This past week we continued with our Character Study. Our focus last week was on how the setting impacts the character's traits, actions and motives.
Monday I read aloud
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi and modeled how the setting impacted the character in the beginning of the story. When I approached the middle of the story, during the read-aloud, I stopped, and students turned and talked discussing what the character was doing and how the setting impacted her actions and feelings. When the book was finished we summarized the story using the SWBS strategy (Somebody, Wanted, But, So) and finally recorded the character's feelings at the end and discussed how they changed from the beginning to the end. Can I say this was a wonderful read-aloud! We will definitely read again for future lessons such as: theme, sequencing, and cause and effect. This book would also make a great read-aloud to compare and contrast cultures.
Here is the anchor chart found on
Pinterest that I used with students to introduce how to summarize the plot.
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Finally and most importantly this week, we have been working on building our stamina. After our read-aloud, students grabbed their "Just Right Book" and silently read. Our goal for this past week was 6 minutes, which we accomplished. We are moving to 7 minutes next week! Our goal is 20 minutes by December. On Mondays and Tuesdays students only silently read and on Wednesdays students respond to their thinking using the graphic organizer for the week based on the skills taught in Reading.
Next, week's Reading focus in on PLOT if Tropical Storm ISAAC stays away from southern Louisiana. Although, it doesn't look too good for us here.
Our focus in Reading for the first nine weeks is on Elements of Fiction. So, I kicked it off with a lesson focusing on Character Traits. The student's learning goal was to identify and describe the protagonist in the story by paying attention to what the character said, did and thought throughout the text. Monday, I did lots of modeling with the students using the mentor text Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest charting my Think-Alouds and having the students turn and talk with their partner. Tuesday and Wednesday I used the story "Astronaut and the Onion" from our basal. Also on Wednesday, students worked independently reading the first chapter in their "Just Right" books and responded to their reading paying attention to what the character said, did and thought. Here's a pic of the Anchor Chart Pinterest inspired that I created from Fabulous Fourth Grade.
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