Life in Ancient Mesopotamia

 

Ancient Civilizations have long been my favourite units to teach.  I remember loving them when our teacher taught us about them in Middle School, they were some of my favourite courses I took in university, and I still love teaching them today.  Mesopotamia is always a fun one to teach, simply because a lot of it is still really new to the kids; a lot of them have background information about Egypt, Greece, and Rome, but very little about Mesopotamia.  I feel like I am working with a blank slate when it comes to teaching about this period of history.  

For a good introduction, and to build excitement about the unit to come, I feel you can never go wrong with Crash Course World History.  This is a great one of their videos about Mesopotamia.

I always like doing a map with the kids at the start of a unit.  It's a great opportunity to work in some geography skills, and is a good way to ensure the kids know the area we are actually talking about.  I am always alarmed with how few of them are able to use an atlas and label areas on a map - definitely an area we need practice on.  

We spend a lot of our unit talking about farming, as the fertile crescent really is Mesopotamia in a nutshell.  Vocabulary is usually where we start.  I really love this vocabulary foldable, as it allows the kids to flip and quiz each other on the words.

Reading about the farming of the fertile crescent is our next step.  I am not a fan of our current textbooks, as it feels like they were written during the dark ages and are totally not engaging for the kiddos.  I use these reading passages instead.  They have questions and annotation activities to go with them, which is helpful.  

After reading, we make a fun foldable about the facts the kids find most important.  We share our answers at the end - it is interesting to see what different facts stuck with each kid.  

If you are looking for these and other fun activities to do with your own class, be sure to check out some of my Mesopotamia Unit resources below!

The Barnabus Project

 

Have you had a chance to read this one yet?  It could very well be my new favourite read aloud!  I have really enjoyed books by the Fan Brothers in the past (Scarecrow is really beautiful!), but this one is definitely my favourite.

From Amazon:

"Deep underground beneath Perfect Pets, where children can buy genetically engineered "perfect" creatures, there is a secret lab. Barnabus and his friends live in this lab, but none of them is perfect. They are all Failed Projects. Barnabus has never been outside his tiny bell jar, yet he dreams of one day seeing the world above ground that his pal Pip the cockroach has told him about: a world with green hills and trees, and buildings that reach all the way to the sky, lit with their own stars. But Barnabus may have to reach the outside world sooner than he thought, because the Green Rubber Suits are about to recycle all Failed Projects . . . and Barnabus doesn't want to be made into a fluffier pet with bigger eyes. He just wants to be himself. So he decides it's time for he and the others to escape. With his little trunk and a lot of cooperation and courage, Barnabus sets out to find freedom -- and a place where he and his friends can finally be accepted for who they are."

The story has a great message about working together to achieve the impossible, and loving yourself for who you truly are.  The illustrations are really beautiful as well.  And honestly, how can you really going wrong when the main character is a mouse/elephant hybrid who loves peanuts and cheese?!  

When I saw it at the bookstore I knew I had absolutely had to have it for my classroom, and immediately started thinking of ways to incorporate it into our learning.

We have been working really hard on our reading strategies lately - visualizing, determining importance, big idea (author's message), and summarizing.  I decided to put together an activity that combined it all.  We worked on completing this template over several days - I re-read the story to the class each time we worked on it.  

After, we focused in on Author's Message a little more deeply, starting with a read aloud from the Fan Brothers themselves!

After watching, we talked more about the Big Idea of the story and made a foldable to show our understanding.

To wrap up the unit, we did some creative writing about the story.  The kids were really drawn into the pictures and names of all the "Failed Projects", so we decided to create and describe our own "Perfectly Imperfect Pets".  I really loved seeing all of their creative ideas.

Interested in trying these activities out in your own classroom?  Click on the photo below to see the resources at my TPT store.

Animal Adaptations: Blubber

 

During our Animal Adaptations unit, we completed another fun hands on investigation activity where we learned all about blubber, and the ways it helps animals to survive in icy water.  As always, we started with our guiding question, and made some predictions as a class.

After some discussion, I gave each student an information gathering page, and had them take turns plunging their hands into a tub of ice water.

As a class, we talked about how the icy water felt.  Was it warm or cold (freezing!)?  How long do you think you could keep your body in there (not long!)?  Students recorded their thoughts on their information gathering page.

Afterwards, I had students try on my "blubber glove", and stick their hands back in the water.  Basically, the blubber glove is a large ziplock bag full of crisco shortening.  The kids loved it!

It didn't take long for the kids to realize how much warmer their hands felt in the water while wearing the "blubber glove".  We recorded our discoveries on our information gathering sheets.

Later, we looked at some images of different animals with blubber - whales, penguins, walruses, and polar bears.  

To cement our learning, we recorded our reflections and new learning on our reflection sheets.  Students wrote their thoughts down all over the page in different coloured markers.

This was a super fun way to teach students about this animal adaptation.  I think I had just as much fun as the kids did - seeing their expressions when plunging their hands into the icy water was priceless!

If you are looking to try this activity yourself, click on one of the images below!

If you are looking for a complete unit on Animal Adaptations, click on one of the images below!

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All About... Animal Adaptations: Bird Beak Lab

Our Animal Adaptations science unit is one of my very favourite units to teach.  I find that this age group connects really well with the animals, and engagement is universally high.  

Today we focused on bird beaks, and how this adaptation helps animals to survive.

I will admit, this lab took a bit of set up and pre-planning, but it was well worth it. The kids had a lot of fun with it, and I really like to embrace any opportunity I can for hands on investigation.

For supplies, I made a quick trip to the local dollar store and picked up some different tools to use as bird beaks.  I tried to grab a wide variety, so groups would have a lot to pick from.

You can see some of the tools I picked up in the image above - tooth picks, tongs, small rubber pot holders, turkey basters, staple removers, tweezers, and spoons.  The rubber pot holders were a great find - they made for great duck bills!

Next, I filled 6 tubs with a mixture of dried lentils, oats, and rice.  I used this to represent dirt.  I am sure that you could use actual dirt, but this seemed less messy somehow.  I placed a plastic table cloth on each group table, and placed the tub on top.

The blue things in the mix are actually some colored dried chickpeas that I had kicking around.  I threw them into our "dirt" mixture, just for fun.  

I passed the data collection sheet out to student groups, explained the instructions, and let them get to it!  Using different "beaks", students had to see how many "food" items they could pick up in 30 seconds.  Each round, I mixed different "food" items into their dirt - worms (string), beetles (raisons), etc.

Afterwards, we discussed and reflected on the activity.  We brainstormed the things we noticed and wondered about bird beaks on the board, and talked about the ways different bird beaks help them to survive.  This was an important step, as it helped the kids really cement their understandings and make the connections from the lab activities to birds in the wild.  Students wrote their findings in coloured pens on their handout.

Later, student groups did some "bird beak matching" using matching cards.  The cards had images of the different bird beaks, what they are good for, and information about the birds who possess them.  They really liked this activity, and it was a great way to review the days learning.

If you are looking for the resources I used for this lab, you can grab them by clicking on one of  the images below.

If you are looking for an entire unit on Animal Adaptations, with notes, foldables, and activities, click on one of the images below!

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Growth Mindset in the Classroom

Unless you have been hiding away in a hole in the ground, I am sure you have heard the concept of Growth Mindset pop up recently.  It seems to be a buzz word in education lately, and with good reason - studies have shown that students who have this mindset accept and learn from failure and put forth maximum effort; having a Growth Mindset can have a tremendous impact on achievement and success.

The guru of Growth Mindset, Carol S. Dweck, is an author, speaker, and psychology professor at Stanford University.  Through her studies, she has determined that people can have one of two mindsets - fixed or growth.  People who have a Fixed Mindset see themselves as having a fixed intelligence; they believe they were born with the skills they have, and no amount of effort or practice will change them.  This is where you hear people say things like "I am terrible at spelling", "I suck at basketball", or "I don't have the math gene".  People with this type of mindset truly believe they are pre-programmed for a certain level of success.

People with a Growth Mindset, however, believe that their intelligence is something they have control over; they believe their intelligence can grow and change through hard work, effort, and determination.  They may struggle with math, but they know that if they practice and put in the effort, they will eventually figure it out.

These developments mean big things for education.  Scientists have found that changing a student's mindset can actually change their brains; this change in attitude changes the connections in their brains in ways that allow for improved learning.  

As educators, we can obviously see the need to instill a Growth Mindset in our students.  Real learning takes place in our classrooms when kids challenge themselves to break through barriers, learn from their mistakes, and find success in accomplishing difficult tasks.  

Setting high expectations for the students in our classrooms in a big part of this.  Through our words and actions, we need to show all students that they can achieve greatness - not just those who are considered average or above average.  Those who struggle, or who may not have the support at home, need us even more.  

We also need to work at getting kids out of their comfort zones.  We need to put students in situations where they can learn to adapt to new situations and take risks.  They need to learn that failure is part of the learning process, and that it is not all about getting the right answer.  By embracing the struggle, kids learn to power through their mistakes, learn from them, and achieve real learning.

I find all of the research around Growth Mindset intriguing, and have spent a large part of my summer looking for ways to incorporate it into my classroom (and into the minds of my own kids!).  For more information and professional reading, I strongly suggest you check out the books below.

To introduce the idea of Growth Mindset in my classroom, I plan to start the school year by creating an Interactive Notebook on the topic.  We can then add to the notebook as the year progresses, and reflect back on it when necessary.  I really like the idea of starting the school year with this - I think it will help to establish my expectations, and give us a strong reference point for the year.

For this activity, I had students brainstorm some Fixed Mindset phrases on one side of the paper, and then state the same things on the other side of the paper in a Growth Mindset way.  I love the way this one turned out - great statements, and the effort put into the presentation of the activity really reflects a Growth Mindset!  

If you are interested in some ready to use resources on Growth Mindset that you can use in your own classroom, check out my Growth Mindset Interactive Notebook below.  You can pick it up in my Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking here, or on any of the images below.

What are some of the ways you use Growth Mindset in the classroom?  Let me know in the comments!

Blog Book Study - Reading in the Wild

Welcome to my first ever Blog Book Study!  I just finished reading Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild and I can't wait to share my thoughts!

I fully admit that I am a bit behind in my professional reading.  Reading in the Wild was given to me by a good teacher friend quite a while ago, and I just now got around to reading it.  Once I picked it up, however, I found it hard to put down.  I agree so much with a lot of what Miller talks about in the book about providing kids with independent reading time - in fact, I just recently wrote an entire blog post on this topic, which you can check out here if you like :).  Even though I am already doing many of her suggestions, there were still so many ideas that I want to incorporate into my classroom.

First of all, what is a "Wild Reader"?  According to Miller, these individuals "incorporate reading into their personal identity to the degree that it weaves into their lives along with everything else that interests them".  When I think back to my childhood, I can say that I have pretty much always been this type of reader. Book stores and libraries have always been some of my very favorite places.  I really love this definition, and really want to work on creating these types of readers in my classroom.

Throughout her book, Miller talks about the need to carve out reading time for our students.

"Imagine schools where band, choir, debate, and athletics participants were not given practice time during the school day, and yet were still expected to perform.  If we expect students to perform as readers, they need time to practice reading at school too".

This quote really resonated with me.  I believe this is so, so, so important.  I start each of my Humanities classes with 15 minutes of silent reading each day, and truly enjoy the opportunity to sit around with the kiddos and talk about books.  We really need to work to build a reading community in our classrooms, where kids (and adults!) share books they are reading, make recommendations to each other, and simply read for readings sake.

I do understand that some teachers have difficulty fitting independent reading time into their schedules, and because of this I really liked what Miller had to say about carving out small chunks of reading time.  Instead of always picking up their phones when they have a spare minute, we need to teach kids to reach for a book.  There is always time to sneak in a few minutes of reading throughout the day - waiting in line at recess, sitting in the doctors office, etc.  I know I am horribly guilty of this, and am going to work on practicing what I preach by making sure I always have a book in my bag.  I am also going to make more of an effort in the future to have my students keep their silent reading books on their desks throughout the school day, so they can pick up them up and read when they are done their work.  Even if it is only for a few minutes, the time adds up!  Research has shown time and time again the correlation between time spent reading and academic achievement, and the more reading time we can get them to sneak into their days the better.

I really liked what Miller had to say about classroom libraries, and how student access brought with it increased motivation and reading achievement.  My classroom library is very special to me, as I have spent my career developing it into something great.  Over the years, I have managed to pick up about 40 different sets of 5 books each - this gives me a great variety of titles to share with my students!  In order to do this, I have had to be quite creative.

One way I have added to my class books sets over the years is by searching through used books stores.  I have a small collection hidden behind my whiteboard of half completed novel sets; whenever I go to the used book store (we have such a great one in town!), I keep an eye out for particular titles, and slowly add to my sets as I find them.  Overtime, I am able to complete my sets, and add them to my class book shelf.  I will admit that I am quite picky about the books I purchase used though - I like my books to look fresh and new when the kids pick them up, so I only will buy the ones in excellent condition!

A few years ago, I also wrote up a proposal to our administration, requesting book sets for my department.  I discussed how we wanted to try some new strategies with literature circles and small group instruction, and requested several book sets at different reading levels.  Thankfully, our proposal was approved, and we were able to pick out and purchase a bunch of new titles to add to our collection.  It was really great to be able to pick the books ourselves, as we were able to pick some tried and true classics as well as some new and exciting titles.  I like to make sure I have some obscure (but still great!) titles as well, to make sure my avid readers haven't read everything on the shelf (this actually happened once - a truly amazing kid!)

Even though my classroom library is pretty well stocked, I am still constantly adding to it.  Whenever we have money left in our budget at the end of the year, it always goes to purchasing (and replacing) classroom book sets.  It has been a time consuming process, but has been well worth the effort.  I truly love having access to these books in my classroom, and I think they really help give students the opportunity to have engaging and meaningful reading experiences throughout the school year.

Reading in the Wild also talk about the importance of allowing students opportunities to self select reading material.  Kids can become so dependent on us when it comes to reading choices, and they need opportunities to discover new and great titles, authors, and genres on their own.  This is another reason why I love my classroom library.  There is a wide variety of titles for students to choose from, so they have ample opportunities for self selection.  I have made sure to stock it with genres that my students sometimes avoid at the library, like poetry and non-fiction, so I can be sure they are accessing a wide variety of reading materials.  Also, as I have read all of the titles myself, I am able to have authentic talks with the kids about the books they are reading; I think this is important, as it helps to show the kids that reading isn't just something I assign them, but something I am knowledgeable about and passionately do myself.

In the end, the main thing I took away from this book was how important it is for us, as teachers, to really focus on true and thorough instruction in reading skills and text analysis.  While doing this, we need to remember to be mindful of not just teaching kids to read, but instead teaching kids to truly love reading.  Instead of reading logs and book reports, we need to provide our students with the time to read and a variety of texts, to snuggle up with a good book and simply enjoy the process.  Through this they will truly become "wild readers".