BB Part 5 - Donors Choose + Sticky Notes = Nonfiction Readers

I hope everyone is having a relaxing and fun summer. Mine is already half over, the first three weeks flew by, and I'm hoping the next three weeks are nice and slow. It's time for part 5 of my 10 part series, Blog Backlog: Playing Catch Up. Today's post is about my Donor's Choose project and a really great resource I purchased from TpT. 

We all know that with Common Core a greater emphasis is placed on reading nonfiction, which, if your school is like mine, lacks in the nonfiction department. Actually, even before CC I had realized the need for more nonfiction, especially as literature sets. When I taught sixth grade I used Donors Choose to get a set of books on Ancient Egypt, which I donated to our library when I moved to fifth. So, this year I decided we needed a class set of books on the Revolutionary War. Last year during our study of the war I had some students in my class "rooting" for the Americans and booing the British. I wanted them to understand that there were always two (or more) sides to a war, and always different perspectives. So, I read them George vs. George by Rosalyn Schanzer, and that helped. This book is at a great reading level for 5th graders, and they loved the graphic novel-like illustrations. I decided this would make a great book to use as a lit study, and so I set up a project through Donors Choose.

I am so grateful to all the donors that made it possible for us to get a class set of the books, they were a hit!

To make our study even more meaningful I purchased this amazing resource from Head Over Heels for Teaching: Reading Nonfiction with Post-its.

I picked out many of the pages from her resource that would coincide with the sections of George vs. George and made them all into a booklet. We glued on a copy of the front cover of GvG to make it official (sorry, forgot to take photos!). The students already had the 3"x 3" sticky notes that they use during Reading Workshop, but they needed the smaller ones for many of the activities. I found four packs of brightly colored ones at Dollar Tree and there were just enough in a stack for each student. 

Thanks Head Over Heels for Teaching for creating this super resource! I know I'll be using it even more this coming school year! And thank you Donors Choose for helping teachers get great resources and projects for our kiddos!

The American Revolution and Techie Tuesday

Yesterday I went back to work after two glorious weeks of Spring Break. One day to prep before kids (plus meetings and the district rally) is not enough! Today my kiddos returned and we jumped right in to the Revolutionary War (my favorite 5th grade social studies topic!). I started reading aloud Benjamin Franklin as a part of David Colbert's 10 Days series. We read Day 1 today, and although we stopped a lot to discuss, the students really seem to be getting into it!

Then this afternoon we started working on our American Revolution Lapbooks! This project is a great way for the students to show what they learn about the Revolution as we delve through this exciting period of American history. 

Oh, and what do you know?!  This lapbook is available in my TpT store and is my second bestseller! We also did a mini tax simulation to get the students to start thinking about what the colonists were going through that led them to revolt. The students were taxed for various things, like having siblings, or wearing a white shirt. Most of my classroom "colonists" were left with little or no money, while the King and the tax collectors took quite a chunk of change. 

Today I am linking up with Technology Tailgate to share a great interactive game find!

A teammate stumbled upon the Mission US website which has two interactive missions. The site also includes additional educator resources and activities! I only managed to play a bit of the game, but I'm definitely going to have the students try it out when we go to the computer lab next week. Students have the opportunity to make different choices throughout game play, including deciding where their loyalties lie! The site includes two missions; the first mission takes place as the Revolutionary War begins.

Mission 1: For Crown or Colony?

These missions can be played on computers or can be downloaded to mobile devices. Students will need to register (but they do not need an email address). 

The preview trailer will be a great hook to get the students excited about their mission!

Fortune Cookie Question Cards for Non-fiction {and a GIVEAWAY}

Several years ago I took a professional development course on (not taught by) Debbie Diller's Literacy Work Stations for Grades 3-6. The class was excellent because it was "make and take" and by the end of the class we all had several work station  materials ready to use in the classroom. Our homework during the course was to make and present our own workstation to the rest of the class. At the time Michael's had started selling take-out boxes in their gift wrapping section and I was inspired! I made three boxes each containing fortune cookie cards that had questions to use after reading at the non-fiction work station. I've had these in my room for several years, but I didn't photograph them because they weren't very pretty and had become faded from sitting in the window for years. I finally made a brand new set, fixed it up, and updated the questions.

These cards are great because they add interest to students and they come in their own cute storage boxes! 

And these are not just for literacy work stations! They can be used with small groups and whole class! 

I just added the file to TpT, it includes 16 science fortune cookie questions, 16 history fortune cookie questions, and 16 biography questions. There is a label for each of the three genres as well. The file has a black and white version for printing on tan card stock, or a colored version to use on white card stock. 

The take-out boxes can be found at many craft supply stores (Michael's, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, etc.) These I purchased from Hobby Lobby for about $5.00. I *think* there were 8 included. I've even seen these at Dollar Tree! The pictured ones aren't laminated, but my original ones were. Just unhook the metal handles, unfold, and run through the laminating machine! 

So, I've been wanting to do a giveaway for sometime, but I'm nervous. I've never had one before and I don't want to do it wrong! Please gently let me know if I am committing a giveaway crime, I don't intend to! 

The prizes:

1st Place - I'll mail you the completed Fortune Cookie Question Cards for Non-fiction that is shown above! No need to print and cut, I've already done that for you! And, to sweeten the deal, I'll throw in a $10.00 TpT gift certificate! (Must be a US resident)

Runner Up - Two lucky people will receive a free PDF of the Fortune Cookie Question Cards for Non-fiction! Plus one free item of choice from my TpT store!

How to enter (up to 3 entries possible!): 

* Fill out the simple 3 question form below. 

(Your email address will only be used in the event that you win.)

* Like Upper Grades are Awesome on Facebook and leave a comment finishing the phrase "Upper grades are awesome because...".

* Follow the blog and comment on this post with the following: name, email address, and finish the phrase "Upper grades are awesome because...".

All entries must be received by Sunday, March 17, 2013 11:59 PST/PDT.

Winner will be chosen using a random generator. 

I will announce the winners on Monday, March 18. 

Read and Respond

I have been using Read and Respond with my students since I started teaching 8 years ago and have tweaked it every year. Every educator knows how vital it is for students to be reading daily. Daily reading boosts fluency, builds vocabulary, and increases comprehension. Good readers think about what they read and the Read and Respond Daily Journal allows students to quickly and thoughtfully respond to what they are reading. Students use thought-provoking prompts to help them analyze what they read for deeper understanding. Read and Respond goes beyond traditional summarizing, although summarization is embedded into the response.

I use Read and Respond in my classroom as an on-going daily homework assignment. I expect my students to read everyday for 20 minutes or more, and I require them to respond to their reading in their Read and Respond notebook four times a week. I like to keep the response simple because I'd rather them spend more time on reading, and I feeling that a meaningful response can be kept to around five sentences. I provide prompts for students (for both fiction and non-fiction books) that they can respond to, or they can write their own response. I ask that my students not give a summary. Usually by 5th/6th grade students are able to easily summarize what they have read. It is much more meaningful for students to actually respond to what they read by thinking about it in different ways. Typically a summary will embed itself in the response. All the students need to do is write the title of the book they are reading, the genre, the date, a five sentence response, and a parent/guardian signature. 


The Read and Respond is checked off daily and I periodically collect students' notebooks and read some of their entries. I ask that students only put one response per page so that I may write a note to them about their response on the rest of the page. Sometimes I will collect everyone's notebook at the same time, or I have also collected them on a rotational basis (this helps me not to be overwhelmed). Usually the first few weeks students are still stuck on summarizing, but once I provide some feedback in their notebooks then I start to see the really meaningful responses emerge. 


In this booklet you will get . . . 
* Teacher directions and suggestions for use
* Student directions for students to paste in their journal 
* Student rubric for students to paste in their journal
* Student worksheet (to be used instead of a composition notebook)
* Read and Respond Passes (for use as incentive/prize in your classroom)