October Research

When a new month arrived, I'd find a lot of tidbits about the month through research. Why not have your kids research people born in October? They may choose a celebrity or famous person and write a report about him or her.

In searching October birthdays, I found the following people:

• Buster Keaton
• John Lennon
• Eleanor Roosevelt
• Molly Pitcher
• Bela Lugosi
• Pablo Picasso
• Mahalia Jackson
• Teddy Roosevelt
• Sylvia Plath
• Emily Post

Perhaps your kids don't want to research these "old" people, even though it might be a great challenge for them. If that's the case how about researching the current celebrities listed below? If you're over 30, you've most likely never heard of most of these kids, but your students probably know them. Most are Gen Z stars through youtube or young pop culture.

• Brie Larson
• Alex Guzman
• PewDiePie
• Cardi B
• SSSniperWolf
• Queen Naija

Famous people born in October are not the only research possibilities. How about looking into famous historical events? Your kids could research the following:

• 1636 - Harvard was founded
• 1793 - Queen Marie Antoinette was beheaded
• 1871 - The Great Fire of Chicago started
• 1881 - shoot-out at the O.K. Corral
• 1884 - Greenwich began universal standard time zones
• 1908 - Henry Ford's Model T first went on sale
• 1927 - First full length "talkie" film, The Jazz Singer, opened
• 1929 - stock market crashed starting the Great Depression
• 1946 - Twelve Nazi leaders sentenced to death in Nuremberg, Germany
• 1957 - Russians launched Sputnik, first Satellite in space
• 1967 - Thurgood Marshall sworn in as first African American on the Supreme Court
• 1973 - Yom Kippur War against Israel started when Egypt & Syria attacked

Find products related to October below:

                                          

Click HERE for Historical Fiction Reading Passage on The Chicago Fire.

Also, find enough Fall Activities to keep your kids engaged and challenged throughout the month of October.

Click HERE to find the Autumn Activities Bundle

I send these posts to my mailing group; however, they get free resources along with the article. You can, too. Just join my group by clicking below!

https://mailchi.mp/b9a669919a4c/samplerpack

You will also receive a FREE No Prep Problem Solving Pack!

October Fire Prevention Week

Fire Prevention Week is here and definitely a good thing to teach in the classroom. I'll never forget when my son came home from a fire assembly worried about being on the second floor of our house. We bought him a flexible ladder to keep by his window, and that helped him to sleep well. That ladder has never been used in over twenty years, but it still sits below his upstairs window. I'm just thankful he never used it to escape out of the house during his teenage years. At least we think he didn't . . .

My best year in teaching fire prevention was when we entered our city's video contest. My kids had a blast making a movie about fire prevention. It won a prize and was shown to the school, so it may be worthwhile for you to search the local fire department to see if any contests are in place. If they aren't, there is nothing wrong with putting on a skit for another class. The kids will love it and learn about staying safe, too.

Click HERE for Historical Fiction Reading Passage on The Chicago Fire.

Also, find enough Fall Activities to keep your kids engaged and challenged throughout the month of October.

Fire Prevention Week Activities

I send these posts to my mailing group; however, they get free resources along with the article. You can, too. Just join my group by clicking below!

https://mailchi.mp/b9a669919a4c/samplerpack

You will also receive a FREE No Prep Problem Solving Pack!

Now, for a song!

Varying Sentence Structure

We've all seen our students write stories that begin with the same subject in each sentence.

                               


                               He went to the store.
                               He bought a candy bar.
                               He ate it on the way home.

         BORING.

Today's focus is varying sentence structure in writing, which can also be called using syntactic variety.

First off, if the subject is the same, students can combine the sentence into one sentence with series commas.

He went to the store, bought a candy bar, and ate it on the way home.

That fixes the feel of being in a car where the driver constantly slams on the breaks. Of course, this sentence has other problems, but if you've been following my writing articles, you know what to do!

Syntactic variety not only means joining sentences for smoother prose but also sprinkling short sentences along with the long ones to make for a better sounding passage.

In Love with Chocolate!

When Malcolm entered the Sweetie Pie candy shop, he spotted his favorite chocolate bar. The dark chocolate Millie bar, complete with marshmallows, almonds, and honey waited for the taking. Yum! Unfortunately, the Millie is the most expensive candy bar in the shop. $3.45 for one delightful taste. It was worth it! He carefully dug a five dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to the waiting clerk. Before he could step out of the store, Malcolm had already ripped the wrapper. The sweet chocolate sloshed around in his mouth providing ecstasy!

Notice the shorter sentences sandwiched between the longer ones. Also, the sentences do not all start with "he" or use the same structure. That is syntactic variety. To teach this skill, have your students play with simple sentences or ideas. Tell them to include an interjection (Wow! Yay! Yikes!) somewhere between their long sentences. This technique will make their passages shine.

If you are interested in teaching students to vary their sentence structure, below is a link to a PowerPoint lesson that does just that.

PowerPoint Lesson Varying Sentence Structure

I send these posts to my mailing group; however, they get free resources along with the article. You can, too. Just join my group by clicking below!

https://mailchi.mp/b9a669919a4c/samplerpack

You will also receive a FREE No Prep Problem Solving Pack!

I hope you've enjoyed my series on writing skills. Tune in next month where I will provide guidance on things to do in October.

Thanks to Kate Hadfield Designs for the clipart. 

Kate Hadfield Designs