From the category archives:

Literacy

Update: Home Reading Logs (HRL)

January 19, 2010
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Picture by guldfisken of flickr.com
Over this year the expectations for the Home Reading Log have changed and progressed as students have become more and more independent. As of now, we have a new set of expectations that will be in place for the next few months.
In class we have examined the guidelines, expectations, examples, and [...]

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Reading Response Letter Guidelines and Examples

December 7, 2009
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Here are the examples, guidelines, and rubric from class. Use this information as you work at becoming a better reader and writer! Please print these materials out and glue them into your HRL for reference!
Reading Response Guidelines.pdf
Reading Response Example.pdf
Reading Response Sentence Helpers.pdf
Reading Response Rubric.pdf

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Literary Elements of Plot

October 13, 2009
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The plot is the sequence of events in the story from the beginning to the end (timeline). Usually the order of events is: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.
Exposition:
The beginning of the story where the author introduces the setting, characters, and other important information the readers needs to know.
Rising Action:
A series of events that [...]

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Literary Elements of a Story

October 12, 2009
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Use this information for your notes and test on the Literary Elements of a Story. Remember, these elements are important things you will find in stories in all their forms (book, comic, tv show, movie).
When you are reading or watching TV, can you identify these elements?
Plot:
The sequence of events that happen in [...]

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Homonyms / Figures of Speech

September 27, 2009

This week we discussed homonyms and figures of speech. A homonym is a word that sounds the same and may be spelled the same, but has a different meaning based on the context it is used in. For example, hair and hare sound the same but mean two different things, one is what you comb [...]

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Super Six Reading Strategies: Predicting and Connecting

September 22, 2009

This year we will be learning about the “Super Six” reading and thinking strategies. These strategies are ways of thinking that readers should be doing all day long!  For Tuesday night’s homework, we just briefly introduced two of the six: predicting (making predictions) and connecting (making connections).  As students read at home each night they [...]

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Read to Self Anchor Chart

September 17, 2009
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Here is the Read to Self anchor chart that the students and I brainstormed.  Together we thought of what students and teachers should doing during Read to Self time.
Anchor charts “anchor” our learning and behavior and we refer back to these important documents each day, every day of the year.
Download our Read to Self anchor [...]

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Common Craft Video: Computer Hardware in Plain English

March 11, 2009

This is another excellent video from the Common Craft Show.
I like these videos because they do a terrific job explaining a complex idea in, well…”plain english.”  As fourth grade writers, speakers and storytellers, our goal is to learn how to communicate clearly and powerfully!
 
Because we have been talking about the process of making stories a [...]

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How to Make a Beanie Baby Book (BBB)

February 18, 2009

Until I put together a set of photos or a video about how to make a BBB (Beanie Baby Book) or GBBB (Giant Beanie Baby Book), here is a helpful link that shows how to fold this 8-page book from a single sheet of paper.

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Character Traits

December 5, 2008

 
Today we were briefly introduced to Character Traits.  We will be learning more about these as we read and listen to The Tale of Despereaux.
Character Traits
Character traits are unique attributes or qualities that make up who the character is. For example: “tall” or “rude” or “female” or “courageous” or “powerful” or “truthful”
 
All About Characters.pdf

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