This Week's Story

In the West, we use the Reading Street program (published by Scott Foresman.)  Each week we focus on a strategy that will help the fourth graders become strong, thoughtful readers.  Then we practice applying that strategy in our class-wide reading and independent reading.

This week we are focusing on Author's Purpose.  As a reader, it's important to think about the reason the author is writing a certain piece because it guides how we're going to be thinking as we read.

Remembering the three most common Author's Purposes is as easy as PIE!

P = persuade - the author is trying to convince you of something

I = inform - the author is giving you facts and info on a topic

E = entertain - the author is telling you an enjoyable story

The tricky thing is that sometimes author's have more than one purpose when they write.  We read a ZooBook article where the author was trying to inform us about wild dogs, but also trying to persuade us that they aren't as bad as they seem from fairy tales always talking about the "big, bad wolf."

Our main story this week in Reading Street is called Lewis and Clark and Me by Laurie Myers  It is the story of Lewis and Clark's expedition told from a very different point of view - the dog!  Meriwether Lewis brought a Newfoundland with them on the journey and he, Seaman, is the narrator of this story.  

After seeing this picture I really understand why they call Seaman "Beardog!"

If you want to learn more about Lewis and Clark's expedition, you can go to

• http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/
• http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/index.html
• http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-channel.asp?ChannelID=54

Bring in a fact you learned about their trip for a point of extra credit!

Superstar 600

Oh boy! Well, first of all, I thought it would be a lot easier to update this more frequently.  I am sure I will get better at it - I just need to get in the habit.

Today I want to tell you about the Superstar 600!  One of the ways we are trying to improve our reading (particularly our accuracy and fluency) is to make sure that all the kids in Room 13 can easily read the most common sight words.  Back in 1996, Dr. Fry studied many different pieces of writing and found that there were certain words that kept showing up over and over again.  He made a list and then organized them so that the most popular words are first on the list.  It turns out that the first 100 words make up about half of all printed material!  The first 300 words make up about 65%!  Imagine how much easier reading is when these words are easy and automatic.

Our goal in 4th grade is to be able to read the first 600 words on the list just by sight.  Similar to knowing "2+2=4" and "summer comes after spring," it will save so much time and brain effort if these 600 words are automatic. This picture is the first page of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  On the page, the highlighted words are all part of the first 600 list.  They make up over 80% of the words on the page!  That means the reader can really concentrate on the 20% of the words that require figuring out.

So, you might be wondering how we're going to make this happen.  Well, luckily, an amazing teacher named Jennifer Bates put together easy-to-read lists for these words and some really cute stars to help display everyone's progress.

During our Reading Workshop, I meet with individual kids and ask them to read me a couple lists of words.  They start on white paper and then move through the colors of the rainbow.  Each page represents 100 words, but it is divided into 5 lists of 20 words.  If they read the list quickly and smoothly, they get to put a sticker on the star of the same color.  If they get tripped up, we highlight the words that they missed and they keep the page to practice.  Then we try again in a couple days.  We have stars that go with each color as well.

The kids are still working on becoming independent readers during Reading Workshop, so we are getting a slow, but steady, start.  Once the kids are able to read on their own for 15-20 minutes, I will be able to meet with individuals for just a minute each and get through the lists nice and quick.  As students complete fill a star (meaning that they have mastered a complete list of 100 words!) they will add their star to our display.  The white stars will fill in the cloud and then the other colors will add to the rainbow.

How can you help? 

If there is a list that seems really tricky for a student, I will send home a copy in their DOT binder (more on those coming soon!).  Please keep an eye out for these lists coming home and then help your fourth grader practice the highlighted words.  Put them on the fridge, keep them in the car, anything to help your kiddo become as familiar with them as possible!  Hopefully by Open House (on October 4th) we will have some stars up there on the wall!

Click here for the list of the First 100 words!

Amazing Beginning!

What a wonderful start to the school year!  We have done so many fun and important things in just 3 days.  I wonder if the students are as tired as their teacher is!  

Sorry it's so blurry! Busy kids are hard to catch in focus.

It's been a particularly exciting beginning for us because we have so many new teachers and administration at the West!  So far the kids have met Ms. Morgan (our new principal), Ms. Feeney (Title 1 specialist), Ms. Murphy (art), and Mr. Frazer (P.E.).  Stay tuned for more information on them in the next few weeks as we work on some interviews and biographies in Room 13.

Our days have been filled so far by learning lots of routines, some important rules, and a few key reading strategies to get us started.
Routines to as your kids about:

• lining up in line order
• "Hands and Eyes"
• morning meeting
• our theme song
• Read to Self
• DOT Binders
• Building stamina

New West Rules and Expectations:

• Always walk on the right side in the hall.
• Halls should be silent.
• Toys and games should be left at home, not brought for recess.
• Food cannot be shared.

Reading Strategies:

     Comprehension

- Check for Understanding

     ~stop while you are reading to make sure you understand what is happening in the story

- Back up and reread

     ~if something doesn't make sense, go back and read it again, more slowly

     Accuracy

- Cross Check

     ~ when you get to a word you don't know, or if a word doesn't make sense, ask 3 questions (I hope the fourth graders remember these!)

1. Does it look right?

2. Does it sound right?

3. Does it make sense?

Thanks to everyone for making the first 3 days of this year stupendous.  I hope everyone has a great weekend and spends some time reading!  

Summer Blogging

Since it's the big thing that I am doing with kids this summer, I thought I would post a few more details about the "nonfiction blogs" that we've been working on.  I showed this space to the kiddos as an example of what a real blog is and they thought it was pretty cool.  Because it's a camp, we do this over the course of a week, with them doing a blog entry each day.  In my class, I plan to do it once a week.  

We have about an hour and a quarter with each group.

We all started with an "About the Blogger" page because it was something they could do without a lot of instruction.  I showed them the About the Author section in a few books to get them on the right track.  Then I did a quick model on the board with just a couple of sentences.  With the Olympics on, many of them chose to write about favorite sports. 


Then I did a mini-lesson.  Today's was about things good readers think about when they are reading.  I read a small section of a book and then the kids noticed things I was doing while I read.  The kids came up with a list that included 

• deciding which facts were the most interesting or important
• making connections (thinking "this reminds me of...")
• visualizing/making mental images
• comparing and contrasting information
• making predictions

Then the kids get to choose a book and start to read.  I have all my nonfiction books grouped by topic so the kids can find something that really grabs their interest. 

Either as they read, or when they finish, they take some time to write about what they have read.  They are encouraged to write about all the smart reading they did (from the list above), but most of them start out by just writing interesting facts.  Here are pictures of the blank forms that they use for their blog.  The link is in the previous post (**if the link doesn't work, try closing the window and clicking the link again... not sure why but that seems to be what works**).                            That's pretty much how the first day goes.

Tomorrow they will start their day by reading each other's posts.  The back of the page has spaces for them to write their comments.  They create a symbol for the box on the left and then write their comment. The kids are encouraged to write meaningful comments, to avoid the "I like" syndrome.  I post the chart below (sorry it's blurry) and go over it with the kids pretty much every time they make comments.

I will wrap up with just a couple examples of completed blog entries by the kids.  Thanks for reading!