When my students do a Hexagonal Learning activity, one of the groups of hexagons I usually use includes the themes of the story we are discussing. However, I have always struggled with how to help students identify the themes. It is difficult for them to discern the difference between theme and main idea. Yesterday, I … Read more
Note: As I was looking up resources for this post, I realized that yesterday, the day that I introduced Guernica to my current 4th graders, was the 80th anniversary of its bombing. I’m sure I probably knew that somewhere in my subconscious, but it still sent a chill down my spine when I saw the … Read more
The New York Times has many lesson plans and other resources for educators that can help with the integration of current events. One portion of the site that you may not know about is the page that offers, “Over 50 Reusable Activity Sheets to Teach any Day’s Times.” With downloadable PDF’s of graphic organizers, games, discussion starters, and … Read more
On Monday, I wrote about Tarr’s Toolbox and one of the resources you can find there, the “Wheel of Life.” My 4th graders have been reading Tuck Everlasting (R.I.P. Natalie Babbitt, who died October, 2016), which uses wheels and circles for symbolism throughout the novel. They have also been discussing the attributes of the main characters, … Read more
When you can give students time to deeply discuss a text, you may be surprised by the connections and conclusions they make on their own. This is the purpose of “Hexagonal Learning.” You can read more about the origins and many uses of Hexagonal Learning in a blog post I wrote 4 years ago on the … Read more
Larry Ferlazzo recently published a post on his blog about a site called Word Sift. I decided to try it out with a text that I am reading to my 5th grade students, hoping to give it more meaning. We just finished reading The Giver together, and Lois Lowry’s Newbery Acceptance speech for the honor received by … Read more