Synthesizing Information-Our Thinking Changes as We Read

This week we practiced synthesizing information.  We used our prediction chart to help us see how our thinking can change as we are reading a book.  
The first book we used was The Duckling Gets a Cookie by Mo Willems.  I read them the title and the first two pages, then they decided what they thought the book might be about.  Then as I was reading they would jot down what they were starting to think now and now and now throughout the text.  When I finished reading the book we talked about what they were thinking now that the book was finished.  Each child recognized how their thinking changed from the beginning of the book to the end of the story. Take a look... 

We repeated this process with City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems  Take a peek below at some of their responses.

Our Thinking is Always Changing...

Today I talked with my kids about how our thinking changes as we read a book.  I read the book Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems and recorded their thinking as we were reading. 


Take a peek at their thoughts.  

 Next week, we will take this idea and build on it.  Stay Tuned!

Day with Debbie

On Thursday, April 12th I had the opportunity to attend one of my favorite literacy guru's Debbie Miller.  She is the author of Reading with Meaning-Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades.  This is a book I use almost daily. Take a look through my blog, I have referenced several lessons that have come from her book.  Throughout the day I had the chance to gather new ideas and listen to her share all of her words of wisdom with us.  She commented on a must read book for teachers and parents called MindSet by Carol Dweck-“This book is an essential read for parents, teachers, coaches, and others who are instrumental in determining a child’s mind-set, and in turn, his or her future success, as well as for those who would like to increase their own feelings of success and fulfillment.” --Library Journal  I have read this book more than once and agree with Debbie Miller.  Each time I read it, I have found a new idea to try with my students or my own children.


Debbie also talked about stepping into the story.  I tried this today with my first grade friends.  As we were reading, I would stop and say to my friends "Who would like to step into the story and give _______ words?  They would say what they thought the character was thinking.
        (character from the story)


They had fun with this and it also helped them practice their reading strategies.

(Thanks Julene and Karen for giving me the opportunity to go.)

Spring Break Fun

Our spring break was a perfect time to enjoy some time together as a family.  

Here is our week at a glance...

                    We spent the first part of the week in Eau Claire,WI with some friends.  

                      Water Park Fun                     Rock Climbing                   Go Packers!!!


When we returned it was time to color eggs. Thanks for hosting Jodi!  

                     Before                                   During                                     After

We got our cabinets and stone around our fireplace this week.  As my son says  "It is starting to look like a real house." Kyler

                                           living room                            kitchen

Happy Easter!    We are blessed to live near most of our extended family, which makes every holiday special.  We spent the day visiting with family, hunting for eggs, and playing football with the cousins.  What a blessed week it was.  

I am looking forward to getting back to school this week.  We have a lot of learning to do before June comes.  See you on Tuesday First Grade Friends!  Mrs. Sauber 

Non-Fiction Text Features

This last week Room 4 learned about text features.  Earlier in the week, they were exploring in their non-fiction books and came across some features that they wondered why they were in the non-fiction book and why other fiction books they were reading did not have these. This is when I decided, that over the next week I would revisit one/two text features a day that they found and help them understand this feature deeper.  As we discussed the text feature we also talked about how this feature would help a first grader reading non-fiction.                                                   Take a peek below...

Below are examples of each text feature and a short summary of what each feature is.

(Definitions from: Reading with Meaning, Debbie Miller)

Table of Contents

-helps the reader identify key topics in the book in the order they are presented.

  

Index-

an alphabetical list of almost everything covered in the text, with page numbers

Glossary-

helps the reader define words in the text

Map-

helps the reader understand where things are in the world

Photograph-

helps the reader understand exactly what something looks like in real life

Caption-

helps the reader better understand a picture or photograph

Colored Print-

helps the reader by signaling, "Look at me! I'm important!"

Each day as we learned about a new text feature, we recorded our learning by creating a page for our book of Non-Fiction Text Features.  

Check out our book below.

A special thanks to Hope King at 2nd Grade Shenanigans for the Text Feature Book Idea

It was a fun, full week of exploring Non-Fiction Text Features. 

Way to go First Grade Friends!!! I am very proud of all your hard work!

-Mrs.Sauber 

Non-Fiction Fun!

On Monday we talked about why a first grader would read non-fiction.  

Take a look at their responses.

Then my first grade friends grabbed a few non-fiction books that interested them and began reading.  After they had a chance to read for 15-20 minutes, I handed them a stack of post-its.   I told them to write any questions they were still wondering about as they were reading in their non-fiction books.  Take a look at few friends diving right into their non-fiction fun.

Continue to stay posted to our blog to see what we do with our questions.

On Tuesday we reviewed what we learned yesterday by taking a look at a fiction book (Alexander, Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday) and discussing what text features it had. (characters, setting, problem, first, next, then, finally and how the problem was solved)  We also talked about how we could predict what was going to happen in Alexander.  Then I held up the Spider book and we talked about how we could predict that is was about spiders, but could not predict what was going to happen like we could in Alexander.  Then my first grade friends discovered some other text features (Index, Glossary and Maps) in the non-fiction book.  We talked about why a book would have those and how each of those could help the reader.  We ended our FACE lesson today by making a Venn Diagram of our discoveries between fiction and non-fiction.  If your child is reading a non-fiction book at home, help them use the text features to learn more about what they are reading.  Example: Find a word from the glossary in the book, see how it is used and help them understand what the word means.

Our Fiction/Non-Fiction Venn Diagram

Sunday Night Fun with Lady Antebellum

On Sunday, March 11, 2012 I had the opportunity to go and see one of my favorite bands-Lady Antebellum.  This is also the reason why I was not home Sunday night updating the blog.  I took home a one minute souvenir from the concert that I will post for you to enjoy. (Yes, our seats were WAY up there, but still had a blast.)  

Thanks for following this blog and for the parents of room 4, thanks again for all of your support each and every day!