Primary and Secondary Sources- Oh My!

While most fifth grade students feel fairly comfortable locating, reading and taking notes from secondary sources, it is equally important that they learn how to identify and use primary sources. Often photographs, documents, letters, etc. get overlooked as amazing sources of information.

After giving students a real life example requiring them to think about which source of information would provide the best information for the situation at hand, students then learned the definition of both primary and secondary sources of information.

From there, students sorted various sources (biography, video, textbook, to name a few) into primary or secondary categories using the SmartBoard vortex activity template.

A good follow-up to this introductory lesson requires students to analyze a specific primary source (perhaps one related to a social studies or reading unit of study) in order to determine information about a specific time and place in history.

Students walked away from this initial lesson understanding the validity of each type of source of information, but that not every source of information is the best for every research situation.

Fifth grade students sort sources into either primary or secondary categories.

Not a Normal Day at G.E.S.!

For the second year in a row, I decided to read Not Norman by Kelly Bennett and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones, to all K classes at G.E.S. This is a fiction story about a boy who receives a goldfish for a pet, but wants anything but a goldfish for a pet.  He tries to get rid of him, but over the course of doing so, realizes how wonderful this pet can really be!

To work on our opinion writing skills, students wrote one reason why the pet goldfish Norman was such a great pet for the boy main character.  Students created Norman the goldfish by using orange paint and their good ol' hands!  It was once again a wonderful project to showcase their learning.

A happy kindergarten student creating her Not Norman picture.

This year I decided to find Kelly Bennett's website at http://kellybennett.com/. Here is where I found the librarian's jackpot; Kelly Bennett visits with schools via Skype.  So, I emailed her and arranged a Skype visit for all K students and teachers to enjoy.  We learned all about her many goldfish pets of the past and even her cat! We even learned about a new book she has currently in the works about baseball.  Kelly reminded the students of the many revisions she needs to do to get books publisher-ready!  Kelly Bennett was gracious and such a wonderful role model for these young writers.  This was NOT just another author visit! Thank you, Kelly!

Kelly Bennett sharing her writing tips with K students at G.E.S.

CT Mystery Skype Visits

We just love Skyping here at Gainfield School; who doesn't? Skyping improves students' communication skills, helps us connect with others and reach a wider audience with our learning and sharing.

This year, all grade three students are participating in a Mystery Skype visit with a class from an unknown town in CT. What is their main goal?  You guessed it; students need to guess the town the other students live in by asking them some carefully crafted questions.  First, we brainstormed geography specific vocabulary that we could use in the development of our questions.  Then, we held a practice Skype visit during which we divided the classes in half.  We went back and forth asking questions such as, "Is your town east of the CT river?"  or "Does your county border Rhode Island?"

Grade three students work in teams to identify the mystery location.

Students communicate with each other using Skype technology.

Finally, on the day of the Skype, after the towns were revealed, each school shared some information about their town that the other school may find interesting!  Our first Skype visit was with our neighboring town of Middlebury!  We are having so much fun connecting with others.  A big thank you to teachers, Kim Benton and Shelia Hawley, for organizing this network of teachers and classrooms!