Citizenship

Citizenship is such a fun topic to teach students.  Watching the light bulb go off when they learn that they are here to serve the world is inspiring.  So where should we start when teaching citizenship?

Some key points to teach while addressing citizenship include:
What makes us a citizen?
Rules and Laws
Rights and Responsibilities
Contributions to Community

Lessons are so much better when you add in a hook that engages children.  We always like to start this unit off with an explanation of why we need to be a good citizen.  This includes contributions to our community.  Consider using Kid President to explain the hows and whys of contributing to our community.  I've included a video link for you below.

These books are a good place to start if you need material to read to your students for citizenship.

Every teaching unit needs engaging activities that present students with a hands-on learning experience.  A great example of an engaging educator is Debbie Clement.   I've compiled a pinterest board with a creative project from her and some other suggestions for you.

Time is always an issue in the classroom for me.  Due to this, I created materials that I could use quickly and efficiently. If you are in need of any more materials check out my unit.

Take care!

Must Have Social Studies Books for 2nd and 3rd Grade

One of the largest problems that I have to solve each year in my classroom is how to teach social studies.  We are given very  little resources for social studies and no time in our schedule!!!! How about you? Last year I decided to really focus on how to integrate social studies into our day, teach the students the best lessons available and appease the powers that be as best I could.  The first task was to find books that I could build a social studies library with.  While I can't afford every book in this post, I tried to focus on a few key ones and check the rest out from the library when needed.

 If one can be addicted to books then I'm certainly addicted to True Books.  They are perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade.  The students are drawn to the vivid photographs making them a hit for everyone.  I purchased one from every native American region for my students to read.  If you are interested, try to purchase them used on Amazon.  Prime members get some used books shipped for free.  Each book ran around $4 with library binding. That's right library binding.  They are sure to last a long time.  Most of them look brand new.  If they didn't look brand new they had just a bit of wear.  Only having one book for students is an issue.  To overcome this we split the class into groups and have each one study a tribe.  We then came together and debrief with classroom conversation and show projects that we have worked on.

Samuel Eaton and Sarah Morton are always a hit with students.  The vivid photographs capture their attention.  "The Thirteen Colonies"s is a great book, but not as captivating as Samuel and Sarah. I haven't  purchased "Land of the Pilgrims' Pride" with Ellis the elephant, but it's next on my list.  If you have it would you please leave a comment on how you like it?

"The Name Jar" and "Grandfather's Journey" are both great books that tell stories of immigration.  I have a feeling I'll be collecting the entire collection of Ellis the Elephant books this year.

"How to Behave and Why" is a fabulous book that explains why we follow rules.  It's not fancy, but it does a great job of explaining the content.  The biography books by Meltzer do a nice job of showing contributions by exceptional citizens.  There is a whole series so you could pick one near and dear to you.

Finding the perfect book on economics for children is an arduous task!!!! The books on the bottom row have the exact content to teach students.  They are written on a lower level, but sometimes it's nice to have a quick read that does the job.

Have you found a book on mapping that you can't live without?  This is a tough subject to write on.  I used "Mapping Penny's World" and "Follow That Map!" last year.  They got the job done.

If I had to have one book with symbols, "America" is a good one.  It has a lot of nice illustrations that show symbols.

It's hard to suggest culture books when there are so many. I try to focus on informational text that engages students and explains the basics of the culture.  We didn't have enough time in our school year to study a meaningful amount of cultures last year so we came up with a plan.  My grade level held a culture fair.  Each class studied a different country.  The students then got to rotate through the classes to learn about different ones.  It was a great way to increase learning and engagement within a short time span.

Aside from finding books to use I also had to write lessons that ran about 20 minutes each.  We needed to have materials that were hands-on, engaging and explicit.  I worked all year to develop lesson suggestions and materials that fit my student's needs and helped them to master the content.  If you don't have time to do this, you can click on the link below to visit my store and materials.

Surviving The End Of The Year

Why is the end of the year more challenging than the rest of the year? It could be the anticipation of the summer break.  For some students that's exciting and welcomed and for others, well, not so much.  School is a safe and predictable place for students.  Teachers are a loving and predictable person for students.  Not many people are comfortable with the unknown.

As teachers we know that this summer anticipation presents itself as an unwelcome sight in our class.  Students can be chattier, more forgetful, have to be given directions several times.  So what can a teacher do to get the most out of this time of the year?

1.  Remember to take care of yourself! You need to stay rested so that you have more patience.  If you are rested your brain will think more quickly.  Resting is a choice that you can and should make, no excuses.

2.  Bring out your best lesson plans.  You need to search for your most engaging lessons and materials.  When I taught 1st grade, I taught a different hands-on thematic lesson each day.  We did Watermelon Day, Water Day, Popcorn Day, etc.  I also taught a Charlie and The Chocolate Factory unit.  This year in 2nd grade we saved our fairy tale unit for the end.  It's time for us to pull out all the stops.

3.  Make lists.  Teachers are given tasks to complete that, frankly, make us cry.  Put these tasks on a list and prioritize.  Don't take on tasks that aren't required.  For example, we like to fill out portfolio cover sheets that tell the following years teachers everything about the student.  These sheets aren't required, but make us feel better about handing our students over.  I chose to fill out the pertinent information like DRA levels, test scores and learning style.  The rest was left blank with a note to check the portfolio.  When people tell you to do something immediately, be respectful and tell them that you will get to ASAP.  Understand that your ASAP may not be until a few days later.  Most importantly, don't forget tip #1, take care of yourself.  You owe it to your students.

I hope that you get through the year as uneventful as possible.  Remember to spend a little extra time with each student to let them know that you care.  Please tell us below in the comments your tips for surviving the end of the year.

Why is the end of the year more challenging than the rest of the year? It could be the anticipation of the summer break.  For some students that's exciting and welcomed and for others, well, not so much.  School is a safe and predictable place for students.  Teachers are a loving and predictable person for students.  Not many people are comfortable with the unknown.

As teachers we know that this summer anticipation presents itself as an unwelcome sight in our class.  Students can be chattier, more forgetful, have to be given directions several times.  So what can a teacher do to get the most out of this time of the year?

Head on over to The Primary Pack to read my tips...

Teacher's Pets - Teaching with Cats and Dogs with Mrs. Labrasciano

I'm so glad that you stopped by for our linky! Today we are going to share my family's pet adoption stories with you along with the lessons that my children have learned.  We promise to be brief! I then want to share some lesson ideas on cats and dogs that my student's went CRAZY for.  They thought it was the coolest.  If you stick it out to the end, we have some great prizes for you to win.

This cute furry face is Hurley.  My girls and I adopted him from a local county shelter while we were dropping off supplies that we had collected for the shelter.  One of the volunteers called us over and told us that Hurley only had 2 hours before he was euthanized. He was so close to expiration that the shelter had deeply discounted him.  Can you imagine? Discounting a living thing. As if the $50 we save would make a difference over his lifetime.  So of course we caved and brought Hurley and all of his quirks home with us.  The best the vet and trainer can tell, Hurley is part Terrier and part Basenji. You may know that Basenji are barkless dogs.  Hurley is a very quiet dog.  He does occasionally alert us when strangers are at the door.  Not always though.  He makes the cutest sounds that are different for a dog, but common to the Basenji.

Hurley was 2 years-ish when we got him. He's now 4 years-ish.  Hurley is fiercely loyal and won't leave my side unless it's to be with this cutie pie.  He's also deathly afraid of water and won't do his duty in our yard.  He has to be walked.  YES it's a pain in the behind.  My girls have learned responsibility, love and compassion from Hurley.  They have learned to love something despite his differences, oddities and sometimes grumpiness.

These girls are Elsie and Luci.  Luci the grey cat was adopted as a stray kitten from my church.  We rescued her from the mobs of children at VBS.  Elsie the orange/white cat was adopted as a stray as well.  When we got Elsie, we were told that she was severely malnourished as a newborn.  We now know that because she was malnourished, she will never grow large and of course she is different like Hurley.  She's very skittish, crazy and  will only let you pet her under her terms.  Both of these cats have chosen my oldest as their keeper.  They sleep only with her.  It's a great feeling when you get to see your child's bond with an animal.

Along with the good comes the bad as well.  Luci recently ate a hair tie.  This caused severe dehydration and a surgery to retrieve the hair tie that had unraveled in her entire system.  The surgery was VERY expensive.  Thanks to the kindness of donors, part of the expenses were covered.  The other part of the bill will take some (a lot of) time to pay off.  Once again, the animals have taught my children a valuable lesson.  Saving and sacrifice to give to something that you love.  This has been a hard one.

Have you read "The First Dog" by Jan Brett? If you haven't, you must go out and get it from your library or bookstore ASAP.  It is a quick read that captivates students.  It is set in paleolithic times.  It has beasts to delight every child.  The book tells a tale about a dog that wouldn't leave a little boy alone.  Through their journey, the dog teaches the boy his value by saving him from a Sabertooth.  Eventually the dog becomes the first pet and receives the first dog tag.  So cute!!!!  The students had a great time finding important details from the text.  They made a dog craft with their writing in it.

Well we shouldn't leave out the felines so I want to share this book, "Comet's Nine Lives" with you.  Another great folk tale by Jan Brett.  This book details what a cat's nine lives may look like.  A brief warning, the cat dies eight times in the story.  Of course it is written in a very child friendly way and the cat lives happily ever after at the end of the book.  I explained to my students that it's a fictional book and the cat is happy as a clam at the end.  So no harm or foul.

Both of the above books are quick reads.  They could each be read in one shared reading lesson.  They are appropriate for K-3.  It would be so much fun to have a Cat and Dog Week in class.  You could add in informational cat and dog books. At the end of the week the students could compare cats and dogs.  How much fun would it be to have them write an opinion piece during writing?  Which makes a better pet - cats or dogs?    If you would like more lesson ideas and materials you can click on the pictures.  These materials are part of my Jan Brett unit on TPT.

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St. Patrick's Day Ideas with Pawsitively Teaching

Are you looking for some great St. Patty's Day ideas? If so, head on over to Positively Teaching to see what she put together for you.  She never disappoints!!!

Color Walk Fundraiser

Hi everyone! I'm here today to tell you about easy fundraising for your school.  When our school district upgraded our operating system we found ourselves with less than one computer per classroom.  Our computers that had been handed down from a local high school were too old to work on the new system.  This is a huge problem! A group of teachers met over the summer to brainstorm different ways to earn money for new computers.  I suggested that we have a color run.  My personal kids had been begging me to sign them up for one.  After researching a dry color formula and a wet color formula on Pinterest, I submitted them to our PTA for the final decision.  The PTA voted on the wet color formula because they thought the color could be controlled more and wouldn't get in the student's eyes.

We chose to use our school colors for the run.  The ingredients were simply:  water, food color and vinegar.  The color was completely washable.  We had no complaints about skin irritants or such.

For 900+ students we bought:

10 boxes of 1 oz food color

1 large jug of vinegar 

10 spray bottles

The cost was under $50.  If you have parents donate the items, it could be free for you!

We put 100 drops of food color in each bottle.  This was approximately half of each food color bottle.  We put a couple of ounces of vinegar in each bottle to bring the color out on the shirts.  No need to measure.  Then we filled the bottles with water.

Permission slips were sent home to allow students to be sprayed.  We tied a ribbon around each child's wrist who had permission.  This way the sprayers knew exactly who was allowed to be sprayed.  The volunteers who were spraying were stationed around the running area.  We explained to the students that they wouldn't be sprayed by each person and they weren't to stop in front of the sprayers.   We didn't want the kids soaking wet.  We also wanted to preserve the spray so that we could keep our budget down.  Each group was given 30 minutes of running time.  We split the school into 3 groups.

Each child was given the task of raising donations for the run.  Most children brought in about $5 a piece.  Of course we had our top fundraisers who brought in more.  The grand total for fundraising was over $6,000.  The best part was that it was easy to set up and when the run was over, we were done.  There were no products to be organized and dispersed.

The parents that spoke to me had a lot of positive feedback.  They loved that they didn't have to buy anything.  They were thrilled that the students were having a great time, building memories and exercising!  If you have any questions about how we ran this, stop on by my blog and email me.

Martin Luther King Jr.

My lessons and materials are ready for next week and I thought that I would share them with you in the hopes that it makes your life a little bit easier.

If you didn't get a chance to stop by the library before you left school you can still order them through Amazon.  I don't know what I would do without Prime.  You can link to MLK books by clicking on the pictures below.

Martin Luther King Jr. Books

We plan on doing a little close reading about Dr. King with this pack by A First For Everything.

There are some comprehension sheets included in this pack that we will use for bellwork.

For engagement on the second day, I plan on giving the kids the following bookmarks by PAWSitively Teaching.  The students will have to write: what they think the quote means in their own words, what it would look like and what it would sound like.

Throughout the week we will be working on standards based crafts that I created.  We will be using writing paper and anchor charts from my pack too.

I hope that these ideas help to make your week a little bit easier on you.  Have a great long weekend.

xoxo