So far in our persuasive essays, we've brainstormed a catchy title, create an exciting intro that 'hooks' the reader.... and now we have to do develop our three main paragraphs. Part of our learning includes looking at 'transition words,' which can help us to emphasize our ideas and create smooth writing. Together, we brainstormed transition words and then sorted them into groups of where/when we'd use them:
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Should gum be allowed in school? Should street hockey be banned? Should 12 year old Tyler Armstrong be granted his request to climb Everest, or 14 year old Laura Dekker be allowed to sail solo around the world? What about plastic water bottles - yay or nay? Should students be paid to get good grades? These are the questions that students have been debating in class lately. As they make their way through our 'Magazine Rotations,' they each take ten minutes to read the article, 15 minutes to debate it, and then 20 minutes to make a graphic organizer in which they take a stance and brainstorm ideas to support it. Of course, I can't help but have a rotation station for our new favourite game 'Snake Oil,' where students utilize their debating skills with a fun twist. It's educational. Really.
One of our favourite texts that we studied is pictured below. Students enjoyed brainstorming points for or against being the "First Kid." The debates were great and participation was high. Would YOU want your parent to be Prime Minister? We practised making a claim and then backing it up with evidence/facts/examples/details. We will do this several times as a group before students are expected to put it into their persuasive writing.
Our classroom was a buzz of excitement this week as students discovered the Canadian Geographic competition for Canada's National Bird. Which bird do YOU think represents us best as a nation? Students took an initial vote, researched their bird of choice, and gave presentations that aimed to persuade others to change their vote. Students were allowed to give arguments in favour of their bird, but also present arguments against other birds. As you can guess, the debates were heated! My heart is sold to the loon, but at times my vote switched to the chickadee group and the Canada Goose Group. I love how students took a definite stance and then used their persuasion skills to convince others about the merits of their arguments. Read below to see which bird won... Today in class, I revealed the result of the national vote: The students were OUTRAGED! The GRAY JAY?!!? Well, they weren't the only upset ones...
As you can probably guess, we're delving into persuasive writing over the next month!
What was the highlight of 2019? What will happen in 2020? Students this week morphed into newspaper reporters to write about exciting happenings surrounding the New Year. Note: unlike real reporters, I gave them permission to 'make up' this news - let's have FUN with this!
A short 'quick write' like this helps me to see if students are transferring their writing knowledge/abilities from big step-by-step guided projects (where I generally get higher levels of writing) to regular everyday 'quick' writing. We still do modelled and shared writing as a group, and students are still encouraged to proofread and revise, but it all happens more independently in a shorter project like this.
This week we began our inquiry into biographies. What are they? Why are they important? What are the essential components of a biography? When students answer these questions themselves, they are more successfully equipped to tackle writing one!
We have read several 'mentor texts' to learn about important people, and about the components of a biography. We've also watched short 5-minute biography videos. From Beethoven, to Helen Keller, to Martin Luther King Jr... students are learning a lot! Up next? Choosing a person to research and writing our own biographies! Fact vs fiction, features of non-fiction texts, using colons and more!
I love having time to read in small groups with students. It's great to have that one-on-one time to bond and help them develop more reading strategies. They are improving at lightening speed - I'm so impressed!
This week we learned about Haiku poetry and brainstormed some rich words to describe war, peace and Remembrance Day. Students astounded me with their beautiful and poignant haikus. Take a look at their work below, or join us on Monday November 11th at 11:15am in the gym for our Remembrance Day assembly (where our art is also displayed).
This week we dove into digital citizenship and learned about our 'digital footprint' online. Students enjoyed playing a fun (and competitive!) game of jeopardy to review concepts on internet safety, cyberbullying, citing sources and proper care of technology. They then used some media techniques to create a series of "KHPS Technology Treasure Tips" to display around the school. Younger kids are reading this work and learning a ton about how to be responsible online. Way to go crew!
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Mrs JorgensenThis page is written by Mrs. Jorgensen, who loves the smell of a brand new book! Archives
March 2020
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