Day 130- Tall Tales

Only around 70 students absent, 10 went home early and only 5 teachers absent. Let's hope this virus is on its way out!
I was only missing 4 students today and had one extra from Mrs. Cox's class, so on with the show! I'm ready to get back to 'normal'!

Our story for this week is a study of Tall Tales and American Folk Heroes. Here is the vocabulary for the week:

Apple- a fruit
Bread- a kind of food
Cider- a drink, like apple juice
Clothes- what you wear
River- a long, flowing body of water
Stories- a group of words that tell what happens to people and places
Years- more than one year. 12 months is a year
Young- not old

If you can't tell, the main story is about Johnny Appleseed. Today, however, was the teacher read-aloud about Paul Bunyan.

Paul Bunyan part 1

Paul Bunyan part 2

We learned that Paul Bunyan was supposedly 20 feet tall, had a blue ox named Babe, and was incredibly strong. Of course, this opened the classroom for discussion.

Student: Mrs.Delk, was he for real?

Me: Do you mean, did he really exist?

Student: Yeah.

Me: Well, what do you think? Can people really be 20 feet tall?

(disequilibrium while students ponder how tall is 20 feet)

Me: Imagine this... (I see Mr. Moore walking in the hallway and I call him into the room)

Me: Mr. Moore, how tall are you?

Mr. Moore- Around 6 feet.

Me: Ok, kids. Now imagine 3 Mr. Moores all standing on top of the others' heads. Then add a few inches, and that's how tall Paul Bunyan was!

(student awe and thanks to Mr. Moore for being our visual)

Me: So, can people really be that tall?

Students: No!

Another student: But people can be really tall and strong. 

Me: Very true. Tall tales usually have some truth in them. People can be tall and strong. 

Student: But how tall can people get for real?

Good question. Let's find out!

We checked Wikipedia to find a list of the tallest people from all over the world. To see the list, you can check {HERE}.

Needless to say, my students were impressed with the pictures!

In math we went ahead and took our Topic 16 test. I'll let the students who missed it today take it tomorrow. I haven't checked them all yet, but what I looked at this afternoon looked pretty good!

Literacy center pictures:

 Spelling texters

 Simile activity

Simile poem

Let's hope things get back to normal tomorrow! Just 2.5 more weeks till Spring Break!