Studying the state of Alaska? Perhaps doing a unit on Ornithology? This project based unit is designed to help students study and record information about Alaska’s state bird – the Willow Ptarmigan!
To learn more, see details below or you can preview a similar product here. This similar product preview will show you what this resource includes with the only difference being the bird will be the Alaska state bird!
What type of pages are contained in this set: – A map page (for the state) – Scientific classification page – A page for students to give details about the bird’s physical description, habitat, diet, life span and reproduction – A page where students will do additional map work to show where in the U.S. the bird lives in addition to migration information – Coloring page – Several pages on which students can use for expository and/or creative writing as well as sections in which students may draw.
14 pages in all and is designed for different levels / abilities.
My Teaching Library has a notebooking set for each of all 50 states. In addition, you can get all of them bundled!
If you are looking for a different state bird resource, go to My Teaching Library and in the search bar type in the state you want + state bird (ex: Maryland state bird)
Create a fun, engaging activity celebrating Groundhog Day! Students will create their own 11 page reader. This resource includes vocabulary in the reader and 3 worksheets that go along with the reader. Worksheets will assess student comprehension and asks students to make predictions. There is also a group prediction worksheet.
Extension activity suggestion: Have students create paintings of both possible weather scenarios (one on each side) – six more weeks of winter / early spring
Studying the state of Michigan? Perhaps doing a unit on Ornithology? This project based unit is designed to help students study and record information about Michigan’s state bird – the American Robin!
Included: – A map page (for the state) – Scientific classification page – A page for students to give details about the bird’s physical description, habitat, diet, life span and reproduction – A page where students will do additional map work to show where in the U.S. the bird lives in addition to migration information – Coloring page – Several pages on which students can use for expository and/or creative writing as well as sections in which students may draw.
14 pages in all and is designed for different levels / abilities. You can preview a similar product here. This similar product will show you page by page what you can expect in this product (only the bird is different)!
Studying the state of Texas? Perhaps doing a unit on Ornithology? This project-based unit is designed to help students study and record information about Texas’s state bird – the Northern Mockingbird!
What type of pages are contained in this set: – A map page (for the state) – Scientific classification page – A page for students to give details about the bird’s physical description, habitat, diet, life span and reproduction – A page where students will do additional map work to show where in the U.S. the bird lives in addition to migration information – Coloring page – Several pages on which students can use for expository and/or creative writing as well as sections in which students may draw.
14 pages in all and is designed for different levels / abilities. You can preview a similar product here. This similar product will show you page by page what you can expect in this product (only the bird is different)!
Studying the state of Alabama? Perhaps doing a unit on Ornithology? This project based unit is designed to help students study and record information about Alabama’s state bird – the Northern Flicker!
Included: – A map page (for the state) – Scientific classification page – A page for students to give details about the bird’s physical description, habitat, diet, life span and reproduction – A page where students will do additional map work to show where in the U.S. the bird lives in addition to migration information – Coloring page – Several pages on which students can use for expository and/or creative writing as well as sections in which students may draw.
14 pages in all and is designed for different levels / abilities. You can preview a similar product here. This similar product will show you page by page what you can expect in this product (only the bird is different)!
Studying the state of Hawaii? Perhaps doing a unit on Ornithology? This project-based unit is designed to help students study and record information about Hawaii’s state bird – the Nene (Hawaiian Goose)!
Included: – A map page (for the state) – Scientific classification page – A page for students to give details about the bird’s physical description, habitat, diet, life span and reproduction – A page where students will do additional map work to show where in the U.S. the bird lives in addition to migration information – Coloring page – Several pages on which students can use for expository and/or creative writing as well as sections in which students may draw.
14 pages in all and is designed for different levels / abilities. You can preview a similar product here. This similar product will show you page by page what you can expect in this product (only the bird is different)!
Your kiddos will love learning to read with this fun, interactive phonics resource as they actively color, cut, paste, and write and learn words from the -at word family. This product focuses on CVC words but as a bonus, I’ve thrown in some optional CCVC words to expand learning!
Cross-curricular and engaging, this resource will have students use a variety of Language Arts skills and activities as they learn about this important woman of history! Earhart was an American aviation pioneer. She was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots!
Looking for fun Winter Math activities? Check out my Snowman Graphing for 2nd and 3rd Grades unit. Your students will have fun creating unique ‘dressed’ snowmen. After all are complete, the graphing activity(ies) can begin! Great as a whole class activity, or in cooperative groups and/or centers. This has been created for 2nd and 3rd grades, however younger or older students might enjoy as well.
Combining Geography and Art, students will discover the state flower for each of the 50 U.S. States! Each page has a large state flower to color + the state name. Whether you are studying each state or simply want to provide some fun but educational activities to your classroom, students will enjoy this resource.
This Science resource has been designed to help students learn the phases of cellular division / reproduction through the process of mitosis. Phases outlined: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase and Cytokinesis. I’ve include both color and b/w posters / handout, with and without explanations of what actually occurs during each phase.
A layered research assignment gives students the opportunity to delve deeply into a topic and give students a variety of tasks from which to choose, all designed to guide and build a meaningful learning experience. Also, when using this layered approach, students will move through Bloom’s Taxonomy of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
My Teaching Library offers this easy to use resource that will guide students through (step by step) the three layers of research and can be used with any topic. Since this resource can be used for any topic, it can be used again and again!
The three layers of research: * The first (bottom) layer will give students 9 tasks of which they will perform all of them. This layer will help students get a good grasp of the topic and begin to gather the materials they will need to create a great project, (knowledge and comprehension).
* For the second (middle) layer, students are given 6 tasks of which they will choose to complete 4. Here, students will continue to gain knowledge and comprehension as well as begin applying (application), analyzing (analysis) and even some synthesizing (synthesis) of what is being learned.
* For the third (top) layer, students are given 9 tasks of which they will choose to complete 6. This top layer of tasks is truly designed for students to move further into synthesizing and evaluating (evaluation) of the material that has been studied.
As students progress from one layer to the next using this approach, they will move throughout, up and down, Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning and will have been able to not only learn about their chosen topic but will have demonstrated that learning in tangible ways.
Does the picture above remind you of something you’ve ever experienced?
When I was teaching and then after I became a homeschool mom, this was (all too often) ME!
I was always looking for ideas to make learning more fun and develop and nurture a student’s love for learning. I quickly realized that taking a short departure from the curriculum was all it took!
Advantages in taking short departures from scheduled curriculum
What do I mean by a short departure? It’s simply adding a quick, short unit study or bunny trail spurred by something not in the curriculum.
By doing this you can:
– Provide a productive break from the curriculum routine
– Open a child’s mind to new interests
– Continue to provide structure within which students can develop valuable skills in writing, research, observation, reading comprehension, and critical thinking all while widening content area learning in areas like science, geography, history or even math.
Where can you get some ideas?
It can be as simple as a quick trip to My Teaching Library’s Calendar page! On My Teaching Library, I have place hundreds of historical events, observations, holidays, and more on the calendar. I’ve done so to give you some ideas to take little detours in learning!
One thing I learned while teaching is this…Sometimes the most valuable lessons or biggest improvements in a student’s skill set came from what I call a ‘bunny trail’ lesson or a departure from the curriculum.
Finding My Teaching Library’s Calendar page
To check out the MTL calendar, simply go to the home page, scroll down past the “Skills & Concepts to Teach” and keep scrolling until you see Educational Planning Calendar
On May 1st, you’ll see that the first U.S. Postal Card was issued. So, where could you go with this?
Perhaps you could do a quick study on the U.S. postal service. The end product could be asking students to do a timeline of what they found, do an oral report or for older students, create a PowerPoint.
Another idea would be to take the year, 1873, and investigate what other events occurred in the U.S. or even world history during that same year!
Example #2
On June 2, 1924, the U.S. granted citizenship to all Native Americans. WOW, this could lead to so many ‘bunny trail’ possibilities such as…
– A study of citizenship and the benefits that come with being a U.S. citizen
– A study on the process immigrants must go through to become U.S. citizens
– The effects (intended or otherwise) of this act in 1924 on Native Americans
– A study of a specific group of Native Americans, perhaps from your region of the country
-Native American reservations in the U.S. today
I could go on and on!
Finding Resources
I wish I could tell you that My Teaching Library has every resource you’ll ever need for all your ‘detours’. I can’t. However, I’m working on it! LOL
You can always do a key word search to see if MTL does…and remember that if your first key word doesn’t bring up something, try multiple different key words.
What I can do right this moment is to direct you to products that can be used again and again in multiple ‘detour’ studies.
The first is MTL’s Graphic Organizers. This is a set of 80 organizers from Venn diagrams to timelines that can be used for almost any study!
MTL also has Mini-Book Templates! Younger students can use these again and again to make mini-books about things they study.
If you want students to write on a topic, why not have them use MTL’s Newspaper Templates for Expository Writing! These templates can be used across the curriculum, for any study and students love to be a reporter!
I do hope I’ve given you some ideas on how you can expand learning while taking short departures from curriculum!
To help you get ready, I wanted to share with you some great My Teaching Library resources designed just for the holiday. The first category I’ll share are considered neutral / non-religious (meaning their graphics will contain bunnies, chicks, eggs, etc.). The second category I’ll share are religious (meaning they will include graphics related to and or actual scriptures surrounding the Christian Easter story).
Color Words | Easter Practice Help your students practice valuable reading, writing and following directions skills with these Easter egg – color word themed pages! Students will be asked to read, trace and copy words and sentences, identify color words, unscramble and spell color words correctly and follow directions. Their creativity can also shine on the last 2 pages where they color two different Easter quilts!
My Easter Friends Mini-Story Book Students will love creating their own Easter mini-book about fun Easter characters! Characters in the story: Easter Duck, Little Duck, Easter Bunny, Little Lamb and Easter Bear. Students will practice fine motor skills as the color and trace. Once complete, they’ll have a fun, little 18 page book to read and share!
Easter Language Arts Unit | Vocabulary $4.00 Help your students learn and practice using new vocabulary words during March and April with a fun, Easter themed resource which contains a variety of Language Arts skills throughout including grammar, spelling, alphabetizing, using words in context, sentence writing and more. (Includes some differentiated activities)
Easter Writing Paper Give your students beautiful stationary paper to use when publishing around the Easter holiday. This specific set is secular – with bunnies, eggs, and baskets. There are 21 different designs, each in color and in b/w and designed to use with a variety of ages as I’ve included a variety of pages with dashed-center lines as well as pages with single solid lines.
Easter Word Challenge Here is a fun code puzzle where students must figure out the words (without text clues) to complete a crossword puzzle! Students are given 4 ‘clue’ letters and the rest will be for them to discover…using critical thinking skills and their knowledge of Easter related vocabulary. After the students have found the words and completed the puzzle, they are then asked to write a story using each of the words at least once.
Easter Crossword Puzzle An Easter crossword puzzle which will give students a fun way to work with holiday related vocabulary: candy, basket, hunt, eggs, lamb, chocolate, Spring, April, bunny, flower, jelly beans and chick.
Easter Early Learning Activities Help your young learners practice counting, fine motor skills and writing through tracing with this ‘Easter egg hunt’ resource with chicks, bunnies, eggs and baskets this March or April. Designed to teach Math and Language Arts skills to Preschool, PreK and Kindergarten, students will color, count and trace as they color pictures, count eggs, and trace numbers and a sentence on each page.
Easter Cursive Handwriting Sheets Easter Cursive Handwriting Sheets includes 6 student pages to give students handwriting practice (cursive) with the letters of E-A-S-T-E-R (capital and lower case) and a few Easter related words!
Easter Manuscript Handwriting Practice Provide your students with extra handwriting practice with these Easter themed (bunny and eggs) pages. Students will practice printing manuscript letters and words such as Easter, bunny, basket, eggs as well as two simple sentences: ‘The Easter eggs are in the Easter basket” and “The Easter eggs are dyed many colors.” Students will also love coloring the pictures!
Easter Vocabulary Work for 1st and 2nd Grades Students will learn new vocabulary and practice handwriting, spelling, categorizing, alphabetizing, counting syllables, and creating plurals. There is also a word search puzzle! Studies have shown that word search and other word puzzles can help improve memory, focus, vocabulary, word recognition, pattern recognition, and overall mental acuity!
Easter Mazes Here are 10 fun Easter mazes for your students!
Five Colorful Easter Eggs Your preschool students will love Five Colorful Easter Eggs! Includes: A colorful story for you to read to your students, b/w student pages of the story for them to color the pictures and trace number words (and a few others as well), a set of items to use interactively with students and Math center materials!
The Egg Tree | Caldecott Book Guided Reading and Response This Reading / Literacy resource offers guided reading questions and student journal responses that will help students enjoy and appreciate the book and illustrations of The Egg Tree, written and illustrated (1951 Caldecott Medal) by Katherine Milhous. During this unit, students will be asked to give opinions, answer factual questions about the story, use critical thinking skills and be creative!
An Enchanted Egg | Cross-Curricular Easter Unit Designed for 4th-6th Grades – Students will enjoy this engaging Easter resource that is centered around Faberge eggs! It begins with a fun story about a boy named, Neil and his ‘trip in time to Russia’. After reading students will complete several worksheets.
2nd Category: Religious
Easter Writing Paper | Christian Give your students beautiful stationary paper to use when publishing around the Easter holiday. This specific set of designs are Christian based. There are 14 different designs, each in color and in b/w. Students will love publishing stories, essays, poems and more on these pages!
Easter Scriptures Workbook: Manuscript – NIV Help students learn the Easter story by copying scripture! This version of Easter Scriptures Copy Work and Handwriting Practice uses scriptures are from the NIV, New International Version. Students will be provided scriptures to copy as well as well as pages to draw pictures (about the scripture) AND write about (reflect) on the scriptures. There are 41 student pages.
Easter Scriptures Workbook: Manuscript – KJV Help students learn the Easter story by copying scripture! This version of Easter Scriptures Copy Work and Handwriting Practice uses scriptures are from the KJV, King James Version. Students will be provided scriptures to copy as well as well as pages to draw pictures (about the scripture) AND write about (reflect) on the scriptures. There are 41 student pages.
Easter Scriptures Handwriting by Tracing for Young Students Help young students learn the Easter story through tracing scripture. Both NIV and KJV scriptures are included in this version. This resource, Easter Scriptures Handwriting by Tracing for Young Students, is designed for students who would benefit from ‘tracing’ words instead of copy work. Each page has a scripture for tracing as well a place for the student to draw a picture reflecting the scripture.
The Easter Story Scripture Cursive Handwriting Help students learn the Easter story with this cursive handwriting, copy work resource which contains important Easter story scriptures! It includes 2 sections: NIV using scriptures from the New International Version bible and KJV using scriptures from the King James bible. Students will be provided scriptures to copy as well as well as pages to draw pictures (about the scripture) AND write about (reflect) on the scriptures. There are 41 student pages for each section (NIV and KJV)
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