Library+Plans++3rd+Grade


 * Short Helen Keller Lesson -**

A story in the reader about Helen Keller sparked this interaction. If you click on the immage you will go to a great short interview with Annie and Helen. There is a Kids Museum for Helen [] It is great to have some braille magazines to pass around -- and let kids use a braille styllus for them to make a braille alphavet (just use old folders for paper!)

//**Rocks in his head**// -- to springboard into geologists and mineralogists and what they do.
 * Rocks** //**Everybody Needs a Rock**// -- by Byrd Baylor....about picking a rock for yourself. Take a walk and choose a rock then see if we can identify it.

Why do we study rocks? The Rock Cycle http://www.westmeade.net/Library/RockScavenger_hunt.htm I used the scavenger hunt in the past to help kids identify the answer to a question by skimming for content. Paraphrasing content. Bring in Rock hound expert...? http://www.rockhound.org/ Middle Tennessee Rock Hounds

[|FolkTales.kid] [|FolkTalesPrint.kid] http://westmeade.net/FairytaleWebquest.html [|Is it a Fairytale,][|Fable,] [|Myth,] [|Legend], [|Tall Tale]worksheet
 * Folk Tales**

Check - up to see what they actually learned [|Folktales Worksheet.doc]

4 session unit of 45 minutes each to develop an understanding and APPRECIATION for Folktales. Long-term project fits into the overall concept of the Big 3. Explain that today wWe begin to PLAN for our study of Folktales as see how much we already know about Folktales. We take our first steps into the world of imagination!

1. They are stories that come out of common ordinary people and have no known author. 2. They are passed down from generation to generation 3. They can involve talking animals, castles, kings, and a host of other imaginary things. //Do the worst first –// Define Folktale -- Have children name stories they already know that are folktales and list them on the screen. Discuss ways they fit into the definition Use Kidspiration to web out from Folktale center to the other Kinds of Folktales to prepare students for what is to come…Each week we will consider one of the types (genres) of folktales.   **KIDSPIRATION** (completed version )
 * Session 1 -- Overview What is a Folktale and What is a Fairytale**
 * Goal: **Children will be able to give the two major characteristics of a folk tale. They will also recognize and be able to describe the attributes of the fairy tale.

I use this version at the beginning and the empty printed version each week –where students write their notes from week to week until we complete the web.   **Re-Tell Your favorite Fairytale**   Have students use **the Is it a Fairytale note taking sheet** where they record the title of the story I have just told, and place their X under the characteristics they found in the tale. (There is always a little confusion at this point – because you’ve introduced Folktales – this is where their graphic organizer is helpful… I often use an example like FRUIT and they name many kinds of fruitcomparing Folktale to Fruit and fairytale to a kind of fruit. That usually clears up the confusion.)   Use the webpage (so they can go there on their own later or with their parents) to watch Faithful John - which is under the fairytale section in the webquest… They use the Is It a Fairytale sheet to identify the characteristics of Faithful John as a fairytale. On each table have stack of fairytales (checked out as a class set to be taken with students as they return to class) at various reading levels (Including the Hillert for some of the kids who have poor reading skills) Students will use the sheet Let students check out a fairytale at their AR level and have them return next week with it recorded as to which characteristics it has recorded on their sheet.
 * Rumplestilkskin is one that I use….but if you don’t tell you could read your favorite version of any number of tales.**

Session 3 - Overview What is a Folktale(review) Review Fairytales and Fables Introduce What is a Tall Tale Session 4 - Overivew and review Folktale, Fairytale, Fable, Tall Tale, and Introduce Myth & Legend Session 5 - Test and check to see if kids maintained information....**
 * Session 2 -- Overview What is a Folktale (review), Fairytale, and What is a Fable

Bees
[|A Bee Cool of BEES.ppt] I used this to help kid find the answer in the slide to the question posed. http://www.westmeade.net/Library/Bees.html Students generated questions...they could read to find the answer here. Again this was designed to help kids pose, seek & find and answer questions. It inclueded this cool piece about the life of honeybees including these fabulous close up shots. These are also great opportunities to practice paraphrasing.
 * Note that the reading level is indicated** and this was related to knowing the reading level of students.

http://www.tnbeekeepers.org/locals.htm for a taste of real honey and beekeeping expertise. This was a result of Ms. Kauffman's

Landforms
Cindy did a great PowerPoint last year --- and then there was this (don't know if you used it or not kidspiration ) [|Landforms[1.kid]]

**Clouds**
http://www.westmeade.net/Library/CloudsScavengerHunt.htm I used this format to encourage student ability to handle computer use – but the main thing I used this for was reading for factual information and then using the information to answer questions. We could use this as the example and have kids work as teams to find the information they need to answer the questions.

Countries
Here are the notes I took last year --- on Monday Morning --- hence the name. [|MONDAY MORNING.doc] I especially liked the kids questions and if we choose to do this -- could we just integrate their questions with yours? Maybe bold those that you think are most important to answer... [|Questions about our Countries.doc] I used this as an opportunity to help them think of all the places they might find information -- This when completed gave them good sources for information. [|3rd Grade Country QUESTIONMy Country.kid]

I liked working with them in small groups.

I have a contact at Verderbilt at the International Students Union who will send out a request for students to volunteer to visit our school -- but depending on who responds we would need to put those countries on the list. isss@vanderbilt.edu

Would you like to invite the whole school on the night you do this --- and have the PTO organize parents to have an international tasting/activity fair? This would be a lot of planning on my part with Erin if she said yes.

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Plants & Pollinators
Great Plant Escape Website -- http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/ Arbor Day? Comic Creator from NCTE http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/comic/ Tour the recycle center - have a guest from urban gardens help us garden at school--

** Worm Bin Loaner Program: -- Herman the worm's site http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/ --- **

 * WHAT: Davidson County public and private schools may apply for a loaner worm bin to use in the classroom. The worm bin comes with instructions, a care chart so you know what to do and when to do it, a book about worms for your students to read, and a little red wagon to conveniently and attractively store and transport the worm bin.
 * HOW: Worm bins are easy to maintain: just add moist shredded newspaper; a banana peel, apple core and coffee grounds, and watch the worms eat the garbage!
 * WHY: Students will have a first hand view of decomposers at work and will learn about this natural form of waste disposal. Students have the opportunity to take the worm bin to other classes and make presentations about the worms - an innovative way to motivate students to practice public speaking skills. [|Read how schools are using the loaner worm bins.]