2013-2014 6th Grade Quote

Here it is people!  After much deliberation and design consideration, here is our new t-shirt and quote for the sixth graders!  I am so excited and it looks great thanks to AMJ.  Our new quote is...

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

And although the shirts are not yet off the presses, here is our final design...

Figurative Language Learning Menu

So, I have been thinking about reintroducing the learning menu to my 6th grade class.  I am trying a small scale menu for figurative language next week based on Bloom's.  The higher the level of activities they choose, the more points they will receive.  I will report back on how it goes...

figurative language learning menu

If you would like to download a free copy of the learning menu, click here and let me know what you think!

New Blooms

I was inspired by a blog recently.  Dragonflies in First had these great Blooms posters that I so wanted to use, but they have since revised Blooms so I had to make my own.  Hers are still better in my opinion, but I did my best.

Sticky Notes are a beautiful thing.

I have around 95 kids that I see everyday for Reading.  They have composition books that they do all of their novel study work in.  Each group of 30 or so kids is reading a different book.  My conundrum: How do I correct comprehension questions from 3 different books and 95 kids every week?  Here is my new solution.

Each table of 4 must discuss and agree on all answers which are then transferred to sticky notes that represent each group (this requires 8 colors of sticky notes!).  I then quickly go down the line and score each group's and note which questions they need to reconsider the answer for with red whiteboard marker. A super time saver.  They can then be left up until the quiz and students can read over each other's answers to get more supporting details or better justifications for answers.

I am now inspired to find the many uses for sticky notes in the classroom.

Drawing Conclusions through Character Traits

All of my groups have been working on Drawing Conclusions about characters in their books.  I found this great list that they have all taped into their notebooks, so whenever they are at a loss for how to describe a character, they can refer to the list.  It is from readwritethink.org and the kids really find it helpful.

They have used it for writing descriptions, posters, summaries, and sharing their analysis about characters in literature discussions.

Westing Game Wanted Posters

We have been working on wanted posters for The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin with one of my reading groups.  They are perfect for this book because there are 16 characters to choose from and they decide who they think would be responsible for the murder.  I use the following rubric and directions.

Here are some examples from last year....

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster

James Hoo Wanted Poster

If you would like to see more activities for The Westing Game, please see my post on the book unit for my classroom here.  And here are a few more examples from this year...

UPDATE (Jan. 19, 2013)!!!  Everytime the kids do this project, there are new posters that are my favorites.  They get better every time!  Here are a few of my recent faves...

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster

Berthe Crow Wanted Poster