Wonderopolis Trifold

I'm sitting at the computer, working on my end-of-year slideshow (which is already very long and a fraction of the way complete), and falling asleep. So, why not head over to blogger and write a post, I tell myself...makes sense!

I had been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks. It's not like I've been busy with piles of grading, lesson planning, and year end tasks! This will really be a short post as the photos will be explanation enough.

All year long I have been following Wonderopolis on my news feeder. {Quick aside...I was a loyal Google Reader user until they announced that they will be ending the service this July. I tried out Feedly and I LOVE LOVE it!} I knew that I wanted to use Wonderopolis in my classroom, but didn't get around to creating something until this quarter. Last month I took a district PD course on CCSS ELA - specifically close reading. In this class we had to analyze text for complexity. While I am still not  totally comfortable gauging exemplar text, I have a better understanding of it. The Wonderopolis posts that I have read are clearly complex text! Perfect!

I started by making a one page sheet with a Frayer Model graphic organizer and tried it out. Insert "wah-wah-wah" deflated sound here. It wasn't anything special. Then I started fiddling around with placement and inspiration hit! Why not a trifold brochure type page?! It's perfect for students to fold and be able to fit in that limited table space next to the computer keyboard. Plus they can focus on each task and not be distracted by the other tasks in the trifold.

We used Wonder of the Day #935 (Who Wrote the Pledge of Allegiance?) for our first go. Here is a shot from a few different students' work. You can get an idea of what they did for each of the 6 tasks.

 

 Great question! Also - hilarious spelling of astronaut! ;)

 Obviously students would get better at using the trifold every time, but I was pretty impressed with their first try. We are still working on our second one, question #873, What is a Solar Storm? There are so many wonders on a variety of topics, they are almost at question #1000! I WONDER what that one will be?

Did I mention that my trifold is free? Totally FREE? Well it is! Go get it! 

Back to School Sale and new Freebie

We've been back in school for 3 weeks now and I am a bit jealous of those teachers that are enjoying their last bit of summer vacation. But I'm also happy that we've started! I'm enjoying my new grade level, my new classroom, my new team, and my sweet 5th graders (I didn't know 5th graders still give hugs!).

This week was pretty rough. Last Friday I flew to Seattle for my grandmother's memorial. My sister, nephew, and I were so lucky to get to spend time with her as she passed away a week after our visit. It was a beautiful memorial and it was great to have technology so that my sister and cousin who couldn't make it could say a prayer through Google+ Hangout, and my cousin also streamed the event on YouTube for other family members to view. I was out of school Monday and we all know how much work it is to plan for a sub, and then recover after a sub. The rest of the week I was at school late and then I started to feel allergy symptoms. Yesterday afternoon it hit me that it wasn't allergies, it was a cold! So, I'm feeling pretty achy with fever and chills, and hoping that I don't have to call in sick again next Monday.

Regardless I wanted to participate in the huge sale at TpT this weekend. EVERYTHING in my store is 20% off August 12-13. On top of that TpT is offering an additional discount of 10% when you use code:  BTS12

This is a great time to take advantage of all the wonderful resources created by teachers as many are participating in the sale. I know I'm excited to purchase some of the things in my wishlist!

I've also added a new freebie! I am on (the soon to be gone) Career Ladder and we have to complete a Student Achievement Plan each year. This year my team has decided to focus on personal narrative writing and hone in on the traits of word choice, organization, and conventions. We looked for a narrative elements graphic organizer, but couldn't find one that was just right for our needs, so of course I had to create my own, and I am offering it for free in my store!