Antelope Wiki: Civil War Links

I thought I'd let everyone see the web page I created for my

Civil War Unit for my 5th graders. It has all the links the students can visit while at school, or even at home if they have Internet. I also have a few of my PowerPoints included, however, you probably won't be able to open them because they were made with SMART Board technology. I'll see if we can export them and change them to PowerPoint files. Anyway, I know a few of you have kids and they might enjoy playing games, while you know they are secretively learning ;)

Here's the link: http://antelope.wikispaces.com/Civil+War

5th Grade Anti-Slavery Unit!

I'm really starting to get excited about teaching 5th grade. You can do so MANY neat and fun things with this age. First of all, they have a better comprehension of abstract ideas. Secondly, they can express their own thoughts about controversial topics, such as "slavery".

Here is how my Social Studies unit went this week:

First, students acted out a real-life scenario with me in a common day of a slave. I crumpled up paper and stuck taped "seeds" inside of them. Next, I threw them all over the front of the room. I called on students to be my slaves and "pick my cotton", while I explained the life of a slave.For their activity, they read a chapter about Frederick Douglass (slave and abolitionist) in groups of 3, and completed a web organizer about accomplishments, beliefs, and biographical information on him.

Day Two, the students learned about the Underground Railroad and the vocabulary that slaves used. To introduce the vocabulary (conductor, station, passenger, catcher), students had to figure out the words using homophones, analogies, and word plays. They used mini whiteboards to show me their guesses, and they were super engaged and excited to figure out the words. I explained that these words were actually "code" for other things, and it didn't really mean that they would be traveling by train. To demonstrate this more in detail, they watched a short cartoon version about Harriet Tubman from Discovery Education. Finally, they wrote their own narrative about escaping on the Underground Railroad using all of these vocabulary words.

For Day 3, students prepared for a Classroom Court . They had resources to build cases FOR and AGAINST abolishing slavery (books, pages, and Antelope Wiki links). I asked them several questions that matched up with an abolitionist and a slave master. They would go to front if it was an abolitionist type question they agreed with, and to the South if it was a pro-slavery type question they agreed with. This is how they were divided into what they would be debating. I provided them with a graphic organizer to help them find the information they would need to debate.

On Day 4, we turned our classroom into the courtroom. The students divided their desks so that they made one long table on each side of the room, and providing an isle. It was so great to see students have an emotional tie, teach their classmates, and express themselves!! It was one of the best days I had this week! You would have thought you were watching Law and Order :)

Tomorrow, we will go through a PowerPoint using games to review the unit. They will take their Summative Assessment, and then we will do the culminating activity: Pickin' at Starlight! I bought a package of cotton bolls. We're going to decorate the room with white Christmas lights and play "Follow the Drinking Gourd", while we pick the seeds from the cotton.

Interviews!

Today, I went to my first screening interview. I applied for Weber District. All the interviews were on Weber State Campus at the Student Career Services. I was interviewed by a principal, and she told me that I did very well and she hopes that I plan to work for that district! Right now they cannot offer jobs until the Utah legislature make a final decision on the Education budget.

As for tomorrow, I'll be going to the Student Teaching Fair in Davis District to interview. I'm currently student teaching in the Davis District and absolutely love it. Most of my field experience has been done here as well. Wish me LuCK!