Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Is the United States Guilty of Genocide?
Did the American government commit genocide against the Native American people? That’s the hot topic we will be discussing today in Ms. Green’s class. We learned about genocide earlier this year, remember? Genocide is the tip-top of the Pyramid of Hate. (This poster is still hanging on our wall, but here’s a reminder for…
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Little Longhorns Annual Walk4Water
Have you heard the news?! UT Elementary fifth graders are fundraising to build a well for the Nasaruni Academy in Kenya. Each year, UTES fifth graders partner with a school in Africa, and together, we fundraise to help bring clean drinking water to children across the world. Little Longhorns believe in the importance of serving…
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Do Teachers Make Enough Money? 5th Grade Financial Advisors
We have been learning about financial literacy, that is, how to successfully navigate through the world of money. Today we are going to do some research into teacher salaries, and will be taking an inside look into a very relevant debate: do teachers in the United States make enough money? You will be researching different sides…
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The 2016 Primary Election
Today in Ms. Green’s class, we are taking part in one of the most important events in our country: the primary election! Together we will be researching our Republican and Democratic candidates, and then participating in Newsela Vote 2016. First, let’s discover our political parties. There are two major political parties in the United States…
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What Messages are Toy Marketers Sending to Boys and Girls?
Oh how we love inquiry based learning here in Ms. Green’s class! Every Friday, we watch Flocabulary‘s The Week in Rap, a weekly news segment presented in a three to four minute rap. We watch the video once, then a second time, and the kids are asked to hold on to a comment or a question…
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Slavery, Apologies, and Stumbling Through the 5th Grade
I love teaching social studies. I love it because I believe that it really, truly, matters. I love teaching it, but there is so much of it that I just don’t know. In my first year of teaching, with each unit I struggle to just stay one step ahead of my students and the curriculum…
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Analyzing Poetry with John Legend & Common
My fifth graders did not do so hot on the poetry section of their middle of year benchmark. I can rage about standardized tests all I want, but at the end of the day, our sweet kiddos have to pass. So I was faced with the choice between doing STAAR practice, or finding a creative…
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Being Dynamic Characters in 5th Grade
I love studying static and dynamic characters. I love this unit for the same reason I love all of my other favorite units, it’s empowering. The central idea of this unit is this: Static characters don’t change. They’re boring and usually have negative characteristics, and readers typically don’t like them. More often than not, they’re the antagonists.…
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Why we’re all Obsessed with When You Reach Me
We finished our first round of book clubs last semester, and we fell in love with Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me. This book is everything you could ask for in upper elementary literature. It’s full of relatable, deep characters, intricate plot twists, and social justice. The kids loved it because it wasn’t too hard to read,…
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The Holocaust & WWII
After spending nearly 6 weeks on the Civil Rights movement, we are decades (literally) behind the Social Studies units that should have been taught by now. However, we regret nothing, because after such an in-depth study of the events and key figures of the 1950’s and 60’s, we feel empowered and enlightened and ready to…
Got any book recommendations?
Ms. Green's Class 