I am beginning the year looking at primary documents on a 3rd grade level. Some of the items I am including are the Pledge of Allegiance, The Star Spangled Banner, and the March on Washington (Aug 28- I have a Dream speech). I focus on the "I Have a Dream" portion of the text because it is most familiar. I let the students know that there was more to the speech and as a center, I have the students analyze the inspirations that were used in the speech. I feel that these would be a great start for students to look at primary sources seeing how they are familiar.

One of our first units in our knowledge block is nursery rhymes and fables. How can I make learning about these more interactive for my students? I am planning on having them create a "knowledge notebook" where they get a copy of the nursery rhyme and can illustrate it and are able to revisit it. I am also going to use AI to have my students interview some of the nursery rhyme characters (Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, etc.) to ask them about their actions. Are there other ideas you might have that I could try?

I wish I would have planned like this when I was a teacher! When I read this, I immediately thought how much this could have helped me a new teacher (or even a few years in!). Does anyone plan like this and have some feedback?

How do you start off science in your classroom? Do you have an introductory lesson you can share?
I like to use the children's book titled, "What is Science?" as it shows children that science can be lots of things and that they are already scientists!