WOW! We had a PACKED first week back to school after the Christmas holidays. The kiddos didn't miss a beat & were anxious to learn!
We started a brand new reading unit called 'We Can Be Reading Teachers: Teach Yourself & Your Partners to Use All You Know to Read.' This is always a favorite of the kids because they get the opportunity to become 'teachers' to others. They love the chance to show off their skills & all that they have learned over the past 5 months. It is really cute to watch them be role models to each other.
This year I had Ms. Minor's Young 5s class come in to help us out with the start of our unit. We discussed how our 5th grade Book Buddies are role models to us in all different kinds of areas of life and that now it was OUR turn to be the role models to another class. You should have seen the look on all of their faces. Their eyes LIT up! We got out a leveled book from our reading baskets & looked at the cover & title of the book (Curly Tails, Feathers, & Spots). It had a picture of 2 pigs on the front. We had a discussion about all that we know about reading so far and how we can use what we know to help us become even better. The kids explained how there is a cover, author, & a title. I referenced our earlier units of study (We Can Be Reading Superheroes, etc) & how the picture can be our reading SIDEKICK. We came up with some great super hero sidekicks (The Robin to our Batman) & how they help each other out. The picture is our sidekick to the words in the story. We then discussed how the story must be about pigs because it has two pigs on the cover. WELL.... we then looked at the title and realized it said more than just curly tails like the pigs have. It also mentioned spots and feathers. We then realized it had to be about MORE than just pigs. The kiddos listed off some animals that had spots and feathers. We then took a picture walk (this is another 'warm up' we do before reading new books) & discussed what we saw in the pictures of the book. After we did that, we then made a chart of other strategies/skills we had already learned in Reader's Workshop.
Now it was time to teach all of this to the Young 5s crew. My class got to pick a partner from the Young 5s class & show them their book bin in the classroom. We then gave them some time to read from their book bins & show the younger kids some strategies we have learned. My class was on fire. They were showing off treasures they had found, words they know, ways to solve words they didn't know, & they even showed the Young 5s how we discuss what the characters must be feeling or what they would be saying in the story. This inspired the Young 5s crew to go back into their classroom & try it for themselves!! A success all around!
We started a brand new reading unit called 'We Can Be Reading Teachers: Teach Yourself & Your Partners to Use All You Know to Read.' This is always a favorite of the kids because they get the opportunity to become 'teachers' to others. They love the chance to show off their skills & all that they have learned over the past 5 months. It is really cute to watch them be role models to each other.
This year I had Ms. Minor's Young 5s class come in to help us out with the start of our unit. We discussed how our 5th grade Book Buddies are role models to us in all different kinds of areas of life and that now it was OUR turn to be the role models to another class. You should have seen the look on all of their faces. Their eyes LIT up! We got out a leveled book from our reading baskets & looked at the cover & title of the book (Curly Tails, Feathers, & Spots). It had a picture of 2 pigs on the front. We had a discussion about all that we know about reading so far and how we can use what we know to help us become even better. The kids explained how there is a cover, author, & a title. I referenced our earlier units of study (We Can Be Reading Superheroes, etc) & how the picture can be our reading SIDEKICK. We came up with some great super hero sidekicks (The Robin to our Batman) & how they help each other out. The picture is our sidekick to the words in the story. We then discussed how the story must be about pigs because it has two pigs on the cover. WELL.... we then looked at the title and realized it said more than just curly tails like the pigs have. It also mentioned spots and feathers. We then realized it had to be about MORE than just pigs. The kiddos listed off some animals that had spots and feathers. We then took a picture walk (this is another 'warm up' we do before reading new books) & discussed what we saw in the pictures of the book. After we did that, we then made a chart of other strategies/skills we had already learned in Reader's Workshop.
Now it was time to teach all of this to the Young 5s crew. My class got to pick a partner from the Young 5s class & show them their book bin in the classroom. We then gave them some time to read from their book bins & show the younger kids some strategies we have learned. My class was on fire. They were showing off treasures they had found, words they know, ways to solve words they didn't know, & they even showed the Young 5s how we discuss what the characters must be feeling or what they would be saying in the story. This inspired the Young 5s crew to go back into their classroom & try it for themselves!! A success all around!
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Alice is teaching Ansley all about how to read with expression based on what punctuation the author uses. This is one of Alice's FAVORITE books. It has periods, question marks, & exclamation points throughout the whole book that help foster reading with expression. She even taught Ansley how to look at the character's facial expressions to help show you how your voice should sound when you read.