As you are writing your lesson and teaching it with students, please be sure to reflect on your experiences! Be sure to comment on at least two other posts prior to our September meeting date! We can't wait to see all of the fabulous lessons and instructional strategies!
27 Comments
Lise
8/24/2014 03:30:44 am
I taught my first lesson this past Thursday. I am using the text "Junkyard Wonders" by Patricia Polacco. I am focusing on the first 4 pages (2 at a time) for my close reading lessons. I gave my class of 3rd graders a copy of the first 2 pages of the text and asked them to "read with a pencil" underlining any words or sections of the text that were hard to understand. Once that was finished they partnered up and discussed what they had learned about the main character. I circulated listening and looking at the underlined parts of their text. Next, we had a discussion about what they had learned about the main character. This gave me a good understanding of who comprehended the reading. I was very impressed with the way the students were able to refer to the text to support their answers. I was definitely energized teaching this lesson because it felt deep and probing. The students were engaged throughout the lesson.
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Christine Cope
9/2/2014 11:57:40 pm
It sounds as though you and your students have found great success! It is truly amazing to me just how much stamina the students already have for these deep discussions.
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Julie Breyer
9/3/2014 02:18:23 pm
I am so surprised by how much our students are getting out of only 4 pages of text. I am looking forward to see how the rest of the story goes and what insights the students pull from the close reading activities.
Sheila C. Freehill
9/2/2014 08:19:08 am
I will be using a short passage with my second graders from Family Pictures called Birthday Party. We will begin with a draw analysis activity where we look at the image and discuss what they see. They will each have a paper with 4 quadrants to write and draw their feelings, observations, questions and memories. Then, I will have them read with a pencil and code the text. Underlining words they need to clarify and questions they may have. We will then create a circle map and discuss birthdays. I want to know what their own cultural experiences are with birthdays and if there are similarities or differences. I am looking forward to beginning this on Thursday, the day of the class. I hope to have a little something to share that night. :)
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Christine Coe
9/2/2014 11:59:23 pm
I also decided to do small parts and "dabble" with close reading strategies. My comfort level is much improved and I look forward to trying even more strategies as we move along with more challenging text.
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9/2/2014 11:33:30 am
My lesson was about the book Friends in a first grade classroom. We actually worked with the book for two weeks. The students enjoyed the integration of books and classroom expectations. I used word sorts, vocabulary maps, text comparisons and role playing to teach the students the attributes of friendship.
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Christine Cope
9/2/2014 11:56:28 pm
I am as impressed as you with what the younger students are capable of doing! Even though primary students may be limited with their access to complex text by the nature of their abilities, students are very capable of deep thinking and engaging discussions.
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Valerie Pelletier
9/3/2014 01:07:09 pm
Kudos to you, Joan, for doing this so soon in the year! I would like to add text comparisons to my next close reading lesson.
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Jan Pool
9/4/2014 12:06:12 am
I hadn't thought to include role playing in my close reading lesson for my second graders. That is a great idea, and I plan to include that in my next close reading lesson.
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Christine Cope
9/2/2014 11:53:53 pm
I used our Rigby curriculum for my first attempt with close reading. The story is called Asha in the Attic. I was astounded by the engagement of the students and their willingness to discuss the topic and not get off track. I was also impressed by their hard work as they thought through the dialectical journal. There was deep thinking and hard decisions to be made concerning specific vocabulary.
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Kathy Katz
9/3/2014 12:48:10 pm
I have been inspired by what you have shared at lunch about your lessons with the students. I am also impressed by your calculated integration of learning from this class, unit plans, pacing guides, and our curriculum. This is no small task. I also am reminded to pace the lessons and changes in my practice. As Donna has reminded me, "go slow to go fast." Please keep talking about this to help me keep learning.
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Kelly Hill
9/3/2014 01:58:17 am
I used April Rain Song by Langston Hughes. We started by reading a book called, "The Way I Feel" by Janan Cain to develop a feelings toolbox. My kindergarteners then drew pictures of how they felt on the first day of school. A few days later we read April Rain Song and talked about different features in the poem. After a second reading of the poem we did a dialectical journal, where I did most of the modeling and just took ideas from them to write for them on the white board about how Langston Hughes felt about the rain. We then did a design thinking process where they could use an assortment of materials to make a product to show others how they felt, not about rain, just how they felt that day. The class then helped test out each other's products by guessing how the student felt (based on what their product looked like). It was great! They were so creative in getting their feelings across to others. They are discovering how a poem is different than a book, following words left to right and a few other foundational skills that meet the kindergarten common core standards.
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Kathy Katz
9/3/2014 12:41:19 pm
I agree with your assertion that close reading and these lessons are a great tool for creatively teaching foundational skills and common core standards. The stretch of my style of practice has been fun.
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Valerie Pelletier
9/3/2014 01:11:42 pm
Kelly, I'm comforted to hear that you did most of the modeling in your dialectical journal. I am also a kindergarten teacher and I had a similar experience. I was apprehensive about close reading in kindergarten, but I was pleasantly surprised.
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Nancy
9/4/2014 02:14:11 am
Kelly- what a great lesson! I have been struggling on how to use this with my kinders. It's so great to have this bank of ideas!
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Pam Antell
9/24/2014 02:27:47 pm
What a great idea. I love how you scaffolded the activity by reading a book about feelings, and you made it relevant and meaningful by talking about how they felt on the first day of school. Sometimes, I forget to start with the very basics. But that scaffolding is so important so that students can be successful with higher level tasks.
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Kathy Katz
9/3/2014 12:36:44 pm
This has been an exciting and challenging task for me. In the process of taking the students deeper into an understanding of the text I have realized how much my students have missed in the past. I have debated with myself in the past when I want to just let the students enjoy the flow of a story versus when I should stop frequently to help them understand the complete meaning of the passage. In this text, Granny Torrelli Makes Soup, the simple question of, "What is a meter man?" can stop the flow. However, we now find MANY things we want to stop to discuss on every page. I want the balance between enjoying the story and delving deeply. One of the things I have heard in this class is that we can practice the close reading on a particular passage rather than the whole book. We are having fun going back and forth from small parts with detailed analysis to sweeping sections of the book when we want to learn what happens. The students are more engaged and actively involved in this story and we have just started. Should be a fun year.
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Julie Breyer
9/3/2014 02:15:41 pm
Kathy,
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Pam Antell
9/24/2014 02:35:57 pm
I also struggle with interruptions during reading. Sometimes, the students have so many interesting things to say but if we stop too often or for too long, I think I lose some of the students. I am trying to focus students before we start on our specific purpose for the reading to keep us on track.
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Valerie Pelletier
9/3/2014 01:17:53 pm
Wow. Did my kindergartners really just participate in a visual analysis and connotation sort?! Of course it was heavily supported, but they really came through with great ideas and explanations for their thinking. I was truthfully very shocked at the level at which they were able to participate with my support. In the visual analysis we decided that the author/illustrator used yellow/orange to show that the little fish was happy after the Rainbow Fish gave him a scale. We discussed how certain colors make us feel warm and happy and that this was probably what the illustrator wanted to know about the story and feel ourselves. In the connotation sort, one word we discussed was "new". While most of the class thought the word should be positive, one student protested. I asked him to explain his thinking and he gave an example of moving to a new house and having to leave his friends. While this was not relevant to the text, he really thought about his answer! It was a great day.
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Nancy
9/4/2014 02:16:37 am
Valerie, I can't wait to get my hands on your lesson! I love that your connotation sort led to a bit of a debate- these will be lead to such great background knowledge when the kinders get to "opinion" writing!
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Julie Breyer
9/3/2014 02:12:26 pm
I am using the book "Junkyard Wonders" by Patricia Polacco. Lise started out by creating lessons for the first two pages and then decided that we needed to do more. We now have several close read lessons for the first four pages of the book. Not only am I finding that my students are really stepping up the the challenge of close reading but, that I am very grateful to have someone to bounce ideas off of and discuss what worked and what didn't. I have used this book as a read aloud before and my students get the general idea of the book but, the discussions we are having around "geniuses" and people who are different has been amazing. The observations and insights that my students are making is much farther reaching with the close reading lessons and they are getting a deeper understanding of the story than they would have by hearing once as a read aloud.
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Jan Pool
9/3/2014 11:51:55 pm
It's great to be able to compare the amount of learning and insight the students pull from the text when you read the book in previous years to what they gain when you read the book this year with the close reading. How encouraging!
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Jan Pool
9/4/2014 12:30:03 am
My close reading lesson was based on Charlotte's Web, the end of the first chapter. I was most surprised and pleased by the introduction and student use of the Connotation Sort. I thought the terms positive, negative, and neutral might be a bit difficult. However, after a short explanation and example of sorting, the students were ready to go to work. Since then, we have used the sorting in other curriculum areas and activities in school.
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Nancy
9/4/2014 02:22:52 am
My lesson is based on Chapter 7 of "My Father's Dragon". This was a very challenging task for me. I feel like I could take this class about 5 more times and still keep learning something new. I am interested to see other lessons, as I still feel like my lesson is very "rough draft". Hopefully after I teach it, I will feel better or have a better idea of how to polish it up! I teach K-2 Literacy, so I tried to make my lesson one that could be done in a read-aloud type setting for Kinders or a more traditional close reading lesson for 2nd graders. I do not have my groups yet, so I have not been able to teach the lesson. I am excited to "get my feet wet" and get a better feel for close reading as I start using it with my groups!
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Katherine MacIntosh
9/4/2014 02:32:27 am
I chose Pink and Say by Patricia Pollaco for my 4th grade, above grade level students. We are working on three pages only. What I am finding is that students struggle to construct author's purpose and theme of text from small snippets. They really need to have "the big picture". I think that it is vital that students be able to read and reread text for subtle meanings, but it is also vital that students have the opportunity to dive into a book and just enjoy the journey of reading for the sake of reading.
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Pam Antell
9/24/2014 02:16:34 pm
I taught my lesson today to a small group of second graders. I used the text, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. We did the "DRAW" activity and looked at a two page spread of Molly Lou Melon before we read the book. We did it together since I thought the students would need extra support for the first time. It went really well. I asked the students for the Write section to tell me what they thought the character (trait) might be like based on the things we noticed about the illustration and give evidence to support their thinking. Then we read the book and did the same activity. I used a sentence frame "I think Molly Lou Melon is ____________ (descriptive word) because in the text it said...." The students had great insights. However, I needed to rephrase their thinking for them to show them how to support their thinking with textual evidence. If I did the activity again, I would revisit the illustration after the reading to see if the sense they had about the character from looking at the illustration matched their sense of her after we read the text. Then we could talk about how the author and the illustrator work together purposefully to develop a sense of character.
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