza goes from being a girl of privilege to a migrant worker.

2.    It demonstrates the struggles immigrant workers face when coming to America and how people slave to make pennies.

3.    Introduces what striking on a picket line is and what Esperanza felt like in the choice to cross or not cross the picket line.

4.    It demonstrates to be proud of who you are no matter your life situation and more.

Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I feel it is best suited for grades 4 through 6 where students can pick up on the more difficult concepts.

Esperanza Rising Reader’s TheaterPlay and Literature Unit.

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

Integrating Character Traits

Hi All!

Something that I have been working on since last year has been integrating character trait lessons throughout the year.

By doing this it has improved student learning by:

1.     Increase the learning of new vocabulary

2.    Looking at book characters in a different way

3.    Making connections between character traits and their motivations throughout the book

4.    Applying character traits to their own created stories and analyzing other stories to see if they can recognize the traits

5.    Discovering their own character traits

After teaching the basic lessons about character traits to students, I had students implement it into their writing.  I did this by giving students 2-3 character trait cards.

Character Card Example

Character Card Example

Depending on the student’s challenge level, depended on the cards I gave them. For example, a student that struggles might have received the cards, friendly and stubborn (basic character traits). A student that needs a bit more of a challenge would receive the cards, obstinate and ridiculous (more thought provoking character traits). Another difficult challenge is to give students opposite traits such as selfish and generous.

Students take their cards and have to create a story with a main character that holds ALL trait cards that were given. I also give students a graphic organizer to show the character traits and how they will or were represented in the story.  This makes them accountable to plan out the story and integrate the character traits.

Here is an example of Harry Potter:

I hope this is an idea you can apply to your own classroom. I truly believe it benefited my students in their reading and writing.

I do have a character trait card PDF Presentation and Card/Activities product. If you are interested please click on this link: Character Traits.

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

All About Me Poster and Activities FREEBIES

Hi Everyone,

I just added a new freebie for my shop. It is for the beginning of the year and is All About Me Posters and activities. Here is a quick peak.  If you like it, please consider following my shop for more freebies and great products to come!

 All About Me Poster Freebies link - then just click on my free download button.

Thanks,

Erin

Race the Wild: Rain Forest Relay

Hi All!

Race the Wild: Rain Forest Relay is the first in the Kristin Earhart ecosystem series. I love that it has several facts about the ecosystem and explains how they interact.

This is a great read for students in grades 2 - 4. A brief overview for this book: This books starts off a race through different ecosystems. This leg of the race occurs in the Amazon Rain Forest, where along the way the reader will learn many different facts about plants, animals, and other ecosystem parts (in this case about the Amazon River). The story is focused around the Red team and its four members, Sage, Dev, Russell, and Mari.

The main ideas students can take away are:

1.     Interaction of different parts of the rain forest.

2.    There are 4 main levels of the rain forest.

3.    Wildlife facts about thing such as the poison dart frog, squirrel cuckoo, capybara, three-toed sloth, piranha, Amazon River dolphin, and more.

4.    Another aspect of the life supported by the sacred kapok tree. (I think a teacher could even tie in an additional book, The Great Kapok Tree, for additional lessons or comparisons about the rain forest. I thought this was a good connection for my classroom).

I created a literature unit that accompanies this story. In it I included text evidence based comprehension questions, character trait evidence, fact journal, expository writing, and more.

These are some pics from the unit. If you are interested please click on this link: Race the Wild: Rain Forest Relay.

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

Hi All!

I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 is the second in the series that I have read. I enjoyed the book and still love that Lauren Tarshis brings out the history subtly to younger readers. However, I will say I enjoyed I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 much more.

This was an appropriate and fun book for my third graders. A brief summary for this book is that it follows the story of an adventurous 10 year old boy named George who is traveling with his Aunt Daisy and his sister Phoebe. They are traveling first-class on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg. During, the story George interacts with the staff and third-class passengers which gives the reader different perspectives of the different classes.  

The main ideas students can take away are: 

1.     Differing perspectives from wait staff, third-class passengers, first-class passengers, and the differences between men and women + children on the fateful voyage. 

2.    Demonstrates different class systems had differing privileges.

3.    History of the Carpathia coming to the rescue, too late and the nonchalant attitude of first-class passengers when the boat first hit the iceberg. In addition to third-class passengers being locked below deck.

4.    The struggle of different individuals trying to make it onto a lifeboat and how this struggle led to a change in a law for passenger ships.

5.    The change of a relationship between a boy and his father.

I created a literature unit that accompanies this story. In it I included text evidence based comprehension questions, character trait evidence, change in relationship, expository writing debate, and more.

These are some pics from the unit. If you are interested please click on this link. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912

Thanks!

Erin Hansen

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