Thursday, February 19, 2015

Determining the Theme

One of the reading comprehension skills we have been learning about is determining the theme of a story when we read it.

What is the theme of a story?

The theme is the message or lesson that we can learn from what happens in the story. The way we show the theme is by finding examples in the text that support what we think the theme is


We read lots of stories to practice finding the theme, and we looked for examples from the story that supported the theme we chose.

One of the stories we read was Teammates, by Peter Golenbock. This is the true story of how baseball player PeeWee Reese showed his friendship to Jackie Robinson during Jackie's difficult first year playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.




We also watched two short video clips that showed the special relationship that Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese shared.







After we read the story and watched the videos, we filled out the following sheet. We used both the video clips and the story to find examples to support our position that the theme is to accept and appreciate each other, despite any differences we might see at first.
 




Finally it was time to practice. We read two different folktales from our reading series.


After we finished we used the app Comic Life to review character, setting, and plot, and also explain what we thought the theme of the story was.

Some of us read the story Coyote and Rabbit.


Here is Claire and Kaydance's Comic Life about the theme of this story.


These two girls came up with a good theme for the story.


Jack and Kaiya did a good job determining the theme.




Here is Tessa and Lexi's interpretation of the theme of that story.



Some of us read the folktale Groudhog's New Home.


Here is Jaelyn and Ruby's explanation of the theme from Groundhog's New Home.


These two ladies are great theme detectives!


In order to figure out the theme, you have to really think about the book and the journey the characters take.

Think about one of your favorite books. What do you think the theme of the story is? Why do you think that? 

For example, one of my all-time favorite books is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I believe the theme of that story is that Good will always triumph over Evil in the end. I believe that is the theme because even though it is difficult, Aslan and the children defeat the White Witch. 

Please share one of your favorite books and what you believe the theme is in the comment section below!






Wednesday, February 11, 2015

5 Sentence and 100 Word Challenge

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that I believe blogging is a wonderful way to improve students' skills in many areas. 

However, blogging is more meaningful when we know there is an audience that reads our work.



This week we began creating entries for two different writing challenges, the 5 Sentence Challenge and the 100 Word Challenge. These are blogging challenges that students all over the world enter. More information about the challenges are on the tab on the top of the blog.


New challenges are given approximately every two weeks, and there are volunteers who do their best to make sure they visit each blog entry and leave a comment. Each week a few entries are chosen as the highlight entries of the week!


 A lot of us entered the 5 Sentence Challenge. This week the 5 Sentence Challenge consisted of looking at the picture below and writing about it. Here are some of our entries this week:

From Bradyn:

The England towers are so cool because they are so old and that they are big. The boats are so good they are bigger than are boats.  And it is biggest place on earth. The house is so big. The trees are so pretty.

From Jaelyn:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Elizabeth who lived  in a very nice city in England. She lived in the castle with her mother and father in the castle. She wanted to move because she was bossed around all the time. One day she got so made she ran away. Her mother and father sent guards out looking for her. Then she found a tower well of course she climbed it. When she got in she in she saw a handsome prince. The guards keep looking for her for 2 days. The princess had her own room. They talked and talked for ever. Every night they went to bed and woke up early. They never new each others names. And they lived happily ever after.

From Ruby:

It is a great day in England.
 
There are people playing with there dog. There are people playing on boats. There is a huge castle towering over every thing. There is a green tree. There are birds falling in the sky. There is a pink building.

From Kaydance:

Wow look at this castle! The boats are  floating on the water waiting for people to come on. The towers are towering over the people. There are bands playing like crazy. The castle has 10 floors! Everyone is looking up because…SOMEONE IS FALLING! But when the person hit the floor he was just fine!? Every one was wondering how he did it? So they called 911 and then when 911 was there he said that the person that fell was fine so all theother people were amazed! They asked the person what his name was.  His name was Will. All the other people asked him if Will could do magic  and Will could do magic!

From Claire:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful city in England, A girl and a boy were having a nice, fancy lunch. They were having turkey and fruit and vegetables and sitting on a plaid picnic blanket. If you looked around them you would say they picked a perfect spot. The blue silky water next to them flowed peacefully as they ate and talked. There was a castle that towered before them with pretty colored houses in front of the castle. Lots of boats were drifted all around them on the water. Of course, they were on the grass and dogs were playing next to them. Trees in front of the colored houses were bent and turned as they sat on the ground. Up in the sky, the clouds were puffy and snow white. They had the best time.

From Deven:

I am writing about a beautiful picture.  This  wonderful  picture  is  a  building in  Paris.  These buildings are enormous if you look up close. It took years and years to build.  A lot of people were in awe when they saw the building.

From Kaiya:

The boats are  floating on the crystal clear water. Towers are towering over the people. People are smelling the fresh air in the sky. People are gazing out the window. People are playing out on the smooth grass.

From Jack:

Once upon a time there were a very nice city. There were big long castles. There was a smooth long river, and the river was blue. People were having picnics there. Also there were long green trees. There were long white boats. 

Some students decided to take on the 100 Word Challenge. The prompt for the 100 Word Challenge was to put this phrase in a piece of writing:

...look up! Can you see...


Here is Tessa's Entry to the 100 Word Challenge:

One day there was two girls walking in the park. Their names were Grace and Ella.
Grace said “Do you want to go play at my house?”
“I would love to!” Ella said happily.
On there way to Grace’s house Ella spotted something that she had never seen before. It was a golden eagle.
Ella said “Look up! can you see?”
“See what?” asked Grace.
“That golden eagle. It is up there.”
Ella said as she pointed up at the eagle.
“Oh now I see it. That is so cool!” Grace exclaimed.
“Take a picture of it so we can show your mom.” Said Ella.
So Grace took a picture and they ran home to show Grace’s mom.

Here is Jocelyn's entry to the 100 Word Challenge:

It was a warm sunny spring day, the sun was shining and the birds were whistling. One day a little girl named Abby was skipping in the park. When suddenly she saw a shadow in the bright blue sky. It was so hard to believe. Abby streaked to her mom with a worried look on her face. Abby’s mother was  very concerned.
” Mom look up can you see it as well?” said Abby.
Abby’s mother looked up a little frightened. She screamed right before Abby could ask if she was o.k.
” AAAAAAHHHHH” screamed Abby’s mother. ” It’s…It’s a … FLYING PIRATE SHIP! One pirate shot a cannon it was loud. Another pirate walked off the edge and landed in a bird bath. Suddenly everything went blurry …
Abby opened her eyes and realized it was a horrible nightmare. 

I am very proud of every child who entered the challenge! They would love comments! To leave a comment on any of the challenges click on the Kidblog icon near the top of the blog.


Saturday, February 7, 2015

Global School Play Day

On Wednesday, February 4, our school participated in the first annual Global School Play Day.



As a teacher who uses technology often in the classroom, I am a firm believer in the many benefits that technology can play in education.

However, it is also important to remember that there needs to be time where we need to make sure our children turn off their devices, walk away from the screens, and get busy and active in other ways. That's what Global School Play Day is all about.

If you have a few minutes, there is a great TED Talk by Peter Gray regarding the importance of play here

We owe our thanks to The Bedley Brothers for getting this great project started!



Students brought in their favorite toys to school to share with their classmates, and the one rule was--no electronics. Then they had a chance to play.

Here's a little peek into what went on that day!

We made forts:


We played games:


We built with blocks:


We created with crafts:


We played with dolls:


I was so happy to see the great cooperation and thoughtfulness from every child in the class. We were responsible, we included everyone in our games, and most of all, we had fun!  

Also--we learned a lot. That is one of the ways we learn. Through play.

Here is a short video to give you a better look at (some) of what went on...and why it is so important.



Also check out the post on the Pinewood Blog here for more information about Global Play Day at our entire school.

Students, parents, or visitors to the blog, we would love to hear your thoughts about Global Play Day and/or the benefits of play. Is this an activity that we should try again?

Monday, February 2, 2015

Snow Day Challenge

Another Snow Day!

It is SNOWY and COLD outside!




So here's something to do on your day off!

Our amazing fifth grade teacher, Mrs. U'Ren, has been posting Snow Day Blogging Challenges for her students, and it's such an incredible idea, I thought we should do it as well.

I checked with Mrs. U'Ren and she shared some of her favorite blogging challenges she has done so far.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day coming up, I thought a great one to start with is the "Be Nice" Challenge, like these two lovely ladies from our class.



So what do you do? Find a way to help! Clean up an area of your house, make something special for a friend, shovel off part of a sidewalk, just find a way to make a difference! Tell us what you did in a blog post and include a picture if you can.

You can either comment below, as Conner did, or put up a post on your Kidblog. Your choice!

I look forward to seeing your posts and will share my own!