Strategy of the Month (May)
You can help your child become a more thoughtful reader! As students become stronger, more independent readers, they sometimes feel that they must strive to read longer, more complicated texts in order to improve their reading skills. While these types of texts certainly can increase reading stamina, focus skills and mental acuity, it is also true that shorter texts containing rich vocabulary and complex ideas can be effective vehicles for building comprehension, too. Poetry satisfies both of these criteria and it is an excellent choice for reluctant readers who may lack the stamina for lengthy novels or nonfiction texts and may easily become overwhelmed when faced with them. The shorter length of poetry is very appealing, but be sure your child understands that poetry themes, ideas and concepts can be quite complex. Poets ask a lot of their readers - expecting them to make connections, access prior knowledge and make inferences as well as interpret figurative language and descriptive vocabulary. Therefore, one of the best strategies for understanding poetry is a cooperative group approach. To encourage your child to delve into the world of poetry, try this fun family activity. Help your child to organize a Poetry Slam (or poetry reading) with family and friends. Choose a theme for the poetry reading so that all the participants will have an idea of the types of poems to use. Some possible themes are: animal poems, seasonal poems, sports poems, Nature poems, etc. The activity consists of group members choosing a poem (or for the truly ambitious, writing their own poem) that fits the theme and then performing the poem in front of the group. Performances can include props or costumes if you like. Your child can send out invitations to the Poetry Slam and explain the activity. Decorations and snacks are also a great way to increase excitement and interest in the activity. On the day of the event, arrange an area with comfortable seating - pillows or bean bags on the floor are a great way to make everyone feel relaxed and engaged. At the original Poetry Slams in coffee houses in the 1960's, the audience snapped their fingers after each reading to show their appreciation for the performer. Don't forget to have a brief discussion about the poem after each reading. Be sure to encourage different interpretations and viewpoints. Consider recording the event so that your child can listen to the poems and continue to enjoy them in the future. Below are some websites and a video link of a Poetry Slam at an elementary school: http://www.edutopia.org/poetry-slam-global-writes http://tipsylit.com/2014/02/11/celebrating-similes-a-poetry-slam-with-elementary-school-students/ |
Traveling to New Worlds in Books
Analyze character viewpoints One of the most exciting aspects of reading is the multitude of adventures we can set out on simply by opening a book! We all love to explore new places and imagine what it would be like to actually be a character in one of our favorite stories. Tap into your child's natural curiosity and interest about the characters in books by having him/her think, feel and react just like one of the them. After reading a fiction or nonfiction book with a focus on travel, ask your child to assume the identity of one of the characters in the story. Then, challenge your child to write a postcard as the character would write it for each place that was visited in the book. Remind him/her about the importance of including descriptions and details that will reveal feelings and memories about the different sites. This activity will encourage deep, critical thinking about not only the character from the story, but about the setting(s) and the impact they have upon the people in the book. The website below has complete directions for the project as well as a suggested reading list and online writing tools to encourage reluctant writers. If you would like to create an extension for this activity, suggest that your child design a scrapbook for the trip! This would encourage him/her to consider additional elements from the story such as themes, symbolism, and text features (maps, charts, captions). Here is the website with the complete directions for the activity: http://www.readwritethink.net/parent-afterschool-resources/activities-projects/books-will-take-there-30911.html?main-tab=2#tabs Happy travels! Here are some possible books to consider that focus on travel or journeys:
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Strategy of the Month (March)
You can help your child become a more insightful reader! Through the amazing world of technology, students now have access to a wide variety of story telling tools. We can often find video, audio, interactive, dramatic and written versions of the same story. Insightful readers can use these different modes of expression to help them understand different aspects of the characters, settings and events within the stories. The creators of these various versions must make critical choices about which parts of the story to include (or exclude) from their final product. These choices can help students begin to make critical judgments about the effects these changes have on the story and on their own ideas about it. Brainstorm with your child to find several stories that have been created in at least three different formats. As a family, choose one of the stories and gather the different versions. Then, read, watch, interact or listen to the story together. After each version, have a discussion group session to talk about the aspects of the story that were depicted well through that particular medium and the aspects that were not. Be sure to ask your child to think carefully about the choices each creator made about the characters and events in his or her version of the story. Of course, fairy tales and folk tales have been told in many different ways over the years, but you can also find newer stories that have been turned into videos and interactive electronic books. Below are a few suggestions. Alice in Wonderland - available as a text, a movie, and as an interactive book (Alice for the iPad by Atomic Antelope) Aesop's Fables - available as a text, You Tube videos, and an interactive book (Aesop's Wheel of Fables by Stickery Pte. Ltd) And here's a link I found with a list of free audio books for children: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-childrens-ebooks-online.htm |
Deciphering Symbols in Literature
Investigate the meaning behind the symbols Many of the historical fiction books we are reading this quarter contain symbolism. Authors often use symbols to represent universal concepts like good versus evil or man versus Nature. However, symbolism can be a challenging concept for fourth graders who usually rely on concrete description and details when they are reading. To help your child become more familiar with this concept turn to the world of art. Take a family trip to the art museum. The paintings and other works of art there are filled with symbols that help to tell the story without words. Point to a darkening sky and ask what is the artist trying to represent here? Be sure to encourage your child to think beyond the simple answer and consider what the storm might stand for. After a few paintings, your child will be searching for symbols in every painting you encounter! Help your child to make connections between paintings and look for universal symbols that are used throughout many cultures to stand for honesty, goodness, or evil. Remember after checking out several works of art, encourage your child to think about the ways a writer could use symbols in a text. How do these connections between art and writing create more meaningful stories? If actually going to the art museum is difficult for you and your family, there are many wonderful sites that you can use to view a wide variety of artwork from your own home. Here is a site that could get you started: http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/aliens/access/signsSym/signsSym.htm Below are a few images that may also be helpful. For example, the American flag in the first painting, the policeman in the second and the stars in the last painting -What do these images stand for? |
Strategy of the Month (February)
You can help your child become a more analytical reader! Although we absolutely want students to be engaged, excited and enthusiastic about reading, we also want them to dig below the surface of a text to find the deeper, hidden messages that an author has included. This requires students to use inferencing skills and draw conclusions about characters and situations based on text clues. We will be focusing on historical fiction texts this quarter. The characters and situations in these stories provide students with many opportunities to consider themes, motivations and character changes. Students will also be able to make connections between what we have learned in social studies and the fictional events in the book. You can help your child build strong analysis skills by engaging him/her in lively discussions about the political, economic and social events that are depicted in these stories. Ask your child to justify and explain his/her viewpoint and challenge him/her to use actual historical events to think critically about the events. Our independent reading project for the quarter will require students to use these analytical skills as well. I have attached a copy of the project instructions below as well as some reading lists to consider. Additional resources are found in the adjacent column.
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Discovering History through Historical Fiction
Learning about important events and people This quarter students will have a unique opportunity to combine fiction and nonfiction texts for their independent reading project. They will have nine weeks to read four historical fiction books and one nonfiction book. All of the books should focus on an important event or time period from history. The topics do not have to be solely about American history. After reading the books, students will complete a tri-fold board project (or use a large poster board divided into three parts). One section of the board will contain four diary entries - one from each historical fiction book read. The diary entries should be written from the perspective of the main character from the book. The middle section of the board should contain a response to the following question: what would it have been like to live during this time period? Students should include ideas about daily life, difficulties and perspectives. They will need to use information from both the historical fiction and nonfiction texts. The final section should be a summary of information from the nonfiction text that was read. It should include some text features such as maps, charts or timelines to explain important ideas. Below you will find some helpful lists of historical fiction texts that your child may want to use for this project.
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Strategy of the Month (December)
You can help your child become a more diverse reader! It is important for students to view reading as an activity that occurs just as often outside the classroom as in it. Although reading for enjoyment is a wonderful way to keep children engaged, it is essential for them to encounter reading in many different situations. You can help your child become more aware of the wide variety of reading scenarios that you encounter on a daily basis. Reading opportunities such as newspapers, magazines, recipes, and instructions can provide you and your child with a chance to apply comprehension strategies, learn new vocabulary and use critical thinking skills. These connections between school and the real-world also increase student motivation and understanding. I encourage you to check out our Edmodo classroom blog where students read about current events and participate in on-line discussions with their peers. Your child has a user name and password for our class account. www.edmodo.com |
Acquiring Content Vocabulary - Nonfiction Texts
Using text features to understand new words Many students are reluctant to read non-fiction because they struggle with understanding the complex ideas and complicated vocabulary contained in these texts. But there is no reason to be afraid! Fortunately, authors of non-fiction texts realize the challenges a reader faces when encountering these words and therefore, provides a multitude of special text features to guide us through the material. Since many fourth grade students are just beginning their journey through these types of texts, they need a lot of practice with locating and using these features. In the classroom, we preview texts by skimming and scanning to find photographs, bold words, and sub-headings that will give us clues about the topic. As we read, we use maps, charts and timelines to increase our understanding of the material. Many authors even provide word boxes, indexes and glossaries to further define the difficult vocabulary from the text. |
Strategy of the Month (November)
You can help your child become a better non-fiction reader! Many students struggle with reading non-fiction texts even though they are often very interested in the wide variety of topics covered by this type of text. One way that you can help your child overcome these difficulties is by helping him/her to recognize and understand the five different structures that are found in non-fiction: description, chronological (sequence), compare/contrast, problem/solution and cause/effect. After identifying the structure, children are better prepared to explain the main idea and author's purpose. As you read with your child, look for signal words and special text features that will help you figure out which structure the author is using. The links below contain lists of signal words, example texts and definitions of each structure. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/asset/file/reading _bestpractices_nonfiction_fivetextstructures.pdf https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwMerDVQeEy1VVVhNm0tZTl5V2c/edit?usp=drive_web&urp=http://msjordanreads.com/2012/04/19/non-fiction-te&pli=1 |
Using Multiple Sources - Research Writing
Choosing and using information relevant to your purpose Fourth grade students love to investigate new topics and ideas and they especially love to share their knowledge with others. Our writing challenge this year is to become better at organizing our ideas in ways that best fit our purpose as writers and most effectively convey those ideas to our readers. Even though we may want to include every detail that we uncover from our research in our final product, we know that excellent writers must synthesize information and choose text structures and features that will explain that information in a coherent way. In writing workshop, we use graphic organizers that match our chosen text structure to help us make good choices about the information we want to include. |
Strategy of the Month (September):
You can help your child become a more fluent reader! There are four elements in reading fluency: rate, accuracy, expression and phrasing. Repeated reading of short texts is a great way to help your child improve in all of these areas. Choose texts that vary in rhythm (like poetry) or mood (scary or humorous) or even in sentence length (short and long). Read the text with your child to clarify pronunciation and then have them practice reading it to you or other family members for a week. At the end of the week, have your child "perform" the text for the family. You will be amazed at your child's improved fluency and confidence! Check out these links for some cool texts for fluency practice: http://www.gigglepoetry.com/ http://www.poetry4kids.com/ |
Responding to Reading
Explain what you know and how you know it Fourth grade readers are learning how to support their ideas with details and evidence from the text. Students use sticky notes, highlighters and graphic organizers to help them gather the relevant information they need from a text to prove their point. We use this skill throughout the school day in every content area. This kind of analysis promotes critical thinking and communication skills that help students succeed in the 21st century! |
Strategy of the Month (August):
You can help your child become a better reader! Good readers ask questions before, during and after they read a text. To develop critical thinking skills, it is important for readers to ask themselves a wide variety of questions and to understand how to find text details that help them to answer those questions. Check out the links below to find some ways that you can use questioning to help your child become a better reader.
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Independent Reading Program
Learning About Different Types of Texts Good readers challenge themselves to read many different kinds of texts, both fiction and non-fiction. This year we will set individual reading goals that will encourage students to read a variety of genres each quarter and complete response sheets to demonstrate comprehension of the texts. We hope that students will discover new stories and texts that will motivate them to become stronger, more independent readers. |
Book Recommendations
There are many resources to use when searching for excellent children's literature. Here are a few of my favorites:
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/choices/ira-cbc-childrens-choices-reading-list-2013.pdf
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/choices/ira-teachers-choices-reading-list-2013.pdf
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal
There are many resources to use when searching for excellent children's literature. Here are a few of my favorites:
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/choices/ira-cbc-childrens-choices-reading-list-2013.pdf
http://www.reading.org/Libraries/choices/ira-teachers-choices-reading-list-2013.pdf
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal