History & Civics: Reddit Gifts for the Teachers 2016

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When I received the notice that my project for, "Opinion Writing and Cross-Curricular Literature," had been fully funded, I had to do a dance for joy! I was so excited to share my love for these novels and have the kids each have their own copy to hold, read, and enjoy. My students were very interested in these new books sitting on the shelf waiting to be read.

Each novel we read together is a novel study unit. The unit begins with a focus question that students think about prior to reading, during reading, and after reading. With The One and Only Ivan novel, our question was: "Should animals be held in captivity such as circuses and zoos?" This question made the students automatically think of the characters in the book- a gorilla and two elephants in a roadside mall circus. This question also made a good fit for our opinion unit in writing.

For the reading of the novel, our class does book clubs. Have you seen and heard of book clubs for adults? This is essentially the same idea- groups of students gathering to discuss the book they are all reading. They share their thoughts, what they liked/disliked, questions and feelings about characters, predictions, and more. Book clubs meet to discuss on Wednesdays and Fridays. When not meeting with their group, students would read independently, take notes on post-its (Aha! moments, character or scene analysis, predictions) and work on their comprehension assignment for the week (based on what they are reading). Fridays would be my day to rotate to each group and listen in on their discussions. Here, I could ask my own questions, discuss important scenes, and just get to hear my students converse academically about the novel.

It would be an understatement to say that my students loved The One and Only Ivan. Each morning, they would come in excitedly telling me what part of the book they got to the night before. Or, they would comment to me about a sad part in the book and ask me if the ending would be a happy one. Many of my reluctant readers especially enjoyed this book, and ended the novel with a feeling of success because they had actually finished "a big chapter book." My English language learners appreciated being able to listen to an audio copy of the book. We had a wonderful lesson on inferring character traits with this novel. It was engaging to analyze the character of Ivan the silverback gorilla, as the story is told through his eyes. We also got into a great debate on whether animals should be held in captivity! For the end of the novel, we had a book celebration. Students rotated through stations- a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) challenge to build a wooden animal crate similar to the one Ivan was transported in from the Congo to the circus, a non-fiction paired text about real life zoo animals painting pictures to be sold at the zoo gift shop, a character compare and contrast, and a directed drawing art lesson on gorillas.

The students in room 8 and I cannot be more excited to start the next novel, Number the Stars. Since we are focusing on the trait of "courage" this month and being an "upstander" and not a bystander, we will begin this novel study with the question, "What is courage?" This novel will take my students on a journey back in time to the German occupation of Denmark during WWII. A young girl will have to show courage to save the life of her best friend and her family. The amazing thing about these novels is how many subject boundaries we've crossed just by reading! Thank you for helping me achieve my goals of reading cross-curricular literature with my students and helping to create lifelong readers!”

With gratitude,

Teacher

Thank you so much for donating to my classroom. Scholastic News allows my students to learn about current events in the world around them. This is one way I can be sure to fit in social studies and science that relates to things students are hearing about in the news. This year Scholastic News really gave students a chance to discuss the election and the duties of our government leaders. Thank you again for giving my students the gift of social studies and science that is meaningful to them and helps them connect to the world around them!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Jones

My students loved learning about the president in their Scholastic Magazine on the 2016 election. They learned about the responsibilities of the president, facts about the White House and even information about the pets certain presidents had while they were president. The students made their own voter registration cards, which they had to present when they voted. We had our own election in the classroom and tallied up the votes, predicting who we thought the next president would be. It was very hands on! Many of the students went with their parents to vote in the actual election. They took their voter registration cards with them when going in the voting booths with their parents. It was a very exciting event for them!

The social studies books that we received were also a big hit with my students. They loved reading about Air Force One, Mount Rushmore and the symbols of the United States, in particular. I had the books in a bin and students could take a "whisper phone," either reading the books to themselves, or with a partner, in comfy bean bag chairs scattered around the classroom. They then discussed what they read and made many personal connections to the books, since some students have visited Washington, DC or have visited some of the symbols of our country. Other students expressed their interest in going to these places in the future, especially the Statue of Liberty.

As a result of your donation, my students have expanded their love of non-fiction books. They have an interest in their world and are more knowledgeable about their own government. Their vocabulary expanded greatly. Using these materials allowed my students to make more of a connection to the role of president. Quite a few students now want to be president one day and I'm sure they will.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Mullins-Sheard

Thank you for supporting my classroom through their technological journey. My goal for this project was to provide my students the opportunity to document and connect their learning in and out of the classroom. As many of my students are visual and hands-on learners, photographs and videos are strengths to help them reflect on their learning. From this documentation, they have stronger reflections about their learning to foster their writing development as well.

So far, students have been exploring around campus with their Ricoh Theta S cameras. They made connections to the rock and water cycle within their school community. They found visible evidence and also questioned about how both cycles help and destroy our world.

Through the iTouches and Google Cardboard, students enjoyed exploring the world around them through virtual reality (VR). Together, they brainstormed ways they would like to use VR in the classroom (i.e., traveling the world, going underwater to observe animals). Their favorite part about using VR was how they were able to view their photographs and videos from the Ricoh Theta S in the Google Cardboard They were so excited that they even shared it with the counselor! They hope to share their work with others in the school community to display their learning.

My heart is filled with so much joy as I watch this class collaborate together as they develop a more global awareness about the world. Thank you for giving them the opportunity to document their learning through advanced technology.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Ikei

Thank you so much for choosing to help my scholars gain access to these special Sunshine State books.

Each day I try to motivate my scholars to love reading. I am always looking for new ways to light that fire in my scholars. The Sunshine State Book have been a great motivator! My students have heard about the Sunshine State Books for the older grades and were so surprised when they found out about the Sunshine State Junior list. They couldn't wait to get their hands on the new books.

My scholars are using these books to read with partners, practice fluency and gaining new vocabulary. The best part is, they find the reading fun, so they don't even realize they're working.

The Sunshine State Junior reading program has motivated even my struggling readers. So far this year we have read almost 1,000 books! Thank you so much for choosing my scholars!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Flynn