Whew...it' s been a crazy 5 months since my last post. Glad to be back! Inferencing has always been a challenge for me and for my students. This year it has particuarly challenging due to the make up of my class. I have very diverse levels in my class and am having to find ways to meet the needs of these students on many different levels. Believe it or not, I think in the end it has helped me think more deeply about each lesson I teach, and how to intervene when the students do not get it. I digress...Inferencing is a challenge no matter who you are or the students you have due to the fact that it is not stated right in the story and the children have to actually think through the "why" something is happening. As we started inferencing this year...my kids were all over the place. Part due to the concept being new to them; part due to lack of connection. I did not know this at the time though. I found this great anchor chart a few weeks ago...and printed it for my kids to put in their reader's notebook...and the real teaching began! We went back and had a discussion about personal experience and how those tie into inferencing. One of my students used the word "schema"--I was so proud considering we had been talking about schema all year and no child had ever used it correctly in a sentence. First time for everything right? I was beaming! I did not create this anchor chart but I did use a file folder as an example for their brain. They are always commenting on the fact that I use file folders for everything...I thought this fit quite nicely. Of course, I had to tie inferencing back into their schema so we began to talk--just talk about personal experiences and how those help us answer questions. The kids responses were amazing. The children may not have that many personal experiences...but they have enough to make connections. Once we talked about how our schema helps us infer...we had to talk about text evidence. In 3rd grade we really stress the importance of going back in the story to find text evidence (proof) of their answer. The common misconception is inferring has no text evidence...well you can see why I like the anchor chart I posted above. There is always text evidence with inferring...it may not be directly stated but there are clues to lead you to the correct answer. Finding the clues is the key! On to the final piece of our inferencing puzzle! Our 3rd grade team has been focusing less on multiple choice answers this year, and more about getting the kids to think through their answers and WRITE!! We have been getting the students to do what we call "I know" statements. The students have a question (that would typically be a multiple choice question) but instead of ABCD...they have to write the following after answering the question: I know this because the text says... I also know this because when I... We have the students find the text to support their answer and then they have to make a personal connection to their answer. (Meaning, many times we answer a question because of a certain experience we've had...we can relate to a character because we have also felt that way...we can infer because we know we would do that same thing if we were that character...etc.) Here is an example of the template the students have. We are doing this activity this week on Wednesday...it is inferencing for non-fiction! (Obviously it has a story that goes along with it.) Now the students may have never experienced an Earthquake...but they know that broken glass hurts--there is their the personal connection. These "I know" statements work with almost any skill but they are amazing for inferencing! Since inferencing does not give you the text evidence directly...the students are forced to think more about personal experiences and they way the author worded the story. Having the students write down their text evidence (or clues) and their personal connection leads to an almost full-proof solution to inferencing; besides it actually makes the kids think and write instead of just marking an answer. There are great ways to modify or do Tier I interventions for inferring. On the "I know" statements...I give them an answer to choose from (smiliar to a multiple choice answer) but then they have to tell me why by providing text evidence and a personal connection. I believe this helps the students focus more on the thinking of "why" rather than "what is the right answer..." with any hope, you can eventually remove this option and the students that are struggling will be able to do the complete "I know" statement. I am still doing this intervention in my room...and will continue for a while I am sure, but at least they are getting the thought process in... I also bought this set of inferencing task cards that are on a lower level. I needed these desperately for my class this year...they have done wonders! I only use them for small group instruction, not for an actual assignment since they are not on grade level, but they do help with getting the kids thinking...we always tie back to their personal connections! The kids love these! Another way to do modifications or Tier I interventions for inferring is to have the students practice looking at pictures and inferring from the pictures what is happening. We obviously want more reading and writing going on...but this is great for just focusing on thinking...and observing. I also put this graphic organizer in stations...it is very simliar to the "I know" statement but does not have a specific question on it. The students can make their own inferences from a story they read during stations. I will usually pick a character or certain section of the story and then let them make their own inference. I would reserve this for the kids that are not struggling...or peer partner with this graphic organizer. If the students are struggling forming their own thoughts on inferencing...they will struggle with this; otherwise it is great for your group that doesn't need as much help. I believe the bottom line to teaching this difficult skill is to remember these are children. Hounding on them to find the clues in the story isn't the only way. Dive into their personal experiences and the connections they can make. Make the kids think, and push them to connect...it will help!
Making anchor charts has always been hard work for me. In fact, I never liked making anchor charts for the classroom. I did it because it helps the kids, but I am not a fan of my handwriting, my drawing is even worse, and let’s not even talk about the time it takes to make […]
Making anchor charts has always been hard work for me. In fact, I never liked making anchor charts for the classroom. I did it because it helps the kids, but I am not a fan of my handwriting, my drawing is even worse, and let's not even talk about the time it takes to make nice looking anchor charts. As teachers, we do not possess much of that thing called, "time." I mean really, I found myself shoving down carrots and ranch dressing (because I want to be healthy) then devouring allll the chocolate (because I really don't care about healthy anymore) while making anchor charts. 30 minutes later, lunch was done, anchor chart almost complete...and oops...I misspelled the title. I mean really? Rip it off the chart paper pad, throw it in the trash, and rush out the door. Unfortunately, I didn't wise up for a long time. 8 years of teaching...and a light bulb goes off. Pre-make the anchor charts. In the comfort of my own home...I make the anchor chart...on the computer. Then print, and glue! Done, done...and done. Now...I still eat all the chocolate, but now I get lunch and I am no longer in the need of anger management courses over misspelled words. I may sound like a crazy person to you...but I know you have been there too. Honesty is the best policy. :) Now, I KNOW I am not the first one that has ever pre-made anchor charts, or printed items off of the computer for an anchor chart. I am in NO way claiming to be the first to do this. But, I have been a TpT seller for a few years now and the idea just popped into my head..."if I make all of my centers, lessons plans, etc...why not anchor charts?" And there you have it. Below are a few of the anchor charts I have made and so far I love them and other teachers are loving them. I waited to do this post until I knew others found a need for these too! And yes! I was not alone! It was confirmed I was not crazy and other teachers, in fact, DO have anger problems when it comes to making hand-made anchor charts. Many people have asked what products are needed to make these. I purchased my chart paper and Astrobrights paper from Amazon. Those two things (well, with scissors and glue) are all you need! Each Anchor Chart also comes with a student journal chart as well! The students can glue these in their journals for an easy reference later! I have also completed my Writing and Grammar Anchor Chart Bundles. And newly added, I have completed Classroom Management Anchor Charts! These are also included in the big bundle...if you have purchased that, just redownload it from the My Purchases tab on TpT. I figured these would be very beneficial to make at the beginning of the year with our students then either hang them up all year as a reminder...or just pull them out to review from time to time. Just depends on the students. :) There are many more but I won't bore you with all of the pictures. I feel like Classroom Management must be explained from the beginning and reinforced often. I know these anchor charts will help keep that process streamlined in your classroom! Making these are fun and easy! Most importantly, it saves time and SANITY. Want these for your classroom? Click Here to grab them in my shop! (affiliate links are provided for your convenience)
This week has been crammed packed with fractions and contractions!! Two of my favorites to teach I might add. Of course we had to do "cont...
I have spend two years developing anchor charts for classrooms. These anchor charts are so helpful to teachers. One of the biggest problems with making anchor charts is having to draw and write everything by hand. With the anchor charts I have been creating, you just simply print and glue to chart paper. They have […]
Well, it is the beginning of the 2nd 6 weeks and we are starting our Non-Fiction Unit with our kids. We will teach all of our Non-Fiction TEKS in the next 6 weeks. I was going through pulling all of my resources and realized that I haven't shared them on my blog yet (nor have I blogged in...well what seems like forever!) I guess you could say it has been a busy year thus far! I am excited to get started on Non-Fiction...so here we go! I always start off by teaching the differences between Fiction and Non-Fiction. (I find this ties well into Text Features which comes next.) We usually use a Venn Diagram and compare two books--such as Goldilock and the Three Bears (simple, I know) and a Non-Fiction book about bears. The kids enjoy seeing the differences between the two books. This can be done with any books about animals though...just a fiction and non-fiction book! I am also going to use this in a station this year. The students sort different titles of fiction and non-fiction books and glue them under the appropriate category! Station Activity From there, I work on teaching text features! We do a few different things for text features. One direct teach tool we use is a Powerpoint. I am using two different ones this year! Hey, it can't hurt right? Here are the links to both of them! PP1 and PP2. One of them I created, the other one is from Scholastic! I think they are great ways to show students the defintions of the text features and pictures of them as well! I also create an anchor chart for my students that we fill in during the week--this is a picture of one that looks close to what mine will look like when the week is done! I have the kids bring examples of text features from home--they love it! I also created a fun text feature game for the kids! It can be found on a previous blog of mine--feel free to download it! :) We also do some scavenger hunts throughout the 6 weeks on text features. We usually have the students look through our set os Time Magazine for Kids. We use this Task Card for the scavenger hunt, the kids do a great job with it! (Just make sure you have plenty of sticky notes!) :) Here is another good scavenger hunt card to use! You do not need sticky notes, just have the kids make tallies! Task Card I also have my students respond many times using magazines and non-fiction books! Here are a couple of the responses I use! Response KWL Response Facts I also think this is a great anchor chart for responding to non-fiction! I haven't made this yet, but I plan on doing so this year! We also use these great graphic organizers when exposing the kids to new non-fiction texts! I suggest taking a look at them and purchasing them! I did, and it was a great buy! I believe the most important part about non-fiction is exposure to the texts! The students just don't have much background knowledge when it comes to non-fiction, they need that constant practice reading and processing those texts. I hope all of these resources help you find what you need to help your children be successful with non-fiction! Make it fun! :)
Last week we started our study of verbs. I have used a few free verbs study packs I've found on TPT to introduce the concept. I love thi...
Literacy projects are a fun and engaging way to see what your students have learned about a skill. However, sometimes they can be a drag when you have to do all of the prep for the project! First, what I love about these projects is they are done completely in class (and in groups.) The […]
We are about to start our Fiction unit in 3rd grade where I teach. I always find that kids love fiction much more than non-fiction--probably because it is more imaginative. Fiction is fun to teach as well! There are so many wonderful books to use with fiction units! Here are a few we use to introduce (or reintroduce) the students to fiction! We use many more books, of course, but these are some of my favorites! They are full of wonderful characters, great changes with the characters and other amazing uses of the fiction story elements. We always start with an anchor chart--explaining what a Fiction book is! Here is an example: Fiction books have many different parts (elements)--Here is an anchor chart that I found on pinterest, it shows the basic story elements! We have our students create one of these to glue in their reading spiral notebook! I also love this page for the kids to put in their notebook! It is an easy way to remember that the elements are all part of the big "fiction" picture. Here is a link to it! After we do the initial teach of fiction and the different elements, we have students practice all year through responses and graphic organizers. The more they are familiar with the different story elements, the more comfortable they are answering questions about them. Here are a few of the graphic organizers and links to print them--some are younger level (for differentiation) and some are on grade level. Story Map-1st Grade Response I haven't made this yet--but I love it! Story Map--Any Grade! (Take out Theme for lower grades!) I have used this graphic organizer for enrichment activity before--the kids really enjoy it! Or they can use a friend instead of themselves. (Nice words only though!) :) Another great enrichment (or even whole group if you have them time) activity is to create a foldable with the different fiction elements. We are going to do this at the end of our unit--so I don't have any pictures yet...but I know the kids will love it! We will use this tool to assess the student's learning of fiction elements. The students will create the foldable--label it with the different parts, then fill in the parts from a book we have already read in class. Learning made fun! Yay! :) Here is one last resource that I hope you will enjoy! Our principal is huge into technology--which is great! He is in the process of trying to get an ipad in every classroom. The process is slow because they are expensive--but I believe there are at about 20 or so on the campus now, not too shabby! I do not have a school one, because I have a personal one (no need to have two.) But, this is a free educational ipad app called Toontasic! It has a lot of different features, but one thing you can do is create your own story map--and create your own characters, problems, and solutions for the characters. This is new for me...but looks like FUN for the kids! I am going to try it out next week with my kids! As you have noticed--character is a huge part of fiction so we actually teach those two concepts in the same week! We try to tie it all in together. There are a TON of resources out there...too many to list. I hope this helps you in your classroom though! I always believe that the more resources you have...the less likely the kids will get bored. :) Have a great weekend!
written by Hillary Kiser
Learning lowercase letters can be really confusing for many children, especially the letters b, d, p, and g . When you think about it, it...
UPDATE 5/13/2015: I APOLOGIZE TO ALL WHO HAVE REQUESTED COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS FOR THIS POST. I HAVE NOW UPLOADED THE DOCUMENTS FOR YOU TO HAVE FOR YOUR OWN USE. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEM. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PATIENCE!! :) THE DOCUMENTS ARE UPLOADED AT THE END OF THE POST. It's my least favorite time of the curriculum...research. I personally don't mind doing research but trying to teach the process to students is so time-consuming and tedious. But, with the new Common Core focus on argumentative writing, we have got to focus on it more. Plus, it's a skill they will use in all the years of schooling that follow. I'm all about making the Interactive Notebook pages creative which makes them more likely to be used. I also firmly believe that the more modalities you have students use when learning something, the more likely they are to remember it. So, I've pulled out the colored pencils and markers and encouraged them to have fun designing the pages. NOTE: Our district has adopted MLA formatting as the standard for all classes. Everything I post on this subject will be in accordance with the latest MLA standards. I started with a reminder of what is considered FICTION versus NON-FICTION: I reviewed our school's plagiarism policy to remind them of the consequences here as well as explained the consequences if caught in college/university. I stress this over, and over, and OVER again throughout the year! (The most hateful part of my job involves cheating and/or plagiarism!!) Then we created a page for using quotations in an essay: The next day, we discussed paraphrasing: and summarizing: I then showed them the Incredible Shrinking Notes concept of taking a piece of material, taking notes on it in the top box, deleting the lesser important items for the middle box, and then 2-3 MOST IMPORTANT statements in the smallest box. It helps give them a visual of how to pick out the most important information. I also stress using bulleted lists with sentence fragments when taking notes. This helps with making sure they aren't copying information word-for-word which leads to plagiarism. Then we created a reference page for "MLA Format for Parentetical Documentation." This is hard for them to grasp so having a resource to refer back to always helps. The following two pages are the basic types of sources they will be using as they research and how to create the Works Cited page. My own daughters, who are in college, still refer to this as a guide for Works Cited pages. I update it as MLA standards change. Then, we practiced as a group how to cite an article they had summarized the other day. I had them walk me through the citation but made corrections as needed. Next week, they will create a Works Cited page from a variety of sources I provide. It takes time but it really helps them get the hang of it. NOTE: THE NOTES ON THE TOP OF EACH NOTEBOOK PAGE ARE ON PAGE 1 OF THE QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING PAGE. YOU CAN EITHER PRINT THIS OFF FOR THEM TO GLUE IN TO THEIR INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOKS OR HAVE THEM WRITE IT. I PREFER TO HAVE THEM WRITE IT BECAUSE THEY'RE USING MORE MODALITIES SO IT GETS INTO THEIR BRAINS BETTER. (AT LEAST I HOPE IT DOES...) QUOTATIONS, PARAPHRASING, SUMMARIZING MLA FORMAT FOR PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION WORKS CITED FORMAT GUIDE
Some people might think I am crazy, but I just love anchor charts. I think it is the elementary teacher trapped in me. It is rare that we d...
Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far! This week in writing along with "showing, not telling," we are also working on adding adverbs to make our good writing even better! I had the kids close their eyes and I gave them the sentence, "The fish swam." Then they had to describe the picture they had in their head. All the pictures were different! Then I gave them the sentence, "The mama fish swam quickly upstream after laying her eggs." (We are studying the life cycle of fish this week!) The kids described their visualization and were so much closer in what they "saw." Adverbs are a way to revise writing to make our stories more clear for our readers! We want to make our good writing even better! We brainstormed three different kinds of simple adverbs. Then the kids got busy creating and building their own sentences full of adverbs. A quote from one of my little cuties, "I just love doing this! I can't wait to use adverbs in my draft book writing!" They were so proud of their 15+ word sentences!! I was too!!! I did create a little unit (of course) just to keep me organized and on track. Here are a few pics. Unit includes nouns, verbs and adverbs. The kids know how to add adjectives. If you would like a quick copy of this unit, click HERE!! OK! Gotta run!! Working on some decor for our school's 10 year birthday party!! It's going to be spectacular!! Have a great rest of the week!! Don't be shy! Leave a comment! Your words make me want to be better! Joyfully! Nancy
Ah! Does anyone else get excited when the ALA announces the Newberry and Caldecott winners each year? I do! I've never participated in a Mock Caldecott or anything mainly because I'd just rather read the winner or winners--depending on how busy my book situation is ha! You can get a copy here! Here's the rundown on this years book: Jordan, a smart kid with crazy artistic talent, his going to be the new kid at a fancy private school. Yikes! It's always hard being the new kid. He is paired up with a friend to show him around and during his first day finds himself with Andy, not the nicest kid in school. Because he is quick on his feet, Jordan finds a nice friend group. Now while this is a surface skim summary, Jordan and his friend ___ struggle with the fact that teachers can never remember their names and assume their athletic abilities based on their skin color. There are in's and out's and up's and down's but the book portrays what it's like to be a regular African American kid in a rich white school. This year's Newberry Award Winner is New Kid by Jerry Craft and every page of this book eye catching and awesome! It is definitely worth reading. I am so glad that they chose this graphic novel (!!! what! what!) and I love the story. The main things that I love about this book is that they are 1. SO FUNNY--so of course you are going to keep reading 2. Relatable--Jordan (the main character goes through so many 3. SO much DISCUSSION--this book is jam packed with things that need to be discussed in today's classrooms. I also spotted this at the book fair--so keep your eye out for New Kid--it's completely worth it and your students will love reading this Newberry book!
written by Hillary Kiser
When I attended the Pre-Ap Conference this summer, we were taught various ways to help students interact and understand the authors' tone, theme, etc. One of these exercises was called "DIDLS" (Diction, Images, Details, Language, Sentence Structure). I worked with them on a passage from The Wednesday Wars last week and it went SO WELL!! They got it!! Exercise: Gary D. Schmidt, author of The Wednesday Wars, Okay for Now, and many others has an incredible way of writing which makes you feel like you're part of the story not only as an observer but as a character! He is AMAZING!! I had the students read the following passage from page 23 of The Wednesday Wars: “Then Mrs. Baker and I sat. Alone. Facing each other. The classroom clock clicked off the minutes. She was probably considering what she could legally do to remind me how regrettable it was that my family was Presbyterian.” WOW!! Based on the “DIDLS” formula, how is this passage effective to create additional meaning? He used sentence fragments to emphasize meaning/emotion. He used sensory details. He explained the situation well enough we could all think of a similar situation we'd experienced! Using this method, describe a situation where you may have felt the same way as Holling with Mrs. Baker. Then, this week, I had them create a page in the Interactive Notebooks to help them remember the steps for "DIDLS." We'll review this throughout the year as we study other authors and text. It's the same format as the one we did on PLOT. (Definitions for each section were taken from The College Board Pre-AP: The AP Vertical Teams Guide for English textbook we received at the conference. BTW...GREAT resource!) DIDLS Masters
Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far! This week in writing along with "showing, not telling," we are also working ...
I also made this Expository writing anchor chart for Mrs. Casey's class. I love that it color codes each section! This will definitely be useful for students' to go back and ensure they have included each element in their expository writing. by clicking the gray pin button on the tool bar below!
Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a good week so far! This week in writing along with "showing, not telling," we are also working on adding adverbs to make our good writing even better! I had
Today was the first day that we did our Daily 5 stations in class and I am so pleased with how it went! I am currently using 5 stations (rea...
I know...I am the world's worst blogger. School has just been absolutely crazy! I am sure most of you can relate. The adjustment from h...
Constructivism encompasses a variety of concepts where experience, context, and prior knowledge become relevant to the learner. Learners construct new knowledge as they relate to prior knowledge based on their beliefs and understandings of the...
'4B' was the code our school secretary used to easily identify our class back when I taught 4th grade. 4 = 4th grade. B = Bongers. I later went on to teach Language Arts at a middle school, so this blog documents the learning we did in reading and writing each day, in addition to many posts from when I taught fourth grade. I figured keeping it all in one place was better than having two separate blogs. One more thing: please feel free to PIN anything you see!
Your students will never forget the difference between a plural noun and a possessive noun when they can 'see' their meanings! They will love designing their own review posters! This is a fun and meaningful lesson and your students' products will make an awesome bulletin board! Great for Valentines Day! ***************************************************************************** Other great resources Google Interactive Classroom. BOOM Cards. Multiple Meaning Words Vocabulary Cards Language Arts Units and Games ***************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower. Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store. *****************************************************************************
Click and learn Figurative Language Round Up in this post!
Self-Exploration House for grief groups in schools or individual therapy. Great DBT counseling technique to use with clients.
This poster has more idioms from the sports world. Explanations and examples. - ESL worksheets
Have you ever heard a comment similar to this in the work room or teachers' lounge? "My principal wants me to differentiate. Why doesn't he/she differentiate, too?" This conversation is usually referring to a change the administration is making based on something that is happening with a small percentage of the staff. If you are not part of the small percentage, you might feel resentful towards the small percentage, and irritated that your administrator didn't address the issue where it needed addressed - with the small group. Reflection is a part of growing as a professional. I often mull over conversations like this and try to apply them to my job as a teacher so that I can continue to improve. Is there some part of my job that affects a small group of students that I apply to the entire group? If so, is this really fair or in their best interest? Or reverse that, is there something that I do that the fits best for the majority of my students but isn't the best fit for the small percentage of my students? How can I differentiate more so that my students needs are better met? After one of these conversations about lack of differentiation on the management's part, which seems to be a frequent concern, I went back to my class and noticed that I had a cooperative group activity planned for later that day. So, I decided to try something new. I told my students that I was going to give them choices today when it came to our cooperative group lesson. I had my students get out a scratch piece of paper and write: Do you prefer to work alone or with a group? Answer yes or not If you like to work in groups, do you prefer groups of 2 or 3? If you prefer to work in groups, list the names of 3 classmates that you would like to have in your group. I cannot guarantee these will be your partner but I will try to match up groups as best as a I can. Just like you have fellow colleagues who prefer to plan lessons and do his/her own thing, it worked the same way with my students. I had a small number who wanted to work alone. It wasn't that other students rejected these students. This is a simple matter of preference. Other students preferred working with a partner rather than a small group. When I matched my groups to my students' preferences, I had fewer discipline problems and more engaged students. Do not always put your high ability students with your struggling students. It is not fair to the high ability students to be put in the role of tutor. They need to be paired with other students of similar ability so they can work like little spark plugs with each other. You will get complaints for their parents if you do it too often. There are benefits for all of your students when you incorporate cooperative learning into your lessons. The best way I found to save time, respect our differences, and have cooperative groups is to have a mixture of groups that you use for different lessons. You can make cooperative groups by subject or generic groups ahead of time so students can quickly get with their group or partner when it time for a cooperative activities. Sometimes your students that prefer to work alone will be allowed to work alone. Other times, these students will be in a group. So, one group may be formed by students' preference from the buddy list (see below), another group may be formed by who you think would work best together, another group might be formed by academic level (low-middle ability) and (middle-high ability). Click HERE to download this freebie. Looking for more tips? Check out my Reading Pinterest board. Click on the picture below. Fern has a few tips to share with you, too. Be sure to hop over to her blog! Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too! Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips. We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip. We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post. Do you have a cooperative learning idea to share? Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win. Looking for more ideas? Click on the pictures below. An InLinkz Link-up Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.
I'm back with a new post in the Exploring ELA series. Last week, I posted my first blog post about Asking and Answering questions. That standard spanned over the Literature domain and the Informationa
A New Way to Introduce the Color Wheel % %
Well, it is the beginning of the 2nd 6 weeks and we are starting our Non-Fiction Unit with our kids. We will teach all of our Non-Fiction TEKS in the next 6 weeks. I was going through pulling all of my resources and realized that I haven't shared them on my blog yet (nor have I blogged in...well what seems like forever!) I guess you could say it has been a busy year thus far! I am excited to get started on Non-Fiction...so here we go! I always start off by teaching the differences between Fiction and Non-Fiction. (I find this ties well into Text Features which comes next.) We usually use a Venn Diagram and compare two books--such as Goldilock and the Three Bears (simple, I know) and a Non-Fiction book about bears. The kids enjoy seeing the differences between the two books. This can be done with any books about animals though...just a fiction and non-fiction book! I am also going to use this in a station this year. The students sort different titles of fiction and non-fiction books and glue them under the appropriate category! Station Activity From there, I work on teaching text features! We do a few different things for text features. One direct teach tool we use is a Powerpoint. I am using two different ones this year! Hey, it can't hurt right? Here are the links to both of them! PP1 and PP2. One of them I created, the other one is from Scholastic! I think they are great ways to show students the defintions of the text features and pictures of them as well! I also create an anchor chart for my students that we fill in during the week--this is a picture of one that looks close to what mine will look like when the week is done! I have the kids bring examples of text features from home--they love it! I also created a fun text feature game for the kids! It can be found on a previous blog of mine--feel free to download it! :) We also do some scavenger hunts throughout the 6 weeks on text features. We usually have the students look through our set os Time Magazine for Kids. We use this Task Card for the scavenger hunt, the kids do a great job with it! (Just make sure you have plenty of sticky notes!) :) Here is another good scavenger hunt card to use! You do not need sticky notes, just have the kids make tallies! Task Card I also have my students respond many times using magazines and non-fiction books! Here are a couple of the responses I use! Response KWL Response Facts I also think this is a great anchor chart for responding to non-fiction! I haven't made this yet, but I plan on doing so this year! We also use these great graphic organizers when exposing the kids to new non-fiction texts! I suggest taking a look at them and purchasing them! I did, and it was a great buy! I believe the most important part about non-fiction is exposure to the texts! The students just don't have much background knowledge when it comes to non-fiction, they need that constant practice reading and processing those texts. I hope all of these resources help you find what you need to help your children be successful with non-fiction! Make it fun! :)
Would you like to decorate your classroom with fun, hand-drawn anchor charts/posters? Do you simply not have the time to get them done? Well, you have come to the perfect place! I love making these engaging and appealing anchor charts. I also can draw/create any other topic you would like, just contact me directly and ask! My students absolutely love these posters and references them every day. Many of them are visual learners, so the colorful images really help them connect and remember what they have learned. This particular anchor chart is for readers/writers practicing the “EA” vowel team. My students seem to struggle with this particular vowel team so I wanted to create a visual to help them remember the different sounds. It will be approximately 32 x 24 inches, and will be a copy of my original. **These will be copies unless asked otherwise for a custom poster. They are not laminated, and are printed on normal, anchor chart paper. I ship these out ASAP after being ordered, but please keep in mind once shipped, it is outside of my control. Therefore, if shipping does not meet your expectations, I highly encourage you to please reach out to me first, and we have always been able to work something out to make up for anything that may have occurred after I have sent your package, thanks so much!! Hope you love it :)
...the learning experiences and adventures of a God-fearing, newly married, young, fifth grade teacher...
Analogies are such an important skill for students to master. With these activities your students will have fun as they learn about analogies.
Making an inference is such an important skill for reading comprehension! Ideas, lessons, anchor charts, & activities for inferring that work with any text!
This printable poster presents a 5 step calm down plan to help children learn to manage big emotions in socially acceptable ways.
Teaching realistic fiction genre study? Start by explaining the elements. Then read short stories. Finally, ask kids to write their own!
A Show and Tell Adjective activity for primary students
Some everyday tricks are so useful and simple they can come in handy to more than one generation. Yet over time, they’re somehow forgotten, and they turn into what’s called “grandma’s tips.”
Strategies, models, and resources to give students hands-on practice with part-part-whole with addition and subtraction.
Whew...it' s been a crazy 5 months since my last post. Glad to be back! Inferencing has always been a challenge for me and for my students. This year it has particuarly challenging due to the make up of my class. I have very diverse levels in my class and am having to find ways to meet the needs of these students on many different levels. Believe it or not, I think in the end it has helped me think more deeply about each lesson I teach, and how to intervene when the students do not get it. I digress...Inferencing is a challenge no matter who you are or the students you have due to the fact that it is not stated right in the story and the children have to actually think through the "why" something is happening. As we started inferencing this year...my kids were all over the place. Part due to the concept being new to them; part due to lack of connection. I did not know this at the time though. I found this great anchor chart a few weeks ago...and printed it for my kids to put in their reader's notebook...and the real teaching began! We went back and had a discussion about personal experience and how those tie into inferencing. One of my students used the word "schema"--I was so proud considering we had been talking about schema all year and no child had ever used it correctly in a sentence. First time for everything right? I was beaming! I did not create this anchor chart but I did use a file folder as an example for their brain. They are always commenting on the fact that I use file folders for everything...I thought this fit quite nicely. Of course, I had to tie inferencing back into their schema so we began to talk--just talk about personal experiences and how those help us answer questions. The kids responses were amazing. The children may not have that many personal experiences...but they have enough to make connections. Once we talked about how our schema helps us infer...we had to talk about text evidence. In 3rd grade we really stress the importance of going back in the story to find text evidence (proof) of their answer. The common misconception is inferring has no text evidence...well you can see why I like the anchor chart I posted above. There is always text evidence with inferring...it may not be directly stated but there are clues to lead you to the correct answer. Finding the clues is the key! On to the final piece of our inferencing puzzle! Our 3rd grade team has been focusing less on multiple choice answers this year, and more about getting the kids to think through their answers and WRITE!! We have been getting the students to do what we call "I know" statements. The students have a question (that would typically be a multiple choice question) but instead of ABCD...they have to write the following after answering the question: I know this because the text says... I also know this because when I... We have the students find the text to support their answer and then they have to make a personal connection to their answer. (Meaning, many times we answer a question because of a certain experience we've had...we can relate to a character because we have also felt that way...we can infer because we know we would do that same thing if we were that character...etc.) Here is an example of the template the students have. We are doing this activity this week on Wednesday...it is inferencing for non-fiction! (Obviously it has a story that goes along with it.) Now the students may have never experienced an Earthquake...but they know that broken glass hurts--there is their the personal connection. These "I know" statements work with almost any skill but they are amazing for inferencing! Since inferencing does not give you the text evidence directly...the students are forced to think more about personal experiences and they way the author worded the story. Having the students write down their text evidence (or clues) and their personal connection leads to an almost full-proof solution to inferencing; besides it actually makes the kids think and write instead of just marking an answer. There are great ways to modify or do Tier I interventions for inferring. On the "I know" statements...I give them an answer to choose from (smiliar to a multiple choice answer) but then they have to tell me why by providing text evidence and a personal connection. I believe this helps the students focus more on the thinking of "why" rather than "what is the right answer..." with any hope, you can eventually remove this option and the students that are struggling will be able to do the complete "I know" statement. I am still doing this intervention in my room...and will continue for a while I am sure, but at least they are getting the thought process in... I also bought this set of inferencing task cards that are on a lower level. I needed these desperately for my class this year...they have done wonders! I only use them for small group instruction, not for an actual assignment since they are not on grade level, but they do help with getting the kids thinking...we always tie back to their personal connections! The kids love these! Another way to do modifications or Tier I interventions for inferring is to have the students practice looking at pictures and inferring from the pictures what is happening. We obviously want more reading and writing going on...but this is great for just focusing on thinking...and observing. I also put this graphic organizer in stations...it is very simliar to the "I know" statement but does not have a specific question on it. The students can make their own inferences from a story they read during stations. I will usually pick a character or certain section of the story and then let them make their own inference. I would reserve this for the kids that are not struggling...or peer partner with this graphic organizer. If the students are struggling forming their own thoughts on inferencing...they will struggle with this; otherwise it is great for your group that doesn't need as much help. I believe the bottom line to teaching this difficult skill is to remember these are children. Hounding on them to find the clues in the story isn't the only way. Dive into their personal experiences and the connections they can make. Make the kids think, and push them to connect...it will help!
