Flagging Our Thoughts, Problem/Solution Text Structure, Figurative Language, & Crayfish!

One of the books I used recently for a literature discussion group was Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine. You can see I placed a 'common focus post-it' on the inside back cover so students would constantly 'have it in their face' as to what they were to be thinking deeply about and flagging. This student also flagged symbolism she noted while reading. When I previewed the book with this group, I told them to see if they could figure out the symbolism behind the birds, humming, the crate, and the leaves that appear throughout the text.

Students also know that after they've finished reading the assigned text, they are to write a response that addressed the 'common focus flag' and any other thoughts they flagged. Here you can see this student responded in her first paragraph to the important historical figures she connected to while reading the book. Her second paragraph captures in writing the symbolism she noted in the text. 

 My literacy coach, Candice Johnson, came two days last week to do back-to-back mini-lessons on problem/solution text structure. She modeled using a text about frogs. (Note: Books about animals are excellent mentor texts to use for problem/solution because they will almost always have a problem and solution section near the end of the text or article.) She recorded the problems frogs face and solutions discussed in the text for helping to save and protect frogs.

For guided practice, she handed out a double-side sheet. On one side of the sheet, Mrs. Johnson had copied a page out of a book about lions that told about the problems lions face. On the back side was a section about the solutions to lions' problems. 

 

Students recorded lions' problems and solutions on their own chart that had been glued into their Thoughtful Logs prior to the lesson.

 

Students shared out what they had learned, and Mrs. Johnson added their thinking to her animal problems and solutions anchor chart.

Here's a close-up of the chart we created that day:

For independent practice, students got their own animal reader and recorded problems and solutions for their animal.

 

The next day, Mrs. Johnson helped us identify problem and solution signal words. These are words that frequently signal the kind of information we are reading about to deepen our understanding. Using a photocopied version of the frog pages she modeled with the day before for identifying actual problems and solutions, Mrs. Johnson highlighted problem and solution signal words and recorded them on a T-chart.

 Students recorded these signal words in their Thoughtful Logs.

Then they broke up into small groups to find problem and solution signal words in their own texts about one specific animal. This group looked through the book about wolves.

 This group recorded problem and solution signal words found in a book about sea turtles.

We gathered together as a class for students to share out the additional problem and solution words they had found while reading their books.

 Here's the final list of the problem and solution signal words our class found. Kids now know that many words can signal that you are reading about a problem or a solution. It may not be specifically stated in the text!

In reading we've also continued discussing figurative language. One lesson focused specifically on personification. We used the book Sierra by Diane Seibert as our mentor text. In her book, she personifies a mountain by giving it human traits like the ability to breathe, feel, and and whisper.

Another form of figurative language is onomatopoeia. We used Rattletrap Car by Phillis Root as our mentor text. We recorded examples of onomatopoeia from the text. During independent reading, students looked for examples in their own texts. We added students' discoveries to our chart! 

 

We also 'read' Sector 7 by David Wiesner. It is a wordless picture book. Students recorded onomatopoeia words to go along with the action on each page. By the time we were done, they had a word bank of onomatopoeia words! To apply their new learning, I told students to write one paragraph using four onomatopoeia words about a character going to either a cave or a haunted house. Here are two writing samples!

*Scritch, scratch. Crrrk, crrrk, crrrk.* What's that NOISE? Onomatopoeia words? YES! But really, did you know we have crayfish?! Students are observing and learning about these creepy, crawly creatures in science!

Haiku Poems & Planning for LDGs

Last Friday we added to our poetry anchor chart that some poetry follows a specified structure. (It's at the bottom of the chart!)

One kind of poetry that follows a specific structure is HAIKU poetry. We started an anchor chart to list all of the poetry forms we will learn that have a specified structure. (Please note: I'm VERY aware that I'm missing a 'c' in the word 'structure' on this anchor chart. I didn't notice it until I got home tonight and checked the blog. The perfectionist side of me is totally freaking out right now, but I'm working in my life to chill out about things. :) If I take a step back, I have to say to myself, "It's the letter 'c', Leanne. You're freaking out over the letter 'c'." And then it gets put into perspective that there are far worse things in life than a missing letter. I'll live... I think. ;)

I used these SMARTboard slides to teach more about haiku poems. The haiku poem samples I used on the slide below required students to infer the topic. We referred to our poetry anchor chart (first picture in this blog posting) that already had this listed from a previous lesson!

 To make it interactive, I put pictures of each haiku's topic on a 'flipper' tool so students could tap to see if their inferences were right.

Before letting students write their own haikus, I had students practice more with syllables by having them clap the syllables of their own first and last names. I had kids stand who had, for example, four syllables in their last name. Then they proved it to the class by clapping it. I would highly recommend you do some syllable work prior to letting students try out their own haikus. In past years, I've had kids write haikus that were 5 WORDS, 7 WORDS, and 5 WORDS.Some of your kids might miss that key component to haiku poems if you don't explicitly teach syllables. Here are the haiku poems one of my students wrote.

Some of you may remember from previous blog postings that we wrote Color Poems to help teach the objectives that poems appeal to all 5 senses, contain powerful language, and require us to infer. Here is the display of our colorful poetry in our hallway. You can see the 'flaps' students put over the top of the color they wrote about so that their audience would get the chance to infer what color they wrote about prior to peeking at the answer.

Last Friday we also had early release. The kids got to go home to play, and we teachers stayed at school to work. The thing is, I don't think the community knows that teachers stay to work on early release days because I had parent from a different grade say, "Any big plans this afternoon for you, Miss Bongers?" I kind of thought she was being sarcastic, so of course I replied with, "Oh, you know... just big plans to plan some literature discussion groups for next week!" She laughed, thinking I was kidding.

On early release days, teachers are required to be at school to work on a variety of tasks that are pre-assigned by our administration. This past Friday, our staff worked diligently to apply a lot of the new training we received last week at a literacy workshop on literature discussion groups. Although it would be awesome if we did, we teachers don't just magically know everything. :) We, too, have to learn, study, and practice. The world of education, best practices, and research of how students learn best continues to evolve every single day! As we learn more about literature discussion groups, we need to study and practice putting together planners for our literature discussion groups so that our instruction and facilitation are as effective as possible to lift students' comprehension and discussion.

For those of you who followed my blog last week, you followed me as I worked with my Pink and Say LDG. Prior to introducing the book to students, I created a planner using our district's LDG protocol to help me launch the book and facilitate the group successfully. Here is an example of what I planned (for nearly 3 hours!) prior to working with the group. We don't have a teacher's manual full of planners that we just whip out a minute before we meet with a group. Teachers work really hard and need time to plan PURPOSEFUL lessons for students so that their comprehension is truly lifted as they read, flag, and discuss text.

So, during early release last Friday, I worked to create another LDG planner for Henry's Freedom Box. You can see that all of our district's LDG texts have a bright pink sticker on them. This lets us as teachers know that it is a text that could spark some excellent conversation due to its content, language, literary elements, and themes. These texts are also culturally responsive and help students make greater connections to the diverse cultures and people that make up our world. On the right, you can see the notes I took about Henry's Freedom Box as I read it for the first time. I recorded symbolism, themes, vocabulary, and thicker questions about the text that I thought students could discuss at a deeper level. It's not organized and pretty, but then again, taking notes never really is! I used my notes and started to fill out a LDG planner just like the one shown above for Pink and Say. We have a field trip tomorrow and on Wednesday so my plan is to launch this Henry's Freedom Box LDG on Thursday. Stay tuned!

Pink & Say LDG: Final Session

Yesterday I one-on-one conferenced with each member of my Pink & Say literature discussion group. One-on-one conferences help me assess individual comprehension and clarify misunderstandings prior to small group discussion. They also help me give confidence to students who may not know what to say in a group by encouraging them to share specific bits of great thinking when we meet as small group.

Today I taped our session together. Prior to this session, students flagged their texts for challenges Pink and Say faced individually and as a duo, and students wrote a response in their Thoughtful Logs to pull all their thinking together in writing. My role in a literature discussion group is that of a facilitator. I start the discussion by inviting students to begin their discussion about our common focus (in this text it was challenges the characters faced) and the students own the discussion from there. I get to listen and take notes on student's contributions and also pose deep questions to keep the conversation rich, if needed. Click to watch our Pink & Say LDG from today!

After our session, students returned to their desks to answer one last higher-level thinking question about the text. As the facilitator, I made sure to pose the question during our LDG session today so students could discuss and think around it prior to writing a response to it.

 

Here, one of my students has begun her final response and the other is carefully pulling his 'thinking flags' from his text to store in his Thoughtful Log prior to writing his final response.

Here are a few final responses of my students that help me assess their higher-level thinking skills of the text. Through peer discussion, students' thinking is lifted, enabling them to think at deeper levels.

Lovin' Me Some LDGs

My biggest area for growth this year within the Comprehensive Literacy Model is my effectiveness as a facilitator of literature discussion groups (LDGs). I continue to learn more and more with my literacy coach, Candice Johnson, and over time, LDGs have become one of my favorite groups to plan for when it comes to small-group instruction. You want me to help kids to become deeper thinkers and discussers of text? Um, yes, please! I'm in!

Last week, I did a book introduction and orientation to launch Pink and Say by Patricia Polocco with six of my students. Not only does the Civil War content of the book overlap with our study of people in social studies, but it is also a text that has deep meaning on a variety of levels. These kinds of rich, culturally responsive texts are exactly what we want in the hands our our kids as often as possible. Then give them the chance to flag their thoughts and discuss the text with one another and the experience becomes even more powerful. I have goosebumps just typing about it.

Today I met with students to facilitate their discussion of the first half of the book. I gave students a purpose for reading prior to our first meeting and that was for them to flag examples of loyalty and to write a response (using their flagged thoughts as their guide) in their Thoughtful Logs. What's great is that other than calling the group together at our side table with their materials (Pink and Say text and Thoughtful Logs) and saying, "Let's start our LDG by focusing on our theme of loyalty. Who would like to start the discussion?" - I really had to do nothing more. The group ran itself, and I could sit back and take anecdotal notes on the kinds of contributions my students made with one another about the text. Although the discussion started on the topic of loyalty, it opened doors for the kids to talk about a variety of inferences, wonderings, and connections on a variety of topics and levels. What's great is that students were problem-solving together, and I just got to take notes and smile.

After about 10 minutes of discussion, I finally had to stop the group because I was convinced they would have talked for another half hour had I let them. I had never been so happy to hear moans of disappointment from my students in my whole life! :) It was my turn to briefly introduce the second half of the book, locate a few potential problem areas, and establish their purpose for reading. This time, I wanted students to flag some of the challenges Pink and Say went through both individually and as a pair. You'll see in the picture below, I put a post-it on the inside back cover of each student's book. Our district calls this a 'common focus flag'. It reminds students what to flag for (that will lead our discussion later on). Because it's on the inside back cover, the focus flag never gets lost on a page. It just stares kids in the face the whole time to ensure students have a common focus for reading (in addition to their other thoughts). This post-it below reminds kids to 1.) flag challenges they find in the text (goal = find at least 3), 2. Write a two paragraph response in their Thoughtful Log after they've finished reading that includes a one-paragraph summary and one-paragraph about the challenges Pink and Say faced.

Students then went back to their desks to read the rest of Pink and Say independently. Both these readers are flagging challenges they've found while reading. In this picture, you see the light yellow 'common focus flag' sticking out of the back of the boy's Pink and Say text below.

Here are two of the flags he put in his book. In addition to flagging areas in the text that serve as evidence of our LDG's common focus, students are also encouraged to flag anything else they believe would spark deep conversation with the group. I love how he flagged and wrote Pink called slavery 'the sickness' and can already hear the deep discussion that could step from such a metaphor. What's even better is that the thought came from HIM, not me as his teacher. If we want students to be deep, independent thinkers of text, we have to provide kids with opportunities like LDGs to let them practice...and shine!

Here is another student's flagged text. On the left is her own flag for a challenge she discovered while reading. On the right, you can see the 'common focus flag' I stuck in the inside back cover of each student's book to remind them of their task/s.

Tomorrow students will continue to work on this assignment during independent reading time. While they work, I will do one-on-one conferences with each student in the LDG to establish their levels of independent comprehension and clarify any misunderstandings. This is also a good time to have a student read short sections of a page to check for fluency or word-solving strategies. By meeting with each student prior to our next group LDG session, all students can feel more confident about their verbal contributions. For my shiest readers, it is during our one-on-one time that I can say to them, "THAT was some really good thinking. Can you share that tomorrow when we discuss this text?" When they nod with a smile, you've just made a mini-pact to ensure their voice gets heard!

Round 2 of LDGs

Today we met in small guided reading groups to do book previews for each group's next book for their literature discussion groups (LDGs). Now that students have learned to read their assigned pages, flag their thoughts, and write about their thoughts, our reading block definitely has taken on a 'workshop' feel. Here you can see some students reading, some students flagging, and some students responding in their Thoughtful Logs. This makes independent reading time so much more purposeful. Students got their first reading assignment today and will discuss their assigned pages on Monday.

Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Finish LDG response
2. Social Studies - Study for test on Tuesday
3. $2 for bowling by next Friday

Setting the Bar High...

A new year means we have new, increasing expectations! Prior to break, students prepared for their literature discussion groups by reading their assigned pages and flagging 3 - 4 thoughts on post-its using our codes. We discussed summarizing earlier in the year, but we also started to revisit it just before break. For those of you who are asking, "What does flagging your thoughts mean? What are these thinking codes?" Click on this blog post and scroll down about half way through! You'll see several anchor charts and video clips to catch you up on all we learned regarding purposeful talk and thinking prior to our winter break. :)

Students will be getting a new literature discussion group book next week but rather than just needing to read their assigned pages and flag their thoughts, students will also need to write a response in their Thoughtful Log prior to a literature discussion group meeting. To help remind students of these new expectations, I had them glue a gold reminder sheet in their Thoughtful Logs so they could always find my expectations, even if they're working on their responses at home.

 

Yesterday I introduced my expectations for an entry and modeled for students how to write an acceptable response. I pretended that Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary was my book for my literature discussion group. I read my 'assigned pages' aloud to my students and flagged my thoughts while I read. Right after I got done reading my assigned pages, I got my Thoughtful Log out (a.k.a. chart paper) and started drafting my 3-5 sentence summary of what I read. Next, I started a new paragraph to write 1-2 sentences about a reading strategy I used and a final sentence that started with one of our conversational moves. I also modeled this process again today. Here is my response:

After two days of me modeling, it was time for students to practice this themselves. I had students read from their independent chapter books for about 10 minutes. Students flagged 3-4 thoughts while they read. After those 10 minutes, I had students get out their Thoughtful Logs and turn to the page where they glued the gold expectation sheet from yesterday. I moved my own modeled response anchor chart to the front of the room for students to refer to, and they began writing their own responses. Summary paragraph first; strategy/thinking paragraph second. Students referred back to their flagged thoughts to help them draft their second paragraph about their thinking.

 

Here is one student's response about the book she read today. Her summary paragraph of what she read appears at the bottom in this picture. 

And here is her second paragraph about her strategy use and thinking. I also had students put their post-its in their Thoughtful Logs after they were done writing their response.

Students need to be independent readers, writers, thinkers, and discussers (is that a word?!) of text. By assigning students to read a text, flag their thoughts about a text, write about their thoughts about a text, and discuss a text, they will push into the meaning of text at a deeper level. Students will be required to write a response prior to every literature discussion group meeting. Just before a group meets, students can read their summary to remind themselves of what the story was about and their paragraph about their thinking and immediately be 'back in the zone' of their text from the day before. It truly helps prepare kids to discuss a text at a deeper level.

Yes, these kids are 9. Yes, these kids are young. And YES, they CAN do it! You might say, "Whoa...that's a lot of writing." Well, we've been writing about our thinking since day one in our room. The kids know it's just what we do. They've gotten really used to the process of reflecting about their thinking. Obviously, it takes a lot of teacher modeling, but with the right scaffolds, students truly can become independent youngsters who can do a WHOLE lot. I believe it's ok to set the bar high, as long as I do my part to get these kids the tools they need to reach it. I think my kids surprised themselves today with all they did in terms of their literacy thinking. I even heard one girl say, "Oh, that wasn't too hard. That was actually kind of fun!" Let's hope that attitude continues.... :)

In other 4B news, students have been truly diving in as scientists. Yesterday they sported their safety goggles while taking apart 'mock rocks' (fake rocks). All real rocks are made of a variety of materials. Students sorted the materials in their mock rocks, and tomorrow students will try to figure out how to identify each of the materials based on a variety of tests.

Lastly, today we met with our second-grade buddies. Buddy pairs went on a scavenger hunt in both our room and Mrs. Adams' room to find a variety of things.

Hope you've all had a great week!