Literature Circle and Guided Reading Books

We are having fun with our new books! Here are some additional resources to go along with each book. You can explore the resources that go with your book, or check the resources for another book that you may read someday.

The Memory Coat
In this book, Grisha and his family immigrate to the United States. They stop at Ellis Island on the way. What is Ellis Island like? Find out with this tour!

Interactive tour of Ellis Island

City Green
In this story, Marcy and her neighbors turn an abandoned empty lot into a beautiful garden. Try your hand at gardening with this virtual garden!

Virtual Garden

Dragonfly's Tale
Dragonfly's Tale is a folktale from the Zuni tribe of the American Southwest. You can read other folktales and fables at the Between the Lions site.

Fables and folktales

Sam the Minuteman
This book takes place during the Revolutionary War. Learn more about colonial times with activities from Colonial Williamsburg.

Tour the Town

You can also take a virtual tour of some of the locations included in the book.

Virtual Tour

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie
In this book, a young girl braves terrible weather to keep the lamps of a lighthouse burning. You can see the real Matinicus Island and other lighthouses with this lighthouse website.

New England's Lighthouses

Project Puffin
Today, the island that Abbie's lighthouse stood upon is a sanctuary for puffins. Learn more about puffins and the Maine coastline at Project Puffin.

Project Puffin

Weslandia
Wesley creates his own civilization in this book. Learn about the ancient civilization of Rome to think about how it compares to Wesley's civilization.

Roman civilization

My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother
Patricia Polacco has written many books for young readers. Learn more about this author and her books at her website.

Patricia Polacco

Map Activities

We're learning about maps! Use these links to find fun map interactives and learn more about maps.

Geography Games
Visit this site for a wide variety of geography games. (There are ads on this site.)

GIS in Action
What is GIS? How can it help us to learn about the world? Visit this site to find out!

GeoGames
Build planet Earth! Spin the globe, place continents, and find countries and cities.

Latitude and Longitude Game
Use latitude and longitude to find treasure.

Tide Pool Videos

We have been working on daily sentence lessons focusing on tide pools. Here is a playlist of videos starring our tide pool friends:

Learning about Classification

This week, we have been learning about the processes that scientists use. One of our science skills is classification. Students learned that classification is the process of putting things into organized groups.

This PowerPoint was used in class to talk about different kinds of classification:

After learning about classification, we tried classifying different items. Kids really liked using the trinket bags to classify. These little bags of various items are based on an item called Think-ets. Students came up with many different ways to classify the items in the bags.

Then, students classified liquids using litmus paper. We tested various liquids to find out if they were acids or not. We used ordinary household liquids like lemon juice, vinegar, water, and dishwashing soap. Ask your child about our results!

Putting together a kitchen chemistry set can be lots of fun! Litmus paper is not expensive and can be found here. Try testing different liquids around the kitchen. What can you discover?

Learning about the Rock Cycle

Here is a fun interactive about the rock cycle:

Rock Cycle Interactive

Enjoy learning about different kinds of rocks!

Antonyms

Antonyms are words with opposite meanings. This week, work on your antonyms with these Quizlet links.

Antonyms, Tier 1

Antonyms, Tier 2

Other Games
Do these after you have studied your words.
Antonym Match

Same Difference

Fill in the Sentences

Reading an Infographic

An infographic is a way of representing information. Infographics combine pictures and information to make something that is interesting to read.

Below, you will find an infographic about gaming in the classroom. As you read the infographic, think about:
-How does the author use facts to support the opinion?
-How do the pictures contribute to the overall main idea?
-Where do the author list the sources of information?
-Is this enjoyable to read? Why or why not?



Courtesy of: OnlineSchools.com

Pennsylvania Regions Jigsaw

Use your jigsaw preparation page to take notes as you view the PowerPoint for your region of Pennsylvania.

The Allegheny Plateau Region

The Ridge and Valley Region

The Erie Lowland Region

The Atlantic Coastal Plain

 

The Piedmont

More Information

Atlantic Coastal Plain

Allegheny Plateau

Erie Plain

Piedmont

Ridge and Valley Region

Adjective Forming Suffixes

Here are links that you can use to study adjective forming suffixes on Quizlet.

Tier 1

Tier 2

Happy studying!

Identifying the States

Here is a link to a previous blog post. In this post, you will find games and interactives to help you learn to identify the states.

Blog post with games and resources about the states

Happy studying!

Multiple Meaning Words

We are learning about multiple meaning words in spelling class. You can practice the spelling and meanings of these words using Quizlet.

If you are working on Tier 1, please use Speller with the Tier 1 words and Scatter with the Tier 2 words.

If you are working on Tier 2, please use Speller and Scatter with Tier 2 words.

Multiple Meaning Words 2, Tier 1

Multiple Meaning Words 2, Tier 2

Enjoy working with your spelling words! You can review the PowerPoint that we worked on in class at this previous blog post:

Multiple Meaning Words Blog Post

Here are some other ways to practice finding the meanings of multiple meaning words.

Multiple Meanings Test

Mr. Duck Practice (please turn off sound when using this game. Do only 10 sentences at a time, and then move on to something else. Please.)

Study Island topic (You can find the Study Island Multiple Meaning Words under Reading.)

Animal Adaptations Websites and Games

Here are some links to animal adaptations interactives and websites. As you work through the links, remember to think about these questions:

-How can an animal's body covering help it to survive?
-How can an animal's color help it to survive?
-How can an animal's behavior help it to survive?

Animal Adaptations Game: Choose the correct adaptations for each animal. Can you make the right choices before time runs out?

Hidden Animal Games: Check out some clever camouflage with these games. (Be careful, as there are ads on this site.)

Colour and Camouflage: This site allows you to try out different patterns of shading to hide an animal. (From the BBC...can you notice the spelling differences?)

How Animals Meet Their Needs: At this site, you can learn about how animals meet their needs in their environments.

Wild Kratts: You can choose from several different games at this site.

Have fun!