The One With a Preview of Our Future!

This week we started a new unit in information writing…colleges and universities! I can honestly say I’ve never seen my students more excited about learning! SO many students are wanting to stay in at recess to research more about their university! How great is that?! I’ve had parents come up to me and say, “I hear ________ is planning on going to the University of Wyoming!” Here’s how we started our researching and built the excitement!

  

This is just a preview since we are only in the research phase:

First we thought aloud about what a college and university is. After a few partner and group shares we were able to create good background knowledge on what college is. Since many of my students haven’t thought that far ahead and many will be the first in their family to go to a university we did a preview of about 45 colleges and universities. 

I wanted everyone in the class to be able to identify and feel truly interested in a few different schools. Here were our categories, each had 4-7 universities. 

 

Colorado Schools - Where we are! Each school represented is being researched in our class!

Iowa Schools - Where Ms. Buikema is from! Each school in this category is being researched and MANY wanted UNI! *proud alum*

Near Colorado – Many students picked schools nearby in Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

California – So many of my students take trips to California so it was no surprise that all the schools in this category were picked.

High in Academics – We have a few students researching Yale, Princeton, and MIT!

Related to the Military – This was a category that was quickly scooped up and I had to rush to google and find more schools. I thought about having them choose from the other 20 schools still on the table but I really wanted them to love and be interested in their school.

Football/Basketball Schools – Some big name schools in the country, sports aren’t everything but it’s a first step in getting certain kids interested. Two boys in this category have been in every recess learning more about Duke and Baylor! My evil genius plan worked.

After we received our schools, students also received their new portfolio for this unit. For some reason manila file folders help students feel more like “writers” it also is a better organizational piece for me! Everyone’s folder is kept in a hanging file folder based on their table color. They can pull it outside of writing time independently. Independence + Organization = My Happy Place. 

 

 

The first two days of researching we were all in the computer lab. Before going into the lab I showed an example of a school website and how to navigate. WOW! I have a bone to pick with some school website creators. So many were pretty ridiculous to navigate. BUT the overall objective of learning bits and pieces and getting excited about our schools was still achieved. 

Our last two days of researching students were in the classroom. I printed (in the most tree friendly way) everyone a few pages from their university’s Wikipedia page. I know, I know…Wikipedia. It’s better than it used to be and, to be honest, has more valuable information than some school websites. 

In addition to our printouts students who were researching diligently were able to use the iPads or computers in our class to find information online. As a class I think the interactive maps/campus tours are our favorite! 

Looking Ahead:

A project that I will share another day that coincides with our research is the “Cardboard Challenge.” It’s a STEAM project where students create something out of cardboard and then have a chance to present at a district wide fair. As a class we are participating and choosing one prominent building, statue, or symbol on our college campus to create! Students have started to pick their buildings and do more research on the look and importance of their building.

The One With a Tour!

In honor of the state testing that will soon force me to cover everything in my classroom I figured I would do a classroom tour! A few people who read my blog have seen my class but many haven’t so I thought I’d give an inside look! 

If interior classroom design was a job I would seriously consider a slight career change but since it’s not I like to waste spend valuable time on Pinterest looking at classroom layouts and design. The summer before my first class I spent countless hours looking at classrooms and preparing my own. It really was a time saver when I walked in and had most things ready and laminated. I would guess about 10% of what I made before wasn’t used but it was so much better than having to create the other 90% in the few days I had to make an empty room a class! I've never wanted to add up the exact amount of hours or dollars...some things are better left unknown! 

Take a look! 

First when you walk in to the left is a small closet and cabinet area. My desk is also right near by. This year my desk area looks a little less dungeon-like but I don't have pictures from last year to prove it. Take my word! :) 

 

The other side of the door is our "Ticket Out the Door" usually just a quick post it question thought of on the fly if I want to double check who gets it. They use their class number for the tickets. Sometimes I don't even check names, I just want to know about how many people understand the concept. 

I also have things listed early finisher options for students. They are on velcro and can be changed out but usually stay the same since they are meaningful enough to last the whole year. Then I also don't have to teach new early finishers! 

The next few pictures are of our breakfast/math seat work/science materials area and the different places I keep organized! Fairly boring to be honest! 

 The last area of the front cabinets is our iPad storage. We are extremely lucky to have 6 iPads in our classroom thanks to generous friends and family supporting my DonorsChoose campaign! There the iPad rules are posted and students use the charging stations independently.

 The back left corner of the room is my class library! It's pretty self explanatory but one of my favorite places in my room. It definitely took the most work overall to create a complete library but it's so worth it! 

Next to our library is our small group table! Used daily for reading groups and interactive notebooks in math. It's also used for writing and science at times.  

 

Near our small group table is our Daily 5 bookshelf with our book boxes and our work on writing cart. We also have a bulletin board that was up the first half of the year as a reminder of how to do Daily 5 correctly. Each student has their book box with 3 books and a folder for other Daily 5 papers.

On that same side of the room is our computers, a few more cabinets (lucky me!!) and manipulative storage. Mostly for math!

 













All of my cabinets and files are labeled so students can grab it themselves if need be during math centers! 

Here's a look at some of the anchor charts we created at the beginning of the year...most are still up or just recently came down. It took us a long time We're still trying to figure out how to work together.

To the left the color posters are transition words. The popcorn has a 'boring' word on the bag and words that POP in the pieces of popcorn.

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Well there you have it! Quite an inside look at my room...maybe too detailed! Hope you enjoyed the room tour. As I've said before, I LOVE looking at other classrooms so share your rooms as well!