Colony Project

Poetry Music Project

I made this poetry project my first year teaching and after three years of using it, I have made all the necessary improvements within the project and to teaching it to the class.  I start by sending home this request for parents to either find a song with their children or to have me work with the child to pick out a song.  I always read over the song for language, appropriate content and enough figurative language.  Click on the picture and you can get to the document.  Most families do this part with their children.


In fourth grade, the students cover most of this figurative language so in fifth grade I review the topics in minilessons.  Every day for two weeks I have a brief lesson to review that form of figurative language.  All of the links are embedded into the document
below (the picture is the link to the full document.).  Once I teach the lesson and go through the link or links, they look at their own song to find that element and color code right on the printed lyrics using crayons or colored pencils based on the table.  I go to the computer lab several times within this period also so they can copy and paste the song into a Google Document, share it with me and color code it in the document.  As part of this process we review copy and pasting along with formatting rules.  At this point, I have also shared the project with them.  I share it with them as a view only so they can revisit the links if there is any confusion.  I also allow them to play the games that are linked in the document.  

In this two week process, I go over rhyme, chorus and different types of poetry.  We use a writing journal daily with the front being their personal writing and the back being the lessons taught.  I have them take notes on several types of poetry in the back and in the front they try to write this type of poem.  I started this year with limericks.  The notice the five lines, the humorous content and the AABBA pattern for both rhyme and syllables.  Again, I go to some different sites for examples; I often use Giggle Poetry and Poetry for Kids.

Once the two weeks are over, I correct the found figurative language. The documents have been shared with me through Google Docs. I use the comment feature to ask guided questions to help students find the remaining figurative language. Now, they can go back, use the comments and find the missed figurative language.

This year, I teamed up with a fourth grade teacher. I gave her a list of the songs and she had her students choose from the list. This guaranteed every fourth grader a partner. They started the lessons and finding the figurative language in their class while we continued on to the next part of the project.

As the fourth grade was learning and searching we were reading our lyrics, thinking about our figurative language and getting ready to explain. The children were asked to explain "the story" of the song and what it means to them. I then show my write up of the song Bubbly by Colbie Caillat. I review the formatting rules along with the needed icons to support successful keyboarding. I review our rules for dead words and teach a mini lesson on how to find our own dead words.

Today, I did my lesson on "How to Find and Replace Dead Words".  I had the students use this as the title for the notes they put in the lesson section of their daily journal.  First, I put up the paragraph below:

Today I took my big dog for a long walk.  My dog seemed happy to be outside.  We passed a little kitten.  My dog was happy when it saw the kitten.  After we played with the kitten we went to the park.  While at the park my dog swam in the cold water.  He was sad when it was time to go home.  My dog and I ran fast all the way to our house.  My mom had a big glass of lemonade ready for me and a cold bowl of water for my dog.

I read it out loud to the class making sure to yawn alot.  We then talk about what makes it so boring and circle them within the passage.  The children brought up words used more than once, dead words and boring or overused words.   Having made the Dead Word list already made the idea of replacing words simple.  While spending the year to develop the differences between editing and revising clarified that this process is for making our writing more interesting. 


After going through how to find our words, we review strategies for replacing them.  The children immediately call out some of the replacement words which fits in to my first method; we call it 'using our own vocabulary'.  We then think about a grammar lesson from the beginning of the year - proper nouns; we call this way 'being more specific'.  Then we look back at the Dead Words poster.  Next we tie back into the Six Traits by revising for word choice.  And finally, we review using a thesaurus or Snappy Words.  The actual notes the students took are listed below. 

The children are amidst their poetry projects right now.  This lesson was targeted to apply to the writing piece explaining the story of their favorite songs using the already located and color coded figurative language.  They have already written the story and what the song means to them or how the song makes them feel.  Today's independent practice for the taught skill was to find five words within their written pieces to revise using the taught strategies. 

               

Blue Ribbon Conference

I went to my first Blue Ribbon Conference yesterday.  I didn't know what to expect.  Travis Allen from the iSchool Initiative was the keynote speaker; he was amazing.  He spoke of learning without walls and student driven learning.  He demonstrated a sampling of apps he uses and enjoys as well as projects he's done in school utilizing apps.  I was able to get in a question, "I teach fifth grade, where do I start?"  His answer was simple, "Live it and breathe it yourself."  He mentioned going paperless and using technology for more than simply researching and typing.

I stayed on with him for his first event being Social Media.  I like many others seemed a little confused about how Twitter would work for me.  He showed us how to decipher credibility by a tweet to follower ratio.  He went over retweeting, hashtags and posting blogs.  He explained using Twitter to be an observer or an influencer and how to keep track.  I can now see that if I want to get my teaching ideas out there this can be the way to do it, tweeting my blog posts - which he also told us how to do.


From there I went to 'Appy Hour' where 4th grade teachers gave an honest presentation about using iPads in the classroom.  They went over apps they use in the classroom and organized them by content area.  The explained how students are helping them in the learning process.  They work to figure out how to successfully navigate the apps by creating presentations in apps such as Haiku Deck, Sock Puppets and Educreations.  Haiku Deck does not use sound and might be a good place to start.    The math apps were more grade level appropriate than most I've seen: Oh No! Fractions, Factor Samurai and Coop Fractions.  The science and social studies apps were very tied to the grade level but they also included Brain Pop.  In ELA they had Cramberry - a vocabulary note card app which I've already suggested for a student.  There was also MadLibs, Spelling City and a 4th Grade Reading app for comprehension - there is a fifth grade version.

Finally, I went to an Edmodo class.  As a parent, I was familiar with Edmodo already.  I had never seen the
teacher site.  On it, you can add your students yourself by logging out to create the accounts or just have the students do it - they suggested doing it yourself.  There are apps available through the site or you can put in your own quizzes, assignments or polls.  The site tracks student progress and what they have done.  It is a safe forum for student chatting allowing for a quality conversation about what students put out there.  Here, the teacher can remove any comments that should not be there or are simply questionable.

In the end, the day was full of learning and excitement.  The closing ceremony left me a winner.  My name was called for the registration for next year's event.  Then, my name was called again as the winner for the big prize from the iSchool Initiative, an iPad mini for me.  I guess, I am ready to live and breathe technology!

ANDREUS SUERDNA

Andreus Suerdna

Starting in 2007, right from Burlingtonias, Magnolias, I Andreus Suerdna sailed through Francis Wyman Elementary School. I finally found my destination, Realm 204 in 2012. I was looking for the most valuable treasure of knowledge which I have successfully found. I have learned mathematics, language arts, social studies and science. In navigating all this location has to offer, I also learned about music, gym and even art. Some of the most beautiful artwork like the glass below is on display throughout this land.  My discoveries here will help me to become a better citizen.

 

I met Queen Lynchia, she holds claim to Realm 204 and takes great pride in all of her people. Their government is quite structured. They all have jobs and are expected to work daily; however, they are given time for free play and meal breaks. These people all seem quite happy. Oddly, at the end of every day, all of Realm 204's inhabitants go to a different home. 

There are many curious creatures within this land.  Fierce bears wander the lower caverns of Francis Wyman.  Right across the way are these perky penguins marching all in a pack.  However, wandering around right with the inhabitants of Francis Wyman is this very friendly Disco Duck.

The government of Francis Wyman is quite simple.  There are many Realms, almost like the states within the USA.  These Realms all have numbers.  Within Realm 204, there is a special class system.  There are nobles like Sir Mikey Yikem and regular citizens who do more work for the community like Emma Amme.

The neighboring Realm, Realm 203 is led by Queen Caseyus.  She is yet another strong leader who believes her population should be educated.  In exploring all of the Realms, I quickly discovered how important education is to Francis Wyman.  The queens also spoke of the Almighty Ruler, Principal Astone.  I shall continue to search her out to include a picture for my memoirs.


I have enjoyed my travels through Francis Wyman and most especially Realm 204. I will be sad to leave but I am eager to begin my explorations of MSMS as my newest adventure.