Teachers.io - A Place for Teachers!

Default Picture Beth Ackroyd
Default Picture

Beth Ackroyd

Contact Information

Blog

May 16, 2017: 2-even

Published May 16, 2017, 8:24 a.m.

Well, looks like winter will turn into summer this week!

Our last LLI book was about popcorn and its merits as a snack. Students enjoyed the topic and successfully navigated this higher level text. We used it to practice recognizing the author's message, partly by paying attention to how the text is structured, or set up.

Before and after the vacation, we did the usual planning and reflecting. Students all made Vacation Reading Plans so that whatever they did while away from school, their reading habits would be maintained. The reflection part helped students learn about themselves and about how to set realistic goals for themselves.

Once ELA MCAS was behind us, we started working on nonfiction reading. Students will do more and more reading-to-learn as they go through their school careers, and I want them to be confident readers of nonfiction. We are working on reading with an open and curious mind, noticing when the text surprises or confuses us, noticing when the text confirms what we already know, and noticing when our thinking is changed or challenged. We also talked about how it's smart to periodically stop and summarize what you have read and learned so far. Most recently, we have been talking about all the things that can make nonfiction texts challenging to read and understand.

May 16, 2017: 6-even

Published May 16, 2017, 8:19 a.m.

Well, as it often happens here in New England, it looks like we will transition from winter to summer this week!

Before April vacation, students were reading and thinking about the book A Long Walk to Water. While reading, they watched for unfamiliar words in the text, while also listening for questions that can be used to deepen their thinking and understanding.

At the beginning of each class, we check in on Independent Reading. Students tell what books they are reading and what pages they are up to. They share their thoughts and reactions. This conversation steers the kids to be reflective about their reading habits and preferences. It also helps me be able to recommend new texts.

Before and after the vacation, we did the usual planning and reflecting. Students all made Vacation Reading Plans so that whatever they did while away from school, their reading habits would be maintained. The reflection part helped students learn about themselves and about how to set realistic goals for themselves.

Once ELA MCAS was behind us, we started working on nonfiction reading. Students will do more and more reading-to-learn as they go through their school careers, and I want them to be confident readers of nonfiction. We are working on reading with an open and curious mind, noticing when the text surprises or confuses us, noticing when the text confirms what we already know, and noticing when our thinking is changed or challenged. We also talked about how it's smart to periodically stop and summarize what you have read and learned so far. Most recently, we have been talking about all the things that can make nonfiction texts challenging to read and understand.

May 15, 2017: 2-odd, 4-odd

Published May 15, 2017, 2:21 p.m.

Well, looks like winter will turn into summer this week!

Our last LLI book was How it Ends: Stories of Famous Deaths. Students enjoyed the topic and successfully navigated this higher level text. We used it to practice clearly articulating our ideas about the author's message.

Before and after the vacation, we did the usual planning and reflecting. Students all made Vacation Reading Plans so that whatever they did while away from school, their reading habits would be maintained. The reflection part helped students learn about themselves and about how to set realistic goals for themselves.

Once ELA MCAS was behind us, we started working on nonfiction reading. Students will do more and more reading-to-learn as they go through their school careers, and I want them to be confident readers of nonfiction. We are working on reading with an open and curious mind, noticing when the text surprises or confuses us, noticing when the text confirms what we already know, and noticing when our thinking is changed or challenged. We also talked about how it's smart to periodically stop and summarize what you have read and learned so far. Most recently, we have been talking about all the things that can make nonfiction texts challenging to read and understand.

May 15, 2017: 3-Odd, 6-Odd, 7-Odd, 4-Even, 5-Even

Published May 15, 2017, 2:09 p.m.

Well, as it often happens here in New England, it looks like we will transition from winter to summer this week!

Before April vacation, students were reading and thinking about the book A Long Walk to Water. While reading, they looked for various signposts in the text and used them to deepen their thinking and understanding. Many students found themselves doing this internal reading work more and more automatically. We had great discussions and most students read the book with a strong sense of enthusiasm.

Before and after the vacation, we did the usual planning and reflecting. Students all made Vacation Reading Plans so that whatever they did while away from school, their reading habits would be maintained. The reflection part helped students learn about themselves and about how to set realistic goals for themselves.

Once ELA MCAS was behind us, we started working on nonfiction reading. Students will do more and more reading-to-learn as they go through their school careers, and I want them to be confident readers of nonfiction. We are working on reading with an open and curious mind, noticing when the text surprises or confuses us, noticing when the text confirms what we already know, and noticing when our thinking is changed or challenged. We also talked about how it's smart to periodically stop and summarize what you have read and learned so far. Most recently, we have been talking about all the things that can make nonfiction texts challenging to read and understand.

April 25, 2017

Published April 25, 2017, 2:09 p.m.

As I mentioned in classes yesterday and today, I will be absent for several days in the near future. I am having minor surgery on May 2. I will be out for the rest of that week. I hope to be back the following week, but can't yet be sure of how my recovery will progress.

Mr. Resnick, who is familiar to all the students, will be the substitute teacher. I will leave plans that continue the work we are doing, and Mrs. Charron will be available for support and consultation as needed.

Thank you for your understanding.

April 3, 2017: 6-even

Published April 3, 2017, 5:14 p.m.

We continue to tackle this thing called reading in a number of ways:
- reporting on our progress at the beginning of class, and talking about our books;
- keeping track of books we read, exploring new books we might want to read;
- learning about specific things to notice and think about when reading fiction;
- reading nonfiction with an active mind that notices when it is confused, surprised, confirmed, and challenged.

Our work in fiction revolved around getting students to THINK more, and think more widely and/or deeply. They learned about two specific things to notice and think about: tough questions asked by a character, and contrasts/contradictions we see in characters. We will continue this work as we work our way through the book, A Long Walk to Water.  We will also learn specific strategies for figuring out unfamiliar words, and for answering questions that come up while reading. Students are hopefully learning that reading is a problem solving process that, with active participation, can be done successfully by anyone. 

April 3, 2017: 3-even

Published April 3, 2017, 4:44 p.m.

""The writing unit we just finished was one on debate writing. Our mentor texts were the debate articles found in Junior Scholastic magazine. We read two and analyzed them so we would know what to include in our own writing. We realized that one should start with an introduction that defined the issue and acknowledged both sides before moving into one clear position.

We worked on incorporating two specific writing techniques: an "if....then" statement, and an acknowledgement of how complicated or difficult the issue can be. We worked on using words that precisely captured the idea or image we wanted our readers to have in their minds. Students got feedback from each other, from teachers, and from administrators. In the midst of all this, we brainstormed strong words that we might use, and we created a list of things that writers are always trying to do.

We finished with the amazing experience of sharing our work with Mrs. Downey and Dr. Gutekanst! I got an email from him today. In it he wrote: "I really appreciated the time I had with your students the other day in Jessica's office. I was so impressed, and you should be so proud of their work."

I am indeed proud of them!

Next up - sports writing! Happy Opening Day!

April 3, 2017: 2-even

Published April 3, 2017, 2:03 p.m.

For a while we were reading short stories, by Gary Soto, from the book Baseball in April. These gave us lots of vocabulary to talk about and helped us look for features that were common across stories. We worked on forming a hypothesis about a story, then either adding to it or changing it as we go along. We talked about always being aware of how characters are feeling and noticing how authors reveal characters' feelings. We did some work on fluency, making sure our expression matches the meaning contained in the text.

Our next book was a nonfiction text called The Power of Red. we worked on looking past all the interesting details to find the author's larger message. We then worked (for a pretty long time!) on writing in response to a prompt that asks about a common idea in two texts: What do the two authors say about how something becomes a status symbol? We looked at the ideas in this book, and a previous one about the history of shoes. We had to pull out ideas from each book, synthesize them into a coherent thesis, and write an organized response.

April 3, 2017: 4-odd

Published April 3, 2017, 1:50 p.m.

The students continue to share their "meaningful thoughts" at the beginning of class. This often results in suggestions, support, and sometimes even challenges offered student to student.

Students worked in pairs to read and discuss a text called The Quest for the Golden Feather. They generated "quiz" questions, which I collected and put into a quiz that they then worked on with their partners. We used this quiz to talk about and practice giving good, complete answers. We used this text to do some fluency practice, working on making sure our voices and expression follow and match the punctuation.

Our next story was a fiction text called Swim Free. Some students chose to again work with a partner to read and discuss. This book gave us a chance to think about how an author can use a few words, or a short phrase, to give us hints about the characters or the events. We also worked on clearly naming themes that were contained in the story. Our fluency practice focused on making sure one's expression matches the content and meaning of the text.

We used our trusty TFK magazines to work on accuracy - reading the words exactly as they are written - and on catching and fixing any mistakes we do make.

Currently we are finishing up a novel called Gossamer. We've read it in chunks, using various silent discussion techniques to share our questions and reactions with each other.

April 3, 2017: 2-odd

Published April 3, 2017, 1:41 p.m.

After reading a book about inventions, we did some work on giving good answers. Students know that they are often asked questions (written and oral) about what they have read, so we talked about how the quality of their answers is important because it reflects their understanding and their thinking. We identified characteristics of good answers, then practiced writing these in response to questions about the text.

Using the same book, we worked on looking past all the interesting details to find the author's larger message. We did this by noticing how the author set up the information, and by noticing what the author mentioned over and over.

Or next book was a fiction story called The Museum of Crime and Horror. We used it to practice fluency, with a specific eye toward having the suspense of the story reflected in our voices. We also practiced writing in response to a prompt.

Our most recent book was another fiction text - Swim Free. This book gave us a chance to think about how an author can use a few words, or a short phrase, to give us hints about the characters or the events.

Company

Contact

Apps

myHomework