Brainstorm!

Hey guys, can we meet this weekend to work on our presentation and upload all our parts?

Kryslte

So for the invention station in our literacy block......I found a great book about making your own "invention" of Ben Franklin's. I know they won't have enough time to actually make a replica, but I figured it would be great for helping them understand some of the steps to making it. Along with that, if we could bring in an example for the invention everyday, I believe that would take up the time allotted for that station.

Some of the books I found for our read alouds everyday.....most of them would have to be excerpts from the books I found except for George Washington

George Washington- "George Did It" by Suzanne Tripp Jurman- This is a longer picture book about George Washington. Spies- "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen- This is more like a chapter book but has a lot of great information about the spies. Signers- "The Signers, The 56 Stories Behind the Declaration of Independence" by Dennis Brindell Fradin- There is a story for every person who signed the Declaration of Independence. People of the Revolution- "The American Revolution for Kids" by Janis Herbert- This book has everything we would want to teach the students about the Revolution. We could find some great exceprts in this with pictures to accompany them.

Elizabeth

Hey, I woke up under the weather this morning. I am going to upload all the info I found this week before class is over so if you guys meet you can see what I have available. Are either of you able to meet next week at all? I'm very sorry for the inconvenient timing

Elizabeth Reinemund

Hey guys, I added to the week plan thing, here is the edited version!



I also copied and pasted the same information under each day of the plan on the wiki. I also updated the links and artifact pages so that they looked a little prettier. There was one link that was repeated, so I just put one. I also added the link to the podcasts I showed you guys today on that same link. Check it out though, there's lots of videos and stuff on that website!


 * One of the videos is this one with Tom Hanks, kind of giving an overview of the revolution, and building up to right where our unit begins. I was thinking about using this as an anticipatory set for Monday's lesson. Watch it and let me know what you think! Here's the link: http://www.history.org/media/videoPlayer/index.cfm#


 * This history.org site is really awesome! Here is a link to a page of activities and games relating to the revolution. The first one is an interactive tour of a colonial town, you can zoom in and out and hover over the buildings! http://www.history.org/media/interactive.cfm This could probably be used as the computer station activity for Tuesday, when the students are studying the People of the Revolution. It gives them a glimpse into the life of a colonial citizen. Because the first activity may not take up the whole 15 minutes at the station, the students could watch this short 5 minutes video podcast at the following link http://www.history.org/media/videoplayer/?cat=vodcast&file=ImmortalBricks that is about kids in the 18th century.


 * Also, for the computer station activity for Monday, I found the following game/activity related to George Washington. This would only be part of their station activity because it wouldn't take them that long to do, but I do think it would be cool to include. The link is as follows: http://www.history.org/history/paintings/george_washington/

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 * I was exploring that history website more and found this word a day thing, http://www.history.org/history/wordoftheday/ I think it would be a cool bellwork type thing too. Not necessarily for a vocabulary lesson, but these words could be up on the Interactive White Board as they come into the classroom. After students do their work on their KWL, they could record their word of the day into their personal dictionaries. I think this is just cool to get them into the whole feel, and they could use these words they learn at the end of the week when they do their news report. You are able to scroll through the words, so you could choose which words are relevant and important for them to learn.
 * Ok and Last link! This is a cute game that I think could be one of the computer station activities the students do on Wednesday when they learn about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The game is called, Name that Founding Father, and is pretty cool and fun! http://www.history.org/kids/games/foundingFather.cfm

I know I'm giving you guys a lot, take your time to look at them and stuff. I hope you guys don't feel over whelmed or that I'm being Leo the Lion here, I'm just super excited about this! I hope you guys enjoy my ideas, check them out and let me know what you think!

Oh! I also just realized that we can't have 5 groups of 4 students because the computer station, while it is 2 rotations, can only be occupied by one group of students at a time. So instead, we will have to have 4 groups of five students, which I think works fine too. If you guys don't think so, I'm sure we can come up with another station, like a true guided reading group or something. Whatever you think is better works for me!

Thanks! Krystle