Main Idea, Volcanoes, and MLK

Happy Tuesday!  I love Tuesday nights because tomorrow is Wednesday, and at my school the students dismiss at 1 on Wednesdays :)  The rest of the week, they are there until 4, so I really enjoy that early dismissal day.

Today in my small reading groups, we worked on finding the main idea in nonfiction.  I used a graphic organizer from The Big Book of Reproducible Graphic Organizers:

My kids in my lowest reading group did such a great job figuring out the main idea of our book and filling in the supporting details.

For MLK day preparation, I read aloud My Dream of Martin Luther King.  

The kids paid such close attention!  They really enjoy learning about and discussing racism and equality.  I then told them that as a child, Martin told his mother that someday he was going to turn the world upside down.  I wanted the kids to realize that MLK had made this decision as a child, just like they are now.  I gave them my "I Can Turn the World Upside Down" worksheet from my MLK activity pack on TPT.  They had to think of something they want to see changed in the world and write and draw about it. 

I can turn the world upside down by teaching people not to be rude to others who are different.

This one has a lot of goals - help homeless people, stop polluting the Earth, and stop the oil spills that kill animals.  Wow!

I thought this was cute.  He wants to help homeless people find jobs.  The one person is saying to the other, "Oh look!  A job!"  Everything is still so simple in children's minds. :)

I want to stop people from bullying.  Her little person is saying, "Let's make a change."  Love it!

Finally, I and the kids were super excited to begin our volcano unit.  It covers Science, Social Studies, and Reading objectives!  I am using this unit that goes along with the Magic School Bus Book, Voyage to the Volcano.  

 It will take about two weeks to get through the book and all of the activities.  So far, we started with some prereading activities.  One of them was for the kids to make a prediction about what they think will happen in the book.  They had to write and draw about it, and they really enjoyed doing this!

I will keep sharing some of the MLK and volcano activities that we do this week.  Do you have any units that you get really excited to teach?? :)