Ms. Faircloth

Today we ready Chapters 10-12 in Red Kayak .

Today we went to the computer lab so students could type their draft up and be ready to play Revision Bingo on Monday.

Today, after SSR, we read Chapters 6-9 in Red Kayak. Then, students stopped to look back at Chapter 1 again. In their Reading Notebook, they wrote a response about the foreshadowing in Chapter 1. What events so far do they see hinted at? What predictions can they make about what comes next?

Today students finished introductions, conclusions and revision (see Day 2) and wrote out a clean copy of their Literary Analysis essay to hand in. We will go to the lab on Day 4 to type.

Today, after SSR, we read Chapters 3-5 in Red Kayak .

Today we reviewed what needs to be in the introductions to a literary analysis essay. We looked an an example of how that might look in our class essay. Then students collected ideas for their conclusion on a worksheet. The sentences written out will be put together in the next clean draft for the conclusion to the essays. Lastly, some students had time to work on further revising their essay using the conference notes from Monday's meeting with Ms. Faircloth, and also using one strategy from the mentor text we reviewed on Monday.

Today, student responded to a quote in their Reading Notebooks: "The truth is always the strongest argument." --Sophocles Then we watched a video about the crabbing industry in Maine. This will be part of the setting for our next novel. Then we read the first chapter of Red Kayak  and discussed the foreshadowing in the chapter. Each class made predictions about the story based on what is in Chapter 1.

Today, student conferenced with Ms. Faircloth about the essay drafts that they turned in before break. During conferences, students worked with their Writing Partners to read a mentor text - a student essay about "Raymond's Run". They highlighted things that they thought were done well. Then, labeled the strategies so they could identify what they might try in their own essays tomorrow. Then, we discussed what partners noticed as a class.

Today we practiced using all of the signposts while reading an article. Students read an article, highlighting and annotating the signposts as they went. Then they filled out a log sheet with signposts they noticed, along with identifying the main idea of the article on the back. They gave three supporting details for that main idea on the back as well.

Today we talked about sentence frames and how they can help students explain the evidence in each of their paragraphs. Then students wrote a clean draft of their essay with revisions so far and turned it in.

Today we did an exercise about conditional statements and making sure that logic is complete in their essays. We discussed student claims. Students highlighted the key word (maybe 1-2 words) in their claims, and then made sure that each paragraph brought their essay full circle. For example, in the class draft of the essay about "Raymond's Run", the claim is that "Squeaky is lonely because she is protective, hardworking, and tough." Therefore, in each paragraph, students need to conclude by explaining how their examples contribute to the character being LONELY (rather than proving she is protective). In the class essay, we highlighted the word "lonely" in each topic sentence in yellow, and then the language at the end of the first two paragraphs (essay is incomplete) that shows how each paragraph proves that the character is LONELY. Students worked on revision, making sure that they had multiple examples in each paragraph used all of the senten

Today students learned the fifth Nonfiction Signpost: Word Gaps. We talked about strategies for using context clues and what students know to figure out the meaning of a word before they look up the word in a dictionary. The reference sheet (page 1 of this packet ) gives three questions someone can ask in order to figure out a word. Then we discussed the examples on the next pages. Lastly we read an article and students circled the words they weren't sure about, and we practiced using the questions to figure out the words. Students who were gone can find an article in the newspaper or a magazine and practice the strategies on the packet.

Today students wrote the first flashdraft of their Character Analysis essay using the boxes and bullets outline that they created yesterday.

Today we learned the 4th signpost for reading Non-Fiction: Quoted Words. When you are reading and an author quotes an authority figure, a personal perspective, or the words of "others", stop and ask yourself: Why does the author use this quote or this source? Then we read an article about Hiroshima and discussed how the quoted words impacted the article.

In Reading today we learned the third NonFiction signpost: Numbers & Stats. When you read and notice specific numbers, number words, or amounts, you should stop and ask yourself: Why did the author use these numbers or amounts? The answers might help you come to a conclusion, make a comparison, see the details, infer, find facts, or recognize evidence or bias. We discussed this idea, then practiced as a class using the examples on page one of this set of handouts . Then students practiced with an elbow partner - discussing the anchor question using the second and third page examples. Lastly we read an article and discussed it as a class.

Today students worked with writing partners to evaluate the claim drafts they made on Friday. When then decided on a claim to work with for this character analysis essay, they started plugging it into their Boxes & Bullets format and decided what the topics of their body paragraphs will be. This all created an outline that they will use to write the actual essay.

Today we finished the paragraphs students started yesterday about the characters (see Q2 Week 1 Day 2). Then students shared with a partner and they pushed each other's thinking. We also talked about how important it can be to think about what motivates a character. I shared a piece I had written about what motivates Squeaky in "Raymond's Run" and then students went back to their own stories and wrote a page that explored what they think might motivate their character in the short story they are studying. If you were absent, please ask to read Ms. Faircloth's thinking about character motivation so you can see what this might look like. The thinking/writing from today is important to help you develop your claim for your essay. You should find time to recreate the thinking in your own Writer's Notebook.

Today we learned the first NONFICTION signpost - "Contrasts & Contradictions". When you're reading and the author shows you a difference between what YOU know and what is happening in the text OR there is a difference between two or more things in teh text, you should stop and ask yourself: "What is the difference and why does it matter?" Students added the first page of this packet to their Writer's Notebook. Then we looked at the signal words in the first two examples on the second page, and talked about the anchor question above. NOTE - we don't have enough context to know if we are quite right, but it was a chance to practice and see how it might help us read for some answers to the questions. THEN, we talked about how the third example on the page included examples of how Garana's life is different from our own experiences. We talked about why her experiences might matter to our understanding of the article. THEN, students practic

Today we used "Raymond's Run" to practice using details about a character as a way to think more deeply about a story. We focused on the second paragraph, and talked about three details and why the author might have included them. That's the focus of the initial thinking to develop a picture of the character. Authors don't include details by chance - they include them to reveal something about a character. So, as writers, we need to make educated guesses about what details might reveal about a character. Practice using these sentence frames to think about why the author might have included 3 details about Squeaky in "Raymond's Run": Maybe the author included this because... On the other hand, maybe ... Another reason might be... We wrote a paragraph with answers to these sentence frames as practice for each student's essay analysis. THEN, students chose from four of the stories we've read: Everything Will Be OK The Circ

Students logged into their Readtheory.org accounts and took 3 more quizzes today. (Technical difficulties with the copier meant a change of plans!)

Today we read a short story, "Raymond's Run", and use the signposts to study it. We will be using this story to write a group story during Writing for our next unit, so students should store it in their WRITING folder to use tomorrow in Writing.

Today, students started by comparing their baseline and finale for the Narrative unit. They completed the reflection page and handed back both baseline and finale. (These will travel with the student through middle school, in a folder that they will have in 7th and 8th grade. Students and teachers will be able to see how a student grows each year.) Then we practiced the structure of our next essay, a literary analysis essay. We looked at "The Three Little Pigs" and, after retelling the story, we focused on the third little pig. Students added a reference sheet to their Writer's Notebook ( boxes & bullets structure ) We used the Boxes & Bullets structure to "pour the content" into. The idea is that if students can master a basic format, they can spend more time thinking about their ideas. Students decided what trait the third little pig has, and then found examples for how to explain this and support their thinking. They wrote a flashdraft in thei