Personalized Learning with Center Based Instruction Part 1 - Intensive

Students learn in many ways and as educators it is our responsibility to provide as many methods and opportunities for students to learn the content. During the 5 E instructional model for science, the Elaborate portion is where I provide student choice with different student led centers. 

I have centers based on three levels of expertise for each instructional standard: intensive, on grade level and enhancement.

Students whom need intensive review, I implement resources that keep their attention with tactile resources with a focus on vocabulary and immediate feedback. I shared three of my favorites.

One of my favorites for vocabulary review is printing my vocabulary deck from Quizlet and making dual sided flash cards with the term and definition provided for immediate understanding. Those cards are used with recycled board game maps and students roll a dice and correctly answering a flash card get to move their character across the board. If answered incorrectly, they skip a turn. For increased ownership ask students to provide their own unique game piece or 3D print their own design. Here you can find links to all my 5th grade science decks.

Second is using Jenga. Each box contains 54 boards which I split into two groups of 27 so two pairs of students can use. I numbered the boards 1-27 and I have questions typed up with answers provided on a separate sheet. Students pull a board, look for the corresponding question number and answer the question. Their partner reviews the answers and indicates whether he/she has gotten it correct and trades the question/answer sheet. There isn't a winner regarding the activity, just students pulling boards out of the tower and once it falls, have them rebuild and continue. Here, is an example of one of my 5th grade science Jenga QUESTIONS and ANSWERS.

The third is using Hand2mind Versatiles. A great affordable resource for pairs of students to complete independently. Students answer questions while maneuvering tiles by matching the questions with the correct letters to create a set colored pattern. Students can quickly determine whether the answers are correct by flipping the board and using the viewer to see if their pattern matches the one given. Versatiles comes with different booklets based on many subjects and grade levels and they are easy to create your own as well. Here is an example of one I created for 5th grade science.

Cooper Loves Centers n Treats. Mostly Treats

Augmented Reality Curriculum Night Post Cards

I shared this idea at DENSI 2018. Students wrote postcards for curriculum night. They welcomed and thanked parents for attending curriculum night and explained what they were looking forward to this year. On the opposite side, like any postcard, they decorated it with a drawing that best represented themselves or what they were looking forward to this year.

Using Greenscreen by Doink  they took a picture of their drawing and used it as the backdrop. Next using the greenscreen app, they walked into the screen and read their postcard.

Using HP Reveal (Aurasma) they augmented their postcard. With their image being their backdrop and them walking into the camera's view, it made a Harry Potter type of feel as they seemed to magically come to life.

I have used this method with instruction for years; interactive word walls and bulletin boards showing what they have learned about topics in class, article/book summaries, biographies, explaining math concepts. Great way to show what you learned in an engaging way.

Augmented Post Cards Video

Here is step by step GUIDE use HP Reveal (Aurasma)

Cooper is very interested

Water Cycle Sort Cards

Distinguish between evaporation and condensation using content vocabulary and tier 2 words for a deeper understanding.

Water Cycle Sort Cards

Mr. Terupt's Dollar Words - Handout, Presentation

First week of school I love reading aloud "Because of Mr. Terupt." It teaches collaboration, acceptance, and creativity.

In the A.M., my "Morning Work" is a makerspace. A great activity is for students to create "Dollar Words" to place on the bulletin board.

I also have them spell out their name and see how much it costs, they seem to love that activity more.

Here are links to downloads to use in your classroom for students to create their own "Dollar Words"

Center Mini Breakout Games

An alternative to small group / whole group Breakout/Escape games, students can work independently to open a container based on content as a center.

Using a small pencil pouch or a small lock box, create a few clues to complete within a shorter time period where 2-3 students can complete.

Here is an example of one I created as a gift at a Discovery Education conference. The content was facts about Charlotte, NC.  Use this as an inspiration to create your own content based game.

Here is the link to all the materials and a walkthru to creating this breakout

Cooper Love

TEDTalks-esque Teacher Talks "Presenting about Finding Your Joy in Education"

There’s incredible power in sharing ideas and experiences. James Ford, a former CMS teacher and 2014 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, knew this when he proposed the idea of TED-like talks by and for CMS teachers.  Based on James’ idea and inspired by the world-renowned talks shared by TED, Teacher Talks provides CMS teachers with both a platform and forum to exchange ideas, share experiences and inspire each other as they nurture talent and cultivate the minds of tomorrow.

For Peter Panico, building a strong support network helped him find joy in teaching. In this talk, Peter shares his experience of becoming a Discovery Educator and encourages others to find community in education. 

2017 Recognition Ceremony

Instead of a traditional slide show at the end of the year displaying clips of images and videos from throughout the year. I wanted the students to take ownership of their learning and have them create their own video to forever cherish as they were a part of the creation process.

Nothing feels greater nor long lasting than accomplishment.

I made sure every student had their moment to shine as they found students they wanted to film with. The only caveat was to have fun plus one very important thing.

Each group had to begin their video with the previous transition to make a connection and end their video with a new transition for the next group to work with.

5th Grade Forces Star Wars Breakout

This breakout game is to review all the 5th grade standards for Forces and Motion.  I created it to share easily among teachers so they only need a minimal amount of setup to run the game.  As all my games, it is setup for 5 teams to work collaboratively to complete the game.

Click to access all the materials and steps to setup the game are shared in Google Drive.

Materials Needed:

Internet Access - Devices for each team

1 Large Breakout Box

5 Three digit locks

1 hasp

5 three digit locked boxes

5 UV (ultraviolet) pens

5 medium to large vanilla envelopes

5 small envelopes

5 Envelopes / Boxes to place materials (5 small boxes with sheet protectors on top - Optional)

Cardstock for the puzzle pieces, Sort pieces

“Secret Plans” Google Form

Glue or Tape

Colored pencils to decorate droids

Setup:

DROID Large Envelope - SEE ABOVE TO ALIGN THE CORRECT FORMS

Print the 5 copies of the Droid Drawings -  (All 5 are slightly different so you need use them all)

Cut out and decorate the droids, be sure to keep the QR area black and white

Tape to the front of the large envelopes

Print the file “Imperial Access Codes” which contains 5 different copies

Tape them to the back of the large envelope

Print 5 copies of the Droid Jigsaw Puzzle File on cardstock

Cut out the pieces and place them inside the droid envelopes

UV Pen - Write each of the following scenarios onto each of the Droids image page of the envelope

*one scenario per droid cover page, use each scenario only once*

Select the graph that displays movement at a constant speed

Select the graph that displays constant movement interrupted by a five minute break

Select the graph that displays constant movement interrupted by a ten minute break

Select the graph that displays constant movement then no longer moves

Select the graph that displays an unmoving object

Small 3 Digit Boxes

Print the 5 Imperial Symbols

Label each of the 5 small boxes with the Empire’s Circular Label

Print 5 copies of “QA Sort Cards” on Cardstock

Separate and place inside each 3 digit box

Place a UV light in each of the 5 boxes

Set the locks of the small boxes with the above combinations

5 Boxes/Envelopes

Print and separate the 5 graphs and place one on each of the envelopes/boxes

I used decorated cigar boxes with sheet protectors so I can re-use them

Print 5 copies of the “File Name Word Search” file (2 pages)

Place the “File Name Word Search” sheets in each of the 5 boxes

Large Breakout Box

Print 5 copies of the Imperial Security Codes worksheet

Place each inside a small envelope

Label each envelope “Imperial Security Code”

Place the envelopes inside the large Breakout Box

Using the hasp, lock the box with the 5 three digit locks with the above combinations

Playing the Game

Play the Star Wars Intro Video to destroy the Death Star by stealing the Empire’s plans from a Droid Spy.  

Each team should have a small black box in front of them.  Hand out the Droid envelope to begin the game

The clues can be completed in ANY order - You will need to enter all three passwords to the Google Form to win.

Back of the Droid Envelope “Imperial Access Codes” = 3 digit lock boxes

Count the number of Potential Energy examples for each vertical column

The number will open the 3 digit lock box.

The box contains a UV pen light, and sort cards

Sort question cards with their correct answers

Each card has either a letter or a number on the bottom corner.

Writing them in the correct order (question 1-6) will create a 12 digit Access Code

Enter the Access Code in the “Secret Plans” Google Form

Jigsaw Puzzle Inside the Droid Envelope = Large Breakout Box

Piece together the jigsaw puzzle

The puzzle displays a question to determine speed

Solve the question to obtain an answer

Look at the image of the droid to locate a number

The droid number on the cover image is the first digit to the 3 digit lock, the next two digits are the speed answer

The three digits will open one of the locks on the Large Breakout Box

**in order to open the box, ALL 5 teams need to complete the jigsaw puzzzle**

Large Breakout Box

An envelope labeled Imperial Security Codes contains the next clue

Each team selects an envelope

Solve each of the Speed questions

List all the answers in order with No Spaces will generate a “Security Code”

Enter the Security Code in the “Secret Plans” Google Form

Entering all the answers with no spaces on the Google Form “Security Codes” will unlock it

Droid Image and Hidden Message

The droid image has a QR Code in the center of it.

Scan the QR code will open the “Secret Plans” Google Form

It requires 3 passwords found in the rest of the Game

The droid’s name (a number) is on the image

Hidden Message

Using the UV light on the image of the droid will reveal a secret message clue to solve

Each of the five situations refers to a specific graph posted on a box/envelope for students

(monitor to determine they select the correct graph)

Inside is the 2 page word search sheets

Answer the vocabulary questions to get a list of terms

Complete the wordsearch to eliminate all of the vocabulary words listed

The word that is missing is the correct filename - kinetic

Enter the Filename in the “Secret Plans” Google Form

Secret Plans Google Form

Enter each of the three codes - Access Code, File Name and Security Code

The Google Form has a set of Science questions needed to be answered

If ANY question is incorrect, the From will move the team back to the beginning of the file

Once all the questions have been entered correctly - The Death Star Exploding Video can be played ending the game.

Can't Stop This Feeling

Thanks to Chad Lehman sharing his idea and project to all in Chicago.  To support Discovery Education's Theme of bringing Joy back to education, 5th graders created a music video.

Cooper vs Sharknado

States of Matter Paper Slides

An expectation for 5th grade during our States of Matter unit is to identify and describe all the physical and chemical properties of matter.

Students worked in small groups to select a common item and describe it with as much detail and key vocabulary as they could.  I did not provide a rubric, just their interactive notebooks where they can utilize their vocabulary and write their script.

To display what they have learned, I used one of my favorite Discovery Education SOS lessons; Paper Slide Videos.

Some of the videos had mistakes, however it led to good discussions after viewing them as a class.

After completion, students create a QR code of their video to attach to their interactive notebooks.

Cooper waiting to be read to at the library