This past week we have started our author study.  Students chose an author of their choice and found information to answer the question, what inspired your choice author to write.  Some of the authors include Mike Lupica, Jeff Kinney, Sharon Creech, Erin Hunter, Anthony Horowitz, Rick Riordan, Gary Paulsen, Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games), and Judy Blume.

I have been truly impressed with the students engagement on this inquiry project.  Students have been focused and have taken notes on their author using a variety of multimedia sources.  Students have utilized a variety of skills in order to organize, interpret, and synthesize information.  We have been discussing effective internet use when finding information. Below is a few questions to help with searching for information.

Effective Internet Use To Find Information

• Look at the whole page (not just the screen shot)    
• Use comprehension strategies:  (identifying important details, making inferences,   synthesizing information (pulling together info to make your own meaning)
•   Determine if the information is useful (does it help answer the inquiry question?)
•   If it is an author’s website,  check a way to search the topic within the site

Students worked individually on finding information on their author.  Then, they collaborated with other students who were researching the same author to see the reliability of the information found.  If students researched an author no one else did, they would collaborate with other classmates who researched an author on own.  Students in groups or individually are creating a poster of the author and the most important information pertaining to him or her.

Students have found some amazing information.  For example, Anthony Horowitz based many the villains in his novels from past strict teachers and his experiences in boarding schools.  Suzanne Collins wrote her novel, The Hunger Games, because of her interest in the Greek Myth, Theseus and the Minotaur and how youths were sent in the Labyrinth needing to survive.  Raine Telgemeier based her novel, Smile, from her own sixth grade experience.  The point of this project is for students to understand where authors get their ideas.

The students will present their posters next week in a Gallery Walk.  Pictures to come!

 

 

 

 

We have been busy these past five weeks of school.  Students have been acclimating themselves to our classroom and creating a community of learners.  Students established reading and writing notebooks, which include notes, graphic organizers/rough drafts, reader responses, and vocabulary.  I have been providing students with a word of the week (myriad, impeccable, arduous, plethora, etc), and students create meaning for the word- definition from sentence use, part of speech, and a graphic or connection to help remember it.  In addition, students have to find three unfamiliar or interesting words from their independent reading for the week and complete that same activity for one of the words found.

We have been exploring the question:  What distinguishes childhood from adulthood?  Students have read short stories and poems dealing with problem solving and growing up.  Furthermore, students have been discovering what inspires authors to write.  Currently, students are beginning to research an author of their choice and learning what inspired the authors to write some of their novels .  Some of the authors students picked are as follows:  Suzanne Collins, Mike Lupica, Sharon Creech, Jeff Kinney, Gary Paulsen, Kate DiCamillo, JK Rowling, and Rick Riordan.  Not only are students finding out what inspired their choice author to write, but also learning how to locate credible and reliable information when conducting research.  This includes understanding what are valid sources, including web sites like .org, .edu, and .gov.  and how videos can enhance or limit understanding of a piece of text.

Students are in the mist of writing their own piece inspired from a memorable event from their own childhood.  The assignment is attached: Memorable Moment Expectations.

The school year is off to a great start-  enjoy this wonderful fall weekend!