We recently completed our interactive read aloud of Kate DiCamillo's The Tiger Rising. This poignant and thought-provoking piece of realistic fiction provided a “jumping off point” for many of our mini-lessons during Reader’s Workshop. During this unit, we focused on interpreting text and reading intensely to grow ideas about character development, traits, and motivations, mood, and theme. Students were asked to think deeply about complex characters and issues, and defend their thinking with evidence from the text.
We've also been focusing on ways to choose books and selecting "Just Right" books to read in class. "Just Right" books are comfortable, but provide us with opportunities to stop and think about what we're reading. Whether there's new vocabulary to learn in context or inferences we have to make by connecting our background knowledge to the text, it's important that the book selections we make give us some food for thought! We're going to continue to work on not only making appropriate book selections, but we're also going to strive to read a variety of genres during Reader's Workshop to expand our reading horizons!
We will begin our next unit this week, reading nonfiction. Students will be reading and analyzing nonfiction (informational/expository texts and narrative nonfiction), learning how important it is to read to learn. They will learn about the differences between fiction and nonfiction, and how they differ in structure. Explicit teaching of nonfiction text structures (main idea & detail, compare & contrast, cause & effect, problem/solution, and chronological order) will support student comprehension, as well as the identification of text features (table of contents, glossary, index, maps, photographs, diagrams, etc.). As adults, 90% of what they will be reading will be nonfiction text material. Students will be able to select nonfiction texts based on interest for independent reading, and they will conduct research as well, developing note-taking and organization skills.
Using our read aloud of Kate DiCamillo's Tiger Rising as one of many mentor texts, Room 24 authors have been engaged in the genre of realistic fiction during Writer’s Workshop. Imagining stories from everyday moments is key to this genre. Our young writers have generated their ideas and developed believable characters by focusing on external and internal features. In addition, students have given their characters struggles, yearnings, and motivations which will be revealed through scenes in their stories. Students sketched out possible plot lines by creating story arcs that represent the traditional story structure.
Throughout this unit, the students have focused on author's craft and effective writing techniques through the analysis of mentor texts, including creating strong leads, orienting the reader into the world of the character by grounding the action and dialogue in the setting, and crafting endings that leave a lasting impression. In addition, students have been striving to show, not tell, by including small actions, using precise and purposeful word choice, and unfolding moments step by step. Letting the heart of their story shine through their characters' interactions, thoughts, reactions, and decisions will reveal the life lessons their stories will impart to readers. During Writer's Workshop, we focus on the process of writing, as opposed to having a finished product at the close of each and every unit.
It’s also important that, as writer’s, students engage in the process of writing and learn the craft. With a focus on mentor texts, students will analyze the writing style of authors such as E.B. White, J.K. Rowling, Jane Yoland, Sandra Cisneros, and others. It's so important for the students to appreciate the connection between reading and writing, and to recognize that reading helps you become a better writer!
Currently, our fourth grade writers will begin our next unit, the genre of personal opinion, persuasive, and argumentative writing! Our writers will learn the structure of the expository essays and the craft of developing a thesis and how to purposely and effectively express their thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas. The students will ultimately create a five paragraph essay with a powerful and engaging introduction, three paragraphs featuring main reasons/claims along with supporting evidence, and a conclusion that leaves a lasting impression in the form of a call to action, a now or never statement, or a reinforcement of their most significant claim.
North American Geography, United States and Regions
Our fourth grade social scientists have begun to develop an understanding of different types of maps through exploration and analysis. They are learning to use maps as a resource and an overview of North American geography to ground the work done throughout the year. They will develop the skills to use different types of maps as a resource for research and analysis of the “where” of a location and place. They also explore ways the environment and key physical features shape the development of each region. This unit will focus on two essential questions:
Why do people move?
How does human migration shape a region?
The contributions of diverse groups of people to each region are Big Ideas for the unit:
Humans organize and divide land masses into continents, countries, regions, states, and cities, based on both geographic and political factors.
Geography helps us understand human organization of land and the relationships among people, places, and the environment.
There is a relationship between geography and the movement and settlement of people.
People with certain identities have been oppressed throughout American history, and they, along with their allies, have resisted injustice and fought for equality.
This unit will provide students with a rich and timely examination of our country and its people.
November finds our mathematicians continuing their work on fractions with a focus on extending operations to fractions. I’ve included the unit outline from https://k12.kendallhunt.com here to inform you of what our mathematicians will be learning.
