PreReading practice at Home--Anticipation Guides

What is an anticipation Guide?

 

Anticipation guides, according to Frank Smith (1978) allow the reader to make predictions about text that will be read by eliminating possibilities that are unlikely.

 

What is its purpose?

 

Also called reaction or prediction guides, the anticipation guide is a way to prepare a reader prior to a reading assignment by asking them to react to a series of statements related to the content of the material.

 

Reasons for using anticipation guides include:

•  relating prior knowledge to new information to enhance comprehension,
• creating interest which stimulates discussion on the topic, and
• creating possibilities for integrating reading and writing instruction.

How can I do it?

• Read the passage or story
• Read and analyze the text to identify the major concepts (both explicit and implicit).
• Decide on majour concepts
• Decide which concepts are most important. Use these to create student interest and to agitate or stimulate reflection on prior knowledge and beliefs.
• Write statements on major concepts
• Write short, declarative statements about the major concepts. There can be as few as 3-5 statements or up to about 15. The statements should be thought-provoking and reflect the students' backgrounds. General statements are better than abstract or overly specific ones. Famous quotations and idioms work well. The statements should be written in a format that will elicit students to predict and anticipate.
• Display the guide
• To allow students time to react to each statement, display the guide either on the blackboard or on an overhead, or distribute individual worksheets. Give clear directions for what the students are to do with the guide, such as writing an "A" for agreeing or a "D" for disagreeing in the left-hand column for each statement. Make sure to leave space for responses on the sheet. Students can complete the guides individually, in pairs or small groups, or as a whole class.
• Discuss
• Conduct a class discussion about the concepts before the students read the text. Students are expected to support their answers with more than a "yes" or "no" response. Students are to give examples from past experience and explain the decision-making process by which they arrive at their answers. 
• Read
• Have students read the selected text, evaluating the statements from the anticipation guide in light of the author's intent and purpose.
• Revisit the guide
• Revisit the guide after you have read the passage to allow students to compare and contrast their original responses with current ones. The objective is to see what information the reading of the passage has allowed them to assimilate or learn.

Assessment and Evaluation Considerations 

  

The anticipation guide allows students to anticipate major concepts that will be encountered during their reading of a text. Discussion stimulates review of what students know and believe and allow them to expand these concepts. This type of previewing allows students to take charge of their own learning and to focus their reading. The teacher can use the anticipation guide to preview students' beliefs and knowledge about a subject.

 

 

Teacher Resources

  

• Guided Comprehension: Previewing Using an Anticipation Guide - A ReadWriteThink lesson
• Anticipation Guide - instructions
• Anticipation Guide - instruction and sample guide
• Reading Anticipation Guide – Teacher Instructions
• Examples of Anticipation Guides (English, Science, Social Studies)
• Cell Division
• Lord of Flies
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• The Great Gatsby
• Stelluna
• Night
• Miss Rumphius
• A List of Anticipation Guides for Fiction and Non-Fiction Books

Smith, F. (1978). Reading. New York, NY: Teachers College Press

What's up next...

With our second unit, you (the student) will develop and apply skills and strategies to the reading process especially while reading nonfiction texts. Mastery of these skills and strategies is of the utmost importance as you continue through school. Nonfiction reading is found in every subject at every level of education and is the majority of the reading you will do as you start working and move up in your career.

This unit contains four major goals:

1. Develop and apply skills and strategies to comprehend, analyze and evaluate nonfiction from a variety of cultures and times.

2. Apply pre-reading strategies to aid comprehension in nonfiction.

3. Apply during reading strategies to aid comprehension in nonfiction.

4. Apply post-reading strategies to aid comprehension in nonfiction.

[Goal 1] You will need to be able to identify the form of nonfiction you are reading based on the features of the text and the author’s purpose for writing the piece. You will be expected to know the following forms of nonfiction (refer to the text book on pages 82-86 or class notes for study):

                      *Autobiography       *Biography      *Essay       *Informative       *Article Interview

[Goal 2] You will also have to demonstrate consistent use of the following pre-reading strategies to aid the comprehension of non-fiction:

      • previewing the text by looking at sidebars, graphs, charts, headings, subheading, section headings, captions, 

        photos, bolded text, pulled quotes, and footnotes.

      • predicting what the text would be about using information from text features

      • accessing your prior knowledge of the topic by determining what you already know/believe about this subject.

      • set a purpose and rate for reading by deciding how much time is needed and what you are supposed to learn while

        reading the passage.

[Goal 3] During reading, you will be asked to use strategies to self-monitor your comprehension. This means making sure you understand what you are reading. You will:

     • question the text when needed

     • make inferences to deepen understanding

     • visualize what you are reading

     • paraphrase and summarize the key points into your own words as you go along.

[Goal 4] After reading, you will demonstrate your comprehension of [a non-fiction] text by:

     • answering basic comprehension questions

     • identifying and explaining the relationship between the main idea and supporting details

     • clarifying any questions asked during reading

     • reflecting on what you learned from the text

     • drawing conclusions about the topic or author, and

     • analyzing the effectiveness or relevance of the text.

Practicing at home by reading lots and lots of nonfiction of your choice and using these skills and strategies will help you meet your goals for this unit. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Final Time

Students have worked hard to learn how to organize, focus and express their voice in their writing.  Commas have become a goal that will last through out the year.  Armed with all of their new knowledge, and feedback from peers and Mrs. Benson, they are left on their own to write their final copies.

Please encourage and support your student as they finish up these final copies tonight.  They are due tomorrow, September 8th, 2011.

If there are any questions, I can be reached at cbenson@hazelwoodschools.org  My e-mail goes straight to my phone, so I will be vigilant about responding.

I can't wait to read about the amazing adventures you all have had in your lives.

Have a Good Weekend

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

We have had a very busy week.  Students spent time practicing their writing organization skills, focusing their writing to build strong, controlling ideas and revising their writing to add voice.  So far, students should have turned in a rough draft and a second draft with a reflection sheet.  I am spending the weekend reading these and providing the kids with feedback to help them grow in the areas they indicated they wanted help.  From what I have seen so far, I have hard working, talented students with a thirst for learning.  I can't wait to see what their finished products look like.  Final copies are due on Thursday, September 8th.

Today was TWLOHA Day.  This day is a day of awareness presented by the organization To Write Love on Her Arms.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a nonprofit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
For more information about the organization you can visit TWLOHA at http://www.twloha.com/. 

I tell you this, because today I participated in their awareness movement by writing "LOVE" on my arms.  Of course, the students were interested in why I had done this.  Once I explained this, many of them asked if they could write "LOVE" on their arms as well.  I told the students that I did not recommend they do so if their parents would object to it.  I also told them that if they wrote it, they needed to be able to explain why. 

If you have further questions about our week, please send me an e-mail at cbenson@hazelwoodschools.org

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Benson

Wednesday, 8-31

After yesterday's lesson on ideas, I had several students indicate that they wanted to try revising for focused ideas on their own before they would feel comfortable that they could do it.  Therefore, we took today to have a writer's workshop before moving on to voice.  I wanted to have the opportunity to check in on everyone and see how they were revising their personal narrative. 

From what I have seen so far, the kids are doing very well.  They will be coming home tonight with the request that they clean up all of their revisions and write a second draft.  This draft should be revised for ideas and organization.  The students should also fill out a reflection sheet, indicating where they are so far with their learning and where they still need improvement. 

If you have any questions about this, please let me know.  Thank you for all of the support you are giving your students and our learning community.

Narrative Unit

The following information is from our narrative unit.  Students have been learning what a narrative is and the skills needed to write a personal narrative.  Highlighted items are the items we have already completed in class as of today 8/30/11. Students should all be able to demonstrate or explain what they have learned so far and how it is helping them write their personal narrative.

The timeline for completing this unit is a bit flexible due to some of the other business items that are dealt with at the beginning of the year. The tentative completion/due date for the summative assessment is September 8th, 2011.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact me.

Unit Plan: Narratives [pre-writing, organization and sequence*, revising for voice, commas, ideas]

Unit Assessments:

Pre-test: District Writing Prompt 1: District Writing Prompt #1

Think about the last time you attended a special event such as a concert, a fair, or a sports event. Describe what it was like to be there and include sights, sounds and smells that will make the reader feel he or she is there with you.

Unit Goals: Objective(s): The student will

GLE: W1A: Follow a writing process to

a. use appropriate prewriting strategies as needed

b. generate a draft

c. reread, revise for ideas and content, organization and word choice (refer to W2B, W2C, W2D)

d. edit for conventions (refer to W2E)

*e. share writing

a.) Students will write to a post-card, write a story developed from character traits, create a heart map, a nametag and a collage in order to generate ideas for writing a narrative. (done as getting to know you activities, homework and quick writes)

b.) Students will organize their story into a graphic organizer and then write a draft following this organization.
c.) Students will evaluate their own and a peer’s writing to improve in the areas of organization, ideas and voice in their writing.

d.) Students will evaluate their own and a peer’s writing to improve the use of commas in their writing.

W2B: Compose text with

a. strong, controlling idea

b. relevant, specific details

Students will evaluate three student generated paragraphs using the scoring guide and determine which one is the most focused and what sentences or ideas don’t belong.

W3A: Compose a variety of texts,

a. using narrative features

W2C: Compose text with

a. an effective beginning, middle, and end

b. a logical order

Students will generate a graphic organizer that a younger child could use to organize their writing into a narrative structure.

Students will sort a disassembled narrative into a logical order, explaining why they think it has an effective beginning, middle and end.

Students will select one of their three pre-writes to develop further and organize their own narrative within the graphic organizer.

W2D: Compose text using

a. precise and vivid language to show voice

Students will revise a draft to add precise and vivid language to show voice.

W2E: In written text

b. use commas and quotation marks in dialogue, and semi-colon in compound sentences

Students will edit a draft to ensure correct comma usage.

Summative: Post-test: Write and publish a narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

with 80% accuracy at the minimum.

Scoring Rubric:

Mastered:

Ideas

The writer tells about ONE interesting and unforgettable experience. The details make the story truly memorable and focused.

Voice

The voice in the narrative perfectly captures the special time or experience. The writer’s voice can be heard, creating interest in the story.

Commas

The narrative is error free or has a few minor errors in comma use.

Organization and sequencing

 The way the narrative is put together makes it enjoyable to read. Well organized with a clear beginning, middle and ending, transitions are used well.

Proficient:

Ideas

The writer mostly focuses on ONE interesting experience. More details are needed to make the narrative memorable and focused.

Voice

The writer’s voice could be stronger. A voice can sometimes be heard, the writer needs to show more feelings.

Commas

The narrative has some errors that may distract or confuse the reader.

Organization and sequencing

The narrative is well organized, with a few sequences that need to be corrected. Most of the transitions are helpful but more transitions need to be used.

Developing:

Ideas

The writer needs to focus on one experience. There are not enough details or the details are unrelated to the main event.

Voice

The writer has rarely expressed a personal connection to the story.

Commas

Many errors make the narrative truly confusing and hard to read.

Organization and sequencing

The beginning, middle and ending all run together. The order is unclear.

Beginning:

Ideas

The writer needs to tell about an experience and use details.

Voice

The voice cannot be heard.

Commas

The writer has not yet considered using commas.

Organization and sequencing

The narrative needs to be organized.

Off to a Great Start

We have finished our PBIS activities that reviewed our Panther Paw Laws (Safe, Responsible, Respectful and Positive).  This has allowed us all to develop a common language of expectations and behaviors at North Middle.  Today we began getting into the Communication Skills Curriculum beginning with pre-writing.  Students have begun their writer's notebooks and should have one entry at least.  If your child does not yet have a composition notebook or a spiral notebook exclusively for my class, they will need that as soon as possible. 

As we are beginning our pre-writing activities, students have been asked to create a collage at home tonight.  This collage should include images that represent who the student is.  These can be printed, drawn, cut and pasted from magazines or stickers.  They should be no bigger than 8 1/2 by 11.  Once the student has chosen their collage images, they should explain, in writing, why they chose each image.  These are due tomorrow, 8/18/11. 

In class today we practiced this activity a bit by making name tags.  However, we did not get a chance to finish these.  Students were given a choice, they could do double homework and finish these at home, or they could finish them in lieu of their quick write tomorrow.  For those who chose the double homework, here is the link to the directions and scoring guide:  https://acrobat.com/#d=ektP6Spoqmbx0*jS5d3-aA 

All of my students seem to be adjusting well to seventh grade.  Not too many locker issues and all of them getting to class in plenty of time!  I am very impressed with them all and am looking forward to a fantastic year.

REMINDERS:

Book Fair Tomorrow

We are beginning our unit on narratives and kids will be writing their first piece before Labor Day.

Welcome Back

I had a wonderfully relaxing summer.  Did some travelling, studying, reading and lots of writing.  I am very excited to get back in the classroom though.  This year, I have been given the opportunity to participate in a study conducted by our own Mr. Wren.  I will be teaching one class of all girls, one of all boys and one class that is mixed.  We will be observing the differences in their learning styles and providing lessons that will fit those styles.  This is a very exciting opportunity for both me and the students.  Stay tuned for updates and articles relating to this adventure.

Students this year will again be utilizing blogs as a way to share their growth and showcase their writing talent.  If your child does not already have an e-mail address they will be needing one this year in order to create the account on Blogger.  If you  and your child would like to make their blog over the next week please feel free to do so.  We will have a day that we make them in class, but this day is generally hectic, so making the blog at home may be easier.  To make the blog, students need to go to Blogger.com and follow the direction for making a new blog.  If they make it early, I would appreciate and email that tells me the blog address so I can attach it to my blog.  This way all students will be represented on this blog.

Our first unit of study will be personal narratives.  Students will choose one event in their life and create an organized story, focusing on their word choice, voice and comma usage.  A scoring guide will be attached in a future post about this assignment.  Be sure to take some time to read the page about me and the page about this class (Welcome Letter).  If you have questions about any of the things we are doing in class, please ask.  You can e-mail me at cbenson@hazelwoodschools.org or comment on the blog. 

I look forward to working with your family this year as we support your child on their journey.

Mrs. Christine Benson

7th Grade Communication Arts

Hazelwood North Middle

Paul Harris Online: 30 Books Every Kid Should Read Before Graduating High School

I was attempting to work on a summer reading list for my students and I came across this blog post.  These are classic books and authors that are referred to often in text books, college, movies and on standardized tests.  Even if the work itself is not referred to, the vocabulary found in these books most definitely will be needed as the kids progress their education.  I will still continue my search for a summer reading list, more specific to middle school, but this information seemed too important to pass up.  Mrs. Benson

Paul Harris Online: 30 Books Every Kid Should Read Before Graduating H...: This list was inspired by a story about a high school teacher in Virginia who says that she doesn't have her students read "Catcher In The Rye" anymore, because she doesn't think it is relevant to their lives. I couldn't disagree more. It is the teacher's job to get the kids to relate to a great story. You don't have to have grown up on the Mississippi River to enjoy and learn from "Huck Finn," do you? Of course not. Here then, is a list of 30 classics that should be must-read for every American kid:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Alice In Wonderland

All Quiet On The Western Front

Black Like Me

Brave New World

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Catcher In The Rye

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Diary of Anne Frank

Fahrenheit 451

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

Gulliver’s Travels

The Hobbitt

Little Women

Lord Of The Flies

Lord Of The Rings

Moby Dick

Old Man & The Sea

Old Yeller

Oliver Twist

Pride & Prejudice

Robinson Crusoe

Romeo & Juliet

Roots

Tale Of Two Cities

To Kill A Mockingbird

Treasure Island

The Yearling

Multi-Genre Book Analysis

The kids have been reading whatever they wish all year and their only accountability has been recording their pages read.  In class, we have been studying the elements that make up all pieces of literature and we have been responding to those elements.  Did you know that every novel has multiple conflicts and it is through those conflicts we learn lessons that are called themes?  The kids have learned this and have practiced how to explain the conflicts in writing and express what themes were learned from them.  Did you also know that the words an author chooses, creates the mood of the book (or at least for a certain part of a book)?  In class, we went through poems and noted the moods we felt.  We then indicated what words gave us those feelings.  This process helped us decide what the poem meant and how the poet felt about that topic.  Point of view, flashback and plot structure were also studied as well.

Students have been asked to demonstrate their understanding of these elements through a project.  Students are to generate five texts, each one representing a different part of their book (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution).  they should partner each of the stages of plot with one of the elements we have studied in order to show they understand how the author has used them.

There are examples of these on the left hand side of the blog under Tom Romano, Multi-Genre.  There is a great deal of info there to go through and the samples take forever to load, but it is helpful to check it out. 

Projects are due on March 31st and can be turned in on the blog, through e-mail or in class.  Below is a link with directions and a scoring guide.


Multi-Genre book Project Scoring guide

Reading Update

The kids have been challenged to beat me at pages read.  As of now, I have read approximately 2200 pages.  I am sharing book trailers with the kids of the books I am reading, so they have an idea of the variety of books that are out there.  Here are some of the trailers we have seen so far.  The first one is from the Book Thief.  This is an excellent book about how reading helps us escape our struggles and survive hard times.  It is set in World War II Germany and is told in 3rd person omniscient from the point of view of Death.  The first few chapters can be a bit confusing at first, so give yourself some time to start the book.  After that, it is a great read.  The second video is the Official movie trailer for The Book Thief.

The last book trailer is from Fallen by Lauren Kate.  This book is another love triangle style book that fits the Twilight formula and the first in a series of four.  I did not particularly like the writing style of this author, as I felt she skipped big chunks of time.  Overall though it is a good story.  The main character, Luce, has been sentenced to reform school after being suspected in a suspicious fire that resulted in the death of a friend.  At reform school, she meets several fellow students and connects with them quickly since they are all there due to some sort of injustice.  In fact, she feels a very strong connection to Daniel who regards her in very confusing ways.  At times he seems repulsed by her and tries to keep a distance and at others he is very kind and tender, as if they have known each other for a long time.  The problems begin when Cam, another boy at the school gives her a necklace and asks her out time and again.  Which boy will she choose?  Will she ever escape the shadows that haunt her?  Will the mysterious behaviors Luce keeps observing ever be explained?  Not until a long battle rooted in history can be fought.

Gettin' Fluent

My AE kiddos are working on their reading fluency.  I initially had them participating in repeated partner readings with short, teacher selected texts.  A few of the students began creating beats on their desks as they read and they said it helped them read it faster and smoother.  More kids began to try it and they asked if they could read something different.  I rode with their enthusiasm and gave them a few guidelines they had to follow. 

Students piled through poetry anthologies and other books with poetic rhythm, looking for that magical piece.  Once they found a poem they loved, they read it alone, in pairs and/or with Mrs. Benson so they could get the feedback they needed in order to read the poem fluently and with emphasis in the right places.  Students learned how to read the pauses and listen to the beat or rhythm of the poems.

Once they had it, they went to the website, Incredibox.fr and built their own beat to go with their poem.  Once they were confident they had practiced enough, students performed these "Poetry Raps" in front of the class.  This has been an amazing experience for all of us.  We have really bonded and laughed and grown as readers.  I have one example here and there will be more to come. 

Please leave Mel'Vontae some feedback and/or congratulations (as he volunteered to go first and be videoed) here on the blog. 

New Year, New Way of Learning

With the return of the students comes new goals, new challenges, new celebrations.  Now that we have taken the Tungsten test four times, we have very solid data on our individual strengths and weaknesses.  We will be shifting the ownership and responsibility of our learning from Mrs. Benson to the students now that we have this data.  Beginning with a few days each week, students will be working in learning centers that will allow them to focus on their own weaknesses and build up their skills in those areas.  Think of it like circuit training at the gym.  If you want to build up your arms, you don't use a leg press machine.  It is the same thing in Communication Skills class.  If you want to build up your use and understanding of figurative language, you don't do it by studying non-fiction. 

Students have analyzed their own Tungsten data and identified their three lowest areas.  Next week, we will set goals for improvement in those areas and students will begin working in the stations that are designed to strengthen those areas.  Students will also be getting individualized homework, if necessary, to assist them in these areas as well.  Running and supervising stations is going to be a bit challenging at first as we all get used to it.  If there are any parents who would be interested in hanging out and helping kids in the stations, that would be awesome.

The other days of the week, we will be working on analyzing literary elements in texts.  Students will be looking at the plot, point of view, conflict, theme, mood, and flashbacks of texts and analyzing how these elements influence the characters in the story.  You may hear your students talking a great deal about heroes as we will be using this theme as a common thread in the texts.  This is a large unit of study that will require a lot of reading and analysis work. 

While all of these great things are going on, the kids will continue to study vocabulary.  We still have something like 80 words left to learn.  Wish us luck!  I know that I am excited to be done with school, as I can focus more intently on teaching, but I am not so sure the kids will be.  I will be pushing them rather hard the rest of the year.   

Wrapping it up

Students should be finished with the research portion of their nine paragraph essays and move on to typing.  All essays are due by midnight Friday the 17th of December.  Students should be posting them on their blogs no later than then.  If your student does not have access to the internet, then the paper is due by the end of school on the 17th.  Students were also told that they can hand write the paper neatly if they do not have access to a computer this week.  There should be no reason for excuses. 

I want them posted on the blogs so the students can get feedback before winter break is over.  I don't know about you, but I hate turning in something that I worked so hard on and then having to wait forever to find out how I did.  I won't post their grade on the blog, but I can give them feedback that will give them some idea of how they did, and give them the chance to edit their post and fix things if they so choose before grades are finalized upon our return.  Typically, I do not lose things, but collecting such a large assignment right before break makes me nervous.  A lot of things get moved around my house over the holidays as I catch up on cleaning and then reorganize for the new stuff my kids get.  I expect this to be even greater this year since I have been in school nonstop for the past year and a half.  I would like to have as many assignments posted on the blogs so I can't lose them (and don't have to carry them around with me). 

Make sure student continue reading over break.  So many of them have made such wonderful progress towards their goals, that I hate to see them fall behind.  There are a couple of announcements that I have about books and our classroom:

1)  Every year, I offer candy for books.  This is a chance for students to dig around the house and find any of my books that have been hanging around for a while.  I then offer one piece of candy for the return of the book.  We are very blessed to have so many books to choose from in our school and I firmly believe in spreading the gift of literacy.  Therefore the other aspect of "Candy for Books" is donation.  Students can donate new or gently used books of any grade level in exchange for a piece of candy.  Any books that are not used in the teacher classroom libraries, go to children's homes.  In the past we have donated them to Marygrove.  If any parents have another children's charity that would appreciate the books, I would gladly divide them up.  This is a good chance to clean off those bookshelves and make room for new literary adventures.

2)  The other thing I do every year is keep my own reading log along with the kids.  I track my pages just like they do.  This year they have a head start on me because of school.  At the end of the year, any student who has met or beaten my number of pages read is invited to a pizza party after school--my treat.  So far I am at 1,100 or so pages (most of which I read this weekend because I have missed reading for fun so much).  Encourage your students to keep reading!

Have a wonderful holiday season.  I wish you all well.  When we return, we will begin looking at the elements of literature and literary analysis.  Your students will feel like they are in a college literature class (I hope).  I love this unit because the kids really grow so much and begin to look at literature in a different way.  They will also help me revise the book I am writing as they learn plot structure, theme and point of view.  then apply it on their own as we get into descriptive writing.  I can't wait!

Book Talk

Monster by Walter Dean Myers.  This is a really good book. Check it out.

Let the Production Begin

Okay, I know it has been awhile, but there has been little of interest to report as we have been going through the nitty gritty of organizing expository writing. Now that the students understand how to write a topic sentence, support it with a supporting detail or fact and then tie it together with an example, they can repeat this pattern for the entire paragraph until they are ready to conclude it. We learned that our paragraphs will be well structured and organized as long as we sandwich the supporting details and examples with a topic sentence and conclusion. Learning this structure has been challenging, so watch for struggling as your child writes this week. It is one thing to write a structured paragraph about your day or something you know a lot about, but it is another to write about a civilization you have never heard of until this assignment.

Just to make sure you have the answers if your student happens to forget what this assignment is, let me explain. Students selected a group of ancient peoples. They then have been asked to research this group, looking for information on the seven characteristics of civilization, and prove whether or not the group they chose is a civilization. This is somewhat similiar to the paper they did in Social Studies earlier this year. The exceptions are: this one is longer (9 paragraphs), this one is researched and very organized, and this one will also be graded based on the student's use of revision techniques.  One last bit of information you may need is the seven characteristics of a civilization. They are as follows: government, food supply, art, religion, technology, social structure and writing. Students should write a paragraph describing how their people displayed evidence of each one.

To prepare students for this essay, we have done many things. Students have learned paragraph structure and research plans. On Friday, Mrs. Ruebusch, our librarian, presented information on how to use databases and the district's online library resources. She also told us how to determine if we are looking at a reliable source online. Now that students have all of the background, they are researching and writing.

The essay is due (final copy) on the 17th of December.  I have asked students to write at least one paragraph each night this week, leaving them halfway done and the other half to be done over the weekend. However, I did suggest that they would be in better shape if they did two each night. Everyday this week, we will be reading and giving feedback in partners. Students will then use this feedback to revise and write the final draft next week.  To see the scoring guide, click on the title of this post--it is a hot link.

Key components of expository writing

Today we learned these key components of expository writing. Over the next several week we will be learning to use these as we write a research essay. It is important that the students master these components so they can focus more on the writing. Students should study these each night as they will be quizzed over them.

 Expository writing defines, persuades, informs and/or explains.
 Introductory or lead paragraph invites the reader to explore the topic.
 Thesis/Topic statement reveals overall purpose of the writing.
 Body consists of three or more points, descriptions, or examples.
 Concluding paragraph restates the thesis and offers the reader the
opportunity to reflect further on the topic.
 Contains a topic body and closing paragraph

Our vocabulary words this week are: apprehensive, destination, jostle, meander, meticulous and narrator

Welcome Trimester 2

As trimester one wraps up, we can look back at how far we've come. This year so far we have learned how to summarize both fiction and non-fiction texts, explored our past literacy experiences as we wrote a narrative, learned how to truly revise our writing, came to understand the benefits of previewing a text and most importantly, we learned why we should read! And read we have! The district reading initiative sets a goal of 1400 pages per student for the year, and so far we have 23 students who have met or surpassed that already. We can't forget the 26 students who are very very close to this goal and will surpass it by Winter break!

I am so proud of all of the students. Each day they come in ready to do their best. One of the best parts is, if they're not ready that day, they are willing to let me push them. This shows true resilience!

Over the next trimester, we will be exploring the structure and purpose of expository writing. With this will come more practice with revision. We have 100 vocabulary words to learn (more if we finish those), similarities and differences to look at, figurative language to explore and the elements of literature to learn. Hopefully, you will see us grow as you read our blogs and hear our voices. Please continue to give us feedback as you read our writing.

As we drift into that busy holiday season, please keep books in mind as gifts. Kids like having the latest book all to themselves. There are plenty of links on the class blog that will help you find the latest and greatest. I will also be sending Scholastic book orders home next week.

Keep your kids reading and if you have questions or feedback, please let me know.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Benson

(I am currently reading "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini)

Poetry Contest

Vote on the poll for your favorite poem.

Poem #1

Silent but lively
another place
just for me
glistening and soft like fabric
talking to sea life like it's my second language

A world doused by water
with the radiant life under the sea
bright like the heavens
bubbles pop and squeak
the current moves ever so lightly

Calm but life taking
waves crash and bash
yin and yang in perfect harmony
living in this place is carefree
just the right place for
destiny

Breathtaking to see
more beautiful than Angelina Jolie

flying faster than a bee
more weightless than space itself
that's what living in the sea means to me

Poem #2

So much adversity
Weighing me down
My heart aches all over
But here; I seek immunity
Under the water, I am wispy
Free, floating

Perched on this underwater ledge,
Feeling the cold current,
I ponder our divergence
Seeking release from the sorrow

Glowing, warm, waves of light
Ripple beyond the water
Mimicking a giggle and grin,
Conflicting my descent,
Encouraging me to return

Inevitably, waves crack,
Staining the life above with turmoil.
Cold, grips my heart
And the weight recaptures me
Even the peace of the water
Can’t make the damage recede
Unwillingly, I resurface for air

Persistent in my pursuit,
I return to the depths
Until nightfall; a final resurfacing
Finds pale moonlight
Casting hope on the shore

I see love and reach
Yet, it is too far
Unable to see me
Unwilling to hear me
Dictating isolation

What's Important?

This week we worked on most important word summaries with non-fiction.  As we read a piece of non-fiction text, we chose the most important word or phrase from each paragraph.  Then we use those words to help us construct a summary of the text.  This strategy was a bit challenging and awkward at first, but once we got it, it proved to really help us understand what we were reading.  Finding only one word or phrase is challenging at first and the students really had to talk it out with each other to be sure they had the correct and most important one. 

After practicing this, we used this strategy as we took the October Tungsten test.  One of the articles was on symbiosis which is a concept that we are not entirely familiar with, making this month's test challenging.  Students were required to use the summarization strategy before they answered the questions for that part of the test.  This seemed to help.  Many students kept their scores in range of where they were last time or rose them--both a great sign for a test as challenging as this month's was.  Take some time to look over your child's Tungsten with them and discuss their answer selections--both right and wrong.  Ask them to explain how/why they answered the way they did.  If you need a reminder, the web address is linked to this post--all you have to do is click on the post title and it will take you straight there.  I will place it in Places to Investigate links too.  Your child should know their user name and password.  If not, please let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

assessments.edisonlearning.com

I am so proud of the work I see each and every day from your children.  They are so ready and willing to stand up to whatever challenge I give them.  In fact, it is so obvious that they come to school everyday hoping to be challenged.  Thank you for all you do to support them.  I hope you have had time to check out the student blogs to the right.  The kids work hard and really want to be heard.  The best way to show them they have been heard is by offering them feedback to grow from.  Ask them questions and share what they are doing with your family, friends and neighbors.  All of their work has been self motivated with the exception of the literary histories and that proves how much they want to be heard.

For next week, be on the look out for our first poetry challenge.  George has challenged me to write a poem about underwater.  I will be posting both of our poems on the class site for voting.  They will be anonymous, so you won't know whose is whose.  May the best writer win.  Make sure you read them and vote.

Read over the weekend.  Don't forget your reading goals!