Tuesday, January 31, 2017

FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON - “Sack of Sounds”

by Animal Crackers and Apple Juice
Pre-Kindergarten - 1st Grade


This is a super take home activity that encourages students to practice beginning sounds. It is creative and very hands on. Students love to show off the items from the Sack of Sounds.

This is an original idea by Sharon Winter

phonological awareness, phonics, alphabet recognition, beginning sounds





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Monday, January 30, 2017

Daybreak in Alabama: Classroom Conversations on Civil Rights


When I get to be a composer | I'm gonna write me some music about | Daybreak in Alabama | And I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in it | Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist | And falling out of heaven like soft dew. --Langston Hughes

Twenty-six years ago, I walked into a classroom in the education building on campus at the University of Arizona.  As a public school music teacher hoping to enter back into the classroom, I had recently gained acceptance into the School of Education in a program call Language, Reading & Culture.  I'll never forget that first class, because the professor challenged my thinking and my beliefs at every turn. I spent that semester looking at children's literature and textbooks with a critical eye. As a result, I changed the way I looked at the texts I use with my students, and I began to think about what it means to be culturally responsive.

Twenty-six years later, here I am, still thinking. It's important to me to use literature that is diverse. I purposely choose texts that represent a variety of cultural experiences and voices.  I work in a very diverse setting, one in which over 70 different languages are spoken. It is imperative that my students can empathize with characters and feel empowered by the struggles of those characters.

One of my favorite ways of exploring complex texts with my fifth graders is to delve into poetry. Poetry is complex. When you think about it, the imagery, the use of figurative language, the hidden meanings, poetry is the mother-of-all complex text types. And one of my favorite poets to explore with my students is Langston Hughes.  I've shared many of Hughes' poems with my students, but this year I chose to focus on "Daybreak in Alabama." It's one of my personal favorites, and it's packed with vivid descriptions. What follows here is a story about 24 fifth graders and their journey of understanding "Daybreak in Alabama."
I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in it | And the scent of pine needles | And the smell of red clay after rain | and long red necks | And poppy colored faces | And big brown arms | And the field daisy eyes...      ---Langston Hughes



The Beginning 

As reading teachers, we know that the brain learns best when connections between concepts and ideas are discovered.  That knowledge is why we stoke the fires of anticipatory set and schema. To share "Daybreak in Alabama, " it was important to me that my students have background knowledge of who Langston Hughes was so I began by sharing this:


This picture book provides a  beginning biography for elementary-aged children.  We read about Langston's early family struggles in childhood, his yearning for a home and a sense of belonging. It helped my students to connect with this poet as a child and character.  Reading this gave them a point of reference for our poetry readings to come. This book talks about poverty.  It also shows how Hughes' father had to move to Mexico to practice law due to racial prejudices and restrictions in the United States.   It portrays Langston Hughes' remarkable family history, telling the reader about his ancestors' abolitionist activities and successes.  I like this book because it does not gloss over the struggles he faced, but it also does not make those struggles or his childhood poverty the focus.  The author provides a balanced view of Langston Hughes' life.

Of black and white black white black people| And I'm gonna put white hands | And black hands and brown and yellow hands | And red clay earth hands in it |Touching everybody with kind fingers | And touching each other natural as dew... ---Langston Hughes

Unpacking the Poem

We began reading the poem using a close reading technique. We did this over two days!  It went like this:
  1. I read the copy while students listen or follow along in their copy of the poem. We discuss what jumps out at them. We talk about why those things stand out.  We record them on chart paper or on our SMART board. 
  2. We read the poem together a second time, and they follow on their copies and highlight any new observations or thinking. We record our thoughts again.
  3. Small group reading. My students sit in small table groups.  Each table group reads a section of the poem aloud. I ask them to share their thinking about how Hughes breaks up his lines.  Ahead of time, I had prepared the text of the poem written in paragraph form, with the line breaks removed.  We read it this way, too and talk about how the line breaks make us read Hughes' words differently.  We explore changing the line breaks. We record our thinking again.
  4. Finally, individual students volunteer to read lines of the poem.  And I ask, "What is Langston's message to the world? Why did he write this poem?"
The percolation time between our close readings helped my students delve more deeply into "Daybreak in Alabama."   Initially, they talked about the imagery...the fields, the way he describes the setting. They drew pictures of the imagery.  This was their surface-level understanding.  Think about an elevator. This was the ground floor of understanding.

On day two of the close read, my kids took notice of the lines about hands. They decided that Langston wants everyone to get along with each other, and that's why he writes about black and white hands. And then, they asked these questions: "Why does the poem take place in Alabama? Why not California? Why Alabama?"  and  "Why daybreak?  Why not lunch time?"  Those questions led us to the next floor of understanding on day 3. 

On the third day, I explained to my kids that sometimes when readers ask questions like theirs, and they conduct research to try to figure out the answers.  I tell them that I was intrigued by their questions, so I did a Google search for Alabama in the 1960s when the poem was published, and I found something.  They were on the edge of their seats.  I had found a short youtube documentary video about the March on Selma, and I showed it to them.  They watched in stunned silence.  I stopped the video right before Bloody Sunday. Our classroom erupted with reactions of horror, sadness, anger, and disbelief.  After debriefing the video, we revisited the poem.  We recorded our thinking in our sketch journals.

On day four of our exploration, I asked students to complete a "CSI" thinking routine from Making Thinking Visible (Ritchart, Morrison & Church).  They had completed this routine before and knew what to do.  They talked about the mood of the poem at their tables and assigned a color to the poem. Many chose yellow, saying the poem was hopeful and yellow is the color of the sun.  Some chose blue, citing it as the color of peace. Some chose green because they associated it with new growth.  Next, they reviewed their thinking entries from the previous days and created original symbols for the poem.  Their symbols had to represent the message of the poem. Finally, they drew images to illustrate the poem.  

We blew up their symbolic representations using crayon resist with water color, and students reflected on the meaning of "Daybreak in Alabama." 
                                                             

                                                          


                                                                   
The power of choosing literature that is culturally diverse is in the student conversations and understandings that develop.  "Daybreak in Alabama" began our exploration of civil rights, and it paved the way for what was to come in our classroom.  At the end of this poetic exploration, David asked the question, "How could they just stand there and do nothing?"  And my mind went to Elie Weisel's words, "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."  The questions that came out of "Daybreak in Alabama"  have led us to try to answer David's question with our future classroom readings. 

Last week, three of my boys came to talk to me after recess about a bullying situation they have been witnessing. Another student who has some challenges was being mocked and ridiculed at recess.  As all three faces (black and white) looked up at me, one of them said, "It's not right what's happening. It needs to stop, so we decided to tell."  And I answered, "I'm so glad you decided to take action."
In that dawn of music when I | Get to be a composer | And write about daybreak | in Alabama. ---Langston Hughes

Postscript: If you follow the link imbedded in the 3E's Blogging Collaborative logo below, you'll find a free resource to help you explore "Daybreak in Alabama" with your students. Please enjoy.



Welcome to the initial post of the 3 E's Blogging Collaborative. On the last weekend of each month, my fellow educators and I will be telling our classroom stories about our explorations of empathy, empowerment, and equity with our students.  It is our mission to explore these topics together, but also to provide FREE ideas and materials for others wishing to do the same.  We hope to build a bank of materials and ideas to support these classroom endeavors.  We also hope you'll be stopping by again to engage in the conversation.





FREE MATH LESSON - “Exponents, Powers, & Prime Factorization Exit Slips FREEBIE”

by Lopez Land Learners
4th - 6th Grade


4 half sheet exit slip type assessments to be used after teaching a unit on Prime & Composite Numbers, Exponents, Powers of Ten, and Prime Factorization. 

Use as a quiz or homework, or even a daily mini assessment for a week before the final assessment. 10 problems that cover all of above items efficiently. Answer sheets included. Common Core aligned for 4th and 5th grade. 

Perfect assessment after using any of my Powers of Ten Exponents Sets: 

Batty for Base Ten Exponents Expanded Form Multiplication by Powers of Ten Card Set

Powers of Ten Base Ten Exponents 5th Grade BUNDLE

Powers of Ten Base Ten Exponents Task Card Set

Powers of Ten Exponent SCOOT & Task Card Set

How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: 
• Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺





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Sunday, January 29, 2017

FREE MATH LESSON - “Fraction Match Up {Freebie!}”

by Katie Jones
2nd - 4th Grade


The matching game comes with 24 fraction cards. Students should match the fraction to the picture. This is a great review game for students to play; it could also be used as an introduction to a fraction unit.





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Saturday, January 28, 2017

FREE MATH LESSON - “Geometric Concepts Worksheet - Free Activity”

by Lindsay Perro
4th - 7th Grade


About this resource : 
This 2 page worksheet includes 6 multiple choice questions and 1 extended response question. Skills assessed are naming angles, line segments and rays, and identifying diagonals.

Available in the following resource(s) : 
Basic Geometry Unit Resources
6th Grade Math Curriculum Resources Mega Bundle


Terms of Use
© Lindsay Perro. Please note - this resource is for use by one teacher only. Additional teachers must purchase their own license. If you are a coach, principal or district interested in purchasing several licenses, please contact me for a district-wide quote. lindsayperro@gmail.com

✮✮If you are interested in gaining access to an exclusive set of free resources, CLICK HERE.



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Friday, January 27, 2017

FREE MISC. LESSON - “Free United States Clip Art: Presidents, Eagle Symbol, and U.S. Flag”

by Charlotte's Clips
Pre-Kindergarten - 12th Grade


Free United States clipart set includes:

George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln,
American Eagle,
United States Flag
Presidents Banner

These graphics are in 300 dpi transparent png format. This will provide you with high quality images for printing and ease in resizing.

There may be used in single classrooms and TPT created products and freebies. Complete terms of use are included in download.

If you like this clip art set, you may want to check out these too:

United States Coins




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Thursday, January 26, 2017

FREE MISC. LESSON - “Les phrases d'hiver: pratique de sons français (Winter French Phonics Practice)”

by Ms Joanne
1st - 2nd Grade


French vowels can be complicated for many students. This resource helps students understand the difference between short vowel sounds and the sounds vowels make when they are coupled with another letter or when there is an accent. This file contains 10 lessons, with 3 sentences per lesson. Each lesson increases slightly in difficulty. 

Lesson Steps:
1. Review the simple vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u)
2. Review the more complex vowel sounds found in the practice sentences (e.g. on, es, in, oi, an)
3. Give students a box of sentences. Have them highlight the simple vowels in one colour and the more complex sounds in another colour. An example can be seen in the photos above.

After the lesson, students can read their sentences alone or with a friend. Also included are images for each box of sentences. Students can find the image that matches the meaning of their sentences and glue them next to the sentence box. Once a few sentence boxes have been glued into the notebook, it becomes a very good reading practice for students of all levels.

French Instructions are included in the download. Merci!

Other Phonics Sentence Practices: 
French Phonics: les voyelles et les consonnes (simple vowels and consonants)
French Phonics: Les sons les plus fréquents (the most common sounds)
French Phonics: Les accents et les sons complexes (accents and more complex sounds)
OR get all 3 of the above practices at a reduced price with this Bundle: French Phonics: Une introduction et pratique des sons français en contexte 

Other French Resources 
Les sons français en image - French illustrated phonics word wall
Les adjectifs - Illustrated French adjective word wall  Les verbes - Illustrated French verbs word wall
Les phrases - French Sentence Builder
Les sons français: une pratique interactive (French Phonics Interactive Practice)
Les roues de sons - French Phonics Spinner Games 
Les sons et l'écriture français {French Phonics and Writing Bundle)
Le Théâtre des lecteurs {French Readers' Theatre}
Halloween: 5 pièces de théâtre des lecteurs pour l'halloween
Je travaille mon vocabulaire Trousse 1{French Vocabulary Bundle 1}
6 French Vocabulary Word Walls




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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

FREE LANGUAGE ARTS LESSON - “Common Core Question Stem Terms Synonyms List”

by Mad Eye Moody Productions
6th - 12th Grade


Are your question stems getting repetitive? This document will help freshen up your stems. It has common stem terms, like "text" and gives a variety of synonyms for that term (i.e. passage, article, excerpt, paragraph, essay, etc.). 

*Important note: Because of how the state of Florida altered their standards (to become the LAFS), this resource IS appropriate for the LAFS as well.

This resource is in .pdf format.

These go perfectly with my Common Core Question Stems for grades 6-12:

Common Core Question Stems Grade 6

Common Core Question Stems Grade 7

Common Core Question Stems Grade 8

Common Core Question Stems Grades 9-10

Common Core Question Stems Grades 11-12




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Tuesday, January 24, 2017

FREE SOCIAL STUDIES LESSON - “Immigration, Inventors, Big Business, and Labor Unions Review Game”

by Love Learning
4th - 7th Grade


Immigration, Inventors, Big Business, and Labor Unions Review Game: Free!

This PowerPoint game reviews:

~Immigration to Ellis Island and Angel Island in the early 1900's
~Inventors and their inventions (Wright Brothers, Edison, Bell, Carver)
~Labor Unions
~Big Businesses (John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie)

This game correlates with my: Early 1900's Complete Unit

View the individual items here: 

Inventors Lesson and Notes SheetNew Americans - Teaching Students About Immigration in the Early 1900'sTeaching Students About the Labor Movement and Big Business of the 1800's-1900's

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Take a look at my other history lessons: 

• Civil War and Reconstruction Unit
• Westward Expansion Unit
• The Suffrage Movement
• American Expansionism
• World War I Unit 
• The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression Unit 
• World War 2 Unit 
• Civil Rights Movement
• September 11 Attacks
• Economics Unit 

Save with Bundles: History Bundle 1History Bundle 2, History Bundle 3History Bundle 4 

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©LoveLearning2015
Redistributing, editing, selling, or posting this resource on the internet (including your classroom website) are strictly prohibited. Violations are subject to penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If you would like to share this product with colleagues, please purchase the multiple user license.





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Sunday, January 22, 2017

FREE MISC. LESSON - “School Conversation Hearts Clip Art ~ Valentine's Day Graphics ~ FREEBIE”

by Teacher Karma
Pre-Kindergarten - 12th Grade


Happy Valentine's Day!! Conversation Hearts ~ School STYLE Clip Art! You will LOVE these SWEET school version of conversation hearts! These hearts are bright, colorful, and ready to join your classroom! They are absolutely perfect for adding to parent newsletters, literacy and writing stations, activities, printables and student worksheets, holiday materials, etc. 

Commercial use is okay, but please read and follow the terms of use. 

*There are 26 FREE graphics included in this download. Each graphic is png format and created at 300 dpi.*

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It is fine to use for commercial or personal use, but please read and adhere to the Terms of Use Policy included in the file. :)

Thank you for visiting Teacher Karma. Have fun and enjoy! 

Best Wishes!
Jen

juststylemejen@gmail.com

I would LOVE for you to check out my blog:
Teacher Karma Blog




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