I’m frequently asked what I am teaching in my self-contained classroom, so I had an idea to house all of the information in monthly blog posts filled with links! Each blog post will lay out my plans in the areas of Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Weekly Theme and Seasonal Supplemental Activities. Keep reading to explore my November plans.
Reading
My classroom uses Unique Learning Systems. This month (Nov. 2018) we are reading Around The Big Lagoon, which is leftover from the October lessons. November is a short month so we might not get to fit in a second fiction book. If we have time, we will read “How Will I Get There”. I use News 2 You to supplement my nonfiction curriculum. We will read “The Flu Season” to hit our nonfiction targets. I also used the easy readers and comprehension from my Vegetable and Thanksgiving Feast weekly packs as additional reading supports.
Math
We are completing our time unit this month. We will start the unit out with Day and Night activities. When we complete that portion, we will move into telling time. My students will work on telling time to the hour on both digital and analog clocks. If time permits this month, we will work on the half-hour as well.
Science
This is one of my toughest science units. My class will be tackling electricity. This is a very tough concept and my goal will be to expose them to the content. We will explore the basic principals of electricity, talk about conductors and insulators and explore magnets. We will spend less than 2 weeks on this unit and attempt to make it as relevant as possible!
Social Studies
On the flip side, this is one of my favorite social studies units. Past, Present and Future ties perfect into my other November themes. I worked hard to create this unit. It is one of my most extensive content units. It includes an adapted book, notes, a variety of worksheets, journals, and task boxes. I love having my students discover different items of the past and present, as well as predicting items of the future.
Language Arts
We will be completing 4 journals from my graphic organizer journal set: football, scarecrow, making a bed and candy corn. I love that this set is differentiated enough for all of my students to access!
Weekly Theme
My class will use 2 of my weekly thematic units: Vegetables and Thanksgiving Feast. I felt like the two themes paired well together. We can talk about fall harvest and growing food during the Vegetable unit. The Thanksgiving Feast unit will prepare my students for the holiday coming up at the end of the month.
Seasonal Supplemental Activities
We will read 4 poems from my monthly poem pack: The Hay Ride, A Piece of Pie, The Turkey and Mashed Potatoes. We will use Michaela’s Fall Cut and Paste as a supplemental activity and the Thanksgiving Flipbook is perfect for my higher functioning students. Those students will also enjoy the Fall Comprehension Packs from School Bells N Whistles and the Quezzle from Aly. The basic skills thanksgiving book from Gabrielle, the Thanksgiving count, and color from Ashley and the differentiated journals from Brie will round out the supplemental activities.
I hope you found something useful in this post! Decembers post will come out in about 2 weeks!