Weekly Thoughts from Ms. Scarborough

Hi Everyone,

Happy Fourth Grade!  I enjoyed meeting many of you a few nights ago for Curriculum Night.  I welcome you, your family, your child to room 317!  Our community is already on the right path of working together and kindness.  Here's an example for you: When I pick up the kids from the yard they are all huddled together with smiles and laughter and hugging and sharing their lives.  How beautiful is that! 

Part of celebrating our "Beloved Community" is sharing family traditions and heritage.  This brings a closeness and agape for all.  Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins Wednesday evening, September 20 and ends Friday evening, September 22.  I am looking for a few parents to share about this holiday with the class on Wednesday, September 20.  Email me no later than Tuesday if you are available.

Reading Homework

In addition to reading books on their reading level, students can read one level above or below (reading range). Every child should bring home a book within their specific reading range as part of their homework.

Your child can read books from home, the local library or on a Kindle as long as it is in your child's reading range.  To check a reading level go to Scholastic Book Wizard: https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/bookwizard (Choose Guided Reading in the drop down menu next to the Go button).

A reading log is sent home along with the "just right book".  This log records your child’s reading life and is filled out at school and at home as part of the nightly homework.  Please share in filling out the log and take notice of what was read during classroom time. This log is a “home to school connection” allowing you to see how many pages was read of which book your child has chosen to read in class.  In a few weeks an inquiry of how many books read, what was read (genre) and authors, will no doubt reveal your child’s “reading life”.  Knowing who we are as a student is a theme we explore all year long.

Please also read with your child and discuss what was read. Start with asking your child what they know so far from the text and then move to forming theories and using the text to support how they came about this thinking.  During this month and part of next I will assess your child's reading level and then send a beginning reading level home to you with a request for a signature. The children can use last year’s reading level for now. 

Vocabulary Homework

The kids take home a weekly vocabulary list on Mondays.  Have your child practice the meanings of the words nightly. Try using the words in dialogue or in their writer's notebook.  They are quizzed each Friday in written form.  Kids who know a lot of words do better in school! 

Multiplication Tables

Please support your child at home to “automatize” multiplication and division facts. This automatic fluency of basic facts allows students to deepen their conceptual understanding of multiplication and division concepts and develop strategies during class lessons. Go to ixl.com or multiplication.com to practice facts.

Our chickens are flying the coop! Every Friday we take 5 minute “Chicken” fact challenge quizzes. We start this week with the 3 and 4 times tables and progress through the 11 and 12 times tables before moving on to division facts. The chickens pass to the next level on the clothesline if they score 100% or miss 1 fact. When the chicken graduates they fly across to the other side of the room for the division facts then fraction and decimal contests.

Thursday Blog Homework

Thursday night homework is always a blog response at the 317 Blog: steach4fun.blogspot.com. Blog homework is another way our class can be heard, share their opinions and add on to others thinking. Encourage your child to reply to other comments. If you ever have technical difficulties posting the blog response, just have your child write their comment on paper and I will post it for them.

Please don’t hesitate to email me.

Love,

Ms. Scarborough

Small Group Lesson: Strategies for Finding Meaning in Figurative Language

Small Group Lesson: Strategies for Finding Meaning in Figurative Language from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

Work Done Prior To This Lesson

The week prior to this lesson, students read “Go Fish” by Mary Stolz and were asked to determine the meaning of “swelling like a blowfish” in the context of the story and write out their response (work samples attached). Students who did not identify that the main character was “swelling like a blowfish” because he was proud were chosen for this figurative language strategies small group lesson. The students needing support in figurative language are reading at a variety of different levels from L to Q.

Lesson Objectives

Students will use textual clues to determine the meaning of idioms in short passages.  Students will discuss in group what they know about the idiom’s meaning and how they know it by referring to text clues. Students will identify and apply strategies that can be used to determine the meaning of unfamiliar figurative phrases in their future reading.

Common Core Standards

Reading: Literature - Craft and Structure:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.4

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Language - Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.4

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.4.a

Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5.a

Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).

What the Students Will Do

Students will read passages from three different pieces of short text and identify the meaning of the figurative language phrases by stating what they know (the meaning) and how they know it (text clues) from each piece. Students will discuss the strategies they used to look for meaning.

What the Teacher Will Do

I will name and notice the strategies the students are using to find meaning in figurative language phrases.  I will use the question stems:  “What do you know?” and “How do you know it?” to facilitate what the brain thinks and encourage students to articulate the strategies they are using.  This work will help students identify strategies that they can use in their independent reading.

Assessment of Small Group Meeting Student Needs

After the small group lesson I will write down the strategies the students developed collectively and independently along with my observations of their discussion and strategy work.  This assessment can be used for next steps.

Next Steps

Students will use the strategies developed to find meaning in figurative language in their “just right” books and in shared texts with the class.  I will plan on meeting with the same group of students during individual conferences to check in on the skill of identifying meaning in figurative language in their independent reading. I will also keep observation notes on their daily responding to literature classwork to identify students needing further support.

"The Rights of Man" - A Traditional Irish Hornpipe

"The Rights of Man" a Traditional Irish Hornpipe from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

As part of our Culture and Community Unit in Social Studies, Amanda's father Michael came to Room 317 to share the music of his Irish heritage. Check out the video of Amanda and Michael performing "The Rights of Man", a traditional Irish hornpipe. Bravo!

"Stepped-Up" Small Group Lesson: Details Inform Us About Characters

Details Inform Us About Characters 2 from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

We read closely to catch all the details to inform us about the characters. We ask ourselves what we know about the characters and why we know it.  This lesson is based on the Barnhouse and Vinton "stepped up" model on small group work that supports specific reading skills from the book, What Readers Really Do. 

Ms. Scarborough's Class Dances the Sinte from Guinea, West Africa

Sinte Dance from Guinea in West Africa from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

Watch our class practice the Sinte Dance from Guinea in West Africa.  The students' participated in an eight week workshop with a dance instructor from Create Dance Studios.  We performed this dance for our parents as an arts connection to the Africa Social Studies unit.

"Stepped-Up" Small Group Lesson: Details Inform Us About Characters

"Stepped-Up" Small Group: Details Inform Us About Characters from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

We read closely to catch all the details to inform us about the characters. We ask ourselves what we know about the characters and why we know it.  This lesson is based on the Barnhouse and Vinton "stepped up" model on small group work that supports specific reading skills from the book, What Readers Really Do.

"Stepped-Up" Small Group Lesson: Using Text Clues to Find the Setting

"Stepped-Up" Small Group: Finding the Setting from Ms. Scarborough on Vimeo.

Knowing where the characters are helps us to envision the scene, so that we can follow the story and make us feel like we are right there with the characters.  This is important work that grounds us at the beginning of the story and helps us revise what we know about a character as we read on.  The students read three excerpts from Nate the Great, Amber Brown Sees Red and Judy Moody Was in a Mood.  We "stepped-up" our thinking each time and carried what we learned from each piece.  We went from finding the setting from one detail to using multiple details that led us to the setting as we revised what we knew.  The work of "stepped-up" lessons can be found in the book, What Readers Really Do by Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicky Vinton.