Thursday, September 13, 2012

Five Finger Rule and Helen Keller


Five Finger Rule

Last week my students worked on finding Just Right Books.  We did this by reading: 
The author, Jackie Mims Hopkins is a former Cy-Fair librarian and we just love her book!  Goldie Socks goes into the Three Bears' house looking for a just right book.  She tries out lots of books, using the five finger rule, and looks for the perfect place.  She leaves things all over the place, which adds to a great lesson in returning books/pillows to your classroom library!



 Adrian and Alexis using their Five Finger Test strategy to make sure their books are Just Right!


Helen Keller

This year we are integrating our social studies curriculum into the reading and writing workshop.  I use method at the end of my class to review concepts using a combination of reading, writing, buddy reading, etc.  One of my favorite things to teach is history and significant social studies skills.  When last weeks' lessons introduced Helen Keller I got all excited and set out to plan a fun lesson!

We began by watching the Animated History series video on www.discoveryeducation.com.  Then I brought in books from the public library with Braille.  These picture books had the Braille words and on the corresponding page had the words that the kids could read.  They loved reading through the stories in this unique way.  




Then we read the picture book of Helen Keller's life: 
And we wrapped up the day answering 10 multiple choice questions about all the information we had learned during the day.  What a wonderful, significant person for the kids to look up to!

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