Friday, January 27 is Family Literacy Day

Blog #11

January 23-27

Family Literacy Day

January 27, 2023

    Family Literacy Day started in 1999 to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. This year's Family Literacy Day theme is "Celebrate Your Heritage". The grade three's this week learned about the Lunar New Year and shared information about their own heritage.

    Each grade three student from my literacy group came home with a "bookmark". They are encouraged to ask family members  about their heritage and record the information on this bookmark. My hope is to have students return their bookmarks to school and share their findings on Tuesday, January 31.

Grade Three Oral Language Curriculum Understanding and Knowledge:

Oral tradition is listening and speaking to pass on information from generation to generation.These traditions support interactions between generations of people, such as grandparents, parents or guardians, kids, other family members and elders. The knowledge shared through oral traditions can help build community.

Grade Three Oral Language Curriculum Skills:

I can investigate oral traditions that have been shared over time.

I can share information of personal significance passed between generations of people.

Understanding, knowledge snd skills are adapted from Alberta Learn Grade 3 ELAL Curriculum (2022) 

10 ways families can learn about their heritage together

These activities are for your information only and are not related to the optional student bookmark task above 😀

1. Research your family’s place of origin. Go online together and research where your parents, grandparents and other relatives were born. What interesting information can you find out? 

2. Interview a family member. Speak to them about where they grew up and what it was like. Do they have any interesting facts about your family? Write a story about them! 

3. Learn a new language. Check out books from the library or use free online tools to learn new words in another language. 

4. Listen to traditional music. Many cultures have traditional music. Do some research and listen to different types of traditional music. What style do you like the best? 

5. Look at a map. Whether it be a map of Canada or another place your relatives once lived, you can learn a lot about geography by looking at a map. 

6. Make a photo collage. Take out the family photo album or old magazines and newspapers to create a collage about what your family and heritage means to you. 

7. Make a craft of traditional designs. Research traditional designs of your culture and replicate them in the form of a craft.

8. Read a story. There are lots of books about different places and cultures. Visit your local library and ask the librarian for books about your heritage. 

9. Learn about where you live. Do you know about the history of where you live? Together as a family, learn about the culture and heritage of the place you call home. 

10. Cook a traditional recipe. Learn how to make your family’s signature dish or look up a recipe for a famous meal from your culture. Yum! 

Suggestions are from the ABC Life Literacy Website

Friday, January 20

Blog #10

January 16-20

"Proficient readers ask questions throughout the reading process." 

    During literature circles, we pause throughout our reading to address any questions that come up. There are different types of questions in our conversations. Some are literal where the answers are recalled directly from the text. Clarifying questions expand our vocabulary. "I wonder" statements help us to extend our understanding. Other questions involve inferencing skills, where we apply our experiences and background knowledge to make connections to the text.

Questions You May Hear During Our Conversations....

Did the setting change in this chapter? How did this impact the events?

What important events have happened so far? 

What kind of emotions did the character feel in this chapter?

How did their emotions or reactions change the story?

What was your favourite part of this chapter?

Were there any funny/sad/exciting parts of the chapter? What were they?

If you were the character, what would you do in this situation?

Do you agree or disagree with what the character did in this chapter?

Did anything confuse you in this section?

How would you summarize this chapter?

Are there any common ideas or themes in this book?

What do you think will happen next?

Friday, January 13, 2023

Post # 9

January 9-13 

Happy New Year!

    For many a new year means creating some form of resolution. This week everyone in grades three to six worked on creating a reading goal. 

"When students have a reading goal they are working on, they have basically created a vision and path for their future learning." 

Sarah Marye "How to Help Your Students Set Meaningful Reading Goals"

    Each student was asked to choose a reading goal that related back to their grade specific curriculum. We also had many engaging discussions about a second more personal reading goal.

Personal goals included:

"I am going to read more books by an author I discovered."  

"I want to explore a new type (genre) of book."

"I want to read _____ pages by the end of January." 

"I could finish every book I start. I remember a time when my mom asked me to read "The Land of Stories". It was so boring and then I got into it. I couldn't put it down." 

Curriculum related goals included:

"My reading goal is comprehension. I can choose a 'Good Fit Book' ."

"I can make inferences to improve my understanding."

"I want to identify the author's purpose and look at their word choice."

"My reading goal is comprehension. I can understand characters and how they can impact a story."

"I would like to practice my decoding. I will say each sound or blend sounds together."

"When reading I am going to look for interesting words to expand my vocabulary."

"Improve my fluency by a stopping briefly at periods and pausing at commas." 

I look forward to reflecting on and celebrating our achievements in March.

On a personal note. Thank you to my students and their families for the notes, cards, photos, and gifts.

They were greatly appreciated and brought a smile to my face.💜