"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today, we wrapped up our unit on Antarctica by reading about a "Whale of a Debate."  We read the article "Sea Hunt," featured in Time For Kids magazine.  The article discussed two points of view on hunting whales in Antarctica, including both the Japanese (pro) and the IWC (International Whaling Commission-con) points of view.  In our class, most students sided with the IWC, but three students thought Japan was right for hunting whale for scientific research, food, and as an oil resource.  Which would you side with?  In addition to reading critically and debating a point of view, students were also exposed to digital text features, including video links, voice recordings of the text, and vocabulary boxes.  Wow, what a great job our class did with 21st century reading skills!   

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today we started our non-fiction genre study!  Our unit, Navigating Non-Fiction, will focus on reading strategies that are specific to the non-fiction genre, including determining the main idea & supporting details, making predictions, and asking questions.  Students will begin with a study of Antarctica.  Do you know the differences between the Arctic and Antarctica?  Check out this article!  As a class, we will compare and contrast how authors write about the same topic by reading a variety of texts on Antarctica and penguins.  Check out the penguins of Antarctica forming a huddle to keep warm in the frigid temperatures and whipping winds of Antarctica!

"It's Monday…What Are You Reading?"

This week, we are studying how different authors of similar texts portray their message about a similar character.  We will read and compare and contrast the poem "Watchman" to the books Scarecrow and The Lonely Scarecrow.  We will carefully study vocabulary terms that are important to understanding the scarecrow character.  In addition, students will be exposed to blogging!  Check out our kidblog!  Students will begin blogging about their reader's workshop books in class.  Blogging is a great way to share good books, as well as comment on what our classmates are reading.   Directions on how to appropriately comment on blogs will be sent home soon if your child wishes to do that at home.  However, school time will be provided for blogging!  Happy reading!  Perhaps enjoy a good book outside today….

Amazing Pumpkin Characters!

Wow, your pumpkin characters are AWESOME!  If you are unable to make it to Spirit Night and want to see the class's pumpkins, check them out here!

 

"It's Monday…What Are You Reading?"

What a week we have ahead in Reading!  This week, we will finish our Gooney Bird books in book clubs!  We are studying Gooney Bird closely as we wrap up our character trait unit.  In addition to pin-pointing appropriate character traits to various characters, we are also studying ways that characters and their traits drive the events of the text, their motivations, and actions that contribute to the sequence of events in the text.  Students will view, participate, and apply learning to a series of lessons by learnzillion.com that review how to do a "close reading" of literature on The Story of the Three Little Pigs, with a focus on character traits.  Check it out with a subscription FREE with a google account.  It's an excellent resource.  Happy reading!  And I am REALLY looking forward to seeing your pumpkin characters on Wednesday!      

"It's Monday…What Are You Reading?"

Did you know that a man once tight-rope walked between the two World Trade Center buildings?  It's true!  Ask your child about Philippe Petit, an aerialist who "spent almost an hour walking, dancing, and performing tricks a quarter of a mile in the sky."  This was a 'character' who demonstrated traits including bravery, courage, and determination in the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.  He was goal-oriented and a risk-taker.  Check out real-live footage of Mr. Petit!  Although we read this book at the end of last week, it's such an inspiring story, I really wanted to share it!  We will continue our study of character traits and discuss what moves/contributes to the actions of characters in a story.  We are currently reading different Gooney Bird books in our book clubs and observing her grow and change as a creative, fun-loving, unique character!

"It's Monday…What Are You Reading?"

Today, we continued to discuss our reading strategies/thinking while reading post-its with a focus on Author's Craft.  We talked about John Updike's use of literary devices in his poem, October.  We made great connections to how we feel in the month of October.  However, students were a little stumped on what "frost bites the lawn" might look like in the early October morning.  Perhaps show them one morning!  We also noticed that he intentionally writes with beautiful craft, including personification, similes, metaphors, and imagery.  We discussed some new terms, too, including idiom, hyperbole, and assonance.  See if your child knows these literary devices!  We also continued our discussion of Gooney Bird Greene, noticing that the author writes with a lot of repetition in her story.