Spring
If I Had a Million Dollars (Lesson 1 – 5):
In the first semester I started talking about “If I Had a Million Dollars” by the Bare Naked Ladies. It lead to a discussion about Joseph Merrick and we also learned about conditional sentences.
Oceans (Lesson 6 – 11):
This mini unit started with reading the Fisherman and His Wife and continues with a nautical theme. We looked at Red Fish, Blue Fish and made our own animals. We also explored the oceans by looking at deep sea creatures, coral reefs and ocean names.
Countries (Lesson 12 – 15):
In this mini unit, we learned about continents and countries. We looked at famous landmarks, national animals and national symbols. It culminated with the students designing this own country and talking about it.
Superheroes (Lesson 16 – 21):
This mini unit revolved around Superheroes. First we studied comparatives by creating our own superheroes and ‘fighting’ with them. I also employed the use of comic books in teaching. We used, “Tiny Titans” a lot in this unit. In regards to the comics, we studied superpowers and superhero fashion. Finally, the students created their own comic strips using the characters from Tiny Titans.
Detectives (Lesson 22 – 26):
The theme of this unit was detective work. Students learned about this own fingerprints, suspects and evidence. Students were also encouraged to develop their analytical skills by playing game like a ‘murder’ mystery, a crime scene game, and Outfoxed.
Monsters (Lesson 27 – 31):
In the final unit of this semester, we learned about monsters. We talked about manners and adjectives. We also read some Lilo and Stitch and watched a short film about Zombie Carrots. Students even made their own card game.
Fall
Aliens (Lesson 1 – 5):
We started this semester with a few lessons relating to alien life. We started by looking at earthly adaptation and using that to suppose what is on other planets. Students designed their own world and described it. A student won the opportunity to choose the next lesson and decided on a movie day. I choose a video (Mutant Pumpkins) relating to odd life. We also talked about space travel and ended with a quick look at Star Wars as a new movie was coming out that semester.
Story Telling (Lesson 6 – 7):
We looked at parts of a story including plot, setting, characters. Students made movie posters and we learned about seeing a story from other characters perspectives.
Adjectives (Lesson 8– 12):
We learned about various types of adjectives. We also studied new and useful adjectives relating to color, size, and opinion. During our discussions, students became interested in Tardigrades, so I also made a lesson about them. We concluded this mini unit by playing Apples to Apples using the adjectives we studied.
Parts of Words (Lesson 13– 19):
In this unit, we focused our attention on root words, prefixes, suffixes and compound words. Students learned how to identify root words. They also discovered how the meanings of root words can change based on prefixes and suffixes. Finally, I exploited the YouTube hit, "Pineapple apple pen" to get students interested in compound words.
Around the World (Lesson 20– 25):
This unit explored maps, country adjectives, and climate regions. We also looked at how the earth moved and how that effects weather and seasons.
Winter Wonderland (Lesson 26– 28):
We finished off the year with some Christmas themed lessons. We looked at the song, "Winter Wonderland" and made Christmas cards. We even had a Christmas party.
