WONDERing all Rolled into One Lesson

 There have been several occasions when I have overhead this conversation at school.  "I am out of time I don't know how I am going to fit it all in?" Typically with exasperation as well as a sense of panic as the state tests are rolling around for this school year.  My quick response "Have you looked at Wonderopolis?"  Wondering can be a game changer in your classroom. This past week in our classroom, I wove all these skills into one
Wonder: #701  Who's at the Top of the Food Chain?




 Reading Focus Skills:
-Students wrote predictions and confirmed their predictions.
-Answering the 3 focus questions, and I differentiated by having some students write higher level questions (evaluative)
-Searched for evidence in the text to support their answers
-Sequence of events within the article
-main idea and supporting details
-cause/effect review lesson

Writing Focus Skiils:
-students wrote a summary of the article including topic, detail and closing senteneces
-I reviewed parts of speech with a small group who needed help with pronoun agreements
-some students extended a concept by doing a word web
-some students wrote a poem using the vocabulary about Food Chains

Word Study Skills:
-using the vocabulary list we review syllable boxes and "every box has a vowel rule"
-parts of speech and how to change nouns from singular to plural
-looking in the text, they practiced context clues and if they did not know the meaning they used their iPods for definitions
-some students wrote their own sentences using the new vocabulary

Science Focus Skills:
-Food chains/webs was our topic for the week, so we used this article in class along with our text book.
-students drew and wrote about the food chains from the article
-students labeled their food chain with correct vocabulary
-students watched the video (which they LOVED) and drew the food chain

Math Focus Skills:
-students could draw the Energy Pyramid and discuss the flow of energy that starts with 100% and decreases as the amount of energy is used
-students could write story problems using the vocabulary for math class

So if you're looking for ways to save time and want to  weave several core lessons into one chunk of your schedule I would suggest using Wonderopolis.  It is extremely easy to use with the search button in the top right hand corner. You type the topic you're looking for, and I promise the rest of the lesson will fall in to place.