Explorers Project, 4th Grade

This was a group project that my students composed last year while I taught fourth grade. It was a fun project that they completed after CST's, and kept the students learning, while having fun!

The students were broken up into groups of 6 for the project, and they each had specific tasks.

Map Expert: This person drew the map for where the explorer sailed.

Timeline Expert: This person made the timeline of the person's life.

Early Life Expert: This person researched the early life of the person, and wrote the paragraph as well.

The Contributions Expert: This person researched and found information on what the explorers did, and where they explored. Then wrote the paragraph about it.

Later Life Expert: This person researched what they did after they were an explorer.

If there was a odd person out, they would write the final draft of the essay, and be the assistant to the researchers.

The students were allowed to research on the computers in the room, or use their social studies book.

The students researched: Vitus Bering, Sebastian Vizcaino, Juan Cabrillo, Gaspar De Portola, Sir Francis Drake, and Hernando Cortez.

After their projects were complete (what is pictured above). The students did a presentation on the person. Each person had to present on a different part of the person's life, so they had to learn from their experts. We invited another class to come watch the presentations, and it was a huge success! The absolutely loved showing off all their hard work!

Transition to the Common Core

Our district is slowly piloting the common core standard by standard. My first focus was this, Reading Standard for literature 5.1: 1. Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.


Something I have already created for my students as a tool to take notes is a playbook. The playbook consists of sentence frames, vocabulary notes, grammar notes, vocabulary/decoding/word work skills. It usually gives room for the students to write while we read our stories. 

What I have pictured to the right is a page from my playbook, that focuses on the comprehension strategy of questioning. The students I had worked in partner groups. After reading a page they were to write a question that could be answered from the story. Then, they would switch pages. They would then answer their partners question, but the catch was that they had to quote accurately the information from the story. 

The frame I gave them to start with was this: ________(answer the question)______, and I know this because on page _____ it says "____(where the answer is in the story)___." 

Now we are starting incorporate the quote into the answer to sound more sophisticated. It is tough at first, but once the students saw a few good examples they did a better answering questions. Now, they are truly getting it down, and we can quote accurately doing any comprehension strategy!

Also, my favorite part about this, is that I had students start doing this with a non-fiction science text automatically, which is the Reading Strategy Informational Text 5.1. And, these were EL students! It was cool to give them this power!

My Homemade Chili

My husband and I made a New Year's Resolution, and it was to cook all our meals on Sunday's rather than throughout the week, when we are tired and exhausted. It has been a huge success!

This week I made my chili.

What you need:
1 16 oz can of kidney beans
1 16 oz can of black beans
1 16 oz can of turkey chili mix
1 20 oz can of tomato sauce
1 4 oz can of tomato paste
1 package of ground turkey or ground beef
1 package of chili seasoning

Brown the turkey or beef, then add 1/2 the chili seasoning.
Drain the kidney beans and black beans of the extra juice, then pour them into the crock pot along with the turkey chili, sauce and tomato paste. Add the browned meat, and pour the other half of the chili seasoning into the crock pot. Stir the yummy goodness.

Cook for ~4-6 hours on low. Then consume! I will usually add cheese after it has been cooked. It is also delicious with corn bread!

9 months to gain it, 9 months to lose it!

The first week of January 2012, I found out I was pregnant. I was overjoyed! I definitely let myself go! I did continue to workout, but I ate whatever I wanted! I loved ice cream a lot. I gained 47 pounds at week 40, and I went till 41 weeks- so I know I gained more. Not the most I have heard of, but still quite a lot. I should preface- I am a working, breast feeding, loving mom, and have still been able to lose the weight! There are a few steps I have taken to help me lose the weight!

2 weeks after labor, I had only lost 15 pounds, which was not a lot! That is when I started paying attention to what I ate. I was breast feeding (and still am), so I had to be cautious of under eating. Before the six week mark I counted calories to make sure I was eating enough, and still able to lose weight. Especially since I couldn't work out.

At six weeks I forced myself back to my crossfit gym. It was tough! After having a baby, you just want to sleep. Also, the first workout back was all running - seriously! But I set my mind to it, and went back! Now, my daughter is incredible the gym because she is used to the routine! I am so thankful I went back when I did.

Starting in January, my husband and I started a goal with each other, to make our weeks meals on Sunday. It has truly saved us so much money, and our waist line! We do not go out and get fast food meals when we are exhausted. It has saved us time as well, we are much more free to cuddle and spend time with our daughter during the week. I could also stop calorie counting because I knew I was eating healthy!

These three simple things have helped so much! I have 7 more pounds to lose, and more than three months left to lose it! I do not have a personal trainer, or a cook. It is just hard work! I know the things I have learned and continue to do will teach my daughter a healthy active lifestyle!

Update: I am now three pounds away from my goal, with less than 2 months left! Here are a few updated pictures from the Schmall's Work out - dedicated to a hero who lost his life in Afghanistan. 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients:
4 Green bell peppers (that can fit a lot when scooped out)
Olive oil
10 white Mushrooms
~2 lbs Ground turkey
Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Wild rice or quinoa

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Scoop out bell peppers, and rub with olive oil
Put bell peppers into 8x8 pan.
Cook for 20 minutes, or until peppers are soft
Cook rice (1 cup rice, 1 cup water).
Brown meat, add spices as you want.
Dice mushrooms, and sauté them.
Combine all ingredients into a bowl and add cheese as you feel necessary
When the peppers are done, put the ingredients into the peppers.
Then, sprinkle cheese on top of the peppers.
Broil the peppers for ~5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Pizza to Drool Over

Recently, I have found out that I am allergic to gluten. Since my daughter was born I break out in hives whenever I eat gluten. It is just nuts!

One of the things I missed the most was pizza. I am an avid crossfitter, and giving up gluten, meant I was closer to being paleo. But, I cannot seem to give up dairy. I cannot get used to coconut or almond milk. You could easily make this recipe paleo if you substitute the cheese. I just love cheese so much!

Ingredients:
Coconut oil
3 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
Small spoonful of minced garlic
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tbsp baking soda
Sprinkle of garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper.
Spread coconut oil on the wax paper.
In a bowl combine, eggs, coconut milk, and garlic, whisk until the ingredients are combined.
Add coconut flour, baking soda, and garlic powder to the bowl.
Whisk until the ingredients are combined.
Spread the, soon to be, crust unto the wax paper.
Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
During this time, prepare another cookie sheet with wax paper and coconuts oil.
When it comes out of the oven, let it cool, the, flip the crust onto the new wax paper.
Peel the old wax paper off the crust.
Add whatever ingredients you want onto the crust!
Then broil on low for 10 minutes.
Your pizza will then be ready!

Love Notes

As a 5th grade teacher, I personally feel like Valentine's day cards are overrated, and mean nothing. Also, they are annoying because they are all about candy - which our district is trying to avoid. Thankfully, I have a friend (same friend who helped design the crossfit for kids - she is awesome) who taught me her wonderful way of "love notes."

The first thing I do is create envelopes with my students names on them. They are decorated nicely, and I hang them up before they kids get to school, about a month before (usually after MLK Jr holiday).

Then I explain my feelings about Valentine's Cards, and the point of Valentine's day (to actually show someone you care). So, I tell them that we are going to do something different. We are going to write love notes to each other. I usually get gasps, and ooohs. Then I explain the different types of love, and how we can love someone even if they are just our friends.

Then, I explain what love notes look like. They are compliments to each other. I also tell them that they are going to choose two people at random (I put everyones name twice into a hat). I love when people get someone they just don't like very much, and are forced to find something nice about them. Once they have written to their two people, they can write to whomever they want to. It's fun to see the kids who want to write to everyone.

Then on Valentine's day they get to open their notes - in silence. I make sure they absorb how their classmates view them. Then we discuss how they feel, and which notes made them feel really good. It really is fun to see how the students see their classmates in a new light.