ANDREA RUNNELS
YAHOO!! I survived the last day before Thanksgiving Break!! Since I teach Science and Social Studies, I couldn’t do my usual Thanksgiving writing and math stuff. I’ve been teaching constructive and destructive forces this week and my student teacher did a super cool lab with the kids yesterday. Well, I certainly wasn’t gonna do anything crazy and do another lab. So I decided to infuse one of the stories from ancient times that fascinates me-the town of Pompeii! I am a huge American history nerd but today we traveled in our imaginary time machine way farther back in time than the era of the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.
I kind of spur of the moment decided to do this today so I had to think fast last night and this a.m. to whip something together! We had been doing some close reading in science this week but I wanted to go out on a limb and do this instead today. It’s Fri-YAY, so why not??
I had visions of a Hope King/Ron Clark-ish type room transformation but when you aren’t a morning person and you plan something last minute you do what you can. I grabbed some black butcher paper and a sparkly marker and quickly made a “Welcome to Pompeii” sign. I hung it out in the hall so all three classes of kiddos could see it as they came in. Of course, this got their attention!
Imagine my surprise when my principal walked in with our special guest Principal of the Day, a local business woman. The sign got her attention, too! The cool thing is my principal has been to visit the ruins near Mt. Vesuvius and is going to bring her pictures after the break. And a big win for Mrs. Runnels for incorporating children’s literature into Science today.
So I found a free teacher’s guide about Pompeii from Kids Discover on Pinterest last night along with the sites I’m about to share. I love their magazines!! They also have added a really thorough online database of science and social studies info. I recently ordered several but don’t have the Pompeii one so I had to problem solve. The teacher’s guide included a Before and After Reading activity. I used it as a “before and after learning” sheet. The kids quickly wrote true or false to 10 statements as an anticipation guide. It also has a crossword puzzle, vocabulary words, and a word search. I gave them the crossword to do for extra credit. I have it repinned along with the other resources I mention in the post on my Earth Science board.
Then I showed them some pictures of the ruins of Pompeii on this British website . These got their attention as well! Not everything on the site is ok for classroom use! We talked about the culture during the time period and the importance of the arts. I also made a connection between third grade when they learned about Ancient Rome and democracy. I’m all about encouraging them to make connections between content and themselves or books, pop culture, etc.! They rocked it today!!
So a student mentioned the Percy Jackson series and this was a good reference, too. Another one noticed the comedy and tragedy masks on a poster in the classroom. We discussed how we still have amphitheaters for performances and coliseums and there is even an outdoor mall called The Forum nearby. I found some stuff about Pompeii and a cool animation of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on this Harcourt Science site to use, too.
My inspiration for today was actually a book by Mary Pope Osborne called Pompeii: Lost and Found. Yes, that MPO! The one and only creator of all things Jack, Annie, and the Magic Tree House. My hidden agenda for the past couple weeks has been to be able to read this book!! Mission accomplished. One unique component of this spectacular book are the illustrations. They are frescoes in the style of the fresco paintings that would have been on the walls during ancient times. I got to talk a little about mosaic when I showed the pictures. Science, History, Literacy, and Art: OH MY! Students filled out the after section of the anticipation guide after and included some evidence for what source they used-read aloud, pictures, discussion, etc.
I promised the kids if they were good listeners they would be certified and qualified to watch the Ancient Rome clip on Flocabulary. It is all about Spartacus. The students were so inquisitive and captivated today so of course we watched it! Click on the picture to check it out! If you don’t have a subscription you can signup for a free trial. It really made me happy to end my week talking about Pompeii! I have always been drawn to the story because of the way the ashes preserved everything in the town. It also makes me sad that most likely nobody survived and how families were found huddled together. It is like a frozen moment in history! It’s pretty intense but captivating for “5thies.” As soon as it was over, “Can we watch it again?”
The best moment of the day came from a student who made a connection during the clip. He said, “I made a connection to Nat Turner.” HALLELUJAH! GLORY, GLORY!! Brilliant!!! Happy teacher moment! We had discussed the Nat Turner rebellion when we talked about the lead up to the Civil War and in the clip it mentioned Spartacus leading an uprising.
At the end of class I gave them a passage about volcanoes from Read Works as an FYI to stick in their interactive notebook and did a Book Talk about one of the I Survived books. There is one about Pompeii but I have the one called I Survived : The San Francisco Earthquake, 1906. It is perfect for our Social Studies content because we are studying the Turn of The Century (as in 19th to 20th). I have always done novel read-alouds before this year. That’s something that I plan to bring back again despite being departmentalized. I read the back and mentioned how the author built suspense. Talk about teachable moments today!!
Don’t be afraid to step a little outside of the box with your content! The kids can really benefit. Who knows? I may have laid the foundation for some future archaeologists today!! And don’t be afraid to make the content work for you!! Want another creative science idea? Check out this post about my Edible Plant and Animal Cell Lab: More Creative Science
I'm a total history geek too and I ADORE Pompeii "stuff!"
Isn't it fun to create a lesson on the fly?! It sounds like this one worked really well for you! And now next year you'll really be able to rock it because you'll have a little time to make sure things flow together smoothly. Great idea! And thank you for taking the time to link up with my Teaching Tuesday link up party. I really appreciate it!
~Heather aka HoJo~
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Tracy, we are definitely cut from the same cloth! Thanks for reading!! I'm going to get that Pompeii Kids Discover this week! They are having a big sale!!
Heather, thank you so much for reading:)!! You are so right! Blogging is a way to have a record for the next school year since I stink with super-detailed plans!! I always say I can't fit the magic into little boxes;). I need to go back and check out the other posts! Was so busy getting ready for the sale last week I forgot!