King Cotton

Room 303 has hopped in a time machine and is exploring what life was like from the perspective of two children, one a plantation owner's daughter and a slave.

We started our lesson by identifying the meaning of 'perspective' which means how a character thinks or feels about a particular topic. Next, the students had the opportunity to observe a cotton boll and record their observations. Many students described the cotton as soft and fluffy. After the students recorded their observations, we read the first 2 pages of Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. We learned that Clara was a child slave in the cotton field.

The students learned more about slaves in the cotton fields in our stations.

The students analyzed pictures at "Table Top Twitter".

They read diary entries from Sarah, the daughter of a plantation owner....

and a conversation between two slaves.

The students listened to recordings of voices of real slaves during the time of the Civil War on Ed Puzzle.

After each students has visited all the stations, we will observe the cotton again to see if they feel something different this time.

We know reading can not only make us smarter, but also more compassionate on topics that we do not know a lot about.

Stay tuned to read if these stations changed how we think and feel about a topic.

Animal Research and Blended Learning

We are beginning our Animal Research Projects. The students are learning about six animals in various habitats, with very different adaptions, but all share one commonality- they are endangered.

Through their research and reading mentor texts, our students will write feature articles to share information about their animal and raise awareness on how we can help protect their habitats. 

Research can get messy! We ask that you enter our classroom with caution! 

Native American PowerPoint Presentstions

Our friends are creating their first PowerPoint presentations to share their knowledge of the Catawba, Cherokee, and Yemassee Tribes with the class.

Meet Amelia and King

The day finally arrived after weeks of planning! You would think that I won a $500 shopping spree to one of my favorite stores. Although that would be AMAZING.... 

We are learning about two sweet Loggerhead Sea Turtles that were rescued along our coastline. The sea turtles were transported to the Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Charleston, SC. They have since been treated and released.

The students are learning more about Amelia and King in our Daily 5 Stations, again, using our Blended Learning approach. The students are completing a "Sea Turtle Hospital Doctor Form". They will use this form to add facts to their Literary Nonfiction piece on Life as a Sea Turtle.

We would love to share their stories with you. Please click on the BlendSpace Link below.

Amelia and King 

Physical and Behavioral Adaptations

This week started our PBL Unit "From Turtles to Tigers". Our driving question is "How do animals adapt to changes in their environment?"

From the wise words of Kid President, "If you want to change the world, you gotta know about it." Therefore, we must first learn what adaptation means and the two types of adaptations. The students are using the Blended Learning approach in our Daily 5 Stations to learn at their own pace what adaptation means and determining the two types, physical and behavioral. This is multi-tasking at its finest. While the students are learning on the computers and ipads, I have the opportunity to work with another group of students in a small group setting on their reading goal.

After everyone has had the opportunity to visit the Technology Station, we will go over our Adaptation Charts.

Never heard of BlendSpace? No worries! I just learned about it at the beginning of the school year. Check out the BlendSpace we created and are using in Daily 5 this week!

Adaptations

Click on the hyperlink above and simply click the play button on the left side of the web page.