Severe Weather Project - Pyramid Dioramas

This year, the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes got together to do an end of the year project which we named Biome Bonanza. We put the students into mixed grade level groups, and had each group choose a biome to study. Once biomes were assigned, the 5th graders researched the biome itself and created a trifold, the 3rd graders each chose a country within the biome and put together a country report and short powerpoint, and my 4th graders studied a type of severe weather in the biome and created a pyramid diorama. Then, they had to work together to create a diorama of the location, banner including a world map, and artifacts representing the cultures of the area. My fourth graders had just finished their unit on magnets and electricity, during which they had created electrical boxes, so they had to survey their group members and create a set of questions for the box as a quiz for the end of the presentation. We set up tables in the gym and presented to other classes in the school in the morning and to parents in the afternoon. It was pretty amazing!

Electrical Box

Pyramid Diorama

I have put together the pyramid diorama project on my TpT page, which includes:

• Introduction
• Diorama Instructions
• Photos
• Student Packet:
• Instructions
• Note taking sheets
• Pyramid Diorama Rubric
• Presentation Instructions/Rubric
• (Choose one) Group or Individual Overall Project Rubric

• Bottom section templates (unlined and lined)
• Side sections templates (unlined and lined)
• Teacher Rubrics for scoring/comments (note separate group/individual sheets for overall project) 

If you would like to download it, you can view here it in my TpT Store.

Student-Led Portfolio Conferences

November is a time for Parent-Teacher conferences, which I must admit are not my favorite. I spend so much time trying to think of everything I need to say to a parent, organizing my ideas, gathering work samples and finding just the right way to phrase some of those difficult messages. And inevitably, the minute a parent leaves or an hour later it hits me... the one thing I forgot to tell them!

Spring is another conference, but this time around students are leading the way. Over the next few weeks I will spend time reflecting with my students, sharing in their joy of obstacles overcome and looking at what challenges still lie ahead. It is hard enough for me to organize my own thoughts, but to get students to do it and share it with their parents is even harder! The students have individualized short and long term goals, but that is just the start!

Last year, teaching third grade, there was one standard sheet that the students had to fill out for every subject area they reflected upon. While I think it was good to get the kids into the mindset of reflecting upon their own work with the same questions over and over, the drudgery of the same sheet of paper with each reflection wore some of them down. So, this year I decided to spice things up a bit and create a mix of forms for the kids to use. A few self-assessment sheets where they get to fill in smiley faces or number bubbles, some charts and lists, and then a few written responses and goal setting sheets.  We will spend the next few weeks reflecting, organizing, and preparing for conference day, when the students will take the lead and share their own assessment of their progress so far this year. I am looking forward to their thoughts, opinions and reflections!

I have tweaked a few of the sheets so that they are more generic for any other teachers who may be looking to do something similar with their own students, and I have placed them in my TpT store. Included is a long-term goal sheet, a short-term goal sheet, and a full set of printable sheets for students to use as a reflection tool for a student-led portfolio conference. Reflection sheets are a set of questions that a student can answer related to that area, and can be used in conjunction with work that they have pulled from the year. Sheets include:
*Cover Sheet
*Student Checklist
*Math Self Assessment (4th Grade Everyday Math topics up to Ch. 7)
*Math Reflection Sheet
*Reading Reflection Sheet
*Writing Reflection Sheet
*Spelling Scores Recording Sheet
*Science Reflection Sheet
*Social Studies Sheet
*Work Habits Self Assessment
*Growths and Goals Sheet
*Goal Setting (with parents) Sheet
*Special Area Reflection Sheet
*Generic Reflection Sheet

Graphic Organizers

Moving to third grade this year, I needed some different graphic organizers, and it was one of those projects I kept wanting to do, but never got around to... creating a new set of graphic organizers!  Now that school is out, it was an easy summer project to get started with! I'm sure I will add more as time goes on, but it's a good start! Click to view the file in my TpT store or in my Teachers Notebook store.

So here it is, a compilation of 22 graphic organizers, covering story writing, research, comparisons, timelines, the 5 W's and much more. Nothing fancy, but sometimes that is just what our students need to keep them from being distracted! Here are the pages included:
- 2 Story Webs
- Clock (sequencing time events)
- Story Star (5 W's)
- Character Traits (planning sheet)
- Character Planning
- Planning Sheet (audience)
- Conflict Planner
- Problem & Solution Chart
- Tic Tac Toe
- 2 Cluster Webs
- Fact & Opinion
- Timeline
- The 5 W's
- KWL
- Observation Chart
- Time and Order Chart
- Persuasion Map
- Step by Step
- Venn Diagram
- E-chart

Simple Machines

We have been working on a simple machines unit, and so far we have learned about all of the simple machines.  We looked at one simple machine each day, reading a short book and then doing some hands on exploration.  Lastly, the students filled in a graphic organizer to help them remember what each simple machine does.  We will be working on the Edheads website this week, and students will need to track their progress as they work through the games.