Elizabeth Rusch Author Visit
& Family Reading Night Feb 28th
Overview of the day
K-2s in the 1st presentation
3-5 in the second presentation
If you have any areas of the writing process, science, research, evidence, etc. that you'd like Liz to focus on, please let Erin FB know.
Liz will return in the evening for the family night event. The meeting will begin with pizza then Title 1 info, then Liz will address everyone briefly and send them off to activity stations. Those who attend will have a chance to rotate through stations such as making a volcano with a straw, a balloon and a bucket of flour, making craters on a planet with marbles, making a rocket, etc. They are very interactive and hands-on, science based activities. There will be one adult monitoring each activity station.
The GHS robotics team will also be at family night doing demonstrations.
Preparing for her visit with Volcano Rising Grades K-2
Volcano Rising CCSS Shelf Talker Discussion Questions
http://elizabethrusch.com/Portals/0/Guides/Common%20Core%20Shelf%20Talker%20Volcano%20Rising.pdf
Some other activities you might want to do include:
Make connections to volcanoes they’ve seen, like Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, maybe some Hawaiian volcanoes if they’ve travelled.
Make a list of sound words used in the book. Discuss why they’re in a different font. Add more sound words the students can think of. Have the students write their own sound word sentences.
Label the parts of a volcano
https://www.teachervision.com/tv/printables/dk/instantexpert/VolcanoParts_Worksheet.pdf
Volcano acrostic poem
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/poetry/acrostic/picture/volcano.pdf
Make a collage of a volcano similar to the art in the book.
Preparing for her visit with Eruption! Grades 3-5
All teachers in gr. 3-5 will get a copy of Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives
Complete Discussion & Activity Guide here:
http://elizabethrusch.com/Portals/0/Guides/EruptionDiscussionGuide.pdf
CCSS Shelf Talker Discussion Questions here:
http://elizabethrusch.com/Portals/0/Guides/Common%20Core%20Shelf%20Talker%20ERUPTION.pdf
PRE-READING
OPTIONAL - Show types of volcanoes PPT (Erin FB will send this via email)
About the Scientists in the Field series: The Scientists in the Field series shows people immersed in the unpredictable and dynamic natural world, making science more accessible, relevant, and exciting to young readers. Far from the research laboratory, these books show firsthand adventures in the great outdoors—adventures with a purpose. From climbing into a snake den with thousands of slithering snakes to tracking wolves, swimming with hammerhead sharks, and collecting bugs, readers experience the thrill of discovering the unknown.
About this Book: Humans have lived next to volcanoes for thousands of years despite the fact that when volcanoes erupt, humans suffer. Scientists studying volcanoes have learned a great deal about them, especially the many detectable warning signs leading up an eruption. A group of scientists banded together to form the first and only international volcano crises team, the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program or VDAP, hoping to predict eruptions and save lives. Eruption! chronicles the work of an early member of the VDAP team, Andy Lockhart, and the efforts of the team to accurately forecast eruptions and the many prob- lems involved.
READ pp. 1-26 aloud and show pics/discuss. You may want to do this over the course of a few days.
OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES
all grades - have students write questions for Elizabeth Rusch
gr. 4-5 discuss format of the book and how it affects the reading.
gr. 4-5 Have students complete shapebook notes sheet
http://www.abcteach.com/free/members/15655.pdf
gr. 3 KWL-type question sheet
all grades - Similes activity
http://www.abcteach.com/free/p/poetryprompts_simile_volcano.pdf
all grades - Volcano acrostic poem
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/poetry/acrostic/picture/volcano.pdf
all grades - Volcanoes of the World website has lots of resources http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/Volcanoes/Index.html
Preparing for the visit with Will It Blow? All Grades
There are lots of choices with these books! Feel free to read through it and choose what you’d like to do. Suggestions for a few activities if you don’t have time to do all the previewing are below.
Grades 3-5
Read pages 6-12 day 1. On some of the following days, read a case (cases are on pp. 17,23,29,35,41). Have the students make their guesses as to the answers to the questions. Read them the “answer” (on the next page).
Grades K-2
Read pp. 10-11 and discuss the sound words used (good CCSS activity to pair with Volcano Rising and talk about how she’s used these kinds of words in both books and talk about how/why)
How a Seismograph works short video (1:05)
http://quietube6.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbd1FcuLJLQ&safe=active
Grades K-5 Activity on p. 34 would be pretty easy to do in class I think. (maybe use a cooler and some ice instead of the freezer.)
Activities on p. 22 and 40 might be good ones to copy and send home as optional family activities.
I am pretty sure we will be doing activity on p. 28 @ the family reading night; you might want to send that one home afterward.
Preparing for the visit - library
Planet Hunters The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto read-aloud K-5
A Day with No Crayons read-aloud K-2
For the Love of Music
The Mighty Mars Rover: the Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity
Electrical Wizard: How Nikola Tesla Lit up the World
Book Orders
BOOK ORDERS ARE DUE FEB 12th. Students who order after that time can still get books, but they might not be here on the 28th. Liz will also be bringing some books with her Friday night to sign, and if she doesn't have a copy of what someone wants with her, they can place an order and books will be delivered later.