Ancient Greece - Interactive Notebooks

Ancient Greece is definitely a favorite with the kids.  They especially love the time we spend on Mythology.  Here are a few highlights from our notebooks for Greece...
     Map - we always start with Geography so the first thing we do together is map out the location.

Map of Ancient Greece

     Greek Mythology and Literature - we start out with the basics using this organizer.

Greek Mythology and Literature Graphic Organizer

     Greek Gods and Goddesses - our textbook is a little sparse when it comes to this, so I use the cards from Winged Sandals and my own Notebook presentation.

Greek Gods and Goddesses

You can get the cards on the Winged Sandals Website.  For the characters that the site does not have cards for, I have the kids draw their own.  Click here if you would like the Notebook slideshow. It usually takes two days to cut out the cards, and take all of the notes in our notebooks.  We also do our computer lab activity with Winged Sandals.  Please see my post here if you would like to read more about that.

     Sparta vs. Athens - sorting facts.

Sparta vs. Athens

I went through the chapter in our textbook and randomly listed facts.  The kids need to go through the chapter and determine which facts are about Athens and which facts are for Sparta.  Then, they create a t-chart, cut out the facts, and sort them on the correct side.  This particular student wrote an 'A' or a 'S' on each fact first, then cut them out to paste into their chart.

Please stay tuned for more Ancient Greece posts...

Writing Short Answers - Comprehension Requirements

I realize that students need a constant reminder about the expectations for short answer questions.  At my school, we have all adopted the RAD format (Restate, Answer, Details), but my kids often need specific directions about what that means.  I am also pretty stingy about them not using pronouns in their answers and  I want them to be specific when adding details to support their answer.  I like them to actually drag those details from the text and use page numbers for their citations.  I made this quick slide recently as a reminder.  I throw it up on the screen when I assign their comprehension for the week.

Sometimes I tell them that each requirement will be a point and that each answer will be worth 5 points.  That takes a ton of grading time, so I only do this when they start to take shortcuts and need refreshing.  It is also a good idea for them to have a copy of this to tape into their Reading Response Notebooks.

Westing Game Book Unit

I have already read The Westing Game with one of my reading groups and I am about to start it again with another group.  My students do all of their novel study and reading response work in a composition book.  When the book is done, they have a complete study guide including comprehension, vocabulary, and any graphic organizers.  Each week we work on several chapters and there is a quiz every Friday on those chapters.  When they finish the book, they use all of their accumulated work to study for a final test.  Here is how I attack this complicated book with so many characters to keep track of...

     Character Charts-  We do one of these 4 times throughout the book.  Any new, interesting, or suspicious info goes on these.

Westing Game Character Chart - ch. 24-end

We also have a large character chart on the wall.  It is made out of 16 pieces of black 9x12 construction paper and each character gets their own piece.  We use sticky notes to add information about each character as we go on this interactive wall organizer.

     Comprehension Questions- these are done weekly for each set of chapters.

Westing Game comprehension ch. 19-23

They glue the questions on the top of the page and then answer underneath.  They must restate the question in the answer as well as provide details and/or evidence from the book.

     Vocabulary- this is also done each week in one of these advance organizers.

Westing Game Vocabulary ch. 14-18

Take a look at my post on vocabulary to see exactly what I expect the kids to do.

     Suspicious Characters Chart- students choose 3 characters that seem suspicious to them towards the middle of the book.  This gets them thinking about our big project.

The one big project that I do for this book is a wanted poster.  You can see those in my Westing Game Wanted Posters post.  Prior to that we start with this organizer first.

If you would like to download the whole book unit, I do have it available if you click my link here.

Ancient India - Interactive Notebooks

As I continue grading Social Studies notebooks, I will also continue to share pictures of what we have accomplished this year.  Here are some of the highlights from someone's chapter on Ancient India.
        A map of India...

Map of India

      Notes on Indian Society...

Ancient Indian Society and Caste System

     Notes and graphic organizer on Hinduism...

Hinduism Develops in India

     Pictures and notes for Indian Achievements...

Ancient Indian Achievements in Science

The graphic organizers make things much easier on the kids and myself.  They allow them to be more independent and organizes all of their ideas so that they can find the information for the test.

Story Pyramids - Tuck Everlasting and The Devil's Arithmetic

Two of my reading groups finished their novels just before the break.  The first group finished Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit and the second group finished The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen.  After finishing, we do a lesson on story structure.  I use the basic pyramid that you can find all over.

Story Pyramid

I have them take notes in their Reading Notebooks first, then have them create their own story pyramids using their novels.  It is expected that they combine the parts of the story with citations from the book.  I also ask them to use images with each part of their pyramid. I give them a copy of this rubric:

Story Pyramid Rubric

Some of them turn out really wonderful.  Here is one from Tuck Everlasting...

Tuck Everlasting Story Pyramid

 And here are three from The Devil's Arithmetic...

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 1

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 2

Devil's Arithmetic Story Pyramid 3

Ancient Egypt Interactive Notebook

 So, it is finally Winter Break.  In Social Studies we have successfully finished Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Greece.  I am grading notebooks over the break and thought I would share some of the highlights.  

Egyptian Society Triangle

Egyptian Work and Daily Life

Gods of Egypt

We also spent some time in the computer lab using The British Museum website.  This is a great slideshow about how mummies are made.  I created this organizer to go along with it.

British Museum - How Mummies are Made

The British Museum also has its Young Explorers pages.  We use those to learn about Ancient Egyptian Artifacts and fill in the graphic organizer for our three favorite artifacts.

Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Organizer

Tuck Everlasting Foldable - Reviewing for tests

So on top of working with visual notetaking, the kids are always preparing for their weekly novel quizzes.  This week was Tuck Everlasting for chapters 19 through the epilogue.  Lots to remember.  We used a standard foldable and some visual note taking to review the main events and some vocabulary.  I just HAD to share this one.

Tuck Everlasting Foldable Organizer

I use these a lot the day before a quiz.  I give them guidelines about the topic of each box and then they use all of their resources from the week to fill each area with as much detail as possible.  Then they get taped into their Reading Response Notebooks as a reference that can be used to study for the final test.