Holes Character Project

We are almost done with our "Holes" unit, so I wanted to share one of the projects we did during it. I created a project where the students would pretend to choose a character from "Holes" and take that character out to eat.The kids really loved doing it, and you could do it for any grade or book.

 Here is what their assignment sheet said:

Green Lake Grub
Choose a character from Holes to take out to eat.
Draw a picture on the paper plate of what their meal will look like. You may
choose to use construction paper to “build” the meal on your plate instead.
Make your paper plate creative, colorful and neat.
On a piece of lined paper you will write about why you chose to eat with this
character, where you went to eat, what you ate, and what you talked about.
This should be in complete sentences and with 6th grade writing.
Attach both the paper plate and your lined paper to a piece of construction
paper. Make sure your name is on it!
Your finished project should be set up to look like either of these:
(Here I had a diagram of what their final set out would look like, but it wouldn't transfer into the blog)

REQUIREMENTS
1. Paper plate with CHARACTER’S meal on it
2. Why you chose to eat with this character
3. Where you ate
4. What you BOTH ate
5. What you talked about
6. Colorful
7. Neatly done
8. Complete sentences
9. 6th grade writing
10.Attached to construction paper

Here are some characters we have
met so far:
Stanley, Mr. Sir, Mr. Pendanski,
Ellya(Stanley’s great-great
grandfather), Zero, Squid, Magnet,
X-ray, Armpit, Zig-Zag, the Warden, Mr.
Yelnats (Stanley’s dad), Sweet Feet
(Clyde Livingston), Madame Zeroni,
Mrs. Yelnats (Stanley’s mom), Myra

They turned out so great and I was really impressed. Here are some examples:

Some people chose to build their meal on their plate. 

This one was REALLY well written. 

I called the project "Green Lake Grub" because I love alliteration and the setting is Camp Green Lake. 

Here is the rubric I used to grade them:

Green Lake Grub Rubric
NAME:_____________ TOTAL SCORE:________________
PLATE_________ (5 possible points)
Characters meal represented on plate ______(2)
Colorful _____(1)
Neatly done_____ (1)
Attached to construction paper_____ (1)
WRITTEN EXPLANATION (10 possible points)
Why you chose to eat with this character _______(2)
Where you ate _____(1)
What you both ate______ (2)
What you talked about ______(1)
Neatly done/attached to construction paper ______(2)
6th grade writing/complete sentences _______(2)

6 Weeks

Positive Attitude Bulletin Board For Middle School 

I found this great idea for a bulletin board on Pinterest linked to this site: http://bulletinboardideas.org/7057/attitude-is-the-minds-paintbrush-motivational-bulletin-board/

I decided to place it on the bulletin board that is in the 6th grade hallway. It isn't quite as beautiful as the one from the site I found, and I ran out of paint samples, but it gets the point across and it really brightens up the hallway. 

What a great message! 

Teaching Binder

I've updated my teaching binder! 

When I open my binder the first thing I see is my lesson plan for that week. We are blocking Math and Language arts. So on Monday and Wednesday we teach Math for two hours, Tuesday and Thursday is Language Arts for two hours, and Friday is an hour of each. We also have an Advisory hour and Life Skills class. This way I can see what the plan is for the day and what will be assigned. I use these plans to write the agenda for the day on the board. We also place a paper under the document camera for each class with a list of the materials they will need for class that day. 

This isn't a very clear picture, but behind the lesson plan for that week I have a tab divider for each day of the week.

On each divider I place sticky notes for what will need to be copied for that day, what still needs to be prepared for that day, and what will be graded that evening. I also have a place to put sticky notes when planning for the next week. When I have the lesson plan ready for that week I will begin to place sticky notes for what I need to prepare and copy. This will be a huge help, and will help me stay ahead and stay prepared.

Then, behind each divider I have the materials that will be needed that day. This is behind my Tuesday tab for this week where I have a handout that needs to be copied and distributed. I also keep the keys and rubrics of what I will be graded that night behind this tab.

This is the first thing that is behind my tab for Monday, since we do math on Monday. I have the warm-up that I will place on the document camera for the students to work on while I take attendance and  check to see who has homework done for that day. I put the answers on a sticky note because I like to have students come up to the document camera and write and explain their answers to the class.

Behind all of my materials for that week is my "lesson plans" folder. It has a tab on the side so I can get to it quickly. It is where I place my past lesson plans in case I need to refer to them. The materials that I use I place back into the unit/subject binders.

This is the next folder/divider in my binder. It is titled "classes info" Here I keep seating charts, scopes and sequences for the year, emergency information, and a chart of the accommodations that should be made for some of my students.

Behind that divider is another the common core standards for the subjects I teach. I highlighted key words in them so that I can find the one I'm looking for more quickly.

Next, I have a folder/divider for notes. This is where I keep any notes or hand outs from meetings.

Last, is my folder for the seminar class and paper behind it to take notes.

This Week: 

Last week I assigned the students a project I called "Green Lake Grub." The students had to take a character from the book "Holes" out to eat. On a paper plate they had to build or draw a meal that their character would eat. Then they had to write  about what they both ate, why they chose to eat with that character, where they went to eat, and what they talked about. They had to attach both to a piece of construction paper. The kids were having a lot of fun with it last week and I will be collecting them on Tuesday. I can't wait to see what they come up with. 

We have MEAP testing this week and next week so I am trying to make the lessons fun or do something a little different than we usually do in Language Arts. On Tuesday they will be working in their literature circle groups. I figured that after sitting in silence for so long they would enjoy some time to talk and move about the room a little. On Thursday they will be watching videos and reading articles about juvenile detention centers and then learning about how to write an opinion paragraph for that. I thought it would be a good break from reading Holes and would give enrich the unit with good background information. We will probably do something similar later on when other themes or topics come up. 

In math we are finishing chapter two on solving equations and this week they will learn how to solve multiplication and division equations. On Wednesday we will review the chapter and on Monday will be their chapter test. 

Friday there isn't school for the kids, and us teachers are going to the Upper Peninsula Reading Conference. I've heard great things about it, so I'm excited to get to experience it myself. Hopefully I'll have a chance to update my blog over the weekend to let you know what I learned. I'm also super excited to see all of my teacher friends!  

I can't believe I'm almost halfway through student teaching!