1 Big Speech Can Change 1 Big World

“1 big speech can change 1 big world.”  Kaylee, age 8

One of my students wrote this statement yesterday. It was written in response to an assignment to write a sentence using adjectives. This is the skill we focused on with our Mentor Sentences this week. Kaylee synthesized what we had been talking about with adjectives and  our week long references to Dr. King into a very spectacular thought.

Since Monday is both MLK day and Inauguration Day, speeches are indeed an appropriate topic for the day. Here vocabulary is chosen carefully, strongly, and for impact. Consider Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, Churchill’s “We will fight them on the beaches”, Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you” and “We choose to go to the moon” speeches as speeches that brought dramatic change to our world. Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech has become a part of our country’s vocabulary.

Maybe Monday will bring a memorable speech. We can hope that words can be spoken to improve our country and our world. Mr. Obama brings hope for many in a way similar to Dr. King. It would be of amazing benefit if he could find words of healing and of progress. Here is an opportunity, at least, to compare these two  men who have changed our world.

King Obama Venn

I haven’t shared a Word of the Day card since December. Here is a new one for inauguration.

Word of the Day inauguration

And here is the Word of the Day card from my National Holidays set for Dr. King’s birthday.

Martin Luther King Day

This is a companion card that explains the words “civil rights”.

Word of the Day Civil Rights

You can see all of the holiday cards and important definitions cards here.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/National-Holidays-Word-Cards-with-Word-of-the-Day-Cards-Set-7-Combo

I will be listening Monday!

Ann

Saturday Extra: Freebie Edition

Expecting something for nothing is the most popular form of  hope. Arnold  H. Glasow

I want to invite all of my readers to find all of my freebies on TpT. I have talked about several of them on this blog, but many others are available.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Flying-Higher-with-Bloom

This product creates a 3 and 1/2 chart that shows the levels of Bloom’s questions. I have one in my room. I move the hot air balloon at times to talk about why some questions are better questions than others. Great student discussion requires higher thinking!

I also have a product for “Diving Deeper with Bloom”. It has the same format, except that a cute scuba diver goes deeper into thinking about ideas. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dive-Deeper-with-Bloom This product costs $1.00.

Our school uses The Comprehension Toolkit to help build comprehension skills and to  provide the students with tools for understanding what they are reading. The third – fifth grade set of the Toolkit has 6 books. I have created posters to go along with each book. Since I only synthesized the authors ideas, and didn’t really add any of my own, all of these materials are free. There are 30 posters in all.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Track-Your-Thinking-Comprehension-Toolkit-Posters

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Follow-the-Signposts-Comprehension-Toolkit-Posters

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ask-Questions-Posters-to-Use-with-The-Comprehension-Toolkit-Book-3

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Infer-Meaning-Posters-for-Comprehension-Toolkit-Book-4

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Determine-ImportancePosters-to-use-with-the-Comprehension-Toolkit-Book-5

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summarize-and-Synthesize-Posters-to-use-with-The-Comprehension-Toolkit-Box-6

Another freebie, that you have already seen, are my patriotic bookmarks. This set includes bookmarks for the Pledge of Allegience, the Star-Spangled Banner, the Preamble, and the Declaration of Independence.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Patriotic-Bookmarks

Here is a weather related freebie. This is great for adding a writing component to your unit on weather.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Be-a-Meteorologist-Writing-Freebie

My List, Label, Group graphic organizer can be used with any concept. It is a great extension to the “K” part of a KWL. Great for using conversation as a learning tool to build vocabulary.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/List-Group-Label-Graphic-Organizer

If you have visited my blog before you have seen many of my word of the day cards. This freebie is a package of some of the most popular ones I have posted. Many packages of word of the day cards and other vocabulary cards are available at my store.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vocabulary-DevelopmentWord-of-the-Day-Trial-Pack

My favorite freebie of all time is my context clues lesson, Diamonds or Coals. I recently added to this freebie to make it even better.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Diamonds-or-Coal-A-Context-Clues-Lesson

Finally, my newest freebie is for Halloween. It has two compound word activities.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-Compound-Words

I hope this is helpful and that you were able to easily download any or all of the activities that would be of interest to you. I think next Saturday I will scour my blog for all of the freebies I have only posted here for another roundup!

See you Monday with the Word of the Day!

Election vocabulary

“In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.”
―    William Penn

As we are gearing up for elections, I thought I would give you at look at part of my election unit. It is for sale on TPT and TN for $5.00.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Social-Studies-Vocabulary-Elections-Teaching-Unit

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/devotedtovocabulary/social-studies-vocabulary-elections-teaching-unit

One way to build vocabulary is through conversation. Have students complete a KWL chart to kick off your lessons, then have them talk as partners, teams, or whole group about each section.

Another activity that could be used as a formative assessment after some vocabulary has been presented would be a tree map. You would want students to use the new vocabulary and to be able to add ideas to the right sections. Again conversation will help students retain what they are learning.

After vocabulary is introduced and practiced, it is always fun to play games to reinforce and review. I have several games and a gameboard in this unit. Here is a fun Vocabualry Spinner to help build vocabulary understanding.

I am excited to begin using my election vocabulary unit in my classroom in the next couple weeks. What activities do you have planned for elections?

Ann

Autumn word of the day

haystack