Who doesn’t love a good brain break? My students’ most favorite brain break of all is called BOP or FLOP! First they stand up and then you play a song from the past that they are (probably) unfamiliar with. If they think it’s a BOP-meaning they like it-they move to one side of the room. If they think it’s a FLOP-they don’t like it- they move to the other side. Students can sing along, dance, whatever…it’s fun and they are getting exposed to good music! After that first time, my students kept BEGGING me to make more! Wanna try it? Grab your free copy of the 1970s Edition BOP or FLOP when you join my newsletter. Be sure to check out my TPT store for more! I’m adding new genres and decades!
Click on the images below to go straight to my listings on TpT and be sure to comment if you have a request for a new BOP or FLOP!
The surprising lesson I learned from 4th graders on International Women’s Day
As many of you know, I teach 4th grade in my day job and am quite passionate about my subjects-Science and Social Studies. I often take attendance by asking a question of the day and today it was “Who is a woman that you admire?” Easy enough question, right? I was truly surprised by how many of my kids couldn’t think of anyone to name. The most popular answer was “my mom,” and y’all mamas know you totally earn that! The second most popular answer was Rosa Parks because many of them did research on her for Reading class last week. Which is great…but how are those basically the only two admirable women they could think of?
So here’s what I am taking from this lesson…We (including me) need to do a better job at modeling for our kids respect and admiration towards women. We need to teach our sons that they can and should have female role models and that it does not take away from their own masculinity. We need to stop criticizing women in public roles for their hair, clothes, and body shapes. Because when you reduce a woman down to her physical traits in front of others (especially children), you are telling them that her worth comes from those things, her accomplishments notwithstanding.
So I’ll pose the question to all of you…Who is a woman you admire and why? I would love to share you answers with my classes tomorrow!
Do your students get bogged down with the complex thinking required for data analysis in Science? For years, I’ve searched for a resource that provides daily practice with analyzing a data set within the context of Elementary Science. There are tons of great resources for this skill in Math, but I needed something directly tied to the Next Generation Science Standards.
Introducing-“Data Analysis in Elementary Science”! I created a series of scaffolded mini lessons that can be taught in 15 minutes each day. Each topic will center around a Disciplinary Core Idea and embed multiple Science and Engineering Practices. My first topic supports the 4th grade standard 4-LS1-2. In this activity, students will examine a data set generated by an experiment with mealworms. This is real data that was collected by my own students as they investigated “What environmental conditions do mealworms seek out?” They tested combinations of 2 variables-damp vs. dry and light vs. dark! They placed mealworms into “choice chambers” (2-sided petri dishes) and waited to see which side the mealworms chose. They recorded their results which can be examined to find patterns in the data.
This activity is broken down into 4 days-each one building upon the last. On Day 1, students read background information about the data set and create a bar graph. There are multiple ways students could make a bar graph, with this data so I left it open for them to decide which way will best help them understand what the data is showing.
On Day 2, students use the I2 strategy (Identify & Interpret) to look for patterns in the data and make sense of what it means.
On Day 3, they are ready to write a their Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER). The Claim is a single sentence that attempts to answer the investigation questions based on the information they have. Evidence and Reasoning are put together in their own section for writing. I find it helpful for elementary students to not think of the evidence and reasoning as separate things, but rather to explain (reasoning) their thought processes in how they used the data (evidence) to come up with their claims.
Day 4 is a very important part of the process! In this step, students will share their Claim/Evidence/Reasoning with small groups or in the larger group. I provided a guide to help with the discussion which includes asking questions to clarify someone’s opinion, providing feedback to peers, and sharing reasons for why they may disagree. The purpose of this discussion is to identify any weaknesses or fallacies in the argument and to find ways to strengthen them! After the discussion, students revise their arguments and re-write them.
The “Animal Behaviors” activity is the first in a new series that I am creating, so be sure to follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers for the new releases!
I have been pursuing National Board Certification since 2016. If you are unfamiliar with who/what they are, it’s a higher-level certification that can earn you Rank 1 status in Kentucky. It’s a portfolio-based submission that is broken down into 4 components. For my area (middle childhood generalist) Component 1 was a test, Component 2 was focused on differentiation and teaching writing, Component 3 is all about planning and teaching strategies, and Component 4 is about Assessment and Professional Growth. You get 3 years to submit all 4 components, which is what I did.
After my initial 3 years of submitting components, I learned that I didn’t pass by 2 points. I was determined to certify so I set out to resubmit Component 3-the one with the lessons and videos. I did a ton of reflecting and research and all was going well until the pandemic hit. I was about to film my final video on the day we learned we were going to be out of school for 2 weeks. That 2 weeks turned into the rest of the school year, so I had to completely create a new Social Studies lesson to teach via Zoom with a few students who volunteered to participate. Low and behold, this did not prove to be the level of teaching that National Board requires, so once again, I didn’t pass by 2 points. I decided to defer the next cycle since we had been a in a combination of A/B hybrid and virtual schedule all school year. Now, after 5 years, I will be submitting for a third time, my National Board Component next spring. In December 2022, I will learn if I finally pass (or not!)
I have gone through so many emotions during these last 5 years. Originally I set out to do this for the money. The rank change plus extra stipend would be enough that I could afford to get a new car. I had my heart set on a new Ford Explorer and was determined to get it. Back then, I already felt like I was National Board material and that it would be a breeze. HA!!! It’s not that it’s particularly hard, per se, but the type of writing required to answer the questions requires a level of analysis that was beyond what I was used to. And in order to be able to write about those things, I had to do those things. The question that always stuck with me was, “Why did you do this thing for this group of students at this time?” That’s not an exact quote but is the basis for each question. It meant that everything I did in my lessons needed to be intentional. Every goal, activity, and assessment after that realization became directly linked to my standards and overall goals for my students. Science is a subject that you could go on and on teaching everything related to a topic (which is what I did at the beginning of my teaching career). Now, I narrow the focus of my lessons to particular Science Practices and use the content as context for understanding phenomena. On my whiteboard, I post the standard we are working on, the topic, the guiding question, and targets. I also made these cards with the Science and Engineering Practices and Crosscutting Concepts that I post on the board. At the beginning of each class, I refer to this information and remind students WHY we are doing the activities and what the goal is. I printed these in color on white cardstock and laminated them. I use sticky tack to stick them on my whiteboard. I have included these cards as a free download for you to use as well! Just click below for the file! (There is also a black/white version so you can print on colored cardstock if you don’t have access to a color printer.)
