It is an indoor recess kind of day. Students can choose to play with friends in either of their classrooms. I love to watch them play together!
I can choose a "just-right" book. Today we discussed how to choose a "just-right" book. Often times students are faced with books that are unleveled at book stores, their homes, or libraries, so it is important to know how to choose a right book. Students will only become better readers, if they read books that are at their "just-right" levels. Books that are too easy won't help them grow as readers, and books that are too difficult won't help them grow as readers. Students do know their current guided reading level and should have a book bag filled with books that are around this level (one letter up or one letter down in the alphabet is fine, too). Once a week, students go book shopping in the classroom to fill up their book bags for home and their book bins for school.
We used the anchor chart below to help us choose appropriate level books. We connceted it to Cinderella and the glass slipper and how it had to fit just right. We compared it to biking up and down hills. Pleae help your child pick appropriate leveled books. I always tell students when they want to choose books that are too high that it isn't like they will never be able to read that book. They just have to wait a little bit and practice reading at their level. Ofteim times, it seems students can read the words in more difficult books, but their deep understanding and comprehension are not quite there. In writers workshop this week, we dug through our writing for verbs that we could make even stronger. We looked for a "said" that could maybe become a "whisper," "shouted," "yelled," "mumbled," or "chuckled." We looked for a "went" that could become a "trotted," "trudged," or "strutted." We then made some action heroes! Using a list of strong verbs that students have in their binders, they wrote some of their favorites to glue around their action heroes. Maizie let her cape flutter behind her as she saved the day! Maizie read the class The Giving Tree with such expression and great fluency. She picked a poem for us to read and shared her amazing poster. Way to go, Maizie! Super hero Adolynn to the rescue! She got to do the wildcat hero drawing, share the pillows with a friend, pick our poem to read, get her bucket filled, and share her beautiful poster. Thanks, Adilynn!! Often times in reading and writing, students partner up or get in small groups to discuss something or share a piece of writing. Yesterday, we went over what these conversations should look like and sound like, and then we practice as each student shared their favorite book that they brought from home. They shared these in groups of 3 or 4. I enjoyed listening to students talk about their books with smiled upon their faces. Students did a great job at having SUPER conversations. Ask you child what it means to have s SUPER conversation! Yesterday we talked about how sometimes reading can make us frustrated, but it can also be the best feeling. During readers worship we want reading to be the best. We want to get lost in our books, to not want to put the book down, and to deeply think and feel when we read. We enjoyed sharing moments when reading has been the best for us by writing them on sticky notes and placing them on chart paper. Many made me smile! I can create examples of watermelon stories and seed stories In writing this week we have been discussing watermelon stories vs. seed stories. In our classroom, watermelon stories are not allowed! Watermelon stories are HUGE stories that are filled with many smaller stories. Students are expected to zoom in and write one of the smaller stories. Some examples of watermelon stories are my brother, our trip to Chicago, and my cat. Some examples of seed stories from those watermelon stories are the time I went fishing with my brother, when I visited Shedd's Aquarium, or the day we picked out my cat for adoption. When students write seed stories, they are more likely to write with greater detail, dialogue, and make it a story and not just a summary.
Students got to demonstrate their understanding of watermelon stories and seed stories by thinking of examples of each and putting their examples on a poster. Posters will be hanging in the hallway this Friday during picnic day. If you can, come and take a look at them! I can generate ideas for a personal narrative The students' decorated writers notebooks look amazing! These decorations may help them think of topics to write about as we write through this school year. |
Mrs. Ellis's Class
Learning & laughing our way through third grade. Archives
June 2020
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