I can write a beginning in which I not only set readers up to expect that this would be a piece of opinion writing, but I also hook them into caring about my opinion. For our opinion pieces, we have been working on introductions. Now that we decided on a claim (opinion) and gathered and organized evidence in the form of mini stories from our life, quotes from interviews, and data from surveys, we were ready to begin writing. I taught the kids that there are three main ways to hook a reader into reading the rest of your writing- posing a questions, painting a picture through words, or making a strong statement. I showed a few examples, like the ones below. Then, students tried it on their own for their claim. They tried three different beginnings and then starred the one they liked best. Most students did some great writing and had some very strong leads. For some students, this didn't provide enough structure and they needed a more step-by-step approach. So, I retaught how to write strong leads. Then the group chose from some sentence starters to help them get started. We talked about elaborating on that sentence starter and then eventually stating their claim at the end. They got it! These beginnings were much stronger for these kids, as soon as more structure was provided. Next, we are off to write bullet one, the first piece of evidence that we will be using to support our claim.
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During readers workshop, we have been studying the signposts that occur in almost all fiction pieces. We are using common language to discuss the signposts. By noticing the signposts and then asking ourselves one questions, we are able to dig deeper and think more about the books we are reading. Students are taught the signposts and then as they spot them in their reading, students are being taught to stop and ponder a question. So far we have discussed four signposts. I have heard of some of the students spotting some during their at home reading homework. Well done! Keep those eyes open! Here is a poster we have in our classroom to remind us of the signposts and anchor questions.
Nothing is like the look, feel, and smell of brand new books. There is always a buzz in the air when new books enter our room and the kids are so eager to crack them open. We recently got books donated from Ed, a retired teacher. But there is something very special about these books- most of them are unpublished books, scheduled to come out this year. So exciting! One shorter book, Baby Monkey, is getting passed around so quickly and making everyone smile. Thank you so much for the book donation and allowing so many kids to get their hands on good, quality books. They are hooked!
We had a smooth and fabulous first week at pool school! The students were a little nervous at first, but by the end, they were excited and wanting for next Wednesday to get here quickly. We started with the classroom portion where students learned three important words- NEVER SWIM ALONE! They worked on a few pages in their Water Safty Workbook. Then, it was time for the pool!
On Friday, between our return from break and our snowdays, we followed directions to create some snowman art to hang in the hallway. They turned out great! It's so neat to see how different they all turned out.
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Mrs. Ellis's Class
Learning & laughing our way through third grade. Archives
June 2020
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