Category Archives: Standard 5 – Application of Content

ELA, Math, Project, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 3 - Learning Environments, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Virtual Field Trip :: National Museum of African American History and Culture

On Friday, February 10th, the 4th graders at my school took a virtual field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  Students started out with an overview of the newest Smithsonian museum, followed by scenes from the opening ceremony.  For maximum engagement, student also got to compete in a “Presidents for Equal Rights” Kahoot game and an equality quote match on Quizlet.  After these activities, the museum was open to be explored by students with their iPads.  Around the museum were various QR codes that would give access to the content:  a document, image, or video.  The students were engaged in this virtual field trip, and you could see students working with peers to complete writing, reading comprehension, and math activities inside the museum.  The highlights were hearing students say:  “This was the best field trip I’ve ever gone on!” and “Ms. Payne, I didn’t know that there were that many black people that did so many great things!”

Specific skills in the museum:  ordering decimals, compare and contrasting different passages, editing a writing passage to correct errors, identifying fact and opinions in literature.

Virtual Field Trip

Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Going Back to Rio

 

 

 

 

When the school year started, I, like many others, just couldn’t get enough of the Olympics.  I was determined to find a way to tie it into the curriculum… So I decided to update a planet project I did with place value.  I wanted to review the skills of 10 times as much or 1/10 of a value as well as write numbers in expanded form, word form, and standard form.  The students love this one!  I made to sure to the differentiate the content for all my learners!Olympics

ELA, Project, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction

Black History Month Project 2.0

 

Ever since I was in Washington, DC, I did some type of Black History Month activity/project, and my students have always learned a lot through the process.  Last year, when I taught 6th grade, I knew that I had to take this project to the next level, so I planned out how I could make this better and more relevant for them.  We used plenty of apps on our iPads and got really familiar with the Google product family!  I made sure that we had plenty of library books for research purposes, and we took a journey from Africa all the way to present day.  Some of my students’ work is featured below.

Black History Month Black History Month Black History Month 12642669_1259267154087554_8886785361444924054_n Black History Month Black History Month Black History Month Black History Month

Games, Math, Review Activity, Standard 2 - Learning Differences, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

I love making MATH relevant and finding a way to tie it into current events.  Back in October, we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a math review game!  They learned some facts for their scavenger hunt, and they got to find math problems hidden around the classroom.  I made this a little challenging for the students by using Spanish numbers around the classroom.

Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic Heritage Month

ELA, Project, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies, Writing

End of Year Hero Project

At the end of the school year, I like to have my students complete a research unit.  Last year, we focused on HEROES! Students had to complete 3 assignments with this project:  A Hero Tale, a Hero Newspaper, and a Hero Poem.  My colleague and I created graphic organizers for each part of the project.

 

You can click the image below to enlarge.

My Hero Project Overview

My Hero Tale Scoring Rubric

Hero Story Map

Hero Newspaper TemplateStudent's Hero Newspaper

Hero Poem by Student

ELA, Math, Project, Review Activity, Standard 4 - Content Knowledge, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction

Black History Month Activities : 2015

This year, I decided to spend 2 months covering black history events.  We started in Africa in the 1300’s – 1500’s, and then we traveled to the United States in the time of slavery.  We got through the Civil War and the Reconstruction period.  We then covered the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and where we are now as it relates to equality.

Students were assigned one or two individuals to research and create a digital board as well as a tri-fold presentation board.  All of the reading lessons were tied to a skill and a the week’s study.  We found facts and opinions in a newspaper from the time of slavery.  We compared and contrasted kings and queens in Africa.  We looked at the elements of drama through a play that focused on the Greensboro sit ins.  We planned out a new Civil Rights Museum using area and perimeter concepts.  We converted fractions to decimals and found equivalent fractions for our Black History Timeline.  The students absolutely LOVED this unit, and it was a joy to be able to help them learn about a part of our country’s history that is all too often skipped over.

The students also created an Equality Quote Quilt with famous quotes from important figures in the fight for equality.

At the end of the unit of study, I organized a commemorative Selma to Montgomery March, which was 50 years after the actual march in Alabama.  In our march, 4th and 5th graders marched around the school, singing “I ain’t gon’ let nobody turn me around” in harmony.  The march ended in the library with a beautiful slideshow of images from black history with “Lift Every Voice” – the National Negro Anthem – playing in the background.  The students all sat quietly glued to the screen, where many of them saw these images for the first time.

I remember days later, one of the 5th grade teachers came up to me and told me that next year, we really need to plan (even earlier) to incorporate more black history into our lessons.  I could not agree more!

Mary McLeod Bethune Presentation Board (student)WEB DuBois Presentation Board (student)Frederick Douglass Presentation Board (student)Alex Haley Presentation Board (Teacher Model)Equality Quote QuiltBlack History TimelineCivil Rights MuseumCivil Rights Museum ExhibitSelma to Montgomery MarchSelma to Montgomery MarchMarch PostersMarch Posters

ELA, Math, Project, Standard 5 - Application of Content, Standard 6 - Assessment, Standard 7 - Planning for Instruction, Standard 8 - Instructional Strategies

4th Grade EOY Research Project :: Career Planning and Budgeting

In Texas, the teaching standards for 4th grade a mostly similar to Common Core for math, but they veer in a completely different direction with the unit on Personal Financial Literacy.  I wish I had learned these skills when I was coming up, so I LOVE teaching them to my students.  Well, we spent a few weeks talking about budgets, fixed expenses vs. variable expenses, income, and savings… And then I wanted the students to put these skills into action!

In this research project, students had to choose a career, find the median salary for this career, create a budget based on the median salary, find a car to purchase online, find a place to live online, and then put whatever leftover money they had towards savings.  The budget was created in Excel, and there were formulas for students.

After their budget was completed, the students were ready for the real work of researching their job.  Their final product was going to be made into a book, typed from Microsoft Word.  To prepare for this, I created a graphic organizer (packet) that helped them find and source the information and then led them to writing each paragraph.  There were sentence starters in 3 of the 6 chapters, as well as a bonus chapter for extra credit.  Students were  given the choice of their book design, and once they selected their design, their Word document would open, which was a book template that they were able to customize.  This book has a plethora of text features, like a graph, a glossary, citations page, table of contents, section headings, italics, bold print, photographs, and captions, etc.  I am excited about seeing my students’ final products!

In the meantime, here are images from my sample/example book that I shared with my students.

Also, here is a link to our project website, which has most of the resources that my students used.  The graphic organizer or project summary page are not posted here.

http://monthlybudget.edublogs.org/ 

Sample Book Cover Sample Table of Contents

Sample Chapter 1 - What this person doesSample Famous People with this JobSample Glossary

ELA, Math, Standard 10 - Leadership and Collaboration, Standard 5 - Application of Content

Children’s Book :: Budgeting at the Mall at Prince George’s

With a group, I created a children’s math trail book. My role was the primary photographer and layout designer. I used my skills in graphics design and what I’ve learned as a professional photographer to create a professional product. I filed this under School and Community Involvement because this book takes place at a well-known location in the DC community – Prince Georges’ Plaza. The math scenarios presented are actual scenarios that students may be faced with, and we used math to solve their real-world problems. As an educator, I make it a point to make what I teach real to my students. I want them to be able to connect their learning with a purpose!

View the Children’s Layout HereBookCover2