Happy weekend! Most of you like me have MLK Day off tomorrow, so I was thinking about resources that I am using right now that might helpful to you during this time of year! I am usually teaching Immigration during this time or gearing up to teach it. 

I have two texts that I recommend for teaching Immigration, but I have included a few other texts below I have used as well. There are SO many great books and resources out there on this topic. I have also linked a couple great websites I have used, as well as a digital escape room that your kids will love!

I do an Immigration Simulation with my students as a big culmination to this unit, but I think I will do a separate post about that. There is just too much to include!

 If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island. 

This text is awesome because it is a question/answer format with short sections that can easily be read as a whole group, independent, or partner. 

The If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island Book Study Workbook below has activities to support comprehension while reading this text. This book is an introduction to the journey immigrants made  when America was young. It guides students through the book as they get a better understanding of just what it would be like to be an immigrant coming to America. This can be printed OR it can be a DIGITAL Easel activity. 

This text is a novel and would be great to use in Book Clubs. I had my class reading this text as a choice for a small groups. It would be awesome if you had a class set of this book and could have the kids read along with you. I have provided the link above so you can view this text. 

Dominic Cantori is touring Ellis Island with his class on a field trip. Dominic gets separated from the group and hides in the museum. Suddenly the voice of an Italian immigrant comes to life and begins to speak to him through one of the exhibits. Before he knows it, he is transported back in time to Italy 1908. He unlocks the door to his past and discovers the history of his own family. 

The Comprehension Workbook for The Orphan of Ellis Island is a great companion to the text by having students answer questions, make predictions, draw conclusions and analyze the text. There is a character study, as well as comprehension questions for the chapters. It is one of my favorite books to use for studying Immigration. 

Other books that I have used for Immigration either whole group or Book Study groups that you may like:

An AMAZING resource is this Immigration Walk-Through provided by Scholastic. It has great PICTURES and AUDIO clips which are sometimes harder to find in other resources. There is A LOT of things in this resource so you will need to pick and choose what you have students complete/read. I have used this just as a side resource on my webpage for kids to explore on their own. 

If you do only ONE thing with this resource I really like the stories of REAL kids who are immigrants on the 2nd tab. You could easily assign students to read one of these and summarize the information as a station activity or homework. 

Also a great website is this Choose Your Own Adventure type digital experience. You can choose from several people as they take their journey and you make decisions along the way!

To wrap up Immigration or to get a great overview if this is all you have time for, I recommend this Coming to America Digital Escape Room. This would be for older kids that can read independently and also use clues and critical thinking to solve puzzles. You can easily break this Escape Room into different parts for various days if needed. Great for those distance learning options or assigning to students easily as a NO PREP option. 

If you want to try a resource here is a FREE sample of If Your Name Was Changed At Ellis Island Workbook. That way you can see the resources and if it will work for your classroom. This is a PRINT and Digital Easel Resource for you!

I love this unit so much! I have SO many things we do. I would love to hear any ideas or resources you use! Happy MLK!

It's 2022 and I'm already swamped! I can't believe MLK Day is already upon us. This week I am putting all the MLK resources in this post. I am also trying as I said in my last post to keep things SIMPLE. The take-away for me this year is to implement a few ideas, but also try some NEW ones!

How do you celebrate and give information about Martin Luther King in your classroom? I think this depends on what age kids you teach. The most important thing is the message about Martin Luther King and acceptance of everyone. 

For older kids I want to have them read a little more information about Martin Luther King, Jr. For me it is about half me presenting information, but also having students dig a little more into some of their own research and reading. Remember each year students are presented with information on this SAME topic, so trying to give them a little more each year as they get older. 

Check out this NEW Martin Luther King, Jr. Mini Escape I just made that may help you present the information in a fun and informative way. There is a video, reading, fun facts, quotes, and a short puzzle. Best of all this is a NO Prep that students can do at home or school. 

Also a digital resource for you if you have more time is the Digital Escape Room Lost in the Museum Civil Rights Leaders. It will take you through more than Martin Luther King so if you have the time to dive in more with Black History. 

Something easy and more printable is this Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography Puzzle. These are going to be for upper elementary because of the reading and writing for your students. These are also super SIMPLE and NO PREP for your students. 

Here is a list of books I like about MLK. Some are picture, some are just good information reads or resources. 

Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?- This is an awesome book/series for research or just reading. It presents the information in a great way! For grades 2-5

I know you don't want to leave out your littles on this important day so I am linking a few FREE Resources for you with Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Have a great day celebrating and remembering the MESSAGE of this day! 

Happy New Year! I am still on break and relaxing one more day before we head back tomorrow. We have a teacher work day and then the tiny humans are back on Tuesday. Like most of the human race I always have great intentions for the New Year. I am a person who likes to implement too many new things, so I am here to tell you choose 1-2 new things to implement in your classroom for the New Year. 

I am always thinking ahead and NOW is the time for you to be thinking about February and Black History Month. Why?! February is such a short month that if you start thinking about it now, I promise it will seem less stressful later. So this post is all about prep for February and making your life easier. 

Ok here's some ideas for you and what I will be doing, but I am going to start NOW so that I am ready. 

So if you are overwhelmed, stick to my advice and choose ONE of these activities!

1. Biography Puzzles: These are printable and you have FOUR people to research and learn about. There are 4 weeks in February... coincidence?! Study one person per week by reading aloud a picture book (yes older kids still like these) and working through the reading, writing, and puzzles as a class, partner, or individual. This is a super LOW prep option. This can also be an independent study. Have students choose maybe 2 people and then they have 2 weeks to work on them. 

2. Biography Lapbook: The great thing about this is that it can be used for ANY  person to research, so if you don't get around to this for February, you can have in your back pocket for any person! 

Tip: If you have younger kids and any parent help, have a parent cut out the shapes and help you assemble OR send this home for a project that will be ongoing. Parents can pick-up and do the prep at home for you! 

First I have students choose from a list 3-4 people they are interested in. I did NOT have them choose MLK. We do so much with him that he wasn't a choice. Once they narrow down their person, we start with the timeline. 

I use Pebble Go for my students because it is super easy to navigate. It's a research site that our school subscribes to. Most schools or libraries have a kid friendly database which is easy to use for Biography research. I would check with your Media Specialist or look online for an option that is user friendly. Your media specialist may even have some books he/she can pull for you OR ask your local library to pull them now for you! 

After students chose their person; they took notes about the character traits (I did a separate lesson on this) and chose a few vocabulary words. I used this dictionary and some picture books. Check out my other blog on Character Traits. 

Here's a picture of one of the finished products. 

I also gave my students scrapbook paper that I had laying around to use to glam this up! Don't be afraid to send home some portions of this as homework! There are a lot of parts so maybe you don't have time to do them all. You could easily pair this down to make it more manageable for you!

Check out this also for Biography Projects for Research. You have templates to assist your students in their Biography Project to present. This would be a great alternative if you don't have time for the lapbook and you are able to give students CHOICE!

3. Last is a NO PREP Digital Escape Room on Civil Rights. It has some of the same people as the above #1, so you could do both or just stick to this one. 

This has video, reading passages, and puzzles to solve. So if you are short on time- I would highly recommend using this as your resource. 

Remember this is YOUR year. I will be making a plan and trying my best to stick to it. 

Cheers for the New Year!

It's Winter Break for us officially! It's time to relax, BUT before I check out mentally for this holiday season, I am thinking ahead to the New Year. I like to have some things planned out or in my back pocket for when I change my mind, which is OFTEN when I go back to school. 

Here are some popular and NO PREP Digital Resources to use for the New Year, as well as some EASY printable resources to prep.  Don't worry, if it's printable it is an EASY activity that you can print and go. I am not into using a lot of brain power after a break so I need something that is easy. 

Have a great holiday and I'll be back in the New Year!

Only 1 WEEK left?! Well, you may be going past the 17th, but we get out on Winter Break in just five shorts days! I wanted to highlight a lot of resources in this post for right now and in the New Year!

Here are some great resources if you find yourself wanting to do some FUN things this week! I am going to highlight FIVE of the top holiday resources for this week since I have FIVE days left. If you are moving onto the New Year, scroll down for Inferences and New Year!

These are BRAND NEW and your kids will love these winter ones. They are both digital AND printable for this week ahead!

This super fun activity can be used MANY ways. It can be a fun writing for a winter poem, a first person narrative, letter writing pretending the recipient is real/imagined, or a made-up story! Your students will love to create their character and then write about it!

Deck the Halls! Only 2 weeks until we are on winter break! Not sure if you have more days than that to go, but either way the countdown is ON! This week I am sharing some reading response ideas and books for the holidays! Why?! It is SO versatile for independent, partner, or whole group. Reading Response is so fun! You can do holiday themed books, let students choose, or lead with your own theme or genre. 

It's almost time for the holidays! The last few weeks until winter break! What types of things do you look for to teach your students or to supplement your lessons?!

I am always looking for things that are FUN! Students don't often get a break and this time of year it's very hard for students to focus, hence the introduction of engaging holiday content. Let's look at some things I have found that will be sure to have success in your classroom. Whether you are supplementing a lesson, looking for station materials, partner work, or whole class activity, I will address ALL of those needs!

I love activities that are centered around independent or partner work. I can ALWAYS change it to a whole group lesson if needed, but I would rather students be able to work on their own, in pairs, or small groups while I am conferencing and meeting with students one-on-one during work time. 

Math Mysteries are ALWAYS easy and fun! 

Check out all of the Holiday Math Mysteries HERE! 

These are Digital Narrated versions. What I love about these is that they use reading comprehension at the same time that students are using their problem-solving skills. There are paper/pencil versions available as well. 

(P.S. AND they are full of  holiday FUN!)

Escape Rooms are the next must-have for FUN and independent learning OR you choose how you use them! I have a NEW Escape Room below that is Stan the Snowman: Lost in the Snowstorm! This is a great 'Just for Fun' activity for that last day right before winter break. I am going to use it as part of the party!

Students also love the Holidays Around the World Escape Room. Students love to learn about the different counties and their traditions, while also solving the clues. Another great comprehension piece to enhance a unit study on traditions or a stand-alone lesson of learning. 

Check out this preview of the Holidays Around the World Escape Room Below!

During that last week before break, I am always looking for activities to keep students engaged. I like to do stations that students rotate through. Here are some station ideas for you!

Station #3: Creative Writing Station (Write a persuasive letter for a gift to receive, a persuasive piece getting an extra day off of school, descriptive writing of a gift they received, a thank-you letter to someone, winter haikus, or other poetry)