Zentangle art

It's been a long time between blogs. I have been busy this year on a Grade 5 class. Having a great year so far.

Recently my students designed their own zentangle on a triangular piece of fabric which was then made into a bunting for display. During whole class novel a strategy of mine is to allow students to doodle in a doodle book. There are two reasons for this, it stops students from talking to one another and it is also a calming activity for students to do. It's amazing how much information they take in from the whole class novel when they are doing this routine. 

Completing the zentangle was an extension of this process as it built on student's doodling skills and it resulted in a joint piece of artwork. The students used felt tip marker and were allowed to choose one small aspect of their design to colour in. The end product turned out amazing.

Grade 5 book review blog

http://booksarelife456.blogspot.com/


I have decided to start a blog in my Grade 5 class. The blog is called Books are Life. It is a place for my students to post book reviews on the books they are currently reading. The blog is aimed at other Grade 5 students and other people who have an interest in books.
From a teaching perspective I feel the blog gives students a purpose for writing. The purpose of writing a book review is to inform an audience about whether they should or should not read that book. The blog gives students that audience. Take a look at their work :-)

Buddies Program

Nature Scavenger Hunt Recently my Grade 5s helped their Prep buddy class complete a nature scavenger hunt. A list of treasures, which included things like something green, something rough, two types of seeds and a chewed leaf, were written on a piece of paper and given to the Grade 5s to read to the Preps. The items were collected in a bag by the Preps and taken back to class. This activity took a whole lesson. Next time the Grade 5s will be helping their buddies classify their chosen items. This has a strong link with Scientific learning intentions where students will have to observe their chosen objects and classify them according to their appearance. This activity can be extended by using two hoops and making a Venn diagram where students would have to put items into the hoop and classify their similarities and differences.

photos of buddy book

Birthday Chart

Finally finished my birthday chart for my classroom. Had lots of other things on the agenda that took priority, but found the beginnings of my chart on the bottom of my pile on my desk and was determined to complete it today.

I love, love, loved the reaction from my grade 5's. They loved coming back from music and seeing the end results up on the wall. It was also great to hear the comparison and conversations that where happening from their observations. Great links to data conclusions based on reading the graph that was presented to them. Perfect learning opportunity leading into my whole class lesson on graphing results this afternoon during Science.

The idea came from a resource by Peacocks and Penguins on Teacherspayteachers website and it was free to download. Check it out and check out my items for sale while you are there under mrsmundaysmemoir.

Buddies program

It's been a while since my last blog. Been busy teaching and writing reports. I just wanted to blog about the Grade 5 buddy program as we will be catching up with our prep buddies tomorrow. The Grade 5's are extremely engaged with the buddy program and can't wait to see their buddies.

The first time we met, the buddy combinations were formed and then a Venn diagram was completed. The grade 5's wrote down things that were different about their buddy and themselves and then interests they have in common. They drew some pictures of each other and enjoyed each others company.

Throughout the week the Grade 5's used the information from the Venn diagrams to write a book for their buddy. It follows the pattern of I like ... My buddy likes... We both like.... This task is great as it has a purpose and my students need to learn to write for a particular audience.

Tomorrow when we meet, the students will be working together to type up the book on the laptops. This is another learning experience where the grade 5's get to lead the learning by teaching computer skills to the Preps. Clip art will be added and also space for students to draw pictures if they want. Once published the grade 5's will read the book to the Preps with the intention of the Preps learning some common sight words and also getting to a stage where the Preps will read the book to the grade 5's.

I'm really happy with the numerous learning intentions this process will offer and look forward to seeing the engagement of students and the final outcomes. Stay posted in the next couple of days and I will share some photos.

Quotes for inspiration!

I use a lot of quotes in my classroom to inspire and direct students in their learning. I have a wall which displays quotes that students can refer to.

Next week we will be attending PCYC which is aimed at building resilience and team work amongst other qualities in students.

Before we go I ask students to choose out a quote and write it down to direct and focus students on certain independent goals.

At the end of each session I ask students to reflect on their quote and give examples of how they achieved it or what they could do next time to achieve it.

I frequently refer to the quotes on the wall to help guide my students. An example of this is when I hear a student say 'I can't do this' and I will reply with one of the quotes on my wall which says 'don't tell me what I can't do, let me show you what I can do!'

Quotes play an important part in my classroom practice.