Happy Monday!
Thank you to all who responded to my inquiry. Here is my original post and
the responses.
Thank you again,
Carla
Post:
I am looking for lessons to with grades 5-8 that don't include computers.
I have 50 minute classes with each grade weekly. Since I have been putting
off technology related lessons as it is, I feel like I have exhausted many
of the book lessons. Not to mentions we are a small school and don't have a
big book or reference collection. I was sort of relying on the whole
computer thing. Bluck!!! Bluck!!! Bluck!!!! Any ideas or suggestions would
be much appreciated.
Responses:
Even with GPS available, my 5th graders enjoyed a unit on road maps. You
might be able to get some from All-State or a local gas station. They
worked in groups to do a scavenger hunt after lessons on the legend,
location keys, etc.
I also have done lessons on the telephone book that the "Yellow Book"
supplied. They worked in pairs to plan a dream vacation using the yellow
pages. They enjoyed the activity and it took very little planning. Most
had never even used the book before and were surprized at the amount on info
in it.
Hope this helps. Please post a hit if you get some interesting responses.
We did something recently called "speed dating" for books. I piled up all
sorts of fun reading books on tables. The kids sat at tables and had 5
minutes to "get to know" one book from the pile on their table. At the end
of 5 minutes, I said "time's up!" and kids progressed to the next table. At
any point, if a book had really grabbed them, they could leave the "speed
dating" area and hang out on the bean bag chairs to read the book they had
started. I did this with an English teacher. His requirement was that they
all have a book to check out at the end of 20 minutes. It might help the
kids to be motivated if they were required by thier English teacher to have
a book. You could then have some sort of book share project at the end.
Kids could start createing a video, podcast, powerpoint etc. to share why
they chose to "go out with" this book - what was it that appealed to them.
Then they could finish their presentation with their reactions to the book
after they are done.
when I used to work as a library media specialist until budget caused the
private school to close this program, I used to use a book called library
skills for 4 to 6 graders, it had many lessons and ideas in it that I used
with my classes. It is about $25 or so. It might be still available for
sale. Look for it in most education stores. I think it will be very useful.
If I remember it bailey had any computer related topics in it but most
hands on approaches to library skills. You might find it very useful for you
and your classes.
Students still like to be read to.
Favorite 5th Poppy by Avi and Bad Beginning by snikett
Favorite 6th book Coraline
Favorite 7th book Flipped
Favorite 8th book Things not seen by Clements
With Watsons go to birmingham you can chart the trip on a classroom size map
and have students write summaries of what happens where.
I do a lesson with G is for Googol by schwartz. After reading some of the
entries (g for googol and x is for x) I'll move onto the one for binary
numbers and have them translate their own numbers from decimal to binary.
Around Memorial Day I'll read the illustrated version of Lincoln's
gettysburg address and talk about language and compare to King's I have a
dream.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for...but in the past I have done
language arts typ lessons with 7th and 8th.
I have taken interesting articles from newspaper, introduced reading
strategies, and had students use reading strategies to read and answer
questions. Also modeled writing haiku poetry based on a book or book
character. Personally, that was a favorite one of mine and I typed up
haikus and posted them in IMC. Could even do that one based on a short
story that you select to read to kids first.
Here are a few of my lessons for 5th and 6th graders:
Library Jeopardy--they love, love, love this! I let them break into two
teams and we rotate around the table with each students picking a
category. I tape papers with the catagories on my cupboards. The
whole team can help with the answer but the person who chose the category
says the answer. Attached are some samples of my categories and questions.
Team with the most correct answers wins. You can do this for as little as
15 minutes or as long as you want. I do have some daily doubles and they
can bet the points they already have.
Encyclopedia research---(if you have a set of print encyclopedias.) I go
through them and write a topic on a card for each volume. I put these cards
in a hat and students pull one out, find it, and write 6 facts. Then the
next week, they have to turn their notes into a paragraph. Something about
pulling the topic out of a hat seems to make this one work. I make the
topics a little weird like cassowary, warthog, Harry Houdini, indigo
bunting. By having only one card per volume we don't have people arguing
over books, but if you have more kids than volumes you could let them work
with a partner, but each one do their own notes and paragraph.
Note taking--if you have any magazines like KidsDiscover, I xerox an
article--we use the one on tornadoes--and again, they take notes (I show
them how to do "abbreviated" writing---then we put the notes away for a week
or two and they have to reconstruct a written paragraph using only their
notes.
Name that Book--I do have a computer version of this on my laptop but you
could do it without. I take the most commonly used reference books and we
discuss how each one is used. Then I line them up in front of the kids. I
have cards with "scenarios" on them and they pick a card from the hat
(again, something about that hat!) and have
to say which reference book they would use to find the information.
Examples are: You are on a vacation and staying in a cabin in the woods
with no internet, no phone, no TV...but the cabin is owned by a librarian
and so all these reference books are there. Every day you see a little red
fox who looks very hungry. You don't want to see it starve but you don't
want to feed it anything that would harm it. In which book could you find
the diet of a red fox?"
Or, "You've been writing a story about aliens who land on earth and do
everyone's homework for them without teachers knowing. You've used the word
"amazing" way too many times. In which book would you find another word for
"amazing?"
I also read picture books to them that are designed for older readers. Ones
like Pink and Say by Patricia Polocco, Rose Blanche by Roberto Innocenti,
Freedom Summer by Deborah Wiles. We usually have lively discussions after
that.
What about listening to audio books or having a read aloud with the
students? There are tons of books you could listen to/read aloud that have
been made into movies which you could watch and then have a compare/contrast
lesson.
Have students create reviews of a book they have read, tape the review to
folders (or poster board or construction paper) and place those around the
Library.
Ask the students to look at picture books and describe what they see, how
they would change the story, if the characters were different, etc.
How about lessons in Internet Safety, Ethical behavior, Media Literacy,
etc? I see 6th graders every other day and I've been doing units on Internet
safety and Media Literacy, all from materials I downloaded. After I finish
the unit on Internet Safety, I will divide the kids into small groups and
have them create a board game designed to teach Internet Safety. With my 8th
graders last year, I covered Ethical Behavior, including copyright. All of
the materials I used were on the web and didn't involve having students use
computers. If you're interested in any of this and want some pointers on
where to find materials, let me know.
Carla Boyington
School Media Specialist
Goshen-Lempster Cooperative School
29 School Road
Lempster, NH 03605
(603) 863.1018 FAX (603) 863.2451
cboyington@gl.k12.nh.us
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, you send a message to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET
2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL
4) SET LM_NET DIGEST
* LM_NET Help & Information: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/
* LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
* EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/join.html
* LM_NET Supporters: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/category/links/el-announce/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LM_NET
Mailing List Home