Biographies

My class has been working on biographies in small group reading.  Through biographies, we are working on:
*Main Idea & Supporting Details
*Sequencing (trying to keep track of dates, as well as see how dates are connected)
*Recording discussion questions/topics on post-it notes (in group, we are working on adding higher-level thoughts to a group discussion).  I often use this Bounce Card to add to discussions (I found this idea in a book).
*7 Habits of Effective People (my school is a Leader in Me School, so students are looking at how the person lived the 7 Habits). 

I did this small group a little different- I presented on all 5 people and let students choose the leader they were interested in (I had to find books that were somewhat close in range).  From there, I placed students into groups and had them create a "Know Already-vs-Wonder" T-Chart on their leader. 

Throughout the reading of the biography, students completed a Biography Graphic Organizer.  Each time we met, we shared our post-it notes for discussion and updated the graphic organizer. 

At the end of the story, students went through their graphic organizer and highlighted the most important events, as well as beliefs, of their leader.  Then, students created timelines.  I gave each student a Timeline Directions Sheet.  If you wanted to incorporate technology, students could use Prezi instead to build their timeline (www.prezi.com). 

Then, later this week, we will share our timelines in small groups.  I will add pictures in of the timelines as we finish them up.

Perspective

My district is looking into creating formative assessments that will be aligned to our Enduring Understandings.  Because of this, my team created (for a professional development meeting) an eight day unit on "perspective" and how perspective influences conflict.  Having finished this unit, it was interesting to see how each of the students' perspectives on a topic influenced their thoughts of the character's perspective (when you read "Ooka and the Honest Thief", you will see that the kids have differing feelings about whether stealing for your family is fair or not). 

I'm attaching a plan of what we did, as well as some resources.

Unit Plan: Perspective

Link to "Ooka and the Honest Thief"  (we used our Junior Great Books Series, but I found a copy of the same story online)

Ooka and the Honest Thief Questions (used for comprehension check, as well as working on discussion and synthesizing information).

We used "Moodle" for some of the discussion.  If you don't have Moodle, you could always have students respond to each other by hanging up their responses around the classroom. 

**Additionally, we are reading "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio (a great book on bullying, middle school, and perspective!).  Click here to check it out on Amazon.com!

Themes (Get the message!)

We've been exploring the themes of stories- through our "just right books", read alouds, as well as the stories we enjoy together in reading class (whole and small group).  

For theme, I've been stressing that there are both major themes (the main 1-2 lessons or messages the author wants you to understand), as well as minor themes (little lessons/messages learned throughout the way).  We came up with a common definition of theme (lesson learned/message) and why an author includes a theme (so a reader learns a lesson or feels inspired from a story). 

We started off using some common fairy tales/everyday stories that the kids know.  I would share the title and we'd brainstorm both main and minor themes from the story.  I also started to stress theme during our read aloud time.

In small group (you could use whole group too), the students completed the "Discovering Theme" graphic organizer.  This required them to find the themes and give evidence to support their ideas.  We did this for a couple of stories, first together, then with a partner, then alone. 

From there, I put a tub of children's books out with a common theme.  I didn't have time to read each of them, so I chose books that dealt with Black History Month (Civil Rights Movement and Slavery).  Throughout their independent work time, students had to read a children's book with a partner and list the main 1-2 themes from the story.  This was on-going, lasting about 6-7 days.  Each day, they completed a graphic organizer. 

When the 6-7 days were up, I had them work with a partner to find the common theme of all the books they read (this was hard, some found it in all the books, others only used 3-4 books to find their theme).  I let them use the "Possible Themes in Stories" sheet for help. Then, together as a class, we came up with the common themes from the stories (because I chose a topic that was similar, this worked as most books dealt with equality and fighting for rights). 

Higher Level Small Group Response

Sorry for the delay, I haven't been on here in a while.  I'll update some things over the weekend.

For the past few weeks, my 5th graders have been working in books about the Civil Rights Movement and Slavery.  We've been working on theme, tone, mood, and using evidence to support your ideas. Additionally, I'm trying to get my kids to move into formal writing (thoughts) with supporting evidence.  They know how to do the talking in group; however, their writing isn't the greatest. 

We just finished our leveled books on the Civil Rights Movement and Slavery (4 groups in my room, 4 different books).  While we read the books, we used a graphic organizer to "keep tracks of their thinking", as well as post-it notes for discussion (we have been working on theme, as well as reviewing character development).  This was done on a daily basis, prior to them meeting with an adult.

Now that we are finished reading the books, we are writing formal papers on setting, character, problem/solution, theme, tone, and mood. I'm attaching the "Directions and Brainstorming Sheet" (used prior to their first draft).  Through this process, they also must provide supporting details (quoting accurately).  We went through the directions sheet, brainstorming and using our post-it notes.  I let them brainstorm with a partner, then we shared in small group, and now they are writing their formal literature papers.   I am expecting a lot of them on this one... but, they're continuing to amaze me!

Character Traits and Evidence

For the past month, my 5th graders have been working on character.  My teaching partner and I wanted to take character to a higher level, rather than just explaining the main character. 

I'll outline what we did for the unit:

 

1. Define what a character is- we used the terms "antagonist" and "protagonist".  To help kids remember, we said that "antagonist" starts with ants... and ants are bad to have in the house!
2. We gave students a "Character Traits" sheet.  We read a story together (you can use any story) and started using the traits to describe the characters.   We created an anchor chart to display.
3. The next day, we re-read the same story.  During our reading, we referred back to our anchor chart to see if we still agreed with each trait.  When we finished reading, we looked at each trait and started to eliminate the traits that were only shown in one section of the book (I wanted the kids to use traits that were more long-lasting).
4. I did a mini-lesson on how an author develops a character.  We used the terms "round" and "flat" character. 
5. Then, we looked at how character traits can be positive, negative, or neutral.  I gave the kids a "Character Traits Sorting Cards Game" (thanks, Laura Candler!).  I put the students into groups- they had to have a discussion about each word to decide if the trait is positive, negative, or neutral.  This went really well, as kids were starting to realize that a trait can be seen either way, all depending on the context of the story.  This took a couple days.
6. We learned that an author uses 3 ways to leave "clues" for the reader to figure out the traits of a character- action clues, verbal clues, and other clues (thanks, Laura Candler!).   Together, we read a short story and started to look for ways that the author left clues- and labeled them action, verbal, or other.  The kids catch on pretty quickly about this.  Additionally, it makes kids start to learn how to gather evidence.  
7. From here, I introduced the graphic organizer that we started to use with our small group books.  We use the graphic organizer ongoing throughout the remainder of the year.  For my higher ability groups, I have them use this to document character change throughout a text.   Additionally, they start to look at how setting impacts a character and his/her change.
8. When I teach this unit, I teach it in September.  To add some creativity to the character traits, the kids make a Halloween character (using their real picture as the face).  Then, they write a short paragraph describing their character using 3 traits and evidence.  They have fun creating the Halloween character using higher-level traits and made up evidence.
9. Then, I introduce the kids to providing evidence using "Evidence-Based Terms".  I found this idea online and love it.  We practiced with a short book.  We wrote out traits first.  Then, we went back through and used the "evidence-based terms" to add our evidence to the trait itself.  This is nice because it takes everyday, common words and shows kids how to use them to go further with their ideas by providing evidence, much like a detective does.
10. Now, we are starting to use the traits and evidence in whole and small group.  I think this is setting the stage for our next unit, "inferring".