Making Inferences

Happy Thursday!

We've started learning about and practicing a tricky reading skill-Making Inferences!

I find this one really hard for the kids to do sometimes-at least explaining their thinking about it! (I tell them they make inferences all the time-they just don't know it.)

The first thing we did was to make an anchor chart.

Isn't it cute?! I remade it this year-the kids were amazed that I deliberately did blue (Author's Clues) and  yellow (Schema) to equal green (Inferences) You should have heard all the ooohh! 's when I was explaining today :)

We talked about how when we make an inference, we are kind of guessing at what the author wants us to know-based on the clues they leave us and our schema.

A lot of times, our inferences would be about how the character is feeling, or why they acted that way. We talked about how the author would leave us show, not tell clues, and we would have to take what we knew about those clues to guess how they were feeling.

Of course, I sent them off to practice with picture books!

I happened to have some extra free time (90 minutes of state testing!) yesterday, so I sat down with a stack of picture books. I stuck a sticky on each one that had 2-3 questions on it-questions that they would have to make an inference to answer!

(I thought it would be easier to guide their thinking and inferences when they had questions-instead of me just saying, Ok! Make an inference! (about what, Miss M?) :P )

I also had a little organizer for them to use.

I like it, but I think I'll switch it around for next time-putting the inference first (to answer the question) and then have them tell me how they got their answer

Of course, my kids like doing almost anything with picture books :)

We did a reteach/follow up lesson today (and we'll continue to work on it!), that was kind of fun (until, you know-the lockdown was called in the middle of it)

I did examples with them on the board-first using the book's 'script' and then using a really cool book of my own.

I chose to do Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French (this is a cute book! It is full of voice (a great mentor text!) and the kids love it-it's funny!

Click on me to go to Amazon!

As I was reading the book, I stopped to ask them how the wombat felt about its neighbors. We talked about what we knew from the author clues, as well as what we know about some animals to help us made our inference.

Then, as if I couldn't have planned it any better (I love those moments!) a friend called out 'But the neighbors don't like the wombat!'

I was all a flutter! I asked if the book stated that anywhere and with a chorus of no's, I explained how that was an inference! (See, I told them they make inferences all the time and don't know it!)

We'll continue to work on explaining our inferences-but I think they have a good start!

Wednesday's Outfit

Shirt/Pants: Kohls
Shoes: Burlington Coat Factory








Today's Outfit

Shirt:Kohls

Pants: Gap Outlet
Shoes: DSW

How do you teach inferences?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Workshop Wednesday: Opinion Writing

Time for Workshop Wednesday!

Today we are talking about opinion writing.

Well, first we talk about fact and opinion in our reading-and review what it is.

We also read Scholastic News-which has a question and two kids different opinions in almost every article.

After the students have a good understanding of what an opinion is, we can get started!

I love to ask them questions about books and characters in a story.

One of my favorites ways to incorporate opinion writing is to have them write a book review (and explain their thinking!)

Most of the time, they have an opinion about a book they read!

Another way I like them to write an opinion is to have them write about a character and character trait.

For example, I'm assuming you've all met my favorite friend.




If you haven't....well, meet SkippyJon Jones! (and where have you been?!!)

My favorite question (and this can also be a reader response! ;) to ask the kids is...Do you think SkippyJon Jones is imaginative?

Must of the kids answer yes right off the bat (and then we talk about proving it!), but there is always the possibility that someone could say no.

I think those types of questions are perfect-because there is no right or wrong answer. Plus, it gets a discussion going and I always enjoy that!

What sort of things do you do?

Monday's Outfit

Shirt: Maurices

Sweater: JCP
Pants: JCP
Shoes: DSW








Tuesday's Outfit

Sweater: Maurices

Pants: NY & Co
Shoes: DSW


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

A Peek At My Week

Time for a peek at my week!

Yep-It's state testing time! (I know-we're weird! We test in October on what they learned the previous year-so my kids are getting tested on what they learned in 3rd grade).

However! This will be the last year we are testing like this-next year we're using the Smarter Balance (gulp!) and we will test in the spring.

In addition to our state test (which only takes place in the morning), we will also be learning about making inferences.

Of course, we can only start making inferences after we take our Theme 2 test in reading...(We also have to take our test on our state-the government, physical features, counties and different regions...) Lots of tests this week!

In my reading groups, two of my groups are starting chapter books.

One group will be reading this:



and the other will be reading this:



(So excited to read these with the kids!!!)

What does your week look like?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Open House

Yay Friday! I have missed your joyousness as a prelude to the weekend. :)

Last night was Open House (and I made it home in time to see The Big Bang Theory-just missed the intro- I call that a success! ;), and I wanted to share what I did.

The parents were welcomed with this sign on the door:

On one of the long tables, there was a sign for the open house packets I sent home.

Some of the information is classified and has been redacted :)

 On the other table, I had conference sign ups and party donation sign ups.

On the students' desks, I had two things. An All About Me that they did at the beginning of the year (some of the parents were surprised by the answers!)

And a letter we worked on Wednesday and Thursday! The format from the letter was this:

and they looked so nice laid out on the desks!

Even with the signs though, some of the parents missed things-maybe if I had made them brighter or bigger? (or maybe parents need to take a look around!)

Today's Outfit:

Sweater: Maurices

Top: Kohls
Tank: Target
Jeans: JCP
Shoes: Payless

Have a great weekend!


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Thursday Throwdown: Kid Rounding

Happy Thursday!

Time for Thursday Throwdown!

We did this activity today-because my kids were just not getting rounding.

So I thought, why not use them to demonstrate?

Every student got a number (from 0-9) with 0 on the back.

I picked six students to come up to the front of the room and be the big number.

One student was lucky enough to be 'leid' which was the place value we were rounding to.

Every student after (to the right of the 'leid' student, turned around and turned their card to 0.

Then we had to decided if we were going to stay with the 'leid' student, or trade up.

I brought up the student who had the next number up, and moved them in front of the 'leid' student.

We talked about how we had to look one student to the right to decide if we were going to stay or trade up.

They had fun with it!

Every student got to be the big number twice, with some students getting more 'turns' if they had a trade number.

Then we went back and worked in our workbooks. Most students went back and corrected previous problems-they seemed to have a much better understanding of it! (and after 3 days, I hope so!)

Today's Outfit

Sweater: Old Navy
Skirt: Target
Shoes: DSW (which were changed after the picture-My toes needed to breathe!)

Tonight was Open House...which I'll talk about tomorrow! Open House night is definitely a looong day at school-especially when you have an early morning PLC!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Workshop Wednesday: Word Work

Happy Wednesday!

Time for another Workshop Wednesday with Jivey!

Today's topic is Word Work.

We do word work almost every day. A lot of the activities we do are in our Literacy series books-so I write the task cards to reflect that.

The kids read the selection on the left, and then do one of the activities on the right-according to the task card

The kids write their responses in their Word Work books-some very simple books I made in the beginning of the year.

I took a huge piece of construction paper (I think it was 12 by 18), folded it in half and stuffed some lined paper in it. I choose regular '4th Grade' paper, as well as some paper with mid-lines for the friends that need them.

Then I stapled it in 4 places, took out my trusty paper cutter, and sliced that baby in half!

Voila! a cute, mini book to record their answers.

Another part of our work word is Vocabulary.

I use the vocab foldables from Laura Candler, and they are a perfect fit because we have 5 words a 'week'. After the kids fill them out, they glue them into their Reader's Notebook in the vocab section.

And once in a great while (on test days!) we play Boggle for word work.

Boggle Board underneath my jobs-it has monster letters now!

The kids love this! They keep asking me if they can play (almost every day!), but I like to save it for a special 'easier' treat on those theme test days!

I keep the Boggle sheets in a file folder-with the sides taped with duct tape (Thanks Tara! She has a huge amount of great word work ideas and storage-go check it out!)

I have some other files set up-but our spelling book pretty much covers everything, so I haven't used them...maybe someday!

What are some things you use for word work?

Today's Outfit

Sweater: Kohls
Skirt: TJ Maxx
Shoes: Endless/Amazon

Perfect for a nice (warm) fall day! Especially since we had a fire drill this morning (and our yearly fire inspection!)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

300/Currently

Ack! Can you believe it? This is my 300th post!  It's certainly been a fun journey so far!

Notice anything different?

I did a little update for 'fall'!  I feel very fall-inspired now :)

Speaking of Fall, it's time for October's Currently!

Monday's Outfit:

Sweater/Top: Maurices
Pants: JCP
Shoes: Zappos









Tuesday's Outfit

Sweater: JCP

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


Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn