Get to the POINT!

   As we move through our genre of informational text (procedural) I want my children to truly understand how to develop a topic for an audience.  One thing they must do is to think of not only the topic, but also what is the point they are trying to make with their readers.  In an informational text the point or focus of the topic is stated in the conclusion, throughout the body, and in the conclusion.  In order to do this the children must ask themselves questions about what they've read and what they're writing.

Using the book Nonfiction Mentor Text as my guide I set out to do just this.  After looking at these questions we then used Venus by Seymour Simon book (used earlier to teach text structure) to determine what were his big ideas and what essential questions did he use that guided his writing.  I reminded students again and again throughout the process that we write with the reader in mind! Here is their thinking after reading the first few pages of the book: 

I'll be honest- it was really hard for them to come up with question that he sought to answer.  Definitely a skill that we will be developing as we move through this genre!  

Day 2 of Close Reading

On this day we went back to our article from Newsela and explored the next few steps in close reading.  After reviewing what they wrote yesterday during their reflection of the article, they once again read the article, but this time with a specific focus.  I wanted them to read the article and find evidence that proves that this is an important piece of technology.  The goal of close reading is to really get kids to read and understand what is happening in the text.  Read like investigators and write like reporters!  This is a valuable skill to learn as we will be moving forward with research, it will help them read with a question in mind and find information that meets their purpose.  

I can't find the original source for the anchor chart- but I got it from Pinterest- if you know the owner please let me know so I may give them credit.  

Taking a "Closer" Look at Informational Text

      Yesterday we began learning how to use the "Close"  reading strategy when reading informational text.  I love this strategy because it really helps to deepen the student's understanding of not only the topic, but how we as readers have read carefully when encountering new text.
      For this lesson I pulled an article that was related to our current unit of study.  I use the website Newsela to pull these as I am able to vary the levels to match the readers. So we read an article about developing cheaper solar cells.  The first step that I taught them for this strategy was to read the article silently while asking questions and annotating the text.  This is a great way for me to see what they are noticing within the text and the types of questions they were asking.  We then moved on to step two and had I them get with a partner and share and discuss what they noticed, and any lingering questions that their partner may be able to answer.  Step three in our "Close" process" was to come up to group and read the article aloud to them a second time.  While I read I asked them to listen for details that support the main idea/topic.  I think this went very well because they had read and discussed it previously and were able to identify these details quite easily.  Lastly, for this lesson they went back to their seats and thought about what they read, then wrote about it, this too they shared with a partner.

  Today, I will bring the focus to our writing about the article.  The underlying of idea of "Close" reading is for them to learn to read like and investigator, and write like a reporter.  So, we will go back and reread the article a third time, and look for examples to prove the main idea/topic.  They will have to respond to the writing by citing evidence from the text.  
   I know it may seem like a lot of steps for one piece of text, but it is critical that the students learn how important it is to really examine an informational text to be sure they are understanding all the pieces.

Informational Text: Procedural and Persuasive

As we have started our new UOI, we have been fortunate to tie it in with not only science, but literacy as well.  Lucky us! So to make the most use of our time we have to examine what it is we want the children to know by the end of our unit.  So the focus GLEs for this UOI are going to be:
RI 4.1- Using an informational text to find details that support inferences, and also find those explicitly stated in the text.
RI 4.5- Examine the structure of a text, or part of a text
RI 4.3- Explain procedures, & ideas or concepts in scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why.
4.W.2- Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and info clearly.
4.W.7- Conduct short research projects
4.W.9- Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
It's a lot, I know- but this is a big unit that will require proficiency in all of these areas to complete the summative assessment at the end of the unit.

As we move through each of the NGSS standards we will be also hitting a CCSS right along with it.  This is definitely one of the times where I feel that my teaching flows seamlessly throughout the day, as children begin to make connections in the purpose from learning to read informational text to learning about energy.

Yesterday I began reading aloud a book about energy, light, and sound.  As I read the students took notes in their binders on two items: what observations they made of the text (structure/features) and what they noticed I did as a reader (reading strategies).  Fun fact, as I was reading Frank Serafini's book about the readers' workshop he mentions in there that 50% of the books children read from the library are informational text, but over 90% of the books we read aloud in the classroom are narrative.  So, of course we will and NEED to take some time to model how we read these texts.

Today we created an anchor chart listing the observations we made of the text and myself as a reader.  I then modeled how I take my learning from the text to make a quick set of notes to refer to later.  Afterwards I sent the students out to practice this skill independently.

Science Mysteries

    One of my favorite books for sparking inquiry in children is Everyday Science Mysteries. This series of books presents children with stories that can be read independently or as a whole class that present a problem that can be investigated through inquiry and research.  Now, like most currently published books, this book is not up to date with the NGSS standards.   That being said you can easily search through the stories and find many that will relate to your topic or strand.

    The story we looked at today was called Grandfather's Clock.  In this story a young girl is curious as to what makes the clock work and how they can adjust the pendulum so that it keeps correct time.  After reading the story the students are presented with the task to help Mary explain how to adjust the clock's pendulum.
    Today's discussion was the first of many to address the science standard 4.PS3.4.1 to build a simple device using stored energy to solve a problem.  In the process we were also able to hit the W4.2 as we wrote a procedure to test our hypothesis.  So first things first- designing our pendulum.  The book explains how to do so, or you could pre-make them to save time.  We then worked together as a class to write a hypothesis to match our essential question: How can I change the rate at which the pendulum swings?  After discussing what a hypothesis was we added the word & definition to our current "science graffiti wall".  I then asked the students to create one more hypothesis on their own to reflect what other tests we could conduct to answer our question.  Many came up with to either change the amplitude, or the length of the string.

   Now, the fun begins!  Students were sent off in groups of three to test their hypothesis and to come up with a way to organize their data.  As they were working I made some quick observations then pulled them up to group to discuss what I noticed as I walked around. This was the perfect time to launch into a discussion of variables and to examine our investigations to see what variables were being tested- and to  be sure it was only one at a time.  After clearing up how we test, hold etc the pendulum they were at it again.

   Upon our conclusion the students went back into their science journals and used the data we collected to write an answer to Mary's question.  

Building a Catapult

Looking back through past standards and the new NGSS we weren't finding where students were introduced to simple machines, we need them to really have a good grasp on what they are in order for them to complete 4-PS3-4.; Design a simple device using stored energy that will solve a problem.
So we began by examining three different types of simple machines, the lever, inclined plane, and the wheel & axle.  The challenge was for them to build a catapult, which is a type of lever, then classify their lever as a type 1, 2, or 3.
The students worked in teams and  were given a baggie of materials to study for 3 minutes, during this time they were to think of a design that would launch their marshmallow the farthest.  The materials included:
 - one jumbo marshmallow
 - three paper clips
 - a straw
 - two Popsicle sticks
 - a wad of clay
 - a length of string
 - a plastic spoon
 - masking tape

Once they examined their materials they had 25 minutes to construct their design.  It was amazing to hear their conversations and the way they decided on a design and even how to rework their design if it failed. Talk about using good engineering practices!!! Did I mention I love science...! Here are few examples of their work.

We brought back in our measurement standards by then measuring the distance of how far their marshmallows flew- converting it between feet and inches to yards.  We also then had to find the average distance they flew in each trial (we did 3).  

Upon exiting they had to fill out a reflection sheet about how their design worked, what they would change etc.  It was a great learning experience for all!

January Currently

Where We Are In Place & Time

Oh how I have been anxiously awaiting our next science unit!! Finally the day has arrived!  I love science, I think that for some of our children this is the hook that gets them inquiring and really gain a love of learning. This next Unit of Inquiry is called Where We Are In Place and Time.  This unit will focus on how the innovations of today will affect our lives tomorrow.  We were lucky to be able to tie this into our science curriculum, as I have noticed that so many of the IB units are related to the social sciences.  As a tie in with the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) we will study these lines of inquiry:
 1. Identify and understand varied uses of energy.
 2. Necessity of conserving resources.
 3. Efficient uses of energy through inventions and machines.

If you haven't looked at the NGSS that is now out and published- I will tell you this unit is going to be extremely tough!  The students will be expected to understand how waves travel (amplitude & length), they will also need to understand the movement and transfer of energy, to name just a few learning goals.  We had to think about how to get the children engaged and thinking about energy in terms of application to their lives. I also wanted to find a way to bring in literacy, both informational text and fictional text.  ::::Cue the trumpets:::  Bring in the City of Ember and Rube Goldberg!!

We began reading this book last week and in an attempt to bridge our two units of inquiry we examined what form of government the City of Ember would be classified as.   The students thought that it was more like a dictatorship or monarchy than a democracy.  We also discussed what it would be like to have no choice in who you are to become.  This theme is a common theme is dystopian fiction, and many young adult novels of today so they had a lot of opinions on that topic! This book's main problem revolves around the generator failing and the city losing power- a great tie in with our science!  

So, day one launch was a reading of the first chapter and discussion of the questions listed above.  I also had them choose from a hat new jobs for the classroom (some more desirable than others), this was to in some way replicate what was happening in the Ember society.  

Up next: Building a catapult, and introduction to simple machines.  And, my all time favorite example of Rube Goldberg by Okay Go.