BLM Day 7

I do not intend to record EVERY day of reading learning. I thought, I would share the first three weeks of Benchmark Literacy (it is organized into three week units), so a family could see the scaffolding of the curriculum and how it builds on prior learning and integrates with new learning.

On Tuesday, we read another biography, Marian Wright Edelman, the lawyer to created the Children's Defense Fund. We reviewed the features of a Biography, then we looked for the features in the biography, requiring us to reread.

This connects to another life lesson we are developing in class. Often, fourth graders want whatever they do to be "perfect" the first time. It can be limiting and overwhelming to seek "perfect" the first time, keeping some students from even starting. We encourage and expect fourth graders to write all of their work in pencil, so they can erase. We expect and encourage students to reread, reread, and reread, because you might notice different details and make new connections each time you read.

After reading Marian Wright Edelman, we reread Cesar Chavez's biography from yesterday to refresh our memories. Students worked on "Make Connections Across Texts" comparing and contrasting the two biographies. I was impressed how both class discussions dug "deeper" into the text and biographies to find comparisons and differences. For example, a basic difference would be "Cesar is a man and Marian is a woman." A "deeper" comparison using the text would be, "They were both helpers. Cesar helped farm workers, and Marian helped poor children."

We also talk about organizing our work space, so we can be successful. 

 Some students took out their Biography Notes to use as a learning tool.

Mr. Greninger's Class Discussion and learning

Mr. Greninger's homeroom students also had time for Word Work (Spelling) today. We had cards and sorted the Comparative Suffixes -er and -est words by the rules they use. Ms. Leom's students will participate tomorrow.