Middle Grade Thematic Unit: The Final Frontiers - Ocean and Space

 

CREATE stations have been a great way to integrate library stations with the curriculum. Each letter in the acronym stands for a different activity. Students rotate through their activities once a week when they visit the library. 

Here is what CREATE stands for: 

C - Computer Choice Board 
R - Robots 
E - Engineering
A - Art
T - Thinking Lab
E - Explore and Research 

You can check out the structure and explanation HERE from one of my previous blog posts. 

In fact, in previous blog articles, I have focused on each CREATE letter and broke the station down by grade level. Currently, I am compiling my lessons with a focus on the grade level and the theme. 

This thematic unit can be completed in the library with grades 3-8! 

READ-ALOUD OPTIONS:

Space: 

Zathura (picture book)

Hidden Figures (Biography)

Race to the Moon (Fiction, choose your own adventure)

Gravity by Jason Chin (picture book)

Ocean:

Shipwreck by Gordon Korman (fiction) is found on the EPIC app and students can listen to the audiobook. This is an action-packed ocean survival novel that will appeal to fifth graders. 

Lifeboat 12 is an amazing verse poetry book that takes place during WW2. Another great survival story where the characters are stuck out to sea trying to escape Hitler's invasion. 

Corresponding Stations and Choice Board:

COMPUTER

Our computer choice board combines the ocean and space theme with these digital CREATE activities. The activities include videos, art tutorials, and coding. They can be done independently. 

You can view the choice board HERE.

If you would like to edit the choice board, click HERE. 

ROBOTS

Ozobots are perfect robots for students to code while learning about space. We code our robots to follow the path around the sun for a fun and educational space-themed activity. You can find the link to the article HERE.

ENGINEERING

Space connectagons are an excellent way for students to create and engineer while studying space. If these are no longer available, the geometric connectagons or brainflakes can also be used to create solar systems. 

Legos are also the perfect tool for engineering and creating both ocean and space challenges. 

ART

For our art station, we have our Quivervision station where we can go in-depth with both themes.  To focus on the ocean, there are several coloring sheets: 

Orca
Shark
Sea turtle 

For the space theme, we have the moon coloring sheet and the space comparison coloring sheet. These are outlined in this blog post HERE. 

Looking to use Quivervision as an art library station? Here is a tutorial on how you can get started: watch the video. There is also a great slideshow to get you started that you can access here.

THINKING LAB:

There are a couple of really fun activities and thinking games that help students understand the concept of gravity that can relate back to our space theme. 

EXPLORE:

Explore station allows students to research the topics in small bites with a meaningful impact.  Here is a worksheet we used to locate an article about the planets in the print encyclopedia: 

We also used a Britannica Resource Pack to look up the keyword, planets. This allowed us to get an overview and general information to support the classroom teachers. 

You can access these worksheets through TPT (free download): 

PLANETS FREEBIE

E is for EXPLORE: Second and Third Grade learners CREATE A CREATURE

 

Kid K'nex Education is a great engineering tool to have in your library. The pieces are bigger, so they don't hurt smaller fingers, and the students can create all kinds of fun creatures using this set. I have my second grade graders and even my third graders build with these, and they LOVE them. I think these go well beyond the preschool age group. The set we purchased from Amazon (click on the red link above) comes with 131 pieces, so having 2-3 sets in your classroom or library is ideal. 

Where to begin? How do we use these in library? To start with, we read about different animals, insects, and critters. A couple of great books to consider reading aloud are the following ideas and suggestions: (Click on the book title for the read aloud).

Fur, Feather, Fin: All of Us are Kin 

Some Bugs

Du Iz Tak? 

Now is a great time to discuss habitats. What sort of animals and bugs live in a desert habitat? Woodland habitat? Rainforest habitat? What types of foods do they eat? What kind of adaptations do they require to survive? What is the food chain? If you have a subscription to PebbleGo, this is a great time for students to access the databases and get some really good background information. 

PebbleGo even has an article that explains animal adaptations for different habitats that students can either read or listen to.

After we read about bugs, animals and critters of all shapes and sizes, we have students invent their own insect/creature/animal. They can use their creativity as long as they can explain their creature's habitat, food sources, and adaptations. This is a great activity to complete after they have done the database research above or they have learned about life cycles and food chains in class. It serves as a pretty good review because even though their creature is an original invention, the food source must make sense in the habitat, and the animal adaptations must allow the creature to survive in its habitat. The kids take the information they learned and synthesize it into a new creation. These are always my favorite activities. Click on the worksheet below to access the PDF. 

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Next step? Students try to recreate their insect using the K'nex Education kit. There are eyes, limbs, wings (which can also be used a fins), and other building pieces they can put together to make an original and unique creature. This is a super fun library station OR whole group instruction activity. I love seeing what they will create. Feel free to download the freebie from TPT; it includes the standards, learning goals, and procedures. 

Here is our sign we use for our table to let everyone know what standards we are completing at this station. If you click on it, you can make a copy! 

CREATE stations: A is for ART....a THIRD GRADE STATION

Third graders are studying aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and their diversity. These Quivervision coloring sheets have so many options. When the animal turns 3D, students can see in vivid detail the animal as well as the ecosystem surrounding the animal. 

The art station has become one of our very favorites. If you are interested in the free station signs, standards, and "I Can" statements, you can view and download the signs HERE. 

To get started on this unit, students can research an aquatic animal during their EXPLORE library station. I have an activity for students to research aquatic animals using a Britannica resource pack (you will need to have a subscription to access) or a print encyclopedia. I like both activities for different reasons. The print encyclopedia allows students to find information, identify parts of an encyclopedia and nonfiction text features. Check out the freebie here: EXPLORE STATION. 

Once the research is completed, students can really enjoy the art station and how these animals come to life. If you are interested in this station and the new Quivervision Educational Dashboard, you can access it using this link: QUIVERVISION. 

Looking to start up a Quivervision library station? Here is a great tutorial on how you can get started: watch the video. This is a great slideshow to get you started that you can access here. 

Look at this shark picture! This is definitely a fan favorite among the third grade learners.  When they turn their picture into AR, they see the coral reef habitat as well as the food chain! Our students were awed by the details, and they definitely take their time coloring their sheet. 

Here is the sign that covers the art station for grades 3-5. We use this one at the table for our art stations.

E is for ENGINEERING - 3rd and 4th GRADE

 

Third grade engineers.... we connect to the science standards of learning and have students use TEGU blocks (purchased with Scholastic Dollars) to create simple and compound machines.

These blocks are awesome because they are magnetic, come with a ton of different shapes and sizes...andy they come WITH WHEELS. Any building material that comes with WHEELS is a must at the elementary school level. We review the basic simple machines: wedge, pulley, inclined plane and wheel and axle. Students discuss, brainstorm and build their machines in groups of 2 or 4. 

If you would like to access my materials for this engineering station (they are editable to fit your needs), you can access them HERE (they are free). 

Both my 4th and 5th graders will be using the Little Bits this year. In the past, it was mostly just the 5th grade classes but with the changes in the SOL standards, I am definitely going to have my 4th graders experiment with these! These fit into their classroom lesson so well. For this station, I made 2 notebooks that have the different ideas and directions for the students to follow. The PDF I used is HERE. This is 76 pages, so I didn't use all the pages, but I printed the basic circuits: light sensor, temperature sensor, buzzer, and of course the car (an all time favorite to build). Students are also encouraged to free build. Check out the explanation of this station HERE. It includes signs, standards, and procedures. Hope these help! 

       

My engineering students sit at the yellow E table where their materials are stored. The chart I use for this table is below! If you would like this chart that outlines this station, you can make a copy HERE. It covers third, fourth and fifth grade. 

R is for ROBOTS: THIRD GRADE

 

This has been a fun start to the week! Our robot CREATE station has been hopping. Third graders are getting to use the EDISON robots. These robots can complete different activities by reading a barcode. This is a great station to get students started on coding robots. I submitted the edmat into our county print shop where they were able to create these mats for us: 

You can find the mats and the file to print HERE: MEET EDISON EDMAT. My print shop charged the library $15 per board, and they are very sturdy. These will last for a few years. 

Once you have the mats, the directions are super easy to follow: 

Step 1: Place Edison on the arrow to the right of the barcode

Step 2: Push the ROUND record button three times and wait for Edison to move forward and read the barcode. 

Step 3: Play the code by pressing the TRIANGLE button. 

Check out my ROBOT freebies for this station HERE! These are the signs I use with the standards, procedures, and I CAN statements. You can edit them to fit your needs! 

Additional note ...I do love robots that students have to code using block coding, and Edison does not disappoint with this either. On their website, Edscratch, you can use their block coding program to get Edison to move around your library. 

EDSCRATCH WEBSITE

The video and directions are super easy to follow. My 4th and 5th graders love to use the block coding for Edison.

Here is the ROBOT chart I have at my RED STATION: 

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A COPY! 

C is for COMPUTER (create stations grades 3-5)

Let's recap...we have an acronym for our Library stations, and we have a system. Now we can break it down. As mentioned before, the Letter C for grades K-2 indicates a CONSTRUCTION stations. 

Check it out here...CONSTRUCTION STATION for K-2

However, if you are in the upper grades, C stands for COMPUTER or CHROMEBOOKS. Our library has 10 computers, and we used library funds to purchase 4 chromebooks. On the computer, there are many websites, activities, and symbaloos that students can access... there is also a digital choice board that was inspired and modeled after Shannon McClintock Miller's choice board. I rearranged the activities to fit in my CREATE categories and added some of my own. I also included the National Day calendar that another awesome educator shares through facebook. 

Click on the picture below to check out my Gordon Libguides and take a look at my CREATE digital stations: 

If you would like a copy of the CREATE digital choice board for NOVEMBER to revise, click HERE.

To view it, click HERE. 

Even though I love the choice boards, I also created interactive bitmoji classrooms for students to look around and locate different activities by clicking on pictures.  This was compiled by using all kinds of resources in the bitmoji community and all the generous educators during the pandemic. Hope you enjoy it and can use it for your own classroom. 

COPY Bitmoji Classoom

VIEW Bitmoji Classroom

Finally, the upper grades also have access to Minecraft EDU (the really old version), but I have enough worlds downloaded that it still works and the kids still enjoy building. The kids do love playing in the interactive worlds as a team. It builds great teamwork and collaboration. 

Here is a sign I use at the ORANGE computer station: 

To view the COMPUTER STATION SIGN, click here. 

If you would like to use it, feel free to make a copy and edit the sign to fit your needs.