Friday, November 25

 Blog # 4

November 21-25

    Thank you to everyone that took the time to meet with me during Parent Conferences. It is always a pleasure to connect with parents and to share student successes. 

Please feel free to reach out at any point during the year to chat.😃

Grade Three Helpful Link

Our decodable texts can be found at ...

https://flyleafpublishing.com/

Watch next week for a post on High Frequency Words and the "First 300" for grade three. 

Grade Three, Four, Five and Six

Summaries

Learning Objective: I can summarize the connections among ideas, events, settings and characters in text.

    Over the past weeks we have been working on summarizing or retelling fiction stories and novels. Summarizing is a skill that can be achieved in a variety of ways orally and visually. Students in each grade will be provided with a number of methods to record their learnings. Then as a next step, based on information required or the task at hand they will determine the best method to share their ideas.

    In grade three, we are having conversations about the 5 W Questions (who, what, where, why and how) at the bottom of each page in a text. The grade fours are using a "Four Door" page to list important facts on the front and then a written summary inside. In grade five, students are working on using a template and rubric to record their summaries after reading a series of chapters.  

    The students in grade six are taking the "One Page" approach, where they use one page to artistically represent the theme and connections between ideas, events, settings and characters of the chosen novel.

    In the following weeks, we will summarize passages with "Ten Finger or Twenty Finger Summaries". Where one student or a small group choose 10 or 20 words to describe the text. This encourages students to create a concise and clear summary that only includes the main points of the text.

Blog Post #3

November 14-18

Text Features

Learning Objective:  I can examine a variety of text features to clarify my understanding.

    In grade three, we have been exploring these features through "text feature walks" with non fiction and picture books about Peru.

    A text feature includes all the components of a story or article that are not the main body of text. These include the table of contents, index, glossary, headings, bold words, sidebars, maps, pictures and captions and labelled diagrams.

    "In a text feature walk, students work in a small group, reading each feature in the order that appears and discussing what they think they will be learning. As each feature is read, students must think about and discuss how the information relates to the main idea of the text."

Kelley, M.J. and Clausen- Grace,  N. (2010), Guiding Students Through Expository Text with Text Feature Walks  The Reading Teacher, vol. 64: pages 191-195. 

Friday, November 11, 2022

Blog Post #2

November 7-11

Literature Circles and the "Fab Four"

Learning Outcomes:

Grade 4- I can explain connections between personal experiences and characters, settings and events in texts.

Grade 5- I can describe and discuss story elements (place, times, characters, events, conflict), explain how conflict is resolved and the influence of setting.

Grade 6- I can discuss and make inferences about characters, events, the setting and main ideas using evidence from personal experiences and texts. 

    The grades four through six students recently started "Lit Circles". In Literature Circles, small groups of students gather to discuss a piece of literature in depth. The discussion is guided by students' response to what they have read. You may hear talk about events and characters in the book, the author's purpose or personal experiences related to the story. Literature Circles provide a way for students to engage in critical thinking as they read, discuss and respond to their books. 

    While in these small groups, students take turns reading the text and leading a portion of the discussion. Students are encouraged to use the critical thinking skills of predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing (the Fab Four) to respond to the text. When necessary, the teacher will guide the conversation to ensure key points are explored.

When speaking or writing students may choose the above sentence frames to express their ideas.

 

Friday, November 4, 2022

Blog Post #1

October 31 - November 4

Welcome to "Mrs. Prediger's Literacy Log"

I am excited to begin our learning journey together. My name is Denise Prediger and I have the privilege of being the grade three to six literacy support teacher. I work collaboratively with the classroom teachers to provide direct and small group reading instruction. This first Blog entry gives me the opportunity to introduce myself and provide some insight to what we have been doing. I look forward to sharing a weekly snapshot of our learning with you.

Grade 3 Learning Outcome:

I can investigate how phonics connects to word formation and supports the process of reading. 

What are Decodables?

Decodable text is frequently used in small group reading instruction. Decodable books are carefully sequenced to progressively incorporate words that are consistent with letter-sound relationships that have been taught to the reader. (Whenever possible our weekly books will be chosen based on current classroom topics. )

We are currently using the "Flyleaf Publications" books. Families are welcome to visit the site and view chosen texts under the "Free E Library" tab. 

https://flyleafpublishing.com/ 

This week's Decodable Texts are "Good Bat!" and My Summertime Camping Trip

Target Letter Sound: "igh" at the end of a word will have a long "I" sound. Examples) night and might

Target Letter Sound: "e" at the end of a word will have the reader skip over the consonant to the left of it and make the vowel say it's long vowel sound. Students may refer to it as "Magic E" or "Silent E". Examples) fire and ignite