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

Summer Choice Boards!

Rabbit! Rabbit! It is JUNE 1st and summer is within our reach. To celebrate this wonderful occasion, I have compiled different activities from far and wide for a summer version of our digital CREATE stations. Hopefully students can continue to stay engaged and take on challenges throughout the dog days of summer!

Here is the summer digital choice board I compiled for grades K-5: 

To view it on our libguides, click on the GORDON LIBGUIDES HERE and you will see the different coding, reading, engineering and art activities. 

To make a copy and make changes to the choice board, click HERE. 

In the EXPLORE section of the choice board, I included the Gordon Research Hub. This is a research choice board that highlights different topics that the grade levels cover throughout the school year. It also includes our One School One Book research topics that connect to the Adventures of Humphrey. To view the research hub, you can click HERE. 

To make a copy of the research hub, click HERE. You can use it as template and change it around to reflect the material you cover throughout the year with links that work with your students. 

I also made my first attempt at a secondary CREATE choice board that is geared towards middle and high school students. This includes several coding activities, story telling links, and art projects. Click on the image below to view it. 

Click HERE to make a copy of the secondary choice board, so you can make changes to fit your students and curriculum. 

I like having these choice boards on my libguides so students can access them all summer.  In order to embed this choice board into your libguides so students can access it over the summer, click FILE < PUBLISH TO THE WEB: 

You are able to publish it as a link or use the embed code. To put it in my Gordon Libguides, I use the embed code: 

Once I am logged into my libguides, I create a media/widget box where I can copy and paste the embed the code. Voila! It is there for students to access throughout the summer.

Hopefully there are some activities students can use when boredom sets in, rainy days keep us inside, or the dog days of summer are too much for a pool day! 

HAPPY SUMMER friends! 

April Choice Board and HAPPY SPRING BREAK

The finish line is in sight! I hope everyone has a really great, safe, and happy SPRING BREAK! We are hitting the roller coaster circuit, so expect some pretty funny pictures of me in different states of terror. Maybe one day I will get over my fear of heights. Until then, I guess my family will continue to drag me all over to visit the different roller coasters just to record as many funny pictures as possible! 

When we come back from spring break, we will be celebrating NATIONAL LIBRARY MONTH, which is pretty exciting. This is the infographic I created for my school; it will be a fun month celebrating our library. 

I have also created some CREATE digital stations and a virtual classroom for the month of April. 

Click on the image below to check out and view our April digital CREATE stations. 
If you would like to make a copy, so you can make changes, feel free to use THIS LINK. 
 

If your students like to be surprised with different clicks and activities, here is the April bitmoji classroom. You can click on the image to view it. 

Feel free to make a copy if you would like to make changes for your students.

I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break. When we return, we will be looking forward to book fair and CHICKS in the library! 

March Choice Boards and One School One Book

Today is the BIG LAUNCH....our school is celebrating Read Across America and One School One Book with the Adventures According to Humphrey.  Our school community will be reading a chapter a day while completing fun activities across every grade level and resource class. The website, Read to Them, provided discussion questions, trivia, activities, and guidance for how to host a successful program. Highly recommend! 

To set the scene for the book this week, students dressed in pjs so they could "snuggle" with a good book on Monday. Tuesday students brought their favorite stuffed animal. Today, Wednesday, students and staff are dressing like pirates. The big title reveal was announced this morning during our daily morning announcements. Everyone is ready to celebrate our reading adventures with Humphrey the hamster!

To supplement the activities, I created a choice board for students to access over the next couple of weeks both from home or at their literacy station at school. It follows the same CREATE format that I have used with my other library stations. I included the image below, but you can check out the board and the links on the library website here: According to Humphrey Choice Board on the Website

If you would like a copy of the board to make changes, click HERE. 

I also created a virtual classroom that combines several March themes. If you would like to view it on the website, click HERE. 

If you would like to make copy of the classroom, so you can modify it, click HERE. 

 A third choice board option is one that focuses on springtime and March. This choice board also includes links to other choice boards from other librarians (credit is given on their slide). 

Feel free to make a copy HERE. 

I am excited about our reading adventures, and I know the kids are going to love having a pet hamster that will live in the front office to greet all of our visitors and students. Hopefully March will be full of warm days and sunshine! 

February CREATE Digital Stations and Virtual Classroom

Yay for FEBRUARY! The month of friendship, famous African Americans (although we celebrate year round in the library), and the OLYMPICS has finally arrived. 

We have the new digital CREATE stations for the month, and we have something different: OLYMPIC THEMED WORDLE....There is a wordle for each day throughout the Olympics! Hope you enjoy! 

To view the CREATE Stations (and share the link with your students), you can access them on GORDON LIBGUIDES 2-5 Create Stations.  Be sure to scroll down to find the choice board. This digital choice board also includes links to boards from other librarians (and credit is given on their slides).  You will see that I have broken down the digital activities into our CREATE categories. The only change this month is that T is for TRIVIA and the OLYMPICS (instead of Technology and Music). 

If you would like to revise the CREATE digital choice board or make your own wordles, feel free to MAKE A COPY.

My students love the CREATE digital choice boards, but they also enjoy the interactive bitmoji classrooms where they can explore different links around the room. Students can access the virtual classroom here: GORDON LIBGUIDES K-5 Virtual Classroom.

There are so many things to celebrate in February, so feel free to make a COPY OF VIRTUAL CLASSROOM and add any links you may need to include for your students. 

I hope everyone has a fantastic FEBRUARY, and we all get that one last SNOW STORM to end the winter! Cheers! 

CREATE Stations: January Digital Stations - Inclement Weather Plans

Watching the forecast, it looks like we may be getting some snow! We love a good snow day! In the event of snow days or when I am absent, I have set it up for students to access our CREATE stations in a digital format. I have 3 separate google slides that can be accessed.

This is my January bitmoji classroom with interactive pictures, games, and coding actvities set up in a winter scene for students to search, explore and access: 

The students can click on almost anything in the classroom to get to a game or a book. This is fun for the upper grades who like to explore. 

Feel free to view the bitmoji classroom HERE.

If you would you like to edit the classroom, click to MAKE A COPY. 

My next google slide is where I have taken my CREATE stations and put them in a digital format for my kindergarten and first grade students. This gives them some structure and takes the guessing out of a bitmoji classroom. My favorite part of this choice board is that my first graders get to practice with beebot, which helps when they code the actual robot in person. I have also included a couple of choice boards and activities that I found from other sites and librarians (credit is given on their google slide). 

The hardest part is trying to figure out where to put these links for the younger students to access easily. I have the K-1 CREATE choice board embedded in my Gordon Libguides, but my Instructional Designer also put my link in the students' Clever backpack. This was a perfect solution because they are already used to accessing their backpack for Dreambox and Lexia. This has been really convenient. 

Take a minute to look at the CREATE digital stations and VIEW HERE. 

If you would like to edit the digital activities, feel free to MAKE A COPY. 

Finally this is the choice board I use for learners in grades 2-5.This has more coding, building, and even an art hub station that the students really like. 

For the second grade through fifth grade CREATE digital stations, you can  VIEW HERE. Scroll down and you will see the choice board!

If you would like to edit the digital activities, feel free to MAKE A COPY. 

THINK SNOW!! In the event we are asked to provide a choice board or an enhancement activity, I thought this would be a good start for January. Hope that this helps and someone is able to use these actvities! Be safe and stay healthy my friends!