Character Traits

Over the past two weeks we have been working on using character traits to determine what a character feels and why the character may act a certain way.  This is leading us to the characters role in a stories plot.  It is important to fully understand the characters we are reading about as it helps us understand the plot of the story with deeper meaning.  In our notebooks this week we discussed the learning goal and what we already understand about characters and their traits.  We also glued in a character trait tool to help us keep track of the traits our characters possess.

Making Predictions

This week we worked on making predictions.  We started Monday by writing the learning goal and what we already know about making predictions.  Tuesday we will use the anchor chart below to help us better understand how and why we make predictions.  We will utilize this information while we practice this skill in a read aloud.  On Thursday we learned how to use a tool that will be in our Literacy Notebooks, to make predictions in the books we are reading.  Making predictions is a skill we can use to continually think about what we are reading!

Literacy Notebooks

Week of 9/17/2012

This week we are really getting in to our literacy notebook.  Not only are we using almost all the sections already, but we have learned almost all the routines that go with each section! Whew! I really expected it to take much longer to get the notebook going, and I am so impressed at how well the students are doing with it!

The sections in our literacy notebook include:
 Logs (reading logs, finished book logs, interest logs, genre logs etc.) : We use this section to keep track of what we are reading each day and how much, what books we are finishing, what books we want to read, our interests, and the genres we are reading.
Reading Response:  In this section the students will respond to what they are reading in letters to me each week.
Interacting with reading (Reading Strategy Anchor Charts): In this section we will be gluing in the anchor chart that was the basis for our lesson.  Under the anchor chart they will be able to show their understanding and progress in the strategies we are learning.  This section is also a great tool to utilize when we blank out on what a useful strategy might be, or how to go about practicing it..
Writer's Craft:  In this section we will practice how to develop our writing.  The purpose of this section is to break down writing and to practice different skills related to a writer's craft.
Spelling: In this section we will pull words that we are spelling wrong in our writing as well as words that we still need to practice out of the 2nd- 4th grade sight word list.  Spelling tests will be comprised of these words in the order of need.  i.e. if a word is currently being spelled wrong in a child's writing it will be entered into the notebook and will show up on a weekly spelling list to be practiced.

This weeks strategies and lessons include: thinking while we read and buzzing about books