Restating the Question in the Answer (Freebie included!)

Have you ever given your students a worksheet that contains a reading passage followed by a handful of comprehension questions? If your students are like mine, you have learned over the years that you must explicitly tell students to write their answers in complete sentences. If you forget to mention this requirement, many students will compose one- or two-word answers. Therefore, I have found that taking the time to teach students to "restate the question" in the answer is well worth the time it takes. Since upper elementary students still love read-alouds, this is a fun lesson in which you can feature your favorite upper elementary picture book. (Full disclosure: An Amazon affiliate book link is included in this blog post.) As you will see below, I decided to use His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle, but any book will work with this lesson.

Before Reading

Let's back up a moment, though, and let me tell you how I begin this lesson. In preparation of this lesson, I write a list of simple questions based on traditional literature on anchor chart paper. 

Then, when class begins, I also distribute a white board, dry-erase marker, and an eraser to each PAIR of students. When each duo has the supplies it needs, I point out the title on the anchor chart, and tell students that I want them to help me answer each question by writing complete sentences that restate the question in the answer. Take a moment to model your expectations by choosing a student to ask you a random question. Write the answer on the board in a complete sentence. 

Instruct students to read Question #1, and then work with their partner to formulate a correct, complete answer and write it on their white board.

Ask a volunteer to share their answer. If it is correct, have them write it on the anchor chart, as well.

Instruct students to read Question #2, but this time, the other student should write on the white board. Continue this until all of the questions are answered.

During Reading

Once all five questions have been answered, we quickly put away our supplies, and I show them the picture book we're going to read together. I tell them that when we finish the book, they will be given a worksheet with questions about the book, and they will practice the skill of restating the question in the answer.

This is a wonderful picture book for so many reasons! First of all, it reminds students that if you are planning to welcome a new pet into your home, rescuing a pet from an animal shelter is a remarkable option. Secondly, as you can see below, the illustrations are outstanding.

Also, this book is also perfect for upper elementary students because the authors use a lot of subtle humor throughout the book. It is fun to stop after sentences like the ones below and ask if they understand what the authors are alluding to when they say "English life isn't all kibble and roses", and why it is funny when the authors say that "in England, dogs go to the bathroom on the left side of the hydrant".

After Reading

After you are done enjoying the story with your students, hand out the worksheet (click HERE or on the image below to download it). Remind students to answer the questions in complete sentences that restate the question in the answer.

If you're looking for another ready-to-go lesson related to this topic, feel free to check out my Restating the Question PowerPoint!

~Deb

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1 comment 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, ELA, Freebie, Link Up, reading

Building Writers with Mentor Texts: Focusing on Sentence Fluency

A few weeks ago, when I was looking for a book that displayed strong examples of sentence fluency, I stumbled across the most amazing book! I had never seen it before, nor had I ever heard the remarkable true story of Irena Sendler. I am very excited to share it with you today! Besides having excellent examples of sentence fluency, it is truly an inspirational and unforgettable story. (Full disclosure: Amazon links follow.) Also, since sentence fluency is a rather advanced writing trait, this lesson was designed with 4th through 6th grade students in mind.

Book Summary

Irena Sendler was a 19-year-old girl living in Poland when the Nazis invaded her country and forced 500,000 Jewish people into the Warsaw Ghetto, a space less than 2 square miles. As a social worker, she was allowed to enter the ghetto. When she saw how the Jewish people were being treated inside the ghetto, she was determined to help as many as she could. She snuck food and medical supplies into the ghetto. Eventually, she realized that the Jews were being sent to death camps. She began to smuggle children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She wrote down the names of each child and their parents, hoping that they'd someday be able to be reunited. She put the lists in jars and buried them in the ground. In all, she helped save the lives of 2500 children.

Click here to check out this book.

First Reading: Identify the theme.

Because this book has such a powerful message, I recommend reading this book aloud to your students twice. First, read it with the purpose of teaching your students about the somber realities of the Holocaust in world history. After you have finished reading the book aloud and have discussed it, ask your students to identify a possible theme of the story. I believe the following two quotes from the book explicitly point to the overall themes:

• "There are two kinds of people in this world, good and bad. It doesn't matter if they are rich or poor; what religion or race. What matters is if they are good or bad."  - page 3
• "When someone is drowning... give them your hand." - page 5

Second Reading: Identify examples of sentence fluency.

Begin by telling your students that another reason you wanted to share this book with them is that you wanted to point out the author's superb use of sentence fluency. Ask if anyone noticed any patterns regarding the first sentence on each page. If necessary, page through the book and read a few of them. Students will quickly realize that almost every sentence is extremely short... anywhere from 2 to 6 words. Remind students that one way writers try to achieve sentence fluency is by varying the length of their sentences. In this book, the author uses these short sentences to impact the reader by stressing the importance of Irena's selfless actions.

At this point, I recommend distributing the sentence fluency handout. (Click here to download it for free!) As you can see, the top of the handout defines sentence fluency and lists some concrete strategies writers use to achieve sentence fluency. Before beginning your second reading of Jars of Hope, go over the top part of this handout with your students. Then tell your students that you will be reading Jars of Hope a second time with the distinct purpose of identifying how the author achieved sentence fluency.

Stop throughout the book and ask students to point out places where the author achieved sentence fluency in a unique way. The following images show places where you might consider stopping.

On page 3, the second to last sentence contains alliteration, which makes the sentence sound smooth and fluent.

On page 22, the final sentence shows an example of how the author began a sentence with the word "but". This breaks a grammar rule, but the author purposely did this to add an element of sentence fluency to the page.

Page 23 shows how the author began her sentences in different ways. The author could have begun each sentence with "she". (She worked 12 hours a day scrubbing laundry in prison. She was questioned and beaten... She got very little food. She couldn't get a good night's sleep. She was in prison for 3 months.) Instead, the author created sentence fluency by varying her sentences.

After finishing the second reading of the book, return to the handout. Model how to complete the bottom of the handout by picking out examples of sentence fluency from Jars of Hope and recording them on the handout.

For an assignment, you can instruct students to find strong examples of sentence fluency in other books, and record them on the handout. Then, the next day you can ask students to share their discoveries.

Finally, if you're interested in winning this book, enter the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I would love to add a few more titles to my lists of mentor texts related to sentence fluency. In the comments below, please share some books you have found that exhibit sentence fluency! Also, don't forget to hop around to the other blogs in this link-up to read about additional mentor texts related to writing!

Inlinkz Link Party 

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3 comments 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 6thWriting, book recommendation, Freebie, Link Up, mentor text, Read Alouds, Writing

Types of Verbs Anchor Chart (with a freebie!)

A few weeks ago, Linda contacted me and asked me to consider creating a craftivity to reinforce the three types of verbs (action, helping, and linking) that could be used as a follow-up activity to my "A Closer Look at Verbs" PowerPoint. As many of you know, I tend to create craftivities that are based upon analogies. It is always my hope that these analogies will help students build connections and retain the overall meaning of a concept. Well, I thought of an idea almost immediately... only to discover that it was not going to work. (I could not find the right clip art, and my "vision" just wasn't going to be workable.) 

So, I went back to the drawing board, and thought..... and thought... and thought.  Then, just as I was about to concede and email Linda to tell her that I was going to have to put this on my maybe-someday-when-I-get-a-great-idea list, a light bulb switched on in my mind!  Would it work to make an analogy between the types of verbs and a rock band?  

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to me!  After all, the musicians in a rock band are constantly moving, or doing actions (whether it's singing, jamming on an instrument, or headbanging with the beat!)  The instruments... well, they are like helping verbs!  Without the help of instruments, a rock band wouldn't be much of a rock band.  And what about those troublesome linking verbs that had made all of my other analogy ideas stop in their tracks?  Well, linking verbs are like the speakers that link the music to the listeners!

Clip art by Scrappin Doodles.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked it, so I went ahead and created the matching craftivity/poster set.

If you like the analogy and think it might help your students, feel free to download the matching FREEBIE that you can have your students glue into their interactive notebooks.

Click HERE to download this for free!

Students write example sentences under each flap, underlining the target verbs.

4 comments Anchor Chart, Freebie, Interactive Notebooks, Link Up, parts of speech

Teaching about Themes... using the cupcake analogy!

This anchor chart explains the cupcake analogy that I share with my students when I am teaching them about themes in literature.

This all started a few years ago, when my upper elementary students were struggling with the concept of "theme". Many of them were confusing "theme" with "main idea", even after all of our practice activities. I needed to try something different... something that would be catchy enough to stick with my fourth and fifth graders. I'm not sure how I came up with theme-filled cupcakes. I suppose I was rhyming words in my head, and realized "cream" rhymes with "theme". Anyway, when "theme-filled cupcakes" crossed my mind, I knew I was on to something.  After all, the theme of a book is usually hidden, just like the creme inside a cupcake. Theme is the central message of a book, just as creme is central to the cupcake.

If you have followed me for awhile, you already know that I have a sweet tooth and that I love food analogies. Also, I often design my anchor charts to match other activities I do with my students.  (I believe this helps students build connections and retain the huge amount of new learning they encounter each day!)

Click on any of the images below to download my freebies related to teaching about themes in literature!

          

Notice that the word "selfishness" is underlined on the first poster. I point out to my students that any number of negative traits can be written in place of "selfishness". Therefore, these are a few more theme possibilities:

• Dishonesty can lead to negative consequences.
• Laziness can lead to negative consequences.
• Rude behavior can lead to negative consequences.

If you would like to take a look at the theme resources available in my store, click HERE. My theme filled cupcake craftivity is one of my favorite activities of the year!

Thank you for stopping by!

~Deb

4 comments Anchor Chart, Craftivities, ELA, Link Up, Theme

Singular and Plural Possessive Nouns Anchor Chart

This anchor chart is designed to help students remember how to use the apostrophe to show ownership for singular and possessive nouns.

The adorable bee clip art images are by Michael Rawls.
The girl image is by the talented From the Pond.

If you have followed my other Anchors Away posts, you already know that I often design my anchor charts to match other activities I do with my students.  (I believe this helps students build connections and retain the huge amount of new learning they encounter each day!)

I created these two PowerPoints using the BEE theme. Click on the images below to check them out!

Both PowerPoints come with a worksheet companion so that students can follow along and be totally engaged in the PowerPoint presentations!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Deb

4 comments Link Up

Nonfiction Text Structures Anchor Chart

Nonfiction text structures can be a daunting ELA topic to tackle in upper elementary classrooms.  I remember the first time I saw it on the fifth grade state standards a few years back.  (It was my first year coteaching in fifth grade, and I had worked with kindergarten and first grade ELLs the previous couple of years.) Whoa! I felt like a deer caught in headlights! The fifth grade teacher was hoping that I had a grand idea for teaching this topic, and I didn't want to let her down, so I decided to embrace it. It was a bit rough that first year, but I've come to really enjoy teaching text structures!

The clipboard was a FREEBIE! by Charlotte's Clips!  So cute and crisp!
The text structure clipart is by Aim Less Daze.

From my experience, these are the three key components to teaching text structures in the upper elementary grades:

1. Use visuals for each text structure (like the ones above)!  Students who understand and can explain how the graphic is related to the text structure almost always understand the concept of text structures overall.
2. Read several passages together as a class.  This is a skill in which some students will need lots of guided practice!
3. Have students write their own paragraphs using each text structure.  This seems to be the best way for students to internalize the various structures!

I recently created a free and complete text structure lesson, and wrote a blog post about it. Click HERE to check out the post and download the FREE 23-page printable resource!

Finally, I want to point out the incredible text structure graphics! They were designed by the talented Jena Flanagan by Aim Less Daze.  Aren't they awesome?!?  I contacted her and asked her to consider designing this set for me, and I sent her a very crude set of drawings! (I could only dream of being as talented as she is!) If you would like to purchase this set, click here! I colored the images on my anchor chart by hand because I was in a coloring sort of mood (and my daughter Brooke wanted me to sit down and color with her!), but the set Jena sent me had blackline images as well as color images (the posters below will give you an idea what her color set looks like)!

These are some of my matching products:

Or, if you are interested in checking out a bundle of resources, just click on one of the images below.

I designed this bundle with third-grade students in mind:

I designed this bundle with fourth through sixth grade students in mind.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Deb

5 comments Anchor Chart, Link Up

Anchors Away Monday: Comparatives and Superlatives

Hi everyone!  This is a two-part post!  It's time for another installment of...

                                   

If you missed last week's post, check it out HERE!

Here's the anchor chart I am sharing this week!

The "teeter-totter" rule (for comparatives) and "best ribbon" rule (for superlatives) really seemed to help my lower level ELLs remember when to use each suffix.  If you look carefully (it is rather small), you will notice that I also wrote "is _____er than" on the teeter totter.  This is SUCH a difficult sentence structure for even intermediate and early-advanced ELL's.  There were times when students were writing independently that I spotted students checking the anchor chart for this sentence frame specifically!

8 comments Anchor Chart, Link Up

Inferences Anchor Chart... with a matching free activity!

Those of you who have been following me for a while already know that I believe it is vital to help students build connections in their brain that they can draw on in the future.  One way I do this is by linking real objects to abstract standards... the components of a S'more to the process of making an inference, for example!

When I created this inference anchor chart to use with students, I prepared most of the anchor chart prior to the beginning of class.  I did NOT, however, write on the second set of S'more ingredients (at the bottom of the chart).  Instead, we read the passage and discussed together what should be written on the bottom S'more pieces.  I wrote on them as we discussed the passage.

 I continue the lesson (and deepen the connection) by having students create a S'more inference themselves! Click HERE if you want to download this FREE passage and practice activity:

I cut the pieces my students will need before class:

After completing the anchor chart, the lesson proceeds like this:

Students read the passage and complete the worksheet.
I have students create the S'more using question #3 on the worksheet.

Add caption

Students are eager to show off their S'more inference. Beware, though, this activity makes everyone crave a s'more. Often I bring the ingredients to class, and we all enjoy an unmelted s'more after we finish the activity. It's not quite as tasty as the real thing, but it's still fun to enjoy a snack! :)

This anchor chart and free activity is actually a "spin-off" of one of my favorite craftivities, My Let's Make S'more Inferences Craftivity.

3 comments Anchor Chart, Link Up