Monday Made It: Getting Ready for Processes that Shape the Earth

I'm super excited share what I've been working on so far this summer! I love making "teacher things,"  and while my parents are at work this summer, that's much of how I've been spending my days. That, and stocking up on things I can't find in Italy, like peanut butter and Funfetti mix.

Our second unit of study in 4th grade usually starts at the beginning of the October, and I've been getting ready with some new materials for that. The unit is on Processes That Shape the Earth, and while last year I felt pretty good about introducing types of landforms and getting into plate tectonics, the kids were super interested in natural disasters. One of my goals for next year is to deliver content in a more focused way- sometimes I feel like I have to cover absolutely EVERYTHING, and end up doing too much skimming. To combat this, I created a project that will let my students research a type of natural disaster and then present to the class in the form of a news report. 

My plan is to teach either volcanoes or earthquakes (or both, depending on time!), and then let them delve deeply into another type of disaster with their groups. In their research, they'll answer important questions, including what happens within the Earth to cause their disaster, how to prepare for and stay safe during it, what parts of the world are effected, etc. I absolutely love projects, and am hoping that the earlier in the year I introduce research, the better. You can find the packet on my Teachers-Pay-Teacher's site if you're interested!

Okay, I know I said that I wanted to focus in more on the natural disaster part of the unit, but they still have to know landforms! I made two PowerPoints about the different types of landforms we'll talk about throughout the unit. I'm not sure if I'll have a sweet little group of lovebugs who adore cutesy things like my end-of-the-year-kiddos last year (they were the sweetest), or if they'll have the "we're cool 4th graders who HATE cutesy" attitude my same little end-of-the-year-lovebugs had at the beginning of the year, so I made a cute PowerPoint with adorable little bears from Scrappin' Doodle's clipart, and a more basic one that I'm also pretty pleased with (whew!! Run-on sentence?). Either way, I'm so excited about the beautiful images I found and hope the kids will be too. I even used a few I took myself :)  My students have been very well-traveled these past two years, so we might do a graphing activity along with it to see which landforms we've seen most, and which none of us have seen. I can't even wait for October now! This is also on my TPT store as a bundle with both PowerPoints. 

Cute little bears :)

More simple and basic design

Monday Made It: November

Hey there! I've loved keeping my travel blog this past year, and am now joining the lovely community of teacher bloggers! For my first post, I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It, a linky party that I've been spending Monday evenings stalking for a year :) Anyways, here goes!

After seeing The Teacher Garden's "Scientist of the Month" bulletin board, I wanted to create my own! My students last year loved learning about Isaac Newton during our energy unit and about different inventors before our Invention Convention. My plan is to have our "Class Decorator" (one of the favorite class jobs) switch out the materials each month. I introduce the scientist at the beginning of each month and borrow a few books from the library to have for my kiddos to read.
What I'm really excited about is the QR codes! I've been looking for new ways to use my school's tablets in the classroom, and this should be a lot of fun! I'm not 100% sure of when I'll have my students access the board, but maybe during Daily 5 Read to Self or for my early finishers.  Students will be able to grab a tablet, a pair of headphones, and explore the different resources.
Last year one of my little guys had a tough time finding his strengths as a learner. He was the first I ever went to the Child Study Team for, and ended up loving having a 'team' focused on just him. Anyways, he LOVED nonfiction, especially anything about scientists like Thomas Edison. He loved that his idol had trouble in school just like he did, but that didn't mean that he wasn't smart. I love that this will give the kids exposure to different people who have done some wonderful things and inspire them to keep learning :) I've posted it on my TPT site!

We had some boring unfinished-work type things on the board that day but I keep forgetting to take a better picture!

I am OBSESSED with Daily 5, but didn't love how I taught math last year. This year I'm using a similar model for teaching math (we use TERC Investigations at my school). This was the first thing I put onto TPT, and am SO happy to finally have it all set up! I'd like to do a post soon on how I'm teaching it in my class, so be on the lookout! The background of my board is actually made from pillowcases that I found on sale at Walmart for a few dollars last year (what I would give for a Walmart or Target here in Italy... *Sigh*). 

At least the iron's getting some use!

I had a slight problem when setting up the board; I was more excited about my new laminator than anything else I bought this summer and was so pumped to start using it at home, creating teaching materials I could use every year. While in the USA, it worked WONDERFULLY on a new set of task cards, but when I plugged it in here in Italy, it started smoking and stunk up my whole apartment with a horrible burnt plastic smell! I knew not to use an American blowdryer or straightener in European plugs, but it didn't even cross my mind not to plug in my laminator. Drats :( Anyways, I still wanted to laminate my new materials, so put them into the laminator pouches, the pouches between two tea towels and ironed the whole thing! It definitely didn't work as well as my beautiful laminator, but still, mission accomplished :)