Showing posts with label language arts. Show all posts

Sunday

Words and Phrases Alluding to Mythology

Mythology Activity

If you are like me, that is exactly what you thought when you read this new common core objective:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology (e.g., Herculean).

If one thing is for sure, I could not stand mythology when I was in school, so the thought of me having to teach anything related to it just freaked me out. Plus, when I went searching for material related to this common core objective, there was absolutely nothing to be found. Don't you hate it when we get objectives to teach and yet there are not really any lessons prepared to help us out. I mean, I know we are capable of designing lessons, but sometimes it just makes things difficult. As in the case of this mythology lesson, I won't kid around, I had to read and search to find the descriptions of these characters from mythology. It took me some time, but I hope you like the finished product.

This mythology lesson does not really teach mythology itself. It really focuses on the basics of the common core objective listed above. I put together some mythological character descriptions to help kids understand that these characters have traits based on their actions in the stories from mythology. I then put together some common phrases used in today's time that might pop up in literature that make reference to these character traits, such as "opened Pandora's box". When students see these phrases, they will have a better understanding of the fact that they allude to the characters found in mythology. In addition, there is a little illustration activity where students take products from today's time and see how these product names actually originated from mythology. A few examples, are Trident gum and Amazon.com.

I hope your kids have fun with this lesson.

Click the link below to find out more info. or to purchase this lesson.

Lesson: Words in Text Alluding to Characters in Mythology

Share the Sweetness!

Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.

We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

Friday

Adjective and Setting Activities

Adjective Activities and Setting, too

This past week, I sort of combined my reading skill of setting with my grammar skill of adjectives. In doing so, we discussed that in order for the reader to be able to visualize (with chapter books in particular) the setting of the story, the author has to use very descriptive language.... aka, adjectives I thought I would share just a few of the activities we did.

For starters, I read this book to the class:

Before I read the book to the class, I explained to them that I was able to make a connection to the setting of this book because my twenty month old's toys are taking over my house. This is a really cute book, and my fourth graders loved hearing it as a teacher read aloud. It uses many descriptive phrases to show how the toys are taking over Spencer's house. It is common practice in my classroom for me to use picture books to introduce and teach skills, and this one worked well for setting and adjectives.

As one of our writing activities, I had them do a snow globe setting write-up. Basically, they had to create a description of what their own 'winter wonderland' would be like. If I stepped into their snow globe setting, what would I see? After they did their creative descriptive writing, they were able to make a snow globe. I simply traced the circles onto white construction paper and then cut black construction paper for the base. Here they are displayed outside my classroom.

A third activity we did this past week is one I sell in my Teachers Pay Teacher's store. It's called Ooey Gooey Chocolatey Adjectives Activity. With this activity, the students will write adjectives to describe a chocolate bar, marshmallows, and a graham cracker. On the skill sheet, they write down descriptive words related to all five sense. Believe it or not, they see these foods all the time, but coming up with descriptive language is quite challenging.

Click HERE to get see the details of this adjective activity.

Share the Sweetness!

Thank you for helping to spread the word about Classroom Confections.

We appreciate you 'liking' us on facebook, tweeting about us, or pinning us on Pinterest.

For more fun and creative ideas for the classroom, click the above picture to go to my store.

If you are a teacher and you like what you see, please visit often.

Grammar File Folder Centers

Grammar File Folder Centers

I have put together a few grammar sorting centers that work great as file folder activities. Try letting a small group complete the activity while you are working with a guided reading group. These kinds of activities work great for that. Check out my grammar games too, because they work perfectly for centers, as well. In addition to using as an independent center activity, you can use them as a whole class/partner activity after you have taught the skill, or you can even have the kids sort with a partner before you introduce a skill to do a quick check of what they already know. I will be adding more sorting centers, but here are a few of the ones I have made. Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store to get all the details about purchasing for a very reasonable price.

A and An File Folder Center Activity