Double your impact!

I posted another project to donorschoose.  I requested copies of Steal Away Home, Seed Folks, and My name is Maria Isabel to use with small groups.  I read portions of these novels as read alouds (mentor text) with my fifth graders last year.  They loved the stories but were disappointed when they found out I only had one copy.  I'm requesting eight of each novel to use with small groups. I love when more than one student is reading the same novel because they discuss their ideas with one another outside of our group meetings.

I'm also requesting eight copies of House of Hades to continue our quest with Percy and co.  In the grant, I also asked for some interactive number lines, math manipulatives to stress teaching powers of ten (but in a way that's helpful to my visual and kinesthetic learners), and some classroom organizing materials.

Donations to my classroom are 100% tax deductible and for the next week are being matched through charitable organizations.  Use INSPIRE at checkout to double your donation! (Up to $100).

Even if you can't donate right now, please keep my classroom and young students in your mind.  Pass along this information to any interested parties and I will be extremely appreciative!  Thank you.

Kindly,
Ms. Vice
(and the munchkins of room 71)

Character Analysis

In whole group reading, we've been working on comparing and contrasting characters.  In fifth grade, the expectation is to go much deeper then "one is a boy and one is a girl" responses. 

We've looked at how characters in the same text respond similarly and differently to the same event using Seed Folks as mentor text.

We've looked at how characters from different novels respond similarly and differently to a similar event using Tiger Rising, Because of Winn Dixie and Sarah, Plain and Tall as mentor texts with Rob, Opal and Anne.

We've moved on to looking at Matt and Attean in Sign of the Beaver and how they interact differently with the environment.

As you can see, I broke the reading into three sections.  I modeled the first day, reading the passage aloud and sharing my thinking (metacognition).

They worked with a partner or in a small group of three on part two and on Monday, they'll do part three independently.  They read the passage, take notes since they're "reading with a pencil" and then discuss their ideas.

They're taking notes in the graphic organizer we made in our whole group notebooks:

 While they work, not only are they building their stamina (since testing is a few months away) but I get to see how well they're doing with annotating (stop and jot) as well as analyzing the text. 

 It's a great way to do a quick informal assessment, I just walk around and make notes on a post-it.  I can also do a quick intervention if needed.

Some of them will struggle with this independent task and as I've said before, this productive struggle is perfectly okay.

I'm impressed with how well they're doing!

Seed Folks

We have been using Seed Folks as mentor text during our whole group reading block.

They tried the passage independently and then I modeled metacognition.

Most of them wrote down character traits (which is what we have previously worked on) but didn't write down supporting details for the task (how did the character interact with the garden).

So they tried it again independently, then shared their thoughts with a partner.

There were four different chapters, so I was able to make small groups for them to discuss their character.  They then switched and repeated the process with another character.

We then compared and contrasted how two characters (in the same text) reacted similarly and differently to the same event, in this case, the garden.   They did a pretty good job with it!

We also previewed the book beforehand and talked about how the organization of this text was different than say The Lightning Thief. In Seed Folks, each chapter is written from another character's perspective.  

They did well with this concept of comparing how two characters react different to the same event.  Next up, we are going to be comparing how characters in different texts respond to a similar event.

Happy reading!