Fabulous Fourth Makeover and Sale

Happy Independence Day! The American Revolution Lapbook/Interactive Notebook was one of the first things I created for my class and for TpT, it also happens to be my bestseller! Well, because it was one of the first things I created the cover was unflattering to the product. I figured July 4th was the perfect time for a makeover! I found some pretty adorable graphics from Apples 'n' Acorns that are perfect, I wanted to use all of them, but settled on Thomas Jefferson and George Washington (sorry Ben Franklin!).

Doesn't that cover look so much better! Well, I also decided that I'd put this on sale. A whopping 50% off today! That's a steal! 

Since we are celebrating our country today I figured I'd make my Tour America: State Mobile Project half off as well. Get these two today! 

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!