Expository Writing

We started using the expository nonfiction writing unit in Being a Writer, but it simply wasn't meeting our needs.

This week is reading week and we are doing a travel theme.  

Our grade level was assigned Europe, so we are having our students research different European countries.  Instead of writing a paper, they're making travel brochures and loving it!

We reviewed text structures:

Then brainstormed research questions for each:

We went over a very simple organizer for note taking:

For this project, my students are required to use one print and one digital source.  My librarian shared Culture Grams with us.  I taught my students how to access this from our school's library site.  I like that we have access to different data bases and they're kid friendly!

We went over the outline of the brochure:

I modeled a thinking map about Ireland:

From my thinking map, I modeled writing research questions and then determining which text structure I'd use for my written response:

From there, I set up our hallway decoration using the map my awesome neighbor drew:

Norway, by the way, has a very difficult coast line!

We split Europe into four parts and I got Northern Europe.

Tomorrow we're finalizing our brochures and then our hallway display will be up to date!  I love how excited they are to research and learn about different places.

Percy Jackson lessons

Today was a weird catch-up day. 

We took our landforms test, did a debate in preparation for Wednesday's field trip and analyzed The Lightning Thief.

We didn't get as far as I'd like, but they had some great discussions!

We started a family tree:

Looked at relationships between the Greek gods:

Tried to make an outline of camp half blood:

And perhaps my favorite part: foreshadowing.

We got to the end of chapter eight.  Spoiler alert...Poseidon is Percy's dad!

So we made a list of all the clues that Rick Riordan used throughout the text:

My students had some great "a ha" moments!

I love how great they're doing with our read aloud :)

Science notebooks

We've talked a lot about notebooks this year.

In science, we've been studying land forms, geography, earth and space. 

We started with maps and created this tree map of maps (I crack myself up):

We have been looking at physical & political maps.  We talked about aerial maps and tried to be surveyors, mapping out the primary playground by using different benchmarks.

Today we built foam mountains and traced the "layers".  Tomorrow we'll discuss how these "layers" are really contour lines and dig deep into topographic maps.

I'm in no way following the suggested pacing guide because well, my pacing guide made more sense :)

Here is another thinking map about land forms:

We also went over the 5 themes of geography (Mr. Help!) which is available for free at my TpT store :)

Here is one of my TpT sorts in action, ready to be analyzed by my ten year old geologists:

Yay science :)

Reading notebooks so far

Week 4, Day 2

We have most of the kinks worked out with our notebooks.

Our reading one has our table of contents:

We've recorded a lot of our thoughts in our notebooks.

Here is a poem we analyzed and worked on recording our thinking:

We've been reading aloud Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which my students are absolutely loving!

We practiced making predictions based on the front and back covers as well as the table of contents.  We discussed the importance of noticing illustrations and making predictions about the story.  They did a really great job with this lesson.

Here we have been keeping track of characters in our novels:

We will compare and contrast them, but it's important for students to keep track of characters as they grow over the novel.

We also have used this FCRR think sheet

to analyze Percy :)

Here we have our reference sheet for context clues (from the previously mentioned amazing CORE source book)

We used the context clues lesson when we re-read parts of the Lightning Thief to focus on unknown words.  They are working on determining meaning based on context clues:

Here we tried a new strategy called brain mapping:

We cut apart a thinking map and added our own thoughts.  It took WAY longer than anticipated and I'm not sure we'll be doing it again any time soon, but it was nice to show students a new way to record their notes.

We are working on figurative language in our intervention block as well as in whole group reading.  We are applying these terms to analyzing poems.

Here is the poem we are working on:

We read it today to look for figurative language.  Tomorrow we will re-read the passage with the intention of looking for theme.

Our poem is slightly too long for our notebooks, 

so we problem solved by folding it in half and only gluing in part :)

Here is our thinking sheet about comparing and contrasting settings that was made by my awesome colleague:

We will be using it when we analyze different settings in The Lightning Thief.

Here is our phrasing lesson and a half sheet reference for Greek gods (to help with the Lightning Thief)

We've done a lot in the first few weeks of school!

1st Week Idea

I admit it, I'm guilty. I am guilty of trying to condense the entire first week's worth of ice breakers and procedures into the first day of school.  I think I do this because I'm so eager to get to the part of the school year where students are learning and eagerly sharing ideas with one another. I'm ready for the part where my classroom runs smoothly and I don't have to go over how to set up notebooks and center expectations.  However, I've also learned through trial and error that the first week(s) of school need to be spent going over procedures and expectations so the rest of the year can run smoothly.

I stumbled upon this great idea on pinterest and immediately added it to my first week lesson plans.

Essentially, students are completing a Venn Diagram about themselves and a buddy.  Pretty simple idea, but then I got to thinking about why this would be important.

1: It's a great, non-threatening review of Venn Diagrams and what it means to compare and contrast two people.  Since the comparing and contrasting of two individuals is a cornerstone of RL 5.3, it's a sneak peek formative assessment.

2: It's a non-threatening format that students are familiar with.  It doesn't involve notebooks.

3: It's a great way to establish speaking and listening norms.  I would model this with a co-teacher to show students what is expected in a conversation.  We could also model appropriate voice levels, thus reviewing another classroom expectation.

I wouldn't do this the first day of school.  Instead, I foresee this as a great Tuesday through Thursday activity.

At our school, we use Kagan grouping structures, which means I have my students in groups of four to six that change every six weeks (or so).  In each group, there is a "high flyer", a medium student, a lower student, and usually a student with an IEP (since I am inclusion).  The students work together and learn from one another.

On the first day, I would have students interview their "shoulder partner" who is the person sitting next to them.

The second day would be devoted to interviewing their "face partner" who is the person directly across from them.

The final day would be interviewing their "kiddy corner" partner.  Then they will share out with the group and make a four way Venn Diagram (I'd provide the templates) about their table teams.  

From there, we would do a gallery walk to learn more about the other table teams.

During this fifteen minutes, I would monitor for appropriate voice levels and have the opportunity to teach Kagan structures and group expectations.

I'm excited to give this new idea a try!  I also plan to repeat it within small groups once we start switching during the second week of school.

How would you make this activity even better?