Category Archives: Learning Opportunities

#66: How to use a semicolon

Reading Enrichment, Uncategorized

The semicolon might appear to be misunderstood. It resembles a combination of a comma and a period, which could explain why we often misuse these punctuation marks, treating them like grammatical confetti. This lesson aims to provide clear guidance and best practices for the correct usage of the semicolon.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #66: How to use a semicolon

2. Watch the video. Pause the video as needed to record notes. Pay special attention to any words that are new to you, rules, specific examples and sample sentences. These items should all be included on your recording page. You should have at least 5 items on your note page when you are done.

3. Write two sentences of your own using a semi colon  in each one and include them on the note taking page.

4. Share your language arts mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Lesson video by Emma Bryce, animation by Karrot Entertainment.

#57: Halloween Candy Sorting

Early Enrichment

Halloween only comes once a year.  It is sad, except that you probably have a lot of candy at home to cheer you up for a few weeks! For this early enrichment mini spark you are going to sort your Halloween candy in different ways! Talk with an adult to see if you are allowed to try out this project.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your early enrichment mini spark recording page #57: Halloween Candy Sorting

2. Watch this video to remind you how to set up a bar graph. On your recording sheet make a tiny bar graph as practice.

3. Decide how you would like to sort your candy. Look at the choices and record your decision on your recording page.

  • size
  • type
  • beginning letter
  • color of wrapper
  • size (big and small or small, medium, large)
  • chewy/crunchy
  • chocolate/not chocolate
  • like/not like

4. Sort your candy and take a picture.

5. Create a graph of your sort on your recording page. Use this graph as a guide.

6. Share your Early Enrichment mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

 

#47: The Black Sea

Social Studies Enrichment

In 2017, researchers off the Bulgarian coast discovered the oldest intact shipwreck ever found! This ancient Greek vessel was not only nearly 2,500 years old, but was just one of 65 shipwrecks found at the bottom of the Black Sea in remarkable condition. So, why does the Black Sea contain so many well-preserved shipwrecks? Helen Farr and Jon Adams dive into the depths of the unique body of water.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your social studies mini spark recording page: #47: Ancient Shipwreck.

2. Watch the video. Record 5 details about the Black Sea as you watch.

3. Find the Black Sea on a map and describe its location.

4.  Answers to at least 5 of these questions on your recording page. Remind your teacher that the key can be found in the social studies mini spark folder.

  1. Describe the condition of the shipwreck that was found. What features remained intact?
  2. How did researchers determine the age of the shipwreck?
  3. Why is the Black Sea referred to as “the world’s biggest pickle jar”?
  4. What role did the Black Sea play in historical trade and conflicts?
  5. Explain the significance of anaerobic bacteria in the preservation of the shipwrecks.
  6. What challenges do researchers face when attempting to recover artifacts from the shipwrecks?
  7. Discuss the importance of the discovery of the medieval Italian merchant ship. What does it tell us about trade during that time?

5. Share your social studies mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#64: Bitsbox 3-Make your Own Stamp

Full STEAM Ahead

Spark your thinking! 

1. Set up your STEAM mini spark recording page:#64: Bitsbox 3-Make your Own Stamp

2. Read the Website Directions for coding challenge:  Creating your own stamp in Bitsbox Write the 6 steps on your recording page.

3. Watch the video directions for this coding challenge. Write 2 ideas that you want to remember on your recording sheet.

 

4. Step 2 gave the information in a written format and step 3 had you watch a video. On your recording sheet, write 2 sentences about how you like to get information-written or video format.

5. Log into Bitsbox. Remember to log in with google. Make 3 of your own stamps. Add a picture of your stamps to your recording page.

6. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the bitsbox badges at the EY website.

#65: Spelling Bee Prep

Reading Enrichment

Get ready for spelling bee season by reviewing some strategies to help you spell new words.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #65: Spelling Bee Prep

2. Watch this video, pause to write the word on your recording page that you think is correct. Check your work as you go. Spend at least 3 minutes doing this activity.

3. Make sure you know how to pronounce all of the top 10 commonly misspelled words. Number your paper from 1-10.  At Safari, type in the word in the search bar and then word”dictionary” and the pronunciation will pop up for you.  Put a checkmark on your recording page after you have listened to the word a few times.

Advanced Option-

If you know all of the pronunciations, record the pronunciation with diacritical marks for each word.  Type the word in the search bar and the word “dictionary” and under the word you will see the pronunciations typed out with diacritical marks. Record these for each of the words on this list. For those of you typing , from Google Docs, go to Insert > Special characters to find the special characters.

4. Write each word from the list on your recording sheet two times.

5. Learn to spell all 10 words.

Start with the first five words. 

Step 1-Write each one 2 times on your recording page

Step 2- Whisper spell each one 3 times.

Step 3-Look at one word quickly then close your eyes and spell the word in your head. Open your eyes and check your spelling from the list.

Step 4-Keep practicing until you can spell all 5 correctly.

Repeat with the next 5 on the list.

Step 1-Write each one 2 times on your recording page

Step 2 -Whisper spell each one 3 times.

Step 3-Look at one word quickly then close your eyes and spell the word in your head. Open your eyes and check your spelling from the list.

Step 4-Keep practicing until you can spell all 5 correctly.

6.  Write the word on your spelling page that was the hardest for you to remember.

7. Share your language arts mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Check out the Super Speller Set badge at the EY webpage.

#64 Misplaced Modifiers

Reading Enrichment, Uncategorized

Modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that add information about other parts of a sentence—which is usually helpful. But when modifiers aren’t linked clearly enough to the words they’re actually referring to, they can create unintentional ambiguity.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #64: Misplaced Modifiers

2. Look at this example of an incorrectly placed modifier and write it on your recording page.

Perched up high on a tree branch, I yelled at the cat to leave the sparrow alone.

Meaning: I don’t tangle with a tabby unless I am perched 10 feet up in the air.

3. Look at this example of a correctly placed modifier and write it on your recording page.

Seeing a sparrow perched up high on a tree branch, I yelled at the cat to leave him alone.

Meaning: ohhhh….the sparrow is up in the tree. Watch out little sparrow!

4. Read this teaching page to look over some modifier examples. Record 5 details on your recording sheet.

5. Watch this TED Ed video and record at least 5  notes about modifiers and their placement, dangling , and squinting modifiers.

6. Create a teaching page explaining modifiers along with with examples of how they are used. Include your own sentence with a misplaced modifier and then correct the sentence so that the reader understands the meaning.

7. Optional: Do more research about misplaced, dangling and squinting modifiers. Include what you learned in your visual.

8. Share your language arts mini spark recording page and your visual with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#63: All About Axolotls

Reading Enrichment

Axolotls are really cool creatures!  These fun little animals are often pink or white and have feathery gills that stick out from their heads. Let’s dive into the amazing world of Axolotls and discover more about their unique traits and habitats!

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #63: All About Axolotls

2. What do you know about axolotls?

3. Read the species profile page and answer these reflection questions on your recording sheet.

What new information is most interesting to you?

Axolotls are an endangered species. What types of things could be done to help the species survive and thrive?

4.  Did you know that Axolotls have an incredible ability to regenerate? Watch the video below to learn more!  Record 5  details on your recording sheet.

 

5.  Create! Show us what you learned about axolotls in a creative way. Choose from one of the following options.

  1. Social Media Post – Using this templates create a post from the perspective of an Axolotl.
  2. Minecraft Habitat – Design an ideal habitat or underwater playground for the Axolotl using Minecraft. You will need to complete this option at home. Take a photo or screenshot and send to your EY Coordinator so it can be added to your recording page.
  3. PicCollage- Explain the process of regeneration. What other amphibians have the ability to regenerate? Create a PicCollage that shows us what you discovered.

6. Share your language arts mini spark recording page and any other pages you made with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#62: Literary Device Lesson-Simile

Reading Enrichment

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your language arts mini spark recording page: #62: Literary Device Lesson-Simile

2. What is a simile? Write the official definition of a simile on your recording page

a simile is a noun that means: “a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid.”

3. Watch this word girl video. Record 3 similes that you hear.

4. Come up with a funny scenario for each simile and write it on your recording page.

Example: as sly as a fox-Hillary was as sly as a fox as she to gingerly placed the fruit bat into her backpack.

  • Easy as ABC
  • Like two peas in a pod
  • Straight as an arrow
  • Wise as an owl

5.  Watch and listen to the book, “My Dog Is As Smelly As Dirty Socks”. Write about your favorite page on your recording page.

 

6. Write a “Simile Me”.

  • First, jot down five words you would use to describe yourself.
  • Use your five words and make comparisons to something else, writing your own version of a “Simile Me”

Here is my example:

1 – busy                                                                                                                                 

2 – creative

3 – hardworking

4 – happy

5 – sleepy

I’m as busy as a timer,

As creative as a stained glass window,

As hardworking as an elephant,

As happy as a well-loved dog,

And as sleepy as a pillow.

7. Use an app of your choice to create a fun illustration/visual of your “Simile Me”

8. Share your language arts mini spark recording page and your final project with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#46: A Raindrop’s Journey

Social Studies Enrichment

Have you ever thought about the journey a raindrop takes? This mini spark shows you that path through the United States that a raindrop will follow to get to the sea.

Spark your thinking!

  1. Set up your social studies mini spark recording page #46: A Raindrop’s Journey
  2. Read these 3 paragraphs. Write a summary of a raindrop’s journey using 5 bullet points.

You may think every drop of rain falling from the sky, or each glass of water you drink, is brand new, but it has always been here, and is a part of the water cycle.  At its most basic, the water cycle is how water continuously moves from the ground to the atmosphere and back again.  As it moves through this cycle, it changes forms.  Water is the only substance that naturally exists in three states on Earth – solid, liquid, and gas.

Over 96% of total global water is in the ocean, so let’s start there.  Energy from the sun causes water on the surface to evaporate into water vapor – a gas.  This invisible vapor rises into the atmosphere, where the air is colder, and condenses into clouds.  Air currents move these clouds all around the earth.

Water drops form in clouds, and the drops then return to the ocean or land as precipitation, often rainfall.   When it rains, the raindrops fall to the ground, and run off into a lake or river, which flows back into the ocean, where it starts the process again.

3. This website allows for you to click anywhere on the map to drop a raindrop and follow its journey to the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic or the Pacific Oceans! Once you click, you’ll get a bird’s eye view of the path the raindrop takes!

Try it out! Set your timer for three minutes and spend time exploring the site. At the end of the three minutes, write two sentences about what you noticed about the raindrop’s journey.

4. In the top right corner of your search, you are able to see the actual distances that the raindrop is traveling, and along what path.   Choose a location to drop your raindrop, look at the data in the top right corner, and record all of the waterways and the distances on your recording sheet.

 

 

5. Find 3 spots on the map where the raindrop makes a journey to different ending point: Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic or the Pacific Oceans. Record these three starting locations on your recording page.

6. Share your social studies mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

#56: Funny Wildlife Photos

Early Enrichment

Did you know that there are awards for funny photographs of wildlife? The free competition, open to wildlife photography experts and beginners, celebrates the funniness of our natural world and highlights what we need to do to protect it. From a surprised otter to an angry turtle, Comedy Wildlife’s photographs bring a smile to everyone’s face.

Spark your thinking!

1.  Set up your Early Enrichment Mini Spark recording page #56: Funny Wildlife Photos

2.  Visit the site and browse through the winning pictures. Choose 3 favorites. On your recording page describe each one with ONLY 3 words.

3. Look at these 3 winning animal photographs. Your job is to write something funny to go along with each photo!

4. Share your Early Enrichment Mini Spark recording page with your teacher or EY Coordinator.

Check out the Caption this Badge at the EY Website.