Workshop Wednesday: GO's

I found this really cute linky at Ideas by Jivey called Workshop Wednesday.



Each week she features a different thing about our Workshops-Reading, Math, Writing, etc. 

This week is Reading Organizers...or as we call them in my class GO's! (stands for Graphic Organizers for those of you who don't speak Kaitlyn ;)

Our literacy series is very heavy on the GO's... the kids use them to record their thoughts on the comprehension skill of the theme.

However, I'm not the biggest fan of them. I don't think there is enough space for them to tell why they thought something, or to show their thought process, so.......

I made my own! The ones on the left are from the literacy series, and the ones on the right are the ones that I created.

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

Grab me here

Some ones that don't have buddies:

Grab me here

Grab me here

I find that with mine, the kids are more apt to explain their thinking, and it helps them think more deeply about the reading.

We did have to have a talk that even though they are reading together, doesn't mean I want them thinking together. I'm all for sharing ideas, but I was finding two sets of worksheets exactly the same.

Comprehension is really unique to the individual based on their schema, so we talked about how one person understands something is different from how you understand it.

We practice the GO together a few times, demonstrating the skill before I send it off to have them do it independently.

I also use it as a quick comprehension check (to see how well they understand it), as well as a Reader Response for some of the novels that we are reading in groups.

If you want any of the organizers, click on the links underneath the pictures to access them.

Today's Outfit:

Cardigan: Target
Tank: Old Navy
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Target

We had a 2 hour delay this morning...so 2 more hours of sleep for me! The roads were better later on, and the day went by quickly. The kids came in and went right to special! No Math or Social Studies today.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Changing Importance

Hi Bloggy Buds!

I'm writing this on yet another snow day (this makes #6 for inclement weather days!!). We did this activity on Friday, and once again, my kids were awesome and seemed to enjoy it immensely.

We are currently working on Determining Importance-Purpose (how having a purpose for reading can easily help us figure out the important information).

I started off with this really cool activity I found at Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files (which I can't link to because it's disappeared!! :( ).

She (I) had the kids read the passage called The House (click on the first one to get a lesson plan and the passage).

Then, we (together) looked for information that would be important if we were buying the house (highlighted in yellow below).

I told the kids that we would be changing our purpose for reading. This time, I wanted them to read the passage in their groups, and look for information that would be important if they were robbing the house.

Cue shocked gasps, WHAT?!s and Cool!!.  :)

I gave them about 5-7 minutes to look for that information, and then we went over it to make sure that everyone had the same thing.

We talked about how some of the information overlapped, but they could clearly see the difference of the important information-all based on different purposes.

Yellow-Buying Pink-Robbing

After we finished with that, I told them that we would be reading Fairy Tales.

Cue Yays! WhooHoos! and clapping. :)

They were to pick two different Fairy Tales to read. They were to read each one through once, and then they would read it for information that would be important to the villain, or evil character.

Then they were to read it again, but this time, looking for information that would be important to the good character, or hero/heroine.

All the while filling out this cute little organizer:

Click on the picture to get the organizer

I put the books out on the floor (same rules as the character traits: the books do not move-you do!) and sent them to work.

Concentrating Hard!

They got right to work! They were very interested in the books- and you could even hear them discussing and recommending to others. Their only complaint? I had a lot of Cinderella type books (because we did a Cinderella study in my class last year).

The Books:

The Paper Bag Princess; Trollerella; The 3 Little Fish & the Big Bad Shark

The Golden Sandal; Cindy Ellen

Lon Po Po; The Rough-Face Girl; Cinderella

Bigfoot CindeRRRRRella; The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!; Goldilocks & the 3 Bears

The Irish Cinderlad; The 3 Little Pigs; Cinder Edna

The 3 Little Wolves & the Big Bad Pig

The kids are loving these Fun Friday lesson (and me too!), and I love that I get to focus in on a skill and spend my time on it before I set them free. One of the best decisions I've think I've made.

Since we had a Snow Day today, I'm chilling in my PJ pants and a long-sleeve t-shirt (no picture required!). Yesterday's Outfit was a little more fun, as I picked up some new tops, and I wore one yesterday...springy colors to help Spring remember that it is time to come out and play. I guess it didn't work : P

Sweater: NY & Co
Top: Maurices
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: TJ Maxx

I can't wait for winter to finally be over and spring to be here! Last time this year, we had 80 + degree weather. This year, snow (and it's still snowing as I type). Is it ever going to come???

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

...oops!

Wow, I never intended to not blog for a week!

The Friday before last was a Snow Day (unexpected!---as tomorrow will probably be too), so it screwed up our Seuss Celebration plans as a school-moved it to last Wednesday.

Let's just say last week was loooooong...Daylight Savings did not help! We were still able to complete some fun things, which I'll be sharing with you :)

Last week's outfits:

I'm loving the Jean Friday...I've been saving all my singles to be able to wear them!

Hope the sun is shining and warm near you...another storm on the way here!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

WiW & Explorers

Today I'm linking up with Mix & Match's What I Wore to Work linky.

Sweater: Kohls
Tank: Target
Pants: JCPenny
Shoes: DSW


In Social Studies today, we are continuing to work on our explorers (Now that our Science switch is over!).

 I'm having the kids work out of our state books, and taking notes in the foldables I created (you know I love me some foldables!)

Fortunately, they were really easy to create...I just followed the headings in the text book :) An interesting way for them to take notes and get the information that they need.

Plus, I'm having them partner read, so they can bounce ideas and strengths against each other. (We call it EEKK Reading :)

The next one is a T-one...to show the different perspectives of the same event-depending which side you were on!

The kids really enjoyed it...and we'll keep working on it tomorrow. It took a little longer than I thought ;)

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday...so red and white will be on the agenda.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Updates

Hi Bloggy Buds!

Here are some of the things we've been up to in 4th grade recently...

 Learning about the main idea for fiction and how to support it.

What types of questions we should be asking while reading.

We've also continued to work on Character Traits. After the students have finished their rotation of books, I had them pick one book and one character to focus more deeply on.

I used an organizer that I got from this packet that I got from Kelly at Teaching Fourth (her CC align organizers are awesome!)

So far, they look really good! Our next 'fun Friday' lesson will be on Haiku's...I think they will enjoy it!

Today's Outfit

Sweater: JCPenny
Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Target

There's a storm headed our way, so we'll see how much snow we will get. : / I thought we were supposed to have an early spring Phil!!


Smiles and Sunshine (not Snow!!),
Kaitlyn

Shapes

We have been working with 3D shapes the past two days...as sort of a review/ introduction to perimeter and area.

Friday we read Mummy Math to introduce the shapes and vocab words.



Then we did some SMART Board Lessons (I love it!!) and had the kids do a paper I found on TPT (free!).

Yesterday, we reviewed what we covered, and I read The Sword in the Cone

 Again, the kids loved this (although they did not enjoy the Math puns as much as I did :)

Afterward, we discussed the vocab words again, and I wrote everything up on the whiteboard.

Then I had the kids copy this into their Notebooks...and the responsibility was on them to get it in. It was a nice change from doing them altogether...and then they could work on the worksheets on their own pace (using their notebooks if they needed!)

We're starting perimeter and area, and so far, the kids are doing a nice job so far...a little more easy math, and then we move onto fractions!! (::shudders::)

Monday's Outfit

Sweater: JCPenny
Pants: NY & Co
Shoes: Payless


These are new pants (the ones below too!), and they are a little big...so I was hiking them up all day because I don't have a belt skinny enough to fit through the loops. Plus, I'm in-between sizes (and I'd rather have too big than too small!), and I had to go up an extra size to make sure these fit right.

Good thing? They're petite so they don't require hemming (the whole purpose of buying new pants!) :)

Today

Shirt: JCPenny
Pants & Sweater: NY & Co.
Shoes: DSW

I was feeling springy today, so eggshell blue and mint it was. (Although the cardigan did get buttoned halfway up). It was nice here today-almost 45! There is a storm a coming, so we may have yet another snow day, depending on where it goes-further out to sea or closer to shore.

Hoping your having a wonderful week!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Character Traits & Currently

Before we went on break (almost over... :( ), I did a really fun lesson with my kids on Character Traits. You may remember me talking about changing the way I run the Literacy Block for the week, and having a 'fun Friday' type thing, but focusing on skills I think they needed.

Well, thanks to a Snow Day, and a Professional Day, I finally got to do my Character Traits lesson I had planned.

O.M.G! They LOVED it!

I started off by asking them to give adjectives about me (if they were telling someone about me and only had one word, what would they say?)

Then I asked them to prove it. What makes you say that about Miss M? Give an example.

We talked about how people show/demonstrate their character traits/personality...while I made an anchor chart :)

 After that, (before we added the adjectives to the chart) I read Hooway for Wodney Wat. We talked about what kind of traits Wodney (Rodney) had, and how we could prove it.  (That's him on the chart...no judging please :)

Then we started adding the adjectives to the chart, and talking about what they mean.

I had gathered a variety of picture books, and found this fabulous freebie from Tessa at Tales from Outside the Classroom

Source: classroomfreebies.com via Emily on Pinterest

 I scattered the books all around the room (and told the kids that they needed to stay where I put them), and then set them free to fill out their sheets (after I modeled how to do it using Wodney Wat and SkippyJon Jones!). I told them that they could choose as many books as they wanted.

As I was walking around, I noticed that, with one or two exceptions...they got it! AND, they were super quiet. (They are normally quietish anyway-but this was dead silent!). They were so engaged, and those that were talked were talking about the lesson.

These are the books I chose (pulled from my Mentor Text Library (not accessible to kids), and Picture Book Library (accessible to kids), but you could chose whatever you wished. I picked books that I thought had strong characters, with easy to identify character traits and support.

Eggbert: The Slighly Cracked Egg; Ruby the CopyCat; Chrysanthemum

Swimmy; Sloppy Joe; Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

Weslandia; Diary of a Worm; The Greedy Python

Chester; Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink; Click, Clack Moo: Cows That Type

Giggle, Giggle, Quack; Mother, You're the Best, But Sister, You're a Pest; Wemberly Worried

Substitute Creature

By having them use easy to read picture books, they could really focus on the skill, and not struggle as much with trying to figure out words/meaning. Soon they'll be able to do this on their level!

As we were standing in line for dismissal, the kids told me that they loved the lesson. I told them that we would be doing 'Fun Friday' every Friday and we would switch off on focusing on Reading and Writing. Next up, Poetry! (This brought some smiles!)

Next up: Currently! I can't believe it's March already! Only 4 months left of school.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn