We finished up our unit on Bringing Characters to Life and also finished our class read aloud, Because of Winn Dixie. As a culmination of our novel and to reflect on the characters in the story, students completed a visible thinking activity that we call The 4 C's. The 4 C's are explained below along with examples of student work.
Connections: What connections can you make between the text and your own life?
Concepts: What big ideas or lessons did you learn from the text or from the characters in the text?
Challenges: Choose a characters in the text and describe the challenges he or she had to overcome in the story.
Changes: Choose a character in the story and explain how his or her attitude, thinking, or actions changed during the course of the story.
Writing Workshop:
Students continued drafting their stories this week while focusing on tools to help make their stories sound more like a "movie in their mind." We revisited a variety of writing tools including using effective dialogue and choosing strong verbs. However, our main lessons focused on a concept called, "Show, Don't Tell." We want students to SHOW emotions in their stories, not just TELL us how they are feeling.
TELLING The curtain was about to open, and I would be on stage. I was so nervous.
SHOWING: The curtain was about to open, and I would be on stage. My palms were sweating, and my knees were shaking. The butterflies in my stomach felt like they were doing gymnastics. I tried to speak, but nothing came out.
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| Students enjoy sharing their "Show, Don't Tell" examples in our Author's Chair! |
Math:
We finished unit 2 in math. As you know, this was a challenging unit as we introduced 2-step story problems and order of operations. We spent a great deal of time in class reviewing all concepts learned in this unit, and students took the final test on Friday. The corrected test will come home this week.
Social Studies:
We continued our Northeast region tour this week with a 2-day stop in Plymouth, Massachusetts. After learning about the Pilgrim's voyage to America, students pretended to be actual Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower who had to make to make a decision about what type of government they thought would work best in their colony. Students were given 4 options (below) and did a chalk talk to express their opinions about each option with their classmates. After the chalk talk, students learned about the Mayflower Compact in which the pilgrims created an early form of democracy. Click HERE to watch more videos about Pilgrim life and the Plymouth Plantation.
Option #1: Rule by 1 Wise Man
Option #2: Rule by 5 Smart People
Option #3: Rule by Adult Makes Only
Option #4: Rule by People Over Age 10
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| These 4 scenarios were glued to the middle of the chalk talks. |
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| Students silently "debated" and discussed their opinions using different color markers. |
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| We hang chalk talks in our classroom as a way to remember our thinking. |
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| There is no talking during a chalk talk, just writing. |
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