We talked about different reasons for
writing (informing, entertaining, persuading) and read The Story of the
Statue (a short nonfiction book about the Statue of Liberty). We worked on
visualization exercises as we read the story. We also talked about the terms
fiction and nonfiction. Students wrote two short stories--one true account and
one fictional. Volunteers read both stories aloud to the class and asked classmates to guess
which story was fiction and which was fact. On the Fourth of July, Students
participated in a discussion about liberty and different forms of government. They also engaged in some pre-reading discussions for Dogs at Work.
Week
2 (July 9–13)
We read and discussed Dogs at Work
(a short nonfiction book about working dogs), focusing on finding the main idea
and supporting details in a passage. We also started reading Midnight for
Charlie Bone, a young adult novel about a young man endowed with a
mysterious ability.
The class was divided into small groups to practice finding the main idea in a chapter and to discuss more challenging questions based on the text. The students are still working on how to present information effectively to each other (some are still mumbling or speaking too quickly).
As we read Midnight for Charlie Bone,
we will be working on predicting, annotating, summarizing, writing character
descriptions, and learning lots of new vocabulary.
Week
3 (July 16–20)
We started the week by discussing terms
related to reading, such as protagonist, antagonist, dialogue, plot, setting,
climax, resolution, narrator, etc. As a class, we practiced finding the main
ideas and then writing a plot summary of the first chapter of Midnight for
Charlie Bone. We reviewed and discussed many of the new vocabulary words in
the book and started to make a character list with short descriptions of each
character in the story. The class was divided into small groups and given
discussion questions to answer. Specifically, they were asked to find evidence
in the book to support their answers. Students also spent time learning how and
when to annotate books as they read. Finally, they were asked to write plot
summaries for chapters two and three on their own.
Week 4 (July 23–27)
We continued to discuss and practice the skill of annotating texts while reading. Students shared their early chapter summaries with each other and discussed how to distinguish between main ideas and details. They worked in pairs to write summaries for later chapters. The students also played a trivia game based on Midnight for Charlie Bone to test their understanding of characters, plot, and themes. At the end of the week, the class took a vocabulary test that covered key terms in the first five chapters of the book.
Week 5 (July 30–August 3)
We continued to read and discuss Midnight for Charlie Bone. Students were assessed on their understanding of plot and themes throughout the week and also studied key terms for vocabulary quizzes on chapters six through nine. Students did an in-class writing assignment to make predictions about the story. They engaged in lively discussions about the motivations of different characters and possible outcomes in the novel. We ended the week by playing a game of Catchphrase! with key terms from the book. Students were divided into teams, and then attempted to get their teammates to guess words that they pulled from a basket by using descriptions, definitions, and context clues.
Week 6 (August 6–9)
We continued to read and discuss Midnight for Charlie Bone. Students practiced their listening comprehension skills in class and also studied vocabulary for a final quiz. They continued to practice using and citing evidence from the text to support their inferences. 