Falling for Character

Every two weeks, fourth grade students focus on a different reading strategy. Our curriculum calls these strategies "focus skills". The standards refers to these skills as "reading strategies". We are in the middle of our second week developing and applying "character traits and motivations" to our "reading tool box".

One skill we do is read about the strategy in the StoryTown textbook. The first page explains the strategy and shows a graphic organizer (chart) you could use to help your brain identify and connect the information ... and the facing page shares a short story and models how you would complete the graphic organizer.

 

At some point, we also "map out" our learning strategy, so students know the standard, the vocabulary we are going to use, and a schedule that shows our learning plan:

 On the back side is our "frame". The frame is our notes for class. It starts with our topic. It breaks down the main ideas, gives examples. Finally, it ends with the "big idea", where we put into words why THIS skill matters.

The map and frame are graphic organizers students start using in fourth grade. Teachers in grades four through twelve also use the map and frame graphic organizers to help students organize information.

Students often will practice and apply the skill on a page in their Practice Book ("PB" in the planner). The first week, we often do the page together as a class. The second week, students work more independently.

We develop these skills by doing "think alouds" (modeling what our brains would be saying as we read) as we read the StoryTown text book, our novel, and even Social Studies learning (where ever and whenever we can make the connections).

When we can, we add additional activities to develop the ideas. Last week, we created Character Traits T-shirts. Students picked a character trait, defined it (using a dictionary), listed two synonyms (using a thesaurus), and illustrated it.

This week, we are "Falling for Character Traits" ...

first, we traced our feet ...

next, we traced our hands ...

then, we added our heads and bodies ...

we filled in OUR traits

both classes participated ...

feet ...

traits ...

more traits

(notice the yellow paper - a list of traits - another tool available in student folders)

The results ... we hope you are able to come to Fourth Grade Parent Night on Monday September 24 from 5:00 to 6:00 PM (a change from the district calendar and the note sent out to other grades at Open House) to see for yourselves!

The point of this entry ... our learning is layered. We do MANY activities, in MANY ways to engage ALL of our students. We know our students do not learn the same way. We offer several opportunities to practice and develop the skills students need. We will continue to develop character traits and motivations throughout the year. Students are encouraged to keep their focus skill frames in their Communications Folder, so they can reference the terms later in the year as needed.