Today we began a lesson on writing about reading- we talked about how it is really important to raise our level of thinking when we are reading. I also provided them with a mini lesson about this weeks IXL skills (plural nouns and helping verbs) and then read aloud from Home of the Brave.
I provided kids with a reading log that I am asking them to fill out each day this week and to be honest about it- this is just data collection for me- it will not be scored, but it will be important info for me to have by Friday. Homework: IXL Plural Nouns (G1-G4) and Helping Verbs (L1), Read 20 minutes and fill out reading log (ignore Level), work on Theme Book Talk (due the Monday after Thanksgiving break)
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On Monday I introduced the new book talk, and today I finally got around to sharing the graphic organizers with the kids (this week has been INSANE!) Each student has the document in their google drive account- they will find it under "Shared with Me" Once they open the document they will notice that they aren't allowed to edit it...all they have to do is go up to FILE and then choose MAKE A COPY- this will create a copy of the document for them that they can type in. I have tried to provide tips and hints for each section of the book talk to remind them of all the things we have talked about in class that can help them. The kids will have about 5-6 weeks to complete these.
Click here for the graphic organizer that I shared with the kids...if they would prefer to print it and hand write their book talk, that is fine- but they will probably find that the document won't give them enough room to write (whereas if they type on it, the space grows larger with their writing): Today we read about the first people to migrate to North America from Asia. We had a discussion about how archeologists aren't 100% positive on how the people arrived here, but they are pretty sure that they walked over a land bridge from Asia to America because they were following their food. The kids were surprised to learn that this migration most likely took thousands of years- we discussed that that is because the Natives weren't walking with a specific destination in mind- they were just following their food....so if they had just killed a woolly mammoth there would be no need to continue to move for at least a season as the massive mammoths could feed and clothe 20 people for an entire winter!
Today I explained to the students that I am going to try something new this year where I alternate teaching reading and writing each day. My plan is that the even days (2, 4, 6) will be writing days and odd days (1, 3, 5) will be reading days. So since today was an odd day we began our reading unit by talking about setting goals for ourselves. I had all of the kids think about their reading life and what is currently working/going well and what could use some improvements. I then gave examples from my own life about reading goals that I have set for myself and why (1. Read more non-fiction books because I have fallen into a pattern of choosing entertaining books, but avoiding the "read to learn" books because they are dryer and not as fun. I always enjoy a great non-fiction book by the end, but have a harder time getting into them. 2. Read at least 1 book a month that is a book for me and not a young adult book that I am reading for my students). We had one minute of silence to think about our reading lives and then kids partnered up and took a few minutes to share and create reading goals for themselves. They came up with some awesome goals- make sure you ask them what their goals are!
Homework: IXL H1-H3 (Possessive Nouns), Read 20 minutes I will be bringing the Newton homeroom to the book fair tomorrow during WIN to purchase books :) Bring money if you would like to get something!
Today I had any student who owed any work to Mrs. Ely or me needed to come to my room during WIN. I had printed off the list of assignments that they need to work on- I taped their lists directly into their planners. We decided to have all students who owe work must stay in my homeroom during WIN, and all other students go to Mrs. Ely's for the period. This seemed to work very well today- the kids worked on completing the work, and as they finished it they would show me the work so that I could cross it off on their to-do list. Please check your child's planner tonight to see if there is any work they need to do...some students have quite a lengthy list!
In Language Arts today students wrote an on-demand narrative writing prompt. We are beginning our narrative writing unit and this will give me some information about what the students know about narrative writing and what skills I should focus my lessons on. The kids wrote for the full period and I can't wait to see what stories they told me!
Homework: IXL: H1-H3- Possessive Nouns, Read 20 minutes We didn't have Social Studies today due to the field trip...tomorrow we will be getting into Native Americans! So last week in LA the students worked to finish up writing their summer book talks- anyone who is not done at this point should be working on these each night at home in order to get them done asap...especially since I just assigned the Theme book talk today! At the start of LA today I introduced a new reading skill: identifying theme. Using Home of the Brave as a guide I took kids through the difference between Main Idea and Theme...and how the easiest way to figure out the theme is to look at your main character and the different challenges they faced over the course of the book...what did that character learn from those challenges? how did they change as a person? The answers to those questions will lead you to the theme of the book. I also went over some of the more common themes that they will come across this year in their reading. I then explained that as of today they can and should start working on their theme book talk- I will be sharing the graphic organizer on google docs with the kids (they will need to make a copy (file make a copy) of the document in order to type in it). These will be done all outside of class- I also reiterated the fact that kids should always have a stack of stickies next to them as they read so that they can be marking spots in their books to use as evidence/quotes in their book talks. Homework: IXL: H1-H3 Possessive Nouns, read 20 minutes In Social Studies last week with the sub the kids created bingo boards of our chapter 2, Native American unit, vocabulary words....on one side they had to write the word and draw a picture to illustrate the meaning, and on the other side they wrote the definition of the term. Today in class we actually used the time to get prepped for conferences- organizing our porfolios, cleaning out our accordions (and placing the graded work in the portfolio)...the Ely class also listened to Home of the Brave because their class was behind the Newton homeroom, so I used this period to get them caught up. We finished up our latitude and longitude quizzes today and kids had a little bit of time to attempt to take one anothers quizzes. After they handed them in we set up our notebooks for our next unit- Native Americans- with our 3 essential questions:
Today students worked on their book talks for all of class. I showed a few examples to them illustrating how to write a character description in your own words and then back it up with quotes from the book. I encouraged them to write all the character descriptions first and then to spend time going through their book looking for good quotes to use- using sticky notes to mark down the quotes. During this time I was able to work one-on-one with students who were struggling and needed some extra assistance.
I also was able to read everyone's book talk and have gotten a chance to comment/make suggestions on each of them letting students know what they need to do and/or add/change. During WIN period I had a large group of students who needed to get a lot more done on the book talk and I also encouraged them to work on these at home each night this week because we are done with them on Friday. I did tell the students that since this assingment is assessing their reading comprehension and speaking skills, I am totally OK with them dictating to a parent/sibling and having someone else do the typing for them- often this makes the process much easier and quicker for the kids! Homework: IXL: YY1 and F1-2, read 20 minutes, work on finishing up book talk |
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