Compare and Contrast

So... last April I was very fortunate and got to attend a teacher conference at The Ron Clark Academy. I was inspired in soooooo many ways of all the exciting things that were happening at the Ron Clark school. I was so anxious to take a few ideas back to my classroom to help keep students engaged and make learning so MUCH fun. However, when I returned from Ron Clark at 9 months pregnant, I figured it probably wasn't the smartest, nor safest thing, to teach while standing on a table! So this was the week I started.... and let me tell you the kids LOVED it.... well after they looked at me kinda crazy and asked why I was standing on a table. Anyway, sorry for that quick tangent.

Another week of October has come and gone with a blink of an eye. This week we learned a lot about comparing and contrasting, and with Halloween quickly approaching we tied in a favorite book by everyone, Stellaluna.

After learning all about bats last week, students did a great job comparing and contrasting bats and birds. In the beginning of the week, I asked my kiddos how the two animals were different and there were maybe only one or two responses. However, at the of the week each student was able to recall several ways that they are similar and different.

Here is our Venn-diagram that showed how bats and birds were similar and different:

Then each student had to fill out their own chart of how bats and birds were different in specific categories: 

Bats and birds were not the only thing students had to compare and contrast this week. Students also had to compare and contrast their Halloween costume with a friend's Halloween costume. They then wrote a narrative piece on their Halloween costume. We learned how to use a graphic organizer to help get our thoughts down for our writing. Here is a picture of our graphic organizer that we used:

Lastly, in the spirit of Halloween and nonfiction  we did a little reading about spiders!! Scholastic had a great article this month on spiders where we learned some creepy facts and all about their different body parts.

Today, we did a little creative project where students were able to create a spider and then write 8 "th" words (spelling pattern for the week) on each of their spider's legs. 

Thanks for tuning in to this blog post and look back again soon for another week of great learning!