The best books show a main character who grows in some say. This is called a character arc. You'll see incredible arcs in these favorite children's books which will make them life-changing reads.
The best books show a main character who grows in some say. This is called a character arc. You'll see incredible arcs in these favorite children's books which will make them life-changing reads.
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Theo's Windy Week : Breukhoven, Verena: Amazon.com.au: Books
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
So, in my last post about how I set up my reader response, I mentioned that I would talk more about my lessons for "Coaching a Reading Life." I'm going to table that post for next week, given the computer-failure-disaster I have the pleasure of dealing with this weekend. Anyway, on to Monday's Minlesson Magic: Have you ever stopped to ask your students how the main character in their book changed by the end of the story? You might be surprised when they tell you “He/She didn’t really change.” Once I realized students were not closely analyzing their books for character change, or even realizing that they should be, I began teaching a mini unit on character change. Albert by Jo Donna Napoli is my favorite mentor book for a unit on character change. Albert is a precious story about an introvert who looks out his city window each day and sees something that scares him from leaving his apartment. One day when he sticks his hand out his window to check the weather, a cardinal starts building a nest in his hands, and soon he is holding a nest of eggs. While annoyed at first, Albert begins to see that the things outside that once scared him are not so scary. For example, he sees a man and woman arguing—something that would normally make him choose to close the window and stay inside. However, since he is stuck at the window, he also gets to see that later the man and woman make up, walking away happy. Albert learns that the world has good in it and finally has the courage to explore outside. While we wouldn't call Albert an extrovert at the end of the story, he is braver and more adventurous. If you are interested in getting students into book clubs, I usually launch "character change" minilessons at the same time I launch Jerry Spinelli book clubs. The characters in Jerry Spinelli’s books (Stargirl, Crash, Eggs, Wringer, Loser, Fourth Grade Rats, etc) change so much throughout the text, I want to make sure students are really prepared to analyze how they have changed when they finish reading the books. You can even plan to hold these books clubs later in the year and spiral back to character change lessons you have taught earlier in the year. In order to be able to think about how the character changes, students need to be able to describe the character at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. (Sometimes this even means being able to describe the character before the book begins if the main events that change the character happen from the beginning). Often, students do not have a developed vocabulary for character-related adjectives to be able to describe the character meaningfully and deeply. For this reason, I created Character Trait Definition cards. Another strategy that I have used before to help students access vocabulary for describing characters is to have a list of words ready that describe the characters in the book I plan to read and the antonyms of those words. I put those words on a 1/2 sheet of paper and have students research the definition, synonyms, and antonyms and then draw a picture to match. (This takes enough time that I do it the day before I plan to do the full minilesson and read aloud). We use the following chart to analyze character change: RL2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. RL3.3 Describe characters in a story (traits, motivations, feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. How do you teach students to analyze characters? What other minilesson ideas would you like for me to think about for Monday's Minilesson Magic? I would love to do some work for you and get my brain spinning! Please leave a comment :) Happy Reading!
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Learn creative and hands-on ways to use Stellaluna activities will keep kids engaged and turn your readers into comprehenders.
Hi everyone! Today I'm here with an update on our shared reading activities! We have spent a lot of time the last few months on fiction story elements.We spend about 2 weeks (4 days a week) on each topic. This is what our schedule has looked like...and this will take us right up to spring break! We started by reading fiction books (whole group) and just practicing our retells (characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end). Next, we focused on the problem & solution in fiction books. We still identified the characters and setting, and then discussed what the problem was for the characters and how they solved the problem! We also took it a step further the second week and discussed how else the problem could have been solved! Here are some ideas for books that have a good problem and solution. Obviously, we do this unit during the winter! :) Our next focus for fiction books was character traits and character change. Again, here are some ideas of books that you could use when teaching this concept! These ones are little less winter themed. :) We would read a book, discuss the main character's traits, how the character was at the beginning of the story, how they were at the end of the story, and WHY they changed. This was a fun few weeks! Below is one of my favorite books for discussing character change. I typically save this book for our mixed up fairy tale unit...but it is just too perfect for character change! The kids loved this book! The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig Another fun one for character change is The Wild Toboggan Ride. You can pick up the freebie template that we used above {here}. After character change, we moved on to discussing feelings in books. We are discussing the feelings of the characters and also how the book makes US feel as we are going through it. My student teacher made this chart to help them along with this discussion. After we finish with feelings, we will be moving on to senses that are used in books. I imagine this will be a little tricky for my friends but we will see!! I think finding poems that use senses will be very helpful as well! Here's a {freebie} that is great for March story elements! Thanks for stopping by! If you have any ideas for books that demonstrate senses, let me know in a comment below! :)
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
The best books show a main character who grows in some say. This is called a character arc. You'll see incredible arcs in these favorite children's books which will make them life-changing reads.
A Teaching Children Philosophy discussion guide for Scaredy Squirrel that explores the value of being prepared and the importance of new experiences.
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
This Teaching Children Philosophy discussion guide for Giraffes Can't Dance raises questions about abilities and how people discover them.
Young readers must be taught to apply skills and strategies to help them comprehend, make meaning, and draw conclusions. This author study is designed to review or introduce the importance of “making meaning” while reading. Throughout this unit students will focus on the statement “I am a super reader, I…” as they apply imperative reading skills to aid in making meaning from the text. I always use this unit to review reading skills and strategies after winter break. This unit focuses on... Determining character traits and understanding how characters change throughout a story. Creating Visual Images Discovering the Central Message Identifying story elements and determining the problem, solution, and steps to solve the problem. Inferring Included books/focus skills: A Bad Case of the Stripes - character traits/character change Alice the Fairy - visual images Jangles: A Big Fish Story - central message Too Many Toys - story elements Good Boy, Fergus! - Making Inferences *Each story includes a lesson plan, focus skill/strategy worksheets, comprehension questions, and a cute craft
Learn creative and hands-on ways to use Stellaluna activities will keep kids engaged and turn your readers into comprehenders.
What Is a Poetry Shift?. Many readers find poetry difficult. However, there are some rules and patterns that all good poems follow, and when readers learn those patterns, the process of reading poetry becomes easier and more enjoyable. One quality most poems possess is the “shift.” Other texts might call it the ...
Evenin’ all! It’s Mad Martha with you again. Today I bring you a haiku from a book with arguably the best opening page ever. See for yourself: What a cracker, hey? The book is Noah Dre…
I don't know about your students, but mine seem fascinated by the changes characters can go through in a story! We have been having some great discussions about this. I use that roller coaster visua
Lily and the Paper Man : Upjohn, Rebecca: Amazon.com.au: Books
Posted from my Patreon community where I take requests for book lists to create, share resources, and offer up coaching for members. It is a very easy way for me to be accessible to people around t…
A teacher wrote to ask for a list of mentor text children's books to help kids spot and study specific character traits.
So, in my last post about how I set up my reader response , I mentioned that I would talk more about my lessons for "Coaching a Reading Li...
A Walk in the Dark : Godwin, Jane: Amazon.com.au: Books
Today one of my parents came to school because he is a police officer and he brought his partner...a bomb-sniffing dog named Red. Red gave...
While reading the novel The Hobbit, these Freytag's Pyramid graphic analyzers will help students analyze the 6 parts of the plot: HERO'S JOURNEY VERSION ★ Ordinary World (setting, characters, and background info) ★ Allies & Mentors ★ Road of Trials (Entering the Unknown and 2 Obstacles) ★ Supreme Ordeal ★ Road to Restoration (2 changes) ★ Restoring the World TRADITIONAL VERSION ★ Exposition (setting, characters, and background info) ★ Conflict ★ Rising Action (3 events or details) ★ Climax ★ Falling Action (2 events or details) ★ Resolution SUGGESTED ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION While reading the novel, students will analyze the 6 parts of the plot and find scenes/events that fit into each of the parts. The graphic-rich analyzer will visually remind of the tension map of the story as they read. TEXT: THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien LEVEL: 7th-12th COMMON CORE: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5 → Suggested Answer Key NOT YET Included! Keys will be developed when we complete and publish the entire unit for this text. Enjoy The Hobbit! ·········································································································································· WHAT OTHER TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS PLOT RESOURCE ♥ Perfect! This was very straightforward and was easy to implement. I used this as a review while reading and my kids were actually excited to reach a new point on the chart! Great way to actively read! ♥ High level analysis of plot. It was very comprehensive and aligns well with the CCSS. Thank you for providing possible answers. Not everyone will agree all the time, but it is nice to have an interpretation as a starting point for discussion. It adds value to the product! My learners worked in small groups using this chart. High-quality and very useful! ♥ Visually appealing to students and perfect for meeting CCSS. This makes teaching plot structure a breeze! Have enjoyed several of these - they are great for students to use & follow along with story. Love the 'personalization' to these for each story. ♥ The guiding questions are excellent for students who need a little hint to help them correctly identify story elements. This looks great and love that there is enough room for student response! I love using this in the classroom and watching my students take ownership of their own materials! ♥ This has a very cool look to it and the proposed answer key adds a lot of value to the product. Makes plot charts motivating! I appreciate this download a lot. I can see using it as an addition to an end of unit test or as a review of the plot or a group assignment; it's very flexible! ·········································································································································· OUR VAST NOVEL UNIT LIBRARY → We've got 35+ more complete novel units for you, ready to save you precious time and sanity so you can have your life back to do what you do best ... teach! POETRY UNITS → Poetry Unit Complete PowerPoint and Packet - Genres, Forms, Techniques, Devices Bored w/ Teaching GRAMMAR? → Introduce your learners to The Grammar Ninjas!
Ellie's Dragon : Graham, Bob, Graham, Bob: Amazon.com.au: Books
