5th Grade Benchmark Workshop / Unit 1 (Week 1)

My school district uses Benchmark Workshop as our reading curriculum, and now, on year three of implementing it in my classroom, I feel comfortable and confident not only using it, but also in supplementing it, in a way my students not only enjoy it, but also learn from it. Please know that my district allows us to supplement and use additional resources that work well for us, so this might look different from district to district. Please also know that I am not a perfect teacher. These work for us, but I can't promise they are perfect! Haha

Unit 1 / Week 1 - This week we focus primarily on asking questions, main idea, and the cause/effect text structure. During week 1 I teach all of the Benchmark mini lessons, but also supplement using the book "When Lunch Fights Back". This is the perfect book for practicing ALL THREE of our main focus skills for the week. I highly recommend it! 

One important note: I don't read the story independently. My mini-lesson includes: introducing the vocabulary words, reading the story, and then completing the mini-lesson.

What our week one looks like:

• Day 1: Introduce the Unit: Partners in Survival
  
  
• Day 2: Ask Questions Mini-lesson (I focus on thick/thin questions)
  We then practice this using "When Lunch Fights Back" / Chapter 1: Slip-Sliming Away - Together we read the story and generate good, strong questions to guide our reading as we read the chapter. I took pictures of each page of the chapter so students could follow along with me on the board. As we read, students fill out, what I call, a "Wacky H Chart".
  
  
• Day 3: Infer Central Ideas Mini-Lesson / Build Vocabulary Mini-lesson - I model writing the main idea on a table (with the legs being the details). We will use this method to write the main idea/details the rest of the unit.
  
  
• Day 4: Outside Practice using "When Lunch Fights Back" - Chapter 5 - "Here's Blood in Your Eye" -We practice asking and answering strong questions questions and inferring the main idea. Once again,  I took pictures of each page of the chapter so students could follow along with me on the board. As we read, students fill out, what I call, a "Wacky H Chart". When we finished, we completed our "main idea" table.
  
  
• Day 5: Analyze Text Structure Mini Lesson - We then look back into yesterday's "When Lunch Fights Back" story and find cause/effect relationships. (This book is full of them!!)
  
  
• Day 6: Independent/Group practice using "When Lunch Fights Back" Chapter 3: Toxic Bubbles. I don't stress over completing each week in an actual "week" but if you do, you could easily give this as independent practice during small group time/centers time. 
  
  
• Day 7: Week 1 Benchmark Assessment - I give the assessment as is, but I do require students to jot down questions do guide their reading. They write one strong before reading question, two during reading questions, and one post-reading question.

If you want to grab the (VERY) basic worksheets I used during week one, sign up for my email list HERE.  Once you are all signed up, you will be emailed these worksheets. Happy reading! 

Let's Make Some Keychains with Cricut

 

Thank you for shopping with the commissionable links below.

This teacher LOVES crafting over the summer using my Cricut Maker. It is SO easy to use, requires no design background, and is worth the investment. My first project of the summer was keychains I will give my students during "Meet the Teacher". Next up - Bulletin boards! 

Grab the design to this project HERE.

Grab the keychains HERE.

Fun fact: Did you know that Cricut offers a discount for teachers? Once you verify your teaching job, you'll get an additional 15% off Cricut materials and accessories and a special discounted price on the Cricut Maker 3 and the Cricut Joy Extra.

I have a Cricut Maker 3 and I love it! Grab it HERE.

Creating an Inclusive Classroom with Walmart

This is a sponsored post from Walmart. All opinions are my own. Thank you for shopping with the commissionable links below.

It is SO important to me to have an inclusive classroom. I want every student to feel seen, empowered, and supported. This back to school season Walmart is making it easy for every child to go back to school confidently with not only their inclusive products, but also their quiet hours for those that need it. I love it Walmart. Keep it up! 😍 I snagged some items for our calm down kit that our counselor provided us and some items for back to school self portrait crafts! I know all of these products will be put to use in my classroom this year and they will support all of my students! Love it so much! 

Make Your Back-to-School Teacher Wishlist with Walmart!

This is a sponsored post from Walmart. All opinions are my own. Thank you for shopping with the commissionable links below.

Teachers spend over $750 on their own classrooms each year. That is INSANE. Walmart is making it easier to get our classroom needs met with "teacher registries" at Walmart.com. 

I use Walmart.com ALL of the time for normal shopping, but now I can create my own teacher wishlist that my friends, family members, and even school community can shop to support my classroom for the upcoming year. 

I love that people can shop my list and the items are quickly delivered to my door/classroom just like if I was ordering groceries at Walmart.com. It's quick, easy, and hassle free for not only me (the busy teacher), but also for those wanting to support me. 

Head over to Walmart to create your own wishlist by clicking HERE. Enter your personal information, your shipping address, and make sure to make your list PUBLIC so it is searchable on the website. Once your wish list has been created, add all of the items you need for your classroom to your list. You can take a sneak peak at what my wishlist looks like below! 

This year I am going to focus on paper products and necessary school supplies we need to get the year started. If you are looking for some basics to get your wishlist started, shop what I added to my wishlist below. What items would you add that I am missing?

Once you get your wishlist completed, share on Facebook, at Meet the Teacher, and with anyone that is interested in supporting you and your classroom this year. With Walmart's easy to use website and quick delivery, you will LOVE having your wishlist on their website! 

Wax Museum Information & Recap

Each year one of my FAVORITE projects is our annual Wax Museum. At my old school - students picked important Americans to research. At my current school we pair the Wax Museum with our American Revolution unit and students pick someone that was important in the Revolutionary War. No matter what you are learning, I highly encourage you to include a wax museum in your activities because it provides an incredible opportunity for students to not only research, write, and learn - but also it provides students the opportunity to present and public speak and those are LIFE SKILLS that they will carry with them forever. I am going to break this blog post into questions and answers. If I missed an important question - drop it in the comments and I'll get it added asap! 

Question: How long does this project last?

Answer: The project is a long one. We start early because we want students to have plenty of time to research and memorize their speech. We also want to give parents plenty of time to hopefully create a costume of some sort. This year we started our research in early February and our actual museum was at the end of March. 

Question: What are the different components of the Wax Museum?
Answer: The components of our wax museum include: research, written speech, backdrop, costume, and memorized speech.

Students research their person during library time. Our awesome librarians help with this. We upload a graphic organizer to Google Classroom that students complete while they research. It keeps their research guided as they work. Then - in ELA students turn that research into a paragraph written in first person. They begin to memorize that speech as they work on their backdrops at home. We practice our speeches LOTS at school so that our students get comfortable speaking and sharing in front of others. 

Question: How do students choose their person?
We have a list of important female and male American Revolution people that we post on Google Classroom. I give students two nights to go home and do a bit of research to see who they want to be. Then - I have them talk to their parents about who they want to be. I want parent support and buy in. I have them bring in a sticky note with their top three choices and have it signed by a parent. We do a luck of the draw who gets to choose first - and we do that until everyone has someone. This past year everyone got one of their three choices. 

Question: What parts are students responsible for doing at home?
We send a five foot piece of white butcher paper home for students to decorate. We simply do not have enough space at school for them to spread these out to work on. We make sure they have three weekends to work on them and lots of time. Students can take home any supplies they need. I offer to print pictures if they need them, etc. I try to make this as easy as possible for them. The only stipulation of the backdrops is that they have to say their person's name and they must include images that represent their person. This leaves students LOTS of ways to be creative. 

Parents also help their students come up with a costume. We have a box of extras for those that don't have anything and provide support as we can. We tell them not to buy anything. Khakis and a white shirt for boys and a plain dress for girls works just fine! 

Question: What rubrics did you use?
Over the years, I have developed rubrics for every aspect of this project. I post ALL of the rubrics on Google Classroom so that students and parents know exactly what is for a grade and what is expected for each part. Another coworker created a parent email that we share with our parent. It simply breaks down the timeline, explains costume ideas, and includes pictures. 

I have added my rubrics to Teachers Pay Teachers. They are all Google Docs so that you can edit and revise if you need to! The only rubric not included is the science portion (they made a 3d button) because that is not my rubric to share! The rubrics included are: research rubric/graphic organizer, paragraph rubric, poster/outfit rubric, and a rubric for their speech. 

Question: What other resources did you use?
Answer: I LOVE picture books, so I give my students lots of picture books to use as they research and learn about their person. You can access a list of all of the books I purchased here.