Change Over Time with the Pilgrims

A lot of the new essential standards include something about change over time, so I am taking advantage of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to work on change over time with my Kindergarteners. Scholastic has a wonderful website that compares daily life elements of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags. You can also see what the journey here was like and see more about the first Thanksgiving feast. (They also have virtual field trips you can sign up for - last year it was sort of like an interview with a couple of the Pilgrims and Wampanoags. I thought it was interesting, but the older language style made it harder for the kids.)

We started with a Super 3 review and brainstormed questions we had about the Pilgrims and where we could find more information. I focused just on the Pilgrims daily life section with this lesson and had the students compare life then with their life now. Then, we did a sort on the smartboard with items the Pilgrims used then and things the kids use now. If we have time, I might do the same thing with the Wampanoag side of the site. The kids had fun and liked the site because they use photographs of people dressed in the time period clothes. If you have not used this site before, make sure you check it out!

Source

Easter Fun!

Usually I don't get a lot of time for just fun stories and activities with the kids due to all the things we need to cover and I mostly focus more on information sources, Super 3, and things like that. However, sometimes we have a double class and I take the opportunity to have fun with some books and activities with the kids, especially around holidays! Today I had a Kindergarten class and it is the day before Spring Break, so we read a couple of books about Easter eggs, and then I had the kids create Easter eggs using patterns of colors. (I knew they were working on pretty advanced patterns in their calendar time in the classroom by this time of year.)

Here are the books we read and some of their patterns!

Happy New Year!

As we enter 2012 with a bang, I thought it would be worth looking for some resources for kids when they come back to school about New Years. There is a lot about Chinese New Year, but not as much about Dec.31/Jan. 1 New Years. Since we are not usually in school, I haven't looked for resources about this before, but there is a first time for everything! Here are some of the ideas I came across. There is a World Clock to see what time if in in other parts of the world and other information at Apples4TheTeacher including New Year greetings from around the world, a reading list and short stories, and other activities. Enchanted Learning has some activities also including a printable booklet for younger students, acrostic worksheets, and This Year activities. There is always an activity waiting in writing resolutions too. This site has some examples for resolutions for kids of various ages as a starting point. 

Source

In addition to actual New Year activities, it can also be a time of reflection and using something like a circle plot diagram is a way to evaluate your year or use with books and other activities. You can also look at time passage with some activities like this one that shows different families over time that have lived in the same house and information about their lives. Or, just look back at how things might have been for their grandparents and create family trees.

Whatever you do, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Best Christmas Pageant Ever Fakebook Pages

With a small group of 4th graders, we made Fakebook pages for characters from The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We talked about thinking about the characters, what images could represent them best? Then, we went to Pics 4 Learning and saved images. Thinking about the order of the story, we wrote 10 sequential comments the characters might have made based on things that happened in the book. Add to that a list of a few friends they might have from the book, and we are ready to start. Having these items on paper is helpful if the Fakebook doesn't work so you can still see the thought and they don't lose the work.

I showed the short tutorial clip first just to get them excited, it is only about 1:40 long. Then, they got to work on the pages. There were a couple of glitches. Some of the computers repeated or would not upload the images, which is the issue we had last time. Also, be sure you only do pictures that are uploads from your computer and NOT auto select from Google images. Here are some of the pages we ended up with. Here are Gladys Herdman, Charlie, Beth, Alice, Leroy, Imogene, and below you can see one for Claude. This is a great way for kids to rethink events in a book from a different point of view and think about character traits also.

View Fullscreen

Create your own

Recordings of Christmas Past

The Library of Congress Jukebox is a collection of historical recordings, mostly from record labels now owned by Sony music who granted permission for the LOC to stream them to the public free of charge. Over 10,000 recordings made between 1910 and 1925 can be found here. They were recorded by the Victor Talking Machine Company, which used large horns to gather the sound and etch it onto wax discs. Find out more about the project here and more about the process of recording here.


Photo Source

All of this brings me to a current use for the Jukebox, Christmas recordings. If you do a search on the Jukebox for Christmas, you get quite a few results. These range from spoken recordings of the Night Before Christmas to The Newsboys Christmas to bible readings and carols. It is a neat way to bring the past into the classroom in a quick way. They even sound like ghosts of Christmas past with the recording scratches and static in the background.


Photo Source

This is also a good way to talk about technology advances, changes in how we communicate, and ways things have stayed the same as well. Showing students a picture of how recordings were made and discussing the process is sure to surprise them. I have no doubt they will be able to tell you several different and easier ways to record in our current day.

Don't wait for your perfect Christmas unit to utilize the jukebox though, you can browse by artists, genres, or playlists plus there are search and advanced search options. Find something for your students today, have them close their eyes, listen, and be transported to the past. Don't forget to also search for an image of the artist to show students who they are listening to.

Christmas in the Classroom



Picture by N. Biddinger

Several different grade levels like to do some aspect of Christmas Around the World this time of year and let students compare and contrast American traditions with those of their counterparts elsewhere. Here are a few sites that are great for that purpose. Christmas Around the World, Why Christmas, and Santa's Net are the main ones I usually refer to. Each has it's own strengths and weaknesses but any are good for basic information about traditions in other countries.

Why Christmas also has information about various customs and why we have them, such as Boxing Day, Christmas bells, and carols. It also has information about other winter festivals besides Christmas.



Picture by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

It is always interesting to have students talk about their own traditions and see how many are the same and also how many are different just among the students in their own class. Then, to see how they compare with traditions elsewhere always surprises them how much is the same. I love venn diagrams!


Today, with 2nd graders, we compared Belgium and Finland with the US and they were surprised how many traditions are basically the same as what many of them do here. 

 

With fourth graders I am having them create a little flip chart about a country with a partner. This was a great way for them to learn about another culture in a fun way and also for them to practice skimming for information while taking notes. We used the Why Christmas website. Here are some samples of what they did.

Of course there are also ways to build more about the United States into your studies. A teacher just stopped by to talk to me about using the NC Christmas tree farms as part of an economics unit about supply and demand. How cool is that? No matter how long I do this, new ways to approach things and new ideas always come up and lead to so many other ideas as well!

Picture by Peggy McPherson

Thanksgiving Field Trips

Have you ever wanted to visit Plimoth Plantation or see what it was like to live as a Pilgrim or Wampanoag? Scholastic has partnered with Plimoth Plantation and created virtual field trips with visits to both Pilgrim and Wampanoag homesites with interpreters to tell you more about what life was like. Student questions from across the country are also answered. Check it out! What a great way to take an inexpensive trip back in time and let students see how things have changed over time. This meets several social studies common core standards involving holidays, diversity, and change over time. There is also a section of the Wampanoag video especially that talks about how they planted the gardens to work symbiotically to get the most out of it. This would also be a great clip for plant units. The videos are usually only available for short periods each year, but you can sign up to get reminders of the webcasts each year when they are released, along with some other items.