Johnny Appleseed

Fall  Finally!  Fall has arrived.  I'm ready for some cooler weather, colorful leaves, and of course some of Johnny Appleseed's apples.  I doubt the apples I'm eating are the descendants of one of the trees that John Chapman planted . . . but stranger things have happened.  

Learning about Johnny Appleseed is a great way to spark children's interests in plants, history, and economics!  In Virginia, it's not one of the famous Americans listed in the history Standards of Learning but it's an effective lead-in for learning about past and present as well as providing exposure to picture timelines which is one of the first grade standards.  Therefore, we usually spend a few days learning about this famous American folk hero.  I begin the unit by reading a few books about Johnny Appleseed.  We learn about his contributions to the young country of the United States.  Sometimes we watch a video about America's pioneers from Discovery Education or we'll go to a website that has age-appropriate content on Johnny Appleseed.  If you school has a subscription to BrainPop Jr., here is a link to a movie that might interest you:  Johnny Appleseed.

I made a few Johnny Appleseed resources and posted them at my Teachers Pay Teachers shop.  Here's a peek at them.  The first item is a printable booklet.  It has some basic facts about Johnny Appleseed.

The photo below shows what the front and back cover of the book look like.  It's important for children to continually increase their vocabulary through books they read so I created a little glossary on the back cover.

Click on the image shown below to see the booklet at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

I made a quiz about Johnny Appleseed as well.  The quiz is generic so that it can work with a variety of teaching resources about John Chapman.  The quiz is one of my FREE resources! 

The quiz is in multiple choice format.  Students will need to fill in the bubbles beside the correct answers.  The first five questions are the easiest.  I love to differentiate instruction and I especially love it when it can be done seamlessly!  Some students will stop the quiz after the first page.  That will be questions one through five.  Advanced students can continue to answer questions by completing the second page of the quiz.  The image shown below is from page two of the quiz.  The questions on page two require critical thinking skills and require additional background knowledge.

An answer key is included for your convenience.  If you'd like this quiz, click on the image shown below.

I converted the paper-copy quiz into a SMART Notebook file.  It's self-checking.  It can be used as a pre-test to the paper-copy quiz or it can be used to discuss the answers to the quiz.  It's also a FREE teaching resource!

Here's how it works.  Students can refer to their paper copy quiz as the answers are reviewed on the SMART board.

Call on a student to select A, B, or C from the answer choices shown.  Have the students touch the bubble for the choice he makes.

If the bubble-choice selected lights up as red, the answer is WRONG.  Try again.

If the bubble-choice selected lights up as green, the answer is CORRECT.

Are you ready to get the Johnny Appleseed SMART Board quiz?

Click on the image below to download the file.

Lessons by Molly, All rights reserved.

Free Teaching Resource-August Calendar -Smart Notebook August Calendar

August is here!  Soon it will be time to go back to school.  Many teachers are busy decorating their classrooms and preparing for the first day of school.  Gone are the days when school began after Labor Day.  Today, many schools open a week or two before Labor Day.  To celebrate the beginning of a new school year, I decided to create an August calendar freebie packet.  In addition to the PDF packet, there is a SMART Notebook file that can be downloaded separately.  It is also free!  The SMART Notebook file can be used if you have this type of software available in your school.  You will need to use SMART Notebook 11 for the file to work properly.  A lower version of SMART Notebook will be incompatible.

I am happy to let you know that the graphics I used for both the PDF file and the .notebook file were created by Laura Strickland.  Her website is:  mycutegraphics.com

These files will download separately.  This packet is appropriate for first and second grade levels.  It is designed to help the teacher meet the following Common Core State Standard:  1.MD.C.4 - Measurement & Data Points.  Some of the images appear blurry due to compressing the file for faster web viewing.  They will not look this way when you open and print the file.  Here is what you get with the PDF:

You get an August calendar for the children to refer to when they are answering the questions from the other pages. Make enough copies of this so each student has one.

You also get a partially numbered calendar. Make copies and have the children fill in the missing numerals. This could be used as a quick assessment at the start of the school year to see which of your students can form numerals correctly as well as complete a numeric sequence. (I used the ABC Print font from Fonts4teachers for the numerals shown here.)

 

Students fill in the bubbles with the correct answer.  There isn't visual provided within the PDF to permit the children to know what will happen on August 21st from question # 3.  It will be up to the educator to think of an event for that date or she can use fact that there is a full moon on this date.  There is a visual provided in the SMART Notebook file for this.

There is a small scale version of the calendar on this page for the students to refer to.



Here is the link that gets you to everything above.  Calendar-Skills-Printables-August 2013 

Below are some slides from the SMART Notebook file.  There are a few review slides which I did not show here.  You have my permission to change the background color I used if what is shown does not suit your needs.

The numbers on this slide will move on and off the calendar.  Create your own calendar activities with this slide.

I used the object animation tool to create ovals that appear to change colors.  When an oval is touched, its color will appear to change to red or green.  An oval beside the correct answer will become green.  An oval that is incorrect will become red.

The numbers on the calendar shown on this slide will not move.  It is a screen captured image from the original.

Before students can answer questions # 1 and # 2, they will need to have an understanding of the concept of "first" and "last".  A good activity to complete beforehand is to play "Shuffle the Line".  Have the children form a line.  Ask a child to name the person that is first in line.  Ask another child to name the person that is last in line.  Have the children walk around the classroom.  Then have them get in line again.  Ask the questions again.  "Who is first in line?  Who is last in line?"  Repeat at least one more time.

Can't wait for the full "Blue Moon" although this one appears to be yellow.

I used the transparency feature instead of the highlighter tool to make the word, "August" stand out for this question.

This time I wanted the students to focus their attention on the number of "Saturdays" in August.

On this slide I "highlighted" the year 2013.  I also used the shape tool to make the star that is seen on the calendar. 

I "highlighted" a row on the calendar to show the number of days in one full week.

On this slide I alternated the colors in each row to make the "full" weeks in August show up.

All the days within the month are "highlighted" on this slide.

Using symbols and keys are important mapping skills for early elementary children to develop.  (This question is not included in the PDF file.)



Here is the link to get the free SMART Notebook file:  SMART_Notebook_Calendar_Activities_August 2013.

Lessons by Molly © 2013  All rights reserved.

Crayon Colors Bingo Game Freebie

UPDATE August 05, 2019:  The crayon colors bingo game is available!

This is a fun game that you can play with your class at the beginning of the school year. Children are often curious about the names of the crayons on the labels of individual crayons. I hope this bingo activity will satisfy their curiosity! 

I created this bingo file based on common colors used on the crayons children bring to school at the beginning of the year!  There are 25 unique cards in all.  Please note that Crayon Colors Bingo will only be available through September 2nd.  Then, it's locked away until August 2020.  
Click on the image below to get the file.

In addition to creating the crayon bingo sheets for the children, I also created a SMART Notebook file so the educator can display the bingo game on the SMART board as the students use their individual sheets.  I used the shape tool to create the virtual transparent bingo chips.

Click on the NEXT image shown below to get the SMART Notebook version of the crayon colors bingo game.  Drag the virtual bingo chips over a word when you play the game.

Copyright 2013 Lessons by Molly.  All rights reserved.

What's So Great About SMART Response?

Do you use SMART Response in your classroom?  If you have, then your are familiar with the Senteo interactive response system.  Today they're called SMART Response interactive response system.  That's a mouthful to say!  I usually just call them Responders but they're also referred to as "clickers".  SMART Response requires the use of Responders.  If you are not familiar with the Responders, the closest thing I can compare it to is the hand held devices the audience used in the show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?   When the audience was polled by the contestant, they responded to a multiple choice question and their answers were displayed for the "hopeful millionaire" to view. 

Schools that have SMART boards will often purchase at least one class set of Responders.  There are at least two types of clickers available.  The one used in the lower elementary grades have simple symbols that use shapes and colors such as a triangle or star.  Here is a link to what the LE model looks like.  The child presses on one of the symbols when indicating his/her answer for a multiple choice or yes/no type of question.  The shapes/colors are used instead of having the answer choices as A, B, C, D, or E.  This type of multiple choice format is easy for young children to adapt to.  The educator can tailor a set of questions on any topic with SMART Response.  When creating a multiple choice type of question, the teacher can choose to have up to five possible answers for the students to pick from.  Or she can have as little as two choices for her students to select from.  Additionally, there is an option to create an opinion question.  This gives the children exposure to the idea that a question does not necessarily have a "right" or "wrong" answer.

The teacher can also choose to use pictures/images in place of text for her answers.  This is helpful when using the Responders with young children who are not yet skilled at reading.  It's also a great way to get the children started with using the Responders.  To do this, leave the text blank instead of typing answer choices.  Then select one of the symbols/letter choices to be the correct answer.  When the question and shapes/colors display on the slide, insert pictures/images beside each symbol (triangle, star, etc. . .) with the correct picture answer matching the symbol/letter that you indicated as such.

So what's so great about SMART Response? 

1.  It ACTIVELY engages all the students.  Instead of having just one child answer the question orally while the others students are passively engaged in listening and watching what the chosen child does, all students are now assigned the role of answering the questions.  (Isn't that what they did in Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  That is, they engaged the audience as a whole instead of just a few selected members.)

2.  Students receive IMMEDIATE feedback.  Let's face it, we all like getting feedback.  Students are no different.  And whether they get the answer right or wrong, it becomes a learning tool for them when they know how they're doing.  When the teacher stops the question, the Responders tell the children whether or not their answer was correct before advancing to the next question.

3.  It's an ASSESSMENT TOOL for the educator.  Since each Responder is assigned its own number, the educator can assign a unique Responder to every student in the classroom.  Once she stops a question, it tells her the responses from every child in the class.  Not only does she know who got the answer wrong, she also knows which wrong answer was selected.  This permits her to determine the next action with regard to assisting the child with the concepts.   The teacher can collect and save the data in an instant. She could also create a paper & pen checklist to record data as the students answer the questions.  The third option is to simply make informal observations about the children's responses to the questions.

If you're not sure how to get started with SMART Responders, you might ask your school's technology team for assistance.

Three important tips about using SMART Response:

1.   Sometimes a child will put pressure on more than one button on the Responder.  The Responder will pick up on what was pressed first.  This may not be what the child intended to pick.  It's a good idea to remind your students to press their finger directly on top of the button they're choosing.  Caution them to avoid touching multiple buttons.

2.  Remember to START a question . . . and STOP each question.  Start the question before students respond . . . you might need to tell them to wait.  Stop the question when your students are finished responding.

3.  If you are planning to use the Responders as an assessment tool, you will need to explain to children not to share their answers with others.  Otherwise, they will assume that is a collaborative event and will begin to view their neighbor's responses.

Are you ready to try SMART Response?  A have a free file for you to practice with.  The photos below show most of the slides in the SMART Response file I created.  Please let me know if you use this file and how it words for you. 

All graphics and frames are from My Cute Graphics created by Laura Strickland.  She was so kind and gave me permission to use her graphics for this project.  Visit her website at mycutegraphics.com



You will need the SMART Notebook 11 software as well as SMART Response.  A lower version of SMART Notebook will be incompatible with this file.  To get this file, Click on the words, SMART Notebook July 2013 Calendar Activities with SMART Response Questions.



In this slide, I created three possible answers for the students to choose from.  I also added an image of the calendar so students and teachers could use it as a reference tool. I animated the arrow so that is appears when you enter the slide.

In this slide I used four possible answers.  For first grade, it's best to use no more than four selections.  With Kindergarten students, start with two selections.

For most of my slides I chose to write the statement on the first line and the question on the next line.

  

The text in the question section can be modified after it's imported into the slide.

You have my permission to remove the arrows or change the background color to suit your classroom and individual needs.

   

I used the shape tool to create rectangles around the "tents".  Then I used the fill color and made it semi-transparent to draw attention to those dates on the calendar.

          

I used images instead of text for the answer choices on this slide.  This slide also shows just 2 answer choices which is a good number to start with when using Responders with children at the kindergarten level.

Lessons by Molly © 2013  All rights reserved.