Loaded with Literacy!

Last week we looked at the beautiful language and sentence fluency in All the Places to Love by Patricia MacLachlan. I decided to do a small writing project with the kids to help them adopt a more fluent writing style and to write more like Patricia MacLachlan. We noticed that all the places the characters loved in her book had to do with nature. I modeled for students how I thought of a place in nature that I love (the Horicon Marsh), followed by nouns that I see, feel, smell, hear, and taste while I'm there. After all, good writers appeal to a reader's senses!

Students then followed my model and thought of their own special place in nature and filled out their pre-writing sheet with powerful nouns.

We also used a page from All the Places to Love to help us look at different parts of speech: nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

We recorded several examples of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and similes.

 Students kept track of this new learning in their Powerful Words & Phrases tab.

Eventually we used our pre-writing sheet to fill in our drafting sheet. I gave students a general outline to encourage the sentence fluency of Patricia MacLachlan. With their new knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and similes, students could better understand the different words they were to include in their draft.

 Good writers have their pre-writing sheet right next to their draft so that they can stick to their plan!

 After students read their writing to a peer, it was time to publish. We used the computer lab to help us with this task. Fourth graders aren't the most fluent typists but the short length of this piece allowed them to get a feel for publishing using a computer without feeling too overwhelmed.

We will be putting each student's page in our own classroom book called All the Places 4B Loves. :)

Our literacy coach, Mrs. Johnson, came to help us get better with answering short answer questions. She used this anchor chart to help us learn the steps to writing a great answer!

 We looked at two different sample responses and together we evaluated whether the responses were strong or not. We looked specifically for a question stem, complete sentences, details and examples from the text, and whether the student truly answered the question.

 Then it was time for students to try out their new learning. They received a short reading about dolphins, a short-answer response sheet, and a self-assessment sheet to evaluate their answer during and after writing their response.

 The next day we had a chance to look at some of our own answers from the day before. I scanned a few samples and we discussed what each writer did well (strengths) and what the writer could do to improve (goals). In this sample, we noticed how the writer used part of the question to help her formulate the first line of her answer. Bravo!

 In this sample, we noticed this writer also used part of the question to help her start her answer. We also discovered that this writer needed to include more examples or details from the text and do some rereading of her answer as she writes to make sure it makes sense.

 This writer used great transition words to write her answer. We noticed that her topic sentence actually appeared as the last sentence in her response so we thought it would be a good idea to move it to the top of her response.

After we discussed as a class about strengths and goals, I handed back students' short-answer responses from the day before. They reread them, and then I had them write a response about their strengths and goals in their My Thoughts tab of their Thoughtful Logs.

In guided reading, we continued looking at different types of print. Students showed evidence of being able to identify the definitions of words in a different type of print. They recorded their thinking in their Thoughtful Logs.

Today we added another non-fiction text feature to our list: headings!

I photocopied a page from our social studies text book and a page from a question and answer book to help model the different headers and sub-headers we see in texts.

This anchor chart communicates my explicit teaching point for our reading lesson today. I modeled my own thinking when I got to the first header of an article about satellites. I activated my schema and made a prediction before I read on.

 After I modeled my own thinking, I gave students their own copy of the article so they could practice the strategy themselves using the next header in the article. The header read: Movers and Shakers.

During guided reading, students read a non-fiction article about Yosemite National Park and did a similar response show evidence that they understand how to think when they get to a header in a non-fiction text. Students used the header From Paris to the Parks.

During Writer's Workshop today we learned that we need to indent and start a new paragraph every time our topic changes. We looked at real published writing from a book about koalas to help us see that indenting is really something published authors do when they switch to writing about a new topic.

Then I modeled for students how to pre-write for a piece of writing that's about three different topics. I used the listing strategy to jot down several key words about each of my topics.

 Then I modeled how I took each of the key words on my pre-writing plan and expanded them as I drafted each paragraph. Each time I switched to a new topic, I was sure to indent!

 Students got a chance to practice this strategy independently. I had them glue a prompt sheet in their own notebooks, pre-write their ideas, and draft from their plan. You can see this writer showed evidence of understanding that she should indent every time she switches to writing about a new topic. This small writing assignment also helps me assess students' convention use, sentence fluency, word choice, and their ability to draft from their pre-writing plan.

 You'll notice in the above piece of writing that the student highlighted the words 'a lot' three times. Students in our room know to highlight anywhere in their writing when they know they're meeting their writing goal. For this writer, one of the goals we set for her a few weeks ago was to make sure to spell 'a lot' as two words rather than one. When I looked at this students' writing, I saw the highlighting which was a signal for me to mark in my writing binder that she met her goal. Now that she showed evidence of applying her writing goal three times successfully, I officially signed off on her goal! Way to go, girl!

Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log
2. Math - 10 mins. of facts, WKCE prep questions
3. Handwriting - pgs. 22-23
4. Social Studies - test tomorrow!
Extra: Costume in a bag! Our party will begin at 2pm.

Headers and Sub-headers

In reading we continued on with strategies for finding the meanings of words that are in a different type of print in non-fiction texts. Yesterday I introduced that you can look in the text itself (read on), look in the margins, or look in the glossary. I modeled how to keep track of my thinking when I found the word 'primatologist' in bold in a magazine I was reading.

 For guided practice, students recorded my thinking in their Thoughtful Logs on an identical chart.

In guided reading, we explored an article on Death Valley. Students completed the rest of the chart in their Thoughtful Log to serve as evidence of their ability to find the definitions of bolded words while reading.

Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log!
2. Math - 7.4 (Sequencing)
3. Spelling - Test Fri.
4. Science - Share yellow connection sheet with parents
5. Social Studies - Test next Wed., Oct. 26, Study orange study guide, practice vocabulary word memory game
6. Library books

Vocabulary, Sentence Fluency, & Types of Print

*Attention Parents: Here is a link to the Land and Climate Poster Project students have due on Wed., Oct. 19!*

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Our first unit in Social Studies is coming to a close. Students' Land & Climate Posters are due on Wed., Oct. 19. This week we are preparing for our Land & Climate test next Wed., Oct. 26. Today students cut cards for a vocabulary memory game they can play alone, with a friend, or with a family member. There are 21 words students need to know so I split up the words into two groups. There is a 'Yellow Game' in which students use the gold and light yellow cards, and there is a 'Purple Game' where students use only the dark purple and light purple cards. There is a pink answer sheet students can use to check their answers when they play either colored game.

 During read aloud today, we read Owl Moon as a mentor text for sentence fluency. We learned that good writers start their sentences in a variety of ways. To help us see this, I had a student highlight the first word of every sentence from a 'fourth-grade' piece of writing, and then had her highlight the first word of a page from Owl Moon.

Students highlighted the first word of each of their sentences in a story they were writing. Some students discovered they started sentences in a variety of ways while others discovered they used words like "Then", "I", and "He" too much!

During reading, we reviewed what we learned last week about informational and everyday text. Authors use different types of print to make words stand out in a text.

When we notice a word in a non-fiction text that is written with a different type of print, it is important to pay attention to the word and find out what it means. There are a few strategies we can use to find the definitions of words that are in a different type of print. One strategy is to look within the text itself! We looked at a few examples from a science magazine and our social studies text book and found several examples of definitions that were immediately after the bolded word in the text.

We also discussed the importance of looking in the margins (which I don't have a picture of!), and then we discussed that words in a different type of print can often be found in the glossary in the back of the book. A glossary is another non-fiction text feature.

For guided practice, students looked through a leveled National Geographic magazine for bolded words. Their goal was to see what strategy helped them find the definition of the bolded word. Was the definition in the text itself, in the margin, or in the glossary at the end of the article?

Students shared out their findings. Some students read on and found the definitions of some of their words within the text itself. Others found their definitions in the glossary at the end of the article. 

Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log
2. Math - 10 mins., 7.3: Front side only
3. Spelling - Test Fri.
4. Social Studies - Poster due Wed.

Types of Print & That Darn Letter S!

*Attention Parents: Here is a link to the Land and Climate Poster Project students should be working on this weekend. It is due on Wed., Oct. 19!*

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Today we officially kicked off our study of informational and everyday text. We defined the characteristics and looked at examples of informational and everyday text.

Students glued this chart into the Genre Learning tab of their Thoughtful Logs.

 Students looked for different types of print as they read independently today (regardless of whether they had fiction or non-fiction) and tallied the number of times they saw a different type of print.

 During our share time, we discussed our observations and began brainstorming WHY authors might use a different type of print. Today specifically we discussed that an author might use italics to indicate a title or a journal entry by a character in a book. Another student found that words in all capital letters were used for both shouting and for headers.

On a different note, I've been noticing that many of our kiddos are putting apostrophes before every s at the end of their words. It was clear to me that my students didn't understand the difference between using an s for possession versus using an s to make something plural. I used a page from Amelia's Notebook (which we have been reading as a mentor text for the trait of ideas lately) and highlighted the words with an s on the end. I asked students what they noticed about all the words that were highlighted. Students discovered that they all ended in s, but those in yellow had apostrophes before the s and those in green did not.

I used this SMARTboard slide to discuss the difference. I had printed this slide out ahead of time and students glued it in the Author's Craft section of their Thoughtful Logs since good authors always make sure to use punctuation appropriately. The chart will serve as a resource if students need to refer to it during Writer's Workshop.

We practiced a few examples together, and then I had students write down two sentences that I had dictated.

Homework:
1. Reading: 15 mins., Pizza Log (Look for different types of print in your books!)
2. Math: Facts - 10 mins., 7.1/7.2
3. Social Studies: Poster due Wed.

3-For-1 Special!

We've done a lot in the past three days. I'll do my best to keep you all caught up! I've been having some issues with my computer so it was a little bit of a struggle to blog this week.

We created a publishing anchor chart to add to our Writer's Workshop wall. We discussed that a published piece of writing is a cleaned-up version of our revised and edited version. When a student is publishing, we should see their sloppy copy, their Quick Word book, and their clean looseleaf paper on their desk. Their paper should be slanted to enable the best handwriting.

We also talked about how to make a cover for a published piece of writing. Our publishing wall has pockets for each student to store his or her writing, so I explained that when you make a cover, you will first want to trace a thin line to indicate the part of the cover that will stick out of the pocket. In this top 2 inches is where the title, author's name, and date need to appear. This allows a reader to easily identify the title of the piece of writing and the writer. The picture for the cover can go on the area below the line. Below you will see Teagan tracing a line to figure out where she needs to put her information for her cover.

We've also been practicing summary writing.

 I modeled again how to use a vocabulary organizer to write my summary.

Finally, this morning we read Tulip Sees America as a mentor text for word choice.

We took a closer look at the language of some of the states visited in the book.

We pulled out the words that were powerful and painted a picture of Iowa and categorized some of the author's language. We decided that good authors use colors and similes to help paint a picture of what they are writing about!

To store this learning, students recorded the powerful phrases from the three states we looked at in the Powerful Words and Phrases section of their Thoughtful Logs.

 Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log
2. Math - 10 mins. facts
3. Spelling - Sentences, Test Fri.
4. Social Studies - Poster due Wed.
5. Thursday envelope

Beginning to Publish!

Today many students got their personal narrative drafts back from our adult volunteer editors. Our adult editors make any last minute editing and revising changes to student writing that didn't get fixed in the students' writing process. The adults also put any circled words in students' Quick Word books. Students know that when they circle a word in their writing, an adult will help them spell it later, not by just writing it correctly for them on their draft but instead, putting the correct spelling in a resource like their Quick Word book. I want students to learn to use their resources to spell rather than just have someone always write it correctly for them without students having to do any work.

You'll notice in the draft below that this student circled the word 'donets' because she wasn't sure how to spell it. The adult wrote Q.W. next to her circled word to signal to this student that she can find the correct spelling for 'doughnuts' in her Quick Word book. When this student went to her 'D' section of her Quick Word book, she found her word spelled correctly. We don't put ALL misspelled words in students' Quick Word books, just those that students circle. The rest of the misspelled words we fix for them right in their draft.

We then discussed that good writers have a clever title that hooks a reader's interest in the story rather than give the whole story away! Students quickly revised their titles to make them a little more clever and not too revealing. We also discussed the importance of indenting, and how to publish a draft on looseleaf paper. After my modeling, students began publishing their own stories.

 Tomorrow we will create an anchor chart to add to our Writer's Workshop wall to anchor what we know about publishing!

 Homework:
1. Reading - 15 mins., Pizza Log
2. Math - 10 mins. facts, 6.2/6.3 (Line Graphs), Ch. 5 test slip
3. Spelling - Test Friday
BOOK ORDERS - Due Thursday!