Back to School Depth and Complexity FREEBIE

Returning back to school can bring forth so many mixed emotions.  There's the anxiousness and the overwhelming feeling of having so much to do.  There's the excitement of meeting your new class and decorating your classroom.  There's the nervousness of the unknown and wondering how your students will behave and abide by your rules and procedures. Instead of worrying about behavior, you can incorporate your class rules and procedures into the "Back to School Depth and Complexity Frames Freebie!"  This freebie is part of two of my other packs.

Here's What's Included in the Freebie:

Box 1--Rules

In the top portion, your students will need to think about some of the rules they think should be established in your class (you could also add in procedures if you'd like).  This gives the kids buy-in because they're actually part of the process.  In the future, you could even remind them about their part in the process.  "Danny, remember we decided to listen while the teacher is speaking?" Ha ha!  

The freebie includes two frames which have the same prompts of Depth and Complexity, but one of the frames is embedded with cooperative learning structures.  It's up to you to choose whether or not you'd like to use the structures during this activity.  I truly prefer to use these cooperative learning structures because the kids get to work together and verbalize their ideas.  

If you do use this embedded frame, the students would start off in a Round Robin fashion, which means all students would take turns answering the prompt one at a time, and then writing their answers down.  These directions are also included in the packet.

Box 2--Language of the Discipline

In the next section of the frame, students would need to think about language both a teacher and student may need to use in the classroom (lips icon).  You can be creative on this part.  Maybe they're listing words like "please" and "thank you" or maybe these are words having to do with curriculum.  Whatever you do, discuss each prompt with the children first because as you know, sometimes they come to be a little lost when we don't explain things to them!  Using the embedded frame would instruct the kids to work with a partner in a Rally Robin ping pong fashion, in which they'd list their answers by sharing back and forth, back and forth and writing down answers after each partner takes a turn.

Box 3--Details

For the next part, I like to have students jump directly across to the details icon (flower).  Now students need to write down details that their teacher should know about them.  This information can be really helpful because we all need to get to know our students!  On the embedded cooperative learning frame, this can be performed using a Give One Get One fashion or a Mix-Pair-Share.  If you feel like this may be too personal for students to share, you could have students use these structures during the bottom portion instead.

Box 4--Multiple Perspectives

Finally, students work in the bottom section of the frame to think about multiple perspectives (glasses icon).  They'll need to write about what both a teacher and student need to do to make the classroom a great place to be.  I think this may be one of the most important questions of all because it takes every person in the room to make the classroom special.  We want our students to feel safe when they come to our classrooms and also to want to be there too.  If using the embedded frame, this box can be done independently, or you could have kids work with a group or partner.

Task Cards

This freebie also comes with two sets of task cards which match the prompts from the frame.  Suggestions for how to use these cards are also included in the "Suggestions for Use" page.



Here's the link:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Depth-and-Complexity-Frames-Freebie-2646559

I hope you like it!  In my other packs, I offer two more frames (and two more embedded frames) which also feature some of the Content Imperatives and the new prompts of Depth and Complexity.  Additionally, you'll receive many activities such as:

• Create and write about your dream classroom and teacher (something I do every year the first week of school)
• A note taking page on rules and procedures 
• Task cards for all frames
• A class building activity featuring Mix-Pair-Share
• A design your own Depth and Complexity t-shirt page
• A chart featuring the icons and imperatives with their meanings
• A game about the icons where students need to match different prompts and scenarios to the icons
• A board game (in black and white or color)
• A two page questionnaire/inventory to get to know your students better (questions about home life and educational needs are included) 
• Goal setting pages 
• A page to assist students with planning a presentation on a particular rule or procedure for your classroom

Here's the link if you'd like to check it out:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Depth-and-Complexity-Frames-Games-and-Activities-Pack-2645396

Enjoy, and thanks for visiting!  Let me know what you think by commenting below or on Teachers Pay Teachers.   Please feel free to also ask any questions!  I'm always happy to hear from you!

Group Investigations Using Puzzlements

While becoming GATE certified, I learned some really helpful and engaging strategies, activities, and ideas.  One of these activities is called a Puzzlement, which is a form of group investigation.  Students have to observe, analyze, question, research, and synthesize information during a puzzlement. I fell in love with puzzlements instantly!  What made this form of group investigation even better is that I was able to tailor it to meet my students' needs.  

How A Puzzlement's Done...

Ignite Questions:

Basically, you show your students either a picture, poem, illustration, phenomenon, math problem, video, a work of art, etc. that strikes interest and confusion at the same time.  Students then pose questions about this topic (not knowing exactly what's going on).  I like to record these questions on the Smartboard, so we have a nice list forming.  

You then weed out the weak questions or questions that are completely off topic.  You may be wondering which questions would be considered weak or off topic?  Well, when I look for a puzzlement photo, I have to ponder about what I want my students to learn since they'll be researching this unknown phenomenon or situation.  Therefore, if I put up a picture of animals and people involved in a drought, I may not want my students researching the phrase "the end of the world."  In other words, sometimes you have to help steer your students' questions in the right direction.  This is why you don't want your topic to be too vague, or you pose the risk of having students all over the place during your lesson (although this could be okay too if you're just having fun with the lesson).  Here's an example below:

During one of our puzzlements, I showed the students this peculiar looking insect.  Different students took turns raising their hands and coming up with questions.  I was still fairly new to this activity, so I wrote a bunch of the questions on the organizer I made.  I no longer write all these questions on the organizer, but instead, I write them on a blank Smartboard slide, and then we choose 3-5 questions for the kids to research.  Actually, I allow them to choose 1-2 of their own, and then as a class, we choose the rest (although I'm the one with the final say). :)

Above, you can see the puzzlement I mentioned about animals and people involved in droughts.  This time I decided to use multiple pictures because I wanted my students to be on the right track with their research.  I also knew we were going to be learning about how people can affect ecosystems, and we were also participating in a water poster contest about saving water, so I wanted my investigation to revolve around water.

Many times I use puzzlements to begin a new unit.  This invokes curiosity about an unknown topic or an unanswered question, and now you have your students wanting to learn more and more about your upcoming learning objective.

Researching

After the questions are formed and chosen, students are now to investigate these questions in some way.  I've done this several ways.  We've used textbooks, posters in the room, laptops, and iPads.  They're all sufficient, but the kids surely get a kick out of using technology.  No technology in your room?  If you have a computer lab, you could save the researching part for the lab.  If you don't have any technology, you could use textbooks and articles off the internet.  I know I mentioned using posters; I only used posters as a resource once when teaching the order of operations in math.  I even had a song about PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally--Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction). It was really entertaining to watch kids explore around the room looking for clues.  Here are some pictures:

I also allowed my students to work with a partner if they chose to do so.  Before my class was given iPads, we shared a laptop cart between four classes.  That cart didn't have enough laptops for each of my students to have his or her own, so I paired each student up with a partner.  Students had to learn to take turns and work together to find what they were looking for.  As you know, this is not always a dream scenario, but when I reminded students that they might lose their laptop if they're not following directions, they were VERY quick to get back on task! :)

Using the Prompts of Depth and Complexity & Content Imperatives

 When I initially tried this activity, the organizer I created was only one page, but as the investigation went on, I realized I could add more to get a bigger bang for my buck!  I decided to embed the prompts of Depth and Complexity and some of the Content Imperatives.  Although it does take students awhile to complete both sides, I still found it worthwhile.  I've even given parts of the back side for homework or continued the puzzlement over a few days depending on how much time I had each day.  The most important part of the activity is to answer the questions that were posed at the beginning of the lesson.

In the picture below, students had to figure out the significance and relationship between the oxpeckers and the impala.  I thought this was a good way to lead into "Interactions of Living Things."

Great For All Ages...GATE or Not

I've since updated the organizer even more.  The students go wild for puzzlements!  Again, I've used these group investigations with GATE and general ed students, and they both LOVE it!  I recently demoed a puzzlement in a 6th grade GATE class and the topic was on early man.  The students used their textbooks one day to research and the internet the next.  This was their first social studies topic of the new school year, so it was a good way to motivate them into wanting to learn more.  We even used a video clip instead of pictures to get the questions started!

Discussion

After students are finished researching and arriving at their answers, a discussion should take place to highlight the new learning.  This is a great time for those collaborative conversations!  I've created a puzzlement organizer with no pictures on the top, so you can find your own pictures and paste them on.  There's also a second organizer which doesn't leave room at the top, so you can post on the board instead (especially if it's not a photo). You can find my puzzlement organizer by clicking on the link below:


https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/GATE-Puzzlement-Group-Investigation-Activity-Organizer-1874532

Maybe you could even try this with a back to school discussion on learning and the brain!

Classroom Themes

Today I'm going to share with you some of my classroom themes I've had throughout the years.  I know when I'm trying to find ideas for my theme, I like to look at other people's pictures to get my creativity running!

Decorating my classroom is one of my favorite things to do!  The only problem is, every time summer is about halfway over, I start to stress about what my new classroom theme will be.  I know it really isn't a big deal, but I sort of have this weird rule in my brain that I can't have the same theme two years in a row.  Crazy, I know.  I also probably end up spending more money than I should.  Thank goodness for Dollar Tree, but it's the teacher stores that really get me.

Let's see, I've had an ocean (complete with a surfboard), ecosystems, newspaper, social studies, detective, technology(this was my favorite) and cafe theme for my new office which I share with two coworkers .  I truly get most of my ideas from surfing the net, but a lot of my creativity comes from walking through Dollar Tree.  It's awesome the things you'll find there!

Cafe Theme (I only have a few):

Technology/Social Media Theme:

I mixed in the Depth and Complexity icons with apps we had for the iPad.

Nice wrinkly wall! ;)

The kids had the opportunity to write "tweets" on the wall!

Here's my detective theme:

I purchased the magnifying glasses at Dollar Tree!  The small science images were from CM School Supply.

The large eyeball was also from Dollar Tree!  The "Math Surrounds Us" poster, one of my favorites, was also from Dollar Tree too!  The rest of the posters are typically from CM or Lakeshore.

A parent of one of my former students designed a lot of my detective artwork!  She's amazing!  She created the two cute little detective kids!  Below, she also made the enormous detective!  How amazing is she?  I'm glad I didn't have to do it.

4th Grade Social Studies Theme:

I love this paper from CM; it's so cool!  It looks like a wooden wall!

The rope was found again at...you guessed it--Dollar Tree!

Items hanging across the top were found at Dollar Tree and Party City.  The paper in the background was from CM.

Feather headdress from CM and small bundle of hay/sticks purchased at Dollar Tree.

Rock paper from CM and bandannas were from Dollar Tree I believe.  Wow, I guess you can tell how much I love that place! 

Awesome crinkle ocean backdrop purchased from CM.  I used it when I used to teach 2nd grade too for my ocean room, and I also used it for my ecosystem room.  I need to find those pictures!

I was very proud of my tree!  Ha ha!  I had never made one before, so I decided to give it a try.  I also used it for my ecosystem theme the year before as part of the rain forest.  I bunched up a bunch of brown butcher paper and started stapling away like crazy.  I then bought fake vines and leaves from Dollar Tree.  They also had adorable dragon flies, so I pinned those up too.  

What themes have you tried?

Animal and Plant Adaptation Activities

I love LOVE to teach about animal and plant adaptations, and I have lots of engaging ideas for you to try out in your classroom!!  With all the great ideas on Pinterest, it's always hard to teach adaptations and not go a little crazy with all the activities.  I probably spend a little TOO much time teaching the content, but the kids enjoy it and so do I.

It's probably because I'm an animal lover. Ever since I was a little girl, I've been crazy about animals and basically drew some sort of creature on every paper I turned in for homework.  Animals are so unique, and it's mind boggling to learn about all the amazing things they can do, especially when it comes to their adaptations.

In order to get my students to really understand plant and animal adaptations, I like to start with a Depth and Complexity frame.  I actually designed this activity for a formal observation I had with my principal!  As mentioned in my last post, ANY student can use a frame, and I truly believe it aids in student comprehension as well as verbal communication skills.

Adaptation Depth and Complexity Frame

Steps:

1.  Read an article or chapter in your science textbook about animal and plant adaptations.  If students are able to write on the information, have them notate and highlight/underline information they find important.

2.  Discuss the top portion of the frame which is asking students to identify the two types of adaptations. Students also must give examples of each using language structures.

3.  As mentioned in my last post, students work in table groups to each share a detail about these adaptations using an All Write Round Robin.  Students also use text evidence to answer the question.

4.  Move on to the next portion of the frame (language of the discipline).  This is my very favorite part!  Students work with a partner, where one acts as a predator and the other as its prey.  Students use multiple perspectives to discuss how they feel about their partner's adaptations.  Then, they have to write from their partner's perspective.  Later on, students act this out in front of the class!

5.  Students now move on independently to ask any unanswered questions they still have.

6.  Lastly, for those early finishers, students create their very own animal and must include the adaptations it would possess.  Students love this part because they get to illustrate their very own organism.

You can find this Adaptations Depth and Complexity Frame by clicking the link below:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adaptations-Depth-and-Complexity-Frame-Activities-1625924

7.  Take it a step further, and log on to http://www.buildyourwildself.com/ where students can build their human self, and then add their favorite animal parts.  The kids loved this site!

Build Yourself Wild

One of the most fun adaptations to learn about, in my opinion, is camouflage!  Students love to learn about it too!  I found an article ("Camouflaged Creatures" from superteacherworksheets.com) online about animals using camouflage as a method of defense and offense.  Since we had been working on using the Details, Language of the Discipline, Patterns, and Big Idea Depth and Complexity icons, I had students focus on those areas as they closely read the article.  Then, I handed students a blank piece of computer paper and asked them to decorate it any way they wished.  The only caveat was, they had to include information from the article using the icons mentioned above.  Here are some examples:

Neither one of these students were GATE students, and they still did a great job!

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this highly entertaining butterfly camouflage activity!  It was so much fun!  I found the template on Pinterest, but the website noted is firstpalette.com.  We kept these butterflies up for Open House, and then had the students take their families around on a scavenger hunt to see how many butterflies they could find.

Something fun and hilarious we did was act out our science vocabulary, so kids could experience what it might be like to camouflage or use mimicry.  We were all laughing hysterically!

For homework, the kids created their own picture in which they hid camouflaged organisms.  We then performed a Mix-Pair-Share, so students could share their hidden pictures with their peers.

A class favorite by far was the bird beak activity which was another Pinterest idea.

Soon, I'll post about how I incorporated adaptations into a creative fictional narrative piece and dioramas!  What's your favorite thing to do when teaching adaptations?