Another Book Talk

 Here is a book talk that one person did that I found on the Discussion Board. I love what they wrote about the book and it inspired me to go out and read the book to. I LOVED IT. It was such a great read and also was very interesting. It was a little to hard for my students to read because they were in fourth grade but it still was a great read. I can see how I can make many connections to all the subjects that I teach each day.


The Secret School
Author: AVI
Historical Fiction
 Author:
Edward Irving Wortis was born December 23, 1937, to Joseph and Helen Wortis in New York City. After his birth his family moved to Brooklyn where his twin sister gave him his nickname “Avi.” Two of Avi’s grandfather’s were writers and one grandmother was a playwright. He recalls his mother reading to him and his sister every night and always going to the public library on Fridays.
His parents transferred him to a smaller private school, Elisabeth Irwin High School, where he studied with a tutor, Ella Ratner, whom he credits for his writing success.
Avi has written more than 60 books. He has written books for different age groups and in many different genres including historical fiction, fantasies, comedies, mysteries, ghost stories, adventure tales, realistic fiction, and picture books.
Avi now lives in Denver, CO, with his wife Linda Cruise Wright. He has adult children. He is a winner of both the Newbery Honor and Newbery Medal.


Opinion of the Book:

This book takes you back to your years in junior high.  As you read, you feel the strong emotions the students have, especially Ida, toward passing the exam and going on to high school.  The characters draw you in and you feel as if you are in their same situation.

English/Reading:  imagery, writing, sequencing events, questioning, predicting, evaluating.

Math: telling time, finding the area of pieces of land.

Science: Nutrition/health, Miss Fletcher’s ill mother.    

Social Studies:  rural towns, one-room schoolhouse, geography of Colorado, takes place only 6 years after WWI ends, Elk Valley mountain retreat.

Summary:

This story takes place in 1925 in a remote Colorado town.  Fourteen-year-old Ida Bidson has one dream, which is to become a teacher.  She must pass an exit exam in eighth grade and move on to high school in order for this to happen. Then tragedy strikes.  Her teacher’s mother falls ill and her teacher must leave to take care of her.  Due to this absence, the school board closes the one-room schoolhouse.  Ida and the other students are devastated.  

Highlight:

Ida convinces the other students to keep the school open and form their own secret school in which she will be the teacher.  The students secretly sneak into the school every day.  One day, Miss Sedgewick catches them.  She decides to help them keep their secret and to give them the exit exam.  If they passed, they could move on to high school…..

Will their hard work be enough to score passing grades?

Will Ida make it to high school and her dream of becoming a real teacher?

If you want to know, you have to read The Secret School by AVI. 

Hook:
Will their hard work be enough to score passing grades?

Will Ida make it to high school and her dream of becoming a real teacher?

If you want to know, you will have to read the book The Secret School by AVI.

Book Talk Number the Stars

Number the Stars
Lois Lowry
Historical Fiction
Amanda Pray

Lois Lowry

žLois was born in Hawaii on March 20, 1937.But, she had to move around a lot due to her father being in the military.

žShe married very young to a military boy, thus continuing a military lifestyle. She had four children and settled down with her now ex husband in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is where she got her degree and starting writing professionally. Writing was a dream that she had since she was a little girl.

žAll of her books deal with the idea of character connections.

žNumber the Stars, in her eyes, “deals with the roles that people play in others lives.” How they impact them for the better and for the worse.

Author Website:

http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/lowry.htm

 

 Number the Stars opinion

I would recommend this book to use for

all my content areas in fourth grade

because it deals with so many issues. I can

plug in its information to all my subjects

like:

Reading: construct a timeline of events, work on comprehension on why the family did what they did, allow the students to create own book talk

Math: counting years on timeline of the book and calculating how long the war was

Social Studies: WWII and what was going on at the time of the book, who were the Allies powers and the Axis powers, why the Jews were having to hide

Language: allows work with grammar, parts of speech, new vocabulary words

Science: lack of food did for their bodies (health), Stress on their bodies from hiding, how to find out what chemicals used in the package

Spelling: Spell the words that you don’t know

Summary

The story takes place in a time in our nations history when fighting was breaking out all over Europe. This time was called WWII. Germans were invading Poland, Denmark, and other countries under Hitler's leadership. The Jews of Denmark were being relocated to other places (i.e. concentration camps). Annemarie Johansen and Ellen Rosen were two girls that lived in Denmark at this time. Their home surroundings started to change when German Soldiers started standing on every corner. After learning that there was going to be a “hit list” for all the Jews that attended a certain Jewish church, Ellen's family was forced to go into hiding. Ellen’s parents had to leave her in a hurry, thus leaving Ellen in the care of the Johansen’s. After many close calls between the Johansen’s and the German Soldiers, Annemarie, Ellen, Christie (Annemarie's’ younger sister),and Mrs. Johansen leave town in hopes of saving Ellen's life. Annemarie is jolted into dangerous situations where she has to lie and sneak around in hopes of saving her best friends life.

Hightlight

 

After finding out that Annemarie’s uncle secretly helps escort

Jewish people to Sweden for safety, Annemarie starts to feel more

and more scared that the Germans will find out what her family is

doing. She does not want anything bad to happen to them. One day,

Ellen’s parents arrived at the place that the Johansen’s had run to

after hiding from certain German Soldiers. The girls were so happy,

but then the mood grew tense once more when they found out that

Ellen and her parents were to leave that night in the dark for Sweden.

Annemarie’s uncles boat was the vessel that was going to be used for

the mission, and it was the job of Mrs. Johansen to take a very special

basket to the boat. However, on the way back, Mrs. Johansen figures

out that not all of the package was taken. Annemarie must hurry to the

ship to give her uncle the package that will safely escort her
friends to safety……

Does Annemarie make it to the ship? Do German Soldiers find out what the Johansen’s are doing?

Hook

Does Annemarie make it to the ship?

Do German Soldiers find out what the

Johansen’s are doing?

If you want to know, you

need to read Number the Stars, by Lois Lowry, to find out!

Subjects Matter

For one of our Readings, we were to read the book subjects matter. I found this book to be very interesting. I have to teach all 7 subjects this year in my fourth grade classroom. One subject that I have to teach is Reading. It is very hard to teach this subject for two reasons. The first is that for some students they dread reading. I remember when i was a little girl and had to read i would get so nervous and would not want to participate in anything. The second reason is because t is hard to find a book that every time will like. So, it took much work to think of a good book to start the year with. I finally decided on Because of Winn Dixie. Its story line was about a little girl around the same age as my students. A way that i decided to make reading more fun was to have a Winn Dixie party day like they had in the book. The students could bring a stuffed animal like it was their pet. The students loved doing this and it allowed good way to talk about certain things in the book while we read it.

Reflection on Differentiated Instruction Students in My Class

After doing this lesson for middle level, I thought that it would be a good idea to post what i wrote about differentiated instruction and the students that were in my class... also i will attach a picture of my lesson that i did this past week in reading

This year I am teaching the fourth grade. I have 19 students with me all day. When I interviewed for this job, the principal made an effort to tell me why she was leaving the “block” scheduling type for elementary and going back to the traditional way of teaching elementary. This way allowed me to have 19 students in my classroom the whole day. During the day I teach every subject. I teach Bible, Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, and Language. Thinking about it now, I can see why she decided to change things up this year.

I really agree with what my principal is trying to do. She told me that she wanted to return to this way of teaching because it allowed teachers to fully get to know their students on a deeper level. Instead of having only some for an hour and a half each day, each teacher has a certain amount of students for the whole day. I am able to really get to know what is going on in their lives. This allows me to realize that those things can be affecting the work they are giving me. I would more than likely miss something if I did not know each student on such a personal level.

Even though teaching 7 subjects a day does get pretty stressful, I try to keep everything organized and exciting. Some of the issues that I face come from being in the same room everyday.  I have two children in my classroom that do not get along. I think something has happened in the past with them, and the former teachers gave me some worrying about it. I love to do groups work. I believe that it allows each student to learn from one another. These two students cannot be in the same group. I tried to get them to move past their old ways, but all they do is cause drama for the other students in the group. So, I am forced to move them to a different one.

The second problem that I am facing deals with my reading program I have in my school. My principal just switched to this program called Foundations and Frameworks. It is a great program that allows for great reading comprehension. But, it is so hard to help each student. I have about 5 students in my class that are on a much higher reading level than others. Their reading fluency and reading comprehension is much deeper than others. Then, I have two students who are my lowest. They have a problem really comprehend what they are reading. I believe that it comes from their ability to not read with very good fluency. It is so hard trying to find a happy medium between both those groups of students and also the ones that are in the middle.

I have given all of my student’s two reading fluency tests. I had them come back to my desk and read a piece of work that they had not read before. I counted how many works right they got in a minute. The results followed what I believed would happen. Also, their results form their STAR reading tests followed the same results. I think that it is such a hard thing to find a balance between the two groups. I want to engage all of my students.  Want the higher readers to be challenged but I also want my lower ones not to feel overwhelmed every day in reading. I never really thought about how hard it would be, but I am finding it to be just that.

Even though some tests said one thing about my students, I also know that some can do much more than the results on that test. I know that when I was younger I found that every test I took I did horrible. No matter what I did I still could never test well. Knowing this, it is my job to change up the ways I teach reading, I need to do some things some days to help my higher readers and also do things to help my lower ones not fall behind. It’s all about differentiating my lessons plans everyday to help reinforce a subject or to just plant the information in each students head.

Copy of my lesson:

Differentiated Lesson for Fourth Grade Reading Lesson

Objective: Students will be able to read and articulate critical thinking skills for creating a timeline and reading the chapters of Number of the Stars with 90 percent accuracy.

Using the Ebb and Flow Differentiated Lesson Plan Example

Beginning Activities                         Middle Activities                               Ending Activities----

-introduce the book that                - Whole Group instruction                        -whole groups recap

we are going to start reading                      -small group instruction

-have the students guess how                     -individual activities

a football game runs to talk

about sequence of events in

whole group

WHOLE GROUP INSTRUCTION:

-        talk about what details really happen in game

-        -have students act it out

-        have a diagram on board for visual learners

-        -tell how that helps learn about sequence in reading

-        introduce world war 2 what happened

-        kwl charts in whole group

SMALL GROUP ACTIVITIES

-        table groups to make a list of what sequence a book plot should be in

-        draw a picture of what think happened in ww2

-        make a group timeline of ww2

-        make a group kwl chart about Number of the Stars

-        do vocabulary words chart

INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITES (seat work)

-read chapter1-7 during the next two weeks

-answer the response sheets

-will come back to talk to teacher individually about the book (direct instruction)

- look over response sheets and make timelines about each chapter

-make a vein diagram about the characters to learn more about them

IMPORANT THING IS TO CHANGE IT UP EACH DAY DURING THE TWO WEEKS TO HELP EACH DIFFERENT STYLE OF LEARNER!

Thoughts about Differentating Lessons Reflection

This past week I have been working on the study guide for our middle school class. Even though it is not for Literacy across the Curriculum, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to talk about on here to let others who are not in the class to think about the idea of differentiating instruction. So many teachers think that they are teaching in a way that will reach all their students just by changing up the way that they are saying something in the front of their classroom. It made me think about the way that I teach each day to my fourth graders. It is so easy to fall into the old teaching idea of changing a few things in the lesson to reach all the students. But, in all reality this is not how one can achieve good differentiating instruction. It was a relief to read that no one has ever mastered this concept. It is something that even seasoned teachers have to struggle to do. I can remember teachers in my past that drove me crazy. They did the same things everyday. They did not change up the way they taught. It was fine for the people that could learn through only lecture, but for me it was another story. I am so not an auditory learner. I need to go over it over and over again to be able to learn something. When thinking about those old teachers of mine, it makes me want to be the opposite. I want to make an effort to try to reach each one of my students. I need to work in a variety of lessons each week that will help reach each learner in my classroom. This is for sure an on going process, but I am going to try to do my best to achieve it.

Parent Teacher Conferences/ Teacher Collaboration

This week has been CRAZY so far. I am having to do so much at one time. I have to do my daily lesson plans, get all of my own school work done, get a science project ready for our class for science fair, and also get ready for parent  teacher conferences on Monday. I think I just want to scream out loud!!!!! I have to remember that this is all preparing me for my future but i do feel a little overwhelmed. At times like these I am so thankful for the collaboration of my other teachers. They have helped me so much. I would not be able to survive this week without their help.

Game Lesson/ Activity

In our class we were asked to create a game for the students to play. I decided to make one to use during math time in my classroom. The game was called Around the World. Here are the rules and procedures on how to play...

Logistics of the game:

            The game will allow each student to participate. They will sit around in a circle and then I will sit in the middle of the circle ready to hold up flash cards. Each student is trying to win for him or herself. If they win, they will be able to get something out of the treasure chest. But, I will need to move to the back of the classroom that has more space to have everyone stand around in the circle.

            Some other things that I need to think about are the noise levels and materials. I will need to make sure that I allow the students to play the game at a time when other teachers are not giving an exam in case they get louder than I though they would. I also need to remember to bring my big flashcards that will be large enough for every student to see them to be able to win. I think if I have all of those things together, it will be a very good and beneficial game for them to play.

Rules of the game:

            The students need to follow certain rules before the game can really flow well. The first rule is that they only answer when it is their turn. Second, they are to stay in the circle at all times. Third, they are not to yell the answer but say it. Fourth, if it is not his or her turn, each student needs to be quiet. Finally, the fifth rule is that they have fun.

My Reflection:

         I believe, looking back, the first thing that is always so important is how you start a new activity. It can be very overwhelming to have all these hands going up before you can even finish telling the students what they are about to do. So, I followed the activity plan process to make this game work. I first got their attention by asking them if they would like to play a math game instead of the normal math lesson that day. This stopped them in their tracks. They all stopped talking and looked at me waiting to see what it was that I was going to say next. Then, I told them to listen to all my directions and I would tell them exactly what is what that I wanted them to do. Then I told them that we were going to practice are multiplication tables in an Around the World game. I had each stand up and stand behind their desks. Then I told them to all get in a circle in the back of the room. Once they were all there, I stood in the middle of the circle and gave them directions on how to play.

            I was very happy to see that they all stood and waited for my directions. I told them that they were to all sit down and number 1 was to stand up and stand behind the person to their right. I then explained that I was going to hold up a flash card with multiplication tables on it. The student who is standing up and the person they are standing behind are the ones who were to answer.  If the standing student answers correctly first they can move to stand behind the next person. If the student sitting down answers correctly first, they are the one that gets to stand up and then move to the next person. The student who gets all the way around the circle first is the winner.

            Looking back on the game, I was very pleased with what the outcome was. The first thing that I noticed was how excited they were to play a game during math time. I know that many of my students do not like to do anything that has to do with math. This allowed them to see that math can be fun. I watched those students during the game and they were very much into it. The next thing that I noticed that worked was the location that I planned to have the game. Moving my students to the back of the classroom allowed for there to be more space. I saw that space was a very important thing in this game. Lastly, another thing that I saw work were the flashcards that I used. They were large enough for everyone to see it and each student was able to guess the answers.

            Some things that I noticed didn’t work had to do with my students themselves. Many of them are very competitive. They want to win at all costs and do not care whose feeling they hurt in the process. Some students kept on yelling at others saying they were not playing it right and others kept on talking when it was not their turn. Another thing that I noticed didn’t work was that some people didn’t know their multiplication tables enough to play this. I saw that some people never said the right answers, thus making it so they could never stand up.

 If I were to play this game again I would only change a few things. The first thing that I would change was something I would say before the game even started. I would tell them that this was supposed to be fun and I would not accept anyone saying mean things to another student. I would let them know that if they did this, they would not be allowed to play at all and would be forced to sit down in their seats and work on homework instead of playing. The second thing that I would do differently would be to make sure that all students know the majority of their multiplication tables first. I assumed that they new most of them from the third grade and that were wrong of me to do.

            Overall, I think that this game was a very good thing to play in my class. I can see how I can use it for a variety of subjects and I like that. I think that my students were able to really practice their multiplication tables and know them better. This will help as we move on to harder math problems that they well need to have the foundation of the tables memorized to fully do well. I liked the game and will use it again.

Here is a picture of the cards that i used to play the game in my classroom!!!

Active Learning Language Start

Since we had to do an assignment to prepare and active learning environment for the students in the class. I taught that it would be a fun idea to do it with my language lesson. I use the Shurley English method of teaching at my job at Shiloh. It always jingles to be used to help show the students the parts of a sentence and how to classify them. I used the different steps that we learned in our class. I was not sure if they would actually work and that my students would really wait for me to give them all of the directions but it did. I was very surprised and pleased that what I thought would happen was not the case at all. I used the steps method with getting their attentions and when telling them all the directions before actually letting them go. I was very pleased with the outcome and I will for sure use this way in the future. Here is a picture of the book that I use that has all the jingles for my class. This is what i used for the assignment. Hope y'all like it I really do think it makes teaching language a lot easier.

Book Talk/Book Reviews

 

Persey Jackson "the Lightning Thief" is about a boy who finds out he is half god half human. He is forced to go on an adventure with two other friends trying to clear his name on mount Olympus for a crime he did not commit. It is a great book for middle school students to read and also adults as well.

Because of Winn Dixie is a great book that teaches student the fact that even when you feel all alone, there are always things you can do to make yourself feel better. being a friend is one of those things. India learns this when a dog shows up and changes her small town world upside down. it is a great book for fourth graders to learn about characters. I loved it

As I was meeting with one of my co teachers, she talked about how she taught the students last year on how to do a book talk then present it to the class. This was basically the week after I got back from our first Saturday meetings. It was so interesting to hear her way of how she would have them conduct a book talk. Since we teach 4th grade, it was easier for them to to first write a paragraph describing what book they had read with a topic sentence that got the attention of the audience. Then, after hearing what the teachers in our Saturday class had to say about allowing your book talk to have a hook on the end, I encouraged my students to do this. It was so amazing to see their thinking process behind this. I had them first one day prepare a well written paragraph with what was in the book. Then i had them finish with adding a hook on the end. The next day they presented their book talks to the class and told everyone why they should read that book. I will have to say that I was very impressed with many of their books. I loved how i was able to incorporate what one teachers ideas were, my ideas, and also the new ideas i learned from class. Here are some books that my students recommended to the class that I will want to read for myself....