Summarizing is one of the hardest strategies to teach and for students to learn. Many students will retell the text ... almost word for word when asked to give a summary. In order for students to learn the difference between a retelling and a summary, teachers must model, model, model summarizing often. According to Dr. Jan Richardson, when we ask our students to summarize they ... write too much or not enough do not capture the most important ideas copy word for word from the text do not understand the vocabulary "brief" do not know the difference between a retelling and a summary A summary is a higher level response than a retelling ... in a retell, students retell as much as they can recall from the text but in a summary they have to synthesize the text and condense it so that they only highlight the key points using key words and phrases from the text. The Somebody-Wanted-But-So (SWBS) format is a great scaffold for guiding students to give a summary NOT a retell. In K-2 classrooms we can help our young readers learn how to summarize by using the SBWS strategy. Since I am not "in the classroom" anymore ... I decided to check out what other teachers are doing to teach summarizing ...particularly with using the Somebody-Wanted-But-So strategy. The key to success for young readers to grasp summarizing and the SWBS strategy is modeling how to use this strategy. Do this during whole group read aloud lessons and modeled, shared or interactive writing events. Here is an example of how The First Grade Buddies built a chart over several days during read aloud time. Here is another example of charting during read aloud time to teach the SBWS strategy from Life in First Grade. Here is a chart that is ready made and can be used over and over from The Pinspired Teacher. Here is a chart ready for whole group modeling... the teacher has it all planned out on the little sheet on top of the book and ready to fill it in with the students. She switched the position of the So and Then ... (this is ok if it fits with a particular book) and she added the word Summary at the bottom so that the students could learn the next layer ... writing their thoughts into complete sentences. I would take of the part that says "retell". This pic was grabbed from Pinterest and there was not a link to the original creator. Another key to success is making the strategy your own... it is ok to change it up to meet the needs of your students. Some teachers have added the T... "Then" to the framework. I have also seen where the B stood for because ... Somebody-Wanted-Because-So. This pic was grabbed from Fabulous Fourth Grade This pic was grabbed from The Brown Bag Teacher The chart below is a great anchor chart however, I would take off the right hand corner that says to "retell" this is where some confusions may occur when teaching summarizing. Students need to know the difference between the two. This pic was grabbed from Pinterest and there was not a link to the original creator. Once we have taken the time to model how to use the strategy during our whole class lessons, we can support our readers by having them apply what they have learned with our support during guided reading and then on their own during work station/center time or independent reading time. Model-Support-Independent = gradual release of responsibility!!! Here is a foldable activity from A Teacher's Treasure that students can use during centers ... this could be the model ... they can take the precut paper and label it themselves. I like to use a variety of sheets during guided reading and literacy stations. Click on the picture below to find differentiated SWBS foldables and organizers. This resource includes other organizers too! Happy Reading,

Fabulous resource to help fourth grade students practice concepts for Shurley English, chapter 5. This was used as an extra practice resource and students loved it!

I love this book! Very creative use of similes. I had the children pick someone and write descriptive phrases using similes. Click here for the form from Teacher's Cauldron.

I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome! Check out my color poetry post from last year! I read some trade books and we talked about how colors represent emotions and feelings. I read the books and used the chart. The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip. They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas. Click for link: I used a sheet from Writing Fix. The kids wrote similes using their senses. They picked three similes that fit their metaphor. (I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!) Here are some published poems:

I have two freebies to share with you! One for Teacher Week and One for My One Year Blogiversary! I love this anchor chart and wanted to make it for my classroom. Here is what I came up with. I printed and laminated the signs. I then mounted them on black and stapled on a foam board from the Dollar Tree. My daughter crocheted chains for me. I plan on making more charts as I teach the Strategies for Comprehension. Making Connections It is hard to believe that I have been blogging for one whole year. This experience has made me reflect on my teaching and I have been inspired by so many others. I am looking forward to another successful year! Here is my other freebie for you! I wanted to do this Pinterest activity on the first day of school(I know many of you already started), so I created some headings to use. I printed mine out on colored card stock, laminated them and now I will have them for next year! I included one for my grade level and one that is generic. B2S Questions for Fourth Grade B2S Questions Generic I'm posting for Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week!!! {if you want to link up too, just right click the picture and save it to your computer} Here is another Linky Party to check out:

Whether you're new to teaching or a veteran, this list has you covered for 4th grade.

We have been working on questioning for Nonfiction and Fiction Retell. I created these posters to hang in my classroom. After reading ...

I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome! Check out my color poetry post from last year! I read some trade books and we talked about how colors represent emotions and feelings. I read the books and used the chart. The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip. They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas. Click for link: I used a sheet from Writing Fix. The kids wrote similes using their senses. They picked three similes that fit their metaphor. (I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!) Here are some published poems:

This week has been so hot! I am working summer camp and we have two more weeks. When August first comes I will start thinking about my Back to School ideas! Why does summer go by so fast!!! Love the Buttons Great Design for Timeline Project STEM race car lesson Parent Night My husband made the bar

If you have ever struggled knowing the best way to teach grammar to your students, you are not only one! Whether you infuse your grammar instruction into your reading and writing units or whether you teach from a more traditional curriculum, I think it is safe to say that none of our students have mastered […]

Loosely based on another fantastic Pinterest find, I created an anchor chart for Journey's 4th grade Unit 1, Lesson 2 objective, finding the author's purpose. The name of the selection is "My Brother Martin," and it's a biography that Martin Luther King's sister wrote about her brother, including humorous accounts of the early years! (I think Journeys has GREAT selections for their whole class lessons). Well, the chart was a hit! I used the same layout, but noted those details Kristine King included about her brother to infer what she wanted us to know about him. Since there is a LOT of text on here for a 4th grader to take in, I didn't just tack it up on the wall and read it to them. Instead, I kept it rolled up and only unraveled down to the top 3 blue inferences I made. The kids had to go back into the story with a partner to find evidence to support my inference. After sharing, we did the same thing for the next two, and then for the bottom 3. The kids were very engaged, not only finding relevant evidence, but also asking meaningful questions about civil rights. They were practicing a usually difficult task, and getting excited with the suspense of seeing the entirety of the poster. The lesson that followed involved the kids making their own inferences about the author's purpose. It was obvious to them that "My Brother Martin" was supposed to inform us about what MLK's early years. However, to help them make inferences about what various authors were trying to convey, I gave them a list of character traits (that's right, more Pinterest inspiration) to describe characters in their independent choice books. This was a huge success! Instead of hearing "this character is nice" and "that character is good (or happy. Or friendly)," kids chose words that they were familiar with (just not part of their productive vocabulary) and found evidence to support their inferences. Once they were able to think critically about the characters, the fact that (most) of their authors had the same purpose: to entertain, became clear. All in all, a really successful lesson! If you want to try it with your class but you don't use the Journeys Anthology, you can get a copy of My Brother Martin here (affiliate link).

Here are five of my favorite pins for the week! My next math unit is Fractions. I have been looking for new lessons to teach a difficult concept to my students. I plan on using some of these sheets in their notebooks. Link I just LOVE this "Making Connections" anchor chart. I need to get my daughter to crochet some chains! I like the connection to media. Link This set of cards will be awesome for teaching Roots...part of the Common Core. I love the visuals on the cards. (great for English Language Learners) Link This activity is a must-do in my class. How easy??? I like the connection between Fractions and Decimals. Link A Friday funny....so true!

My new Grade 4 Common Core ELA unit is about the stories of "Immigration." My kids love it!!! We have been reading many fictional and non-fictional books. We even took a virtual tour of Ellis Island with Scholastic. One of the activities that they loved were the Postcards. We read the book "At Ellis Island: A History in Many Voices." The book has so much going on...it takes 2-3 readings to do it justice. We read it the first time for Sera's story (a fictional character). The second reading we read and discussed the immigrants quotes and the captions. There are many great photos and illustrations on every page. The next thing I did was copy a page from "I Was Dreaming to Come to America" for every student, along with the short biographical page in the back. I had them read the pages and write a postcard from the point of view of their immigrant. We discussed that their postcard would be based on facts but will include some realistic-fiction details. Here are some of their postcards: Here are the Postcards I Made for My Display: For information regarding US immigration please visit: U.S. Naturalization and Immigration

I have blogged about Author's Purpose a couple of times. I recently did a lesson that my kids loved. I saw this on Pinterest. I have bee...

Whether you're new to teaching or a veteran, this list has you covered for 4th grade.

Hello! I don’t know about you–but I can’t lie. I am excited to have a four day week and a week off next week! I know not everyone has the same break schedule (or even breaks!) so I promise to not rub in that not only am I off next week, but that I am […]

I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome! Check out my color poetry post from last year! I read some trade books and we talked about how colors represent emotions and feelings. I read the books and used the chart. The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip. They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas. Click for link: I used a sheet from Writing Fix. The kids wrote similes using their senses. They picked three similes that fit their metaphor. (I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!) Here are some published poems:

Here is a project that I have done for many years with my third graders. I moved up to fourth grade this year and I have a handful of the same students, so I can't do it again until next year! I read the book "The Best Part of Me." The book is written by children who describe their favorite body parts. I have my kids pick their favorite part of their bodies and write a descriptive poem or paragraph. I also read some of my favorites from past students. I don't give any guidelines or a rubric, which they love! I take a black and white photo and zoom in on their part. I put one copy into their portfolio books and I created a large scrapbook for the School Art Auction. I made a photo collage for the title page. I mounted everything on black and white paper. This is one of my all time favorite lessons! I hope you do it with your class.

I have not posted any finds on Pinterest in a long time. I am moving to a new grade next year and I have gone to my favorite place for "Pinspiration". Here are my five favorite pins of the week! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching. Great site for room arrangement ideas Add a pop of color I love black background paper! Love the poster and sticky note idea! Great Management Tool for Collecting Papers and Grades

I love "Love That Dog"!!! It is a great book, written by Sharon Creech, that is creatively set up in a narrative poetry journal format. (it sounds crazy) It is a story about a boy who reluctantly learns to love poetry and expresses his love for his dog. As the story, unfolds the teacher introduces her class to several authentic authors, types of poems and poetry terms. The story will also bring a few students to tears. Sharon also published "Hate That Cat." A sample of a poem in the book. My children loved creating shape poems. Free Down load on teacher vision I bought a unit on TPT that I highly recommend. It has great response questions and is easy to implement with the whold class or guided reading groups. The students also write a few poems of their own. I will be publishing those next week. (Pictures to follow) http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Love-That-Dog-Novel-Study-and-Poetry-Unit-561763

One of the Fourth Grade Common Core standards that I need to teach is learning to use Greek and Latin roots to help understand and build new vocabulary. Last week we created root flip books using a printable from Laura Candler. Her website offers many great resources for teachers. I had the children find five words using their "root" and add an illustration on the front. They wrote out definitions on the inside, you could have them also include a sentence. We used dictionaries and the interenet to find words: http://wordinfo.info. I purchased a set of word wall cards and printed them small. I gave each student their own root to research. We then added them to our Root Word Wall that has been up all year. I was adding one card a week and then forgot for awhile (don't judge). This activity got 21 Roots up quickly. I made the wall using black felt and they stick on with velcro. I forgot to take new pictures but have some from the beginning of the year, Roots of Success

We just finished Round One of our state testing which was ELA and Long Composition. During our test prep sessions, the children used answer sticks when going over their multiple choices. I used tongue depressors and simply marked A, B, C or D. It made it a little fun and I could quickly assess the room. This was a project that I did last year with the book Many Luscious Lollipops, to teach adjectives. I did not wrap in cellophane this year…love the tye-die coloring! These are a few sample of the kid's opinion essay on Dr. Seuss. It was their first piece. I will share our newest pieces soon. They have made some great gains. Here are some water bottle wraps wishing each other good luck. I cover with packing tape and we have used them several days. I read the book "Under, Over, By the Clover" and had the kids go on a preposition hunt. I did this lesson using ghosts but tweaked it for the spring. Free Printable

My teaching partner Racquel came up with the idea of giving the kids pictures from the Chris Van Allsburg's book, "The Mysteries of Harri...

I have blogged about Author's Purpose a couple of times. I recently did a lesson that my kids loved. I saw this on Pinterest. I have been saving extra book order forms for a few months. The children quickly figured out the Persuade would be books with toys or sale items and coupons! Author's Purpose Sheet Blog Post

One of my new Common Core ELA Units is called "Figure it Out." It is about notable people who overcame challenges to become successful in life. We read about Helen Keller, Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington Carver and Thomas Edison. We created lap-books using an Invention Brochure that I bought on TPT from This Little Piggy Reads. The printables fit nicely on the file folder. Here are some samples of my student's work. I made a sample but allowed my students to use their own creativity. It also fits in with our electricity unit. Click for Link

Here are some of my products along with some pinnable ideas from pinterest! Base Ten Resources More Base Ten Resources This is glitter paint put into zip lock bags to practice writing his numbers.

If you are looking for a book that uses similes and metaphors than you need to read " Where the Mountain Meets the Moon ." It is one of ...

One of my new Common Core ELA Units is called "Figure it Out." It is about notable people who overcame challenges to become successful in life. We read about Helen Keller, Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington Carver and Thomas Edison. We created lap-books using an Invention Brochure that I bought on TPT from This Little Piggy Reads. The printables fit nicely on the file folder. Here are some samples of my student's work. I made a sample but allowed my students to use their own creativity. It also fits in with our electricity unit. Click for Link

Teaching fourth grade should be fun! Get ideas you and your students will love.

My fourth graders have been studying all types of figurative language this year. My students just love idioms! During the year we completed many activities using idioms and I decided to take it to the next step and incorporate one in their writing. My students had to use suspense and the idiom "It's Raining Cats and Dogs" in a narrative piece. I gathered stuffed cats and dogs and pinned on an umbrella. I took photos to add to their final writing piece. A few of the books that we read: Raining Cats and Dogs Download My favorite photo!!! Here are a few completed pieces: The student teacher across the hall was hanging up this bright and cheery adverb board and I had to take a picture to share…Sunny Skies and Rainbows are coming soon!!! Great Job Meghan Foden!!!