Open House 2015

Here we are, the fourth annual Open House post!  This is when I show off all of the hard work that my students have done the past few months with a plethora of pictures.  There are a lot of pictures below.  I have written a bit of text so you have some idea of what is going on, but if you click on the pink links, it will take you to a more indepth explanation of the project.  So, without further ado, here is Room 6!

This is a full view of the right side of my room.  You can see the cabinets and student desks.
A view from the left side of the room. 
You can see several things here in this picture.  The Colony Balloons are hanging from the ceiling.  Our Walking the Colonies map is painted on the cupboard (on butcher paper) and the Paul Revere lesson is on the far left.  You can also see our letters to the First Lady about the Walking Classroom on the right.

Above the cabinets, you can see student writing (we used a Paragraph of the Week, informational style, and the kids wrote about one specific colony) that is backed on soda containers.)

Here the students wrote letters to "relatives" about their stance on the Revolutionary War.  You can read in greater detail about how we did it here.

Students wrote weather reports about weather maps that they created using different weather scenarios. 

The students researched one colonial trade and wrote a report, created a sign, made an artifact, and drew a portrait of that tradesman.


Portraits of signers of the Declaration of Independence.  The students wrote biographies, then drew and painted a portrait of the famous signer.

Students learned about the hidden science found in regular colonial activities.  They had to determine whether chemical or physical changes occurred by reading about it.


For this writing assignment, the students wrote about a typical colonial child's day.  Modeling their writing after Sarah Morton's Day, they wrote their own photo journals.  Read more about it here.

The students created "quilt squares" using addition, subtraction, and multiplication of mixed numbers.  I wrote about it in more detail in this post.

Here is our Wonder Wall of Precepts.  Here is the blog post I wrote about it.

So there you have it.  Pretty much all of the pictures that I took of my room.  There were a few other boards, and some close ups I could have posted, but I probably have exceeded your bandwidth already ;)  I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room!

12 comments

  1. I love all that you've done with your Colonial Unit. These are GREAT ideas, and I know the kids really loved them and must have been totally engaged in the learning! I'm hoping to incorporate more hands-on learning with my 5th graders. I always feel torn because I feel it's my job to teach them how to read the textbook and take notes, since the teacher after me only uses a textbook and doesn't provide any notes or note-taking skills. It's a dilemma for me! Thanks so much for sharing - it's very inspirational:)
    Janie
    Are We There Yet?

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  2. I love that you have incorporated your colony unit across the subjects. My county has very specific indicators that don't lend itself to other subjects easily unless I don't do the project that writing or reading wants me to do. Does your district have it incorporated for you like you do? Or do you go off the beaten path?

    http://mschaechargesin.blogspot.com/

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  3. I love this post! I appreciate how it's all wrapped up together in one place for my reference. Can you estimate about how long your Colonial and Revolutionary War units last (weeks, months)? I usually alternate back and forth from science to history throughout the year, but am working on curriculum maps right now. Thanks!

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    1. I would say I spent about 2 months on each. Maybe a little less on the colony side.

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  4. Love all of your fun, hands-on ideas! I will have to tell my teammate who teaches Social Studies about this so she can check it out! Awesome stuff!

    Jamie
    Life As I Know It

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  5. Replies
    1. They recreated famous paintings dealing with the Revolutionary War, but placed their own picture inside. Here is a link to the post I wrote about it.
      Painting Recreations on the Student Desks

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  6. I think I may want to repeat being in 5th grade if I can get into your class! These ideas are phenomenal; this is integration at its finest! Thanks so much for sharing-I'm totally inspired to adapt this to our 6th grade core!
    www.6thgrademarksthespot.blogspot.com

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  7. Wow! Your room is amazing. I am totally using your paragraph of the week as my warm-up this coming school year. Can't wait to do the precept activity after we finish reading Wonder. Love your blog and am always inspired. Thanks!

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  8. Love your room! Wondering about the stands that are holding the kids pictures--Did you make these and can you share how you did it? Thanks.

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  9. I have written a bit of text so you have some idea of what is going on, but if you click on the pink links, it will take you to a more indepth explanation of the project. So, without further ado, here is Room 6!

    BISE Abbottabad Board SSC Result 2015

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  10. Question?! I noticed you had hidden science in the colonial times. Which types of colonial activities did you use for this? Also do you have a rubric, or some type of explanation for the colonial trade report paper? You are amazing. Thanks for sharing!

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Please leave a comment! I love to hear what you think about what is posted :)