Current Literacy Work
The standards, genre studies, thinking strategies for comprehension, a love of literacy, and student interests guide our class curriculum.
March 23rd, 2012
The second graders are writing fiction stories! It is stunning to hear their creativity and vivid imaginations. The month of April will be dedicated to reading and writing fiction. The end product will be a published book. Families will receive one free paperback and may purchase a hardback for $12.00. More information to come. We will type the stories and scan the pictures. It is an exciting project that meets the requirements of the following New Common Core Standards. :) Enjoy!
2.RL.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2. RL. 2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
2. RL. 3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
2. RL. 5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action
2. RL . 6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
2. RL. 9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
2.W.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
2.W.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
2. SL. 2 Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
2.SL. 4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
March 5, 2012
Spring is in the air! It is time for poetry!!!!!
“In our fast-paced, instant everything world, we need poetry. Poetry helps children and adults to ponder, to observe, to ask questions, to discover sights, sounds, and feelings that might otherwise remain untapped. It brings balance and beauty to our increasingly complex world. Poetry can awaken our senses or bring the element of surprise into our lives. It makes us laugh,teaches us powerful lessons, and renews our souls.” (Using the Power of Poetry to Teach Language Arts, Social Studies, Math,and More by D.L. Harrison and K. Holderith) Students learn to observe the world carefully, use details and precise vocabulary, and employ poets’ tools, such as line breaks, repetition, and metaphor."
Here are the big ideas for our unit this month.
Reading Workshop: Big Ideas
• Use visualization to read poetry.
• Identify literary techniques used in poetry, such as showing not telling,
precise words, sensory details, comparison, and formatting.
• Understand poetry elements.
• Create mental images by visualizing while reading.
• Use inference to dramatize poems.
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
• Read poetry with fluency and expression.
• Write poems about ordinary things from everyday lives
using fresh eyes and carefully chosen words.
• Use poetry format, including line breaks, to convey poems’
message.
• Use literary crafting strategies, such as line breaks and repetition,
for writing poems.
• Use patterns and comparisons to create poetic language.
January 22nd, 2012
Here are the big ideas for the nonfiction unit this month. :) Hip hooray for research! - Mrs. Beckler
Reading Workshop: Big Ideas
•Use schema and inferring to help students understand nonfiction texts.
• Identify what they learn from reading nonfiction.
• Explore differences between fiction and nonfiction.
• Use comprehension strategies for nonfiction, including background knowledge, wondering, questioning, visualizing, inferring and determining importance.
• Listen to and discuss information with partner using accountable talk.
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
• Study attributes of informational writing.
• Gather information pertinent to familiar topics, sort into major categories, and write reports.
• Use details, pictures, diagrams, and other graphics to enhance information.
• Create attribute charts and rubrics to promote self-evaluation informational writing.
• View themselves as authors and members of a community of writers.
January 9th, 2012
In November and December, students worked in collaboration to create their "How-To" procedural texts. As adults, we spend most of our time with nonfiction and this second grade year we do, too! Please go to Ms. Frachetti's website to view the wonderful "How-To's" created by our kids. msfrachetti.wikispaces.com/ Go to the left-hand side and click on 2nd grade research and technology projects.
As we wrap up past units, we reflect on our learnings and skills. Students will be creating goals for themselves as writers and readers.
The main genre study for this month is nonfiction research. Students will choose a place with which they have a connection (any city, state, or country), ask questions and research to find those answers. We look forward to writing reports with nonfiction text features, sensory details, important headings, and great conventions.
November 1st, 2011
Our new thinking strategy is "Determining Importance." This will help our students find the main idea and summarize.
The personal narrative unit was a great success! We are moving on to non-fiction with a focus on procedural text. We call them, "How To's." In collaboration with Ms. Frachetti, our fabulous librarian, we will create "How To's" with technology. :) The big ideas for this unit are:
• Understand how-to format for following directions.
• Read for information to make or do particular things.
• Study nonfiction text features and purposes for which they are used.
• Incorporate home culture.
• Identify and dispel stereotypes.
• Use background knowledge, wondering, and questioning to make sense of nonfiction.
• Write how-to texts from own experiences.
• Describe appropriate sequence with a few details and procedure steps.
• Study how-to writing attributes.
• Use details, pictures, diagrams, and other graphics to enhance information.
• Revise and edit how-to writing.
• Use grade-appropriate text features when writing how-to text.
• View themselves as authors.
More details to come!
October 9th, 2011
An exciting development! We now have pen pals with students in South Africa. It provides us a way to connect to our greater community and practice our writing with purpose. :)
Our daily readers and writers workshops are a joy! The students flow through most of the rituals and routines with ease. I could not be happier with their LOVE of reading and writing!
Reading differentiation occurs through independent reading of "Just Right" books, individual teacher/ student conferences, buddy reading and guided reading groups. The students are divided into ever changing groups based on reading needs. The kids name their groups each time from "Girl Power" to "Mario Team!" Some guided reading groups meet each day and others will meet once a week.
The next area to solidify is our Word Work/Spelling/Grammar component of the day. It is 30 minutes a day focused on the mechanics of reading and writing.
Personal narratives are so much fun. The big ideas:
Read personal narratives and identify attributes for personal narrative writing.
Continue to develop reading strategies for decoding and comprehension.
Use sequence of events to retell story with simple narrative structure.
Answer questions to understand a story.
Discuss important characters in a story.
Write from own experiences.
Focus on small moments rather than bed-to-bed stories (focused narrative).
Tell story with sequence of events that has beginning, middle, and ending.
Create attribute charts and/or rubrics.
Use writing techniques, such as effective leads and endings, rich words, and figurative language.
Revise for making sense, answering readers’ questions, showing not telling, adding detail, and developing characters.
Share and talk about their writing daily.
The second graders are writing fiction stories! It is stunning to hear their creativity and vivid imaginations. The month of April will be dedicated to reading and writing fiction. The end product will be a published book. Families will receive one free paperback and may purchase a hardback for $12.00. More information to come. We will type the stories and scan the pictures. It is an exciting project that meets the requirements of the following New Common Core Standards. :) Enjoy!
2.RL.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2. RL. 2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
2. RL. 3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
2. RL. 5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action
2. RL . 6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
2. RL. 9 Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
2.W.3 Write narratives in which they recount a well elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
2.W.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
2. SL. 2 Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.
2.SL. 4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
March 5, 2012
Spring is in the air! It is time for poetry!!!!!
“In our fast-paced, instant everything world, we need poetry. Poetry helps children and adults to ponder, to observe, to ask questions, to discover sights, sounds, and feelings that might otherwise remain untapped. It brings balance and beauty to our increasingly complex world. Poetry can awaken our senses or bring the element of surprise into our lives. It makes us laugh,teaches us powerful lessons, and renews our souls.” (Using the Power of Poetry to Teach Language Arts, Social Studies, Math,and More by D.L. Harrison and K. Holderith) Students learn to observe the world carefully, use details and precise vocabulary, and employ poets’ tools, such as line breaks, repetition, and metaphor."
Here are the big ideas for our unit this month.
Reading Workshop: Big Ideas
• Use visualization to read poetry.
• Identify literary techniques used in poetry, such as showing not telling,
precise words, sensory details, comparison, and formatting.
• Understand poetry elements.
• Create mental images by visualizing while reading.
• Use inference to dramatize poems.
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
• Read poetry with fluency and expression.
• Write poems about ordinary things from everyday lives
using fresh eyes and carefully chosen words.
• Use poetry format, including line breaks, to convey poems’
message.
• Use literary crafting strategies, such as line breaks and repetition,
for writing poems.
• Use patterns and comparisons to create poetic language.
January 22nd, 2012
Here are the big ideas for the nonfiction unit this month. :) Hip hooray for research! - Mrs. Beckler
Reading Workshop: Big Ideas
•Use schema and inferring to help students understand nonfiction texts.
• Identify what they learn from reading nonfiction.
• Explore differences between fiction and nonfiction.
• Use comprehension strategies for nonfiction, including background knowledge, wondering, questioning, visualizing, inferring and determining importance.
• Listen to and discuss information with partner using accountable talk.
Writing Workshop: Big Ideas
• Study attributes of informational writing.
• Gather information pertinent to familiar topics, sort into major categories, and write reports.
• Use details, pictures, diagrams, and other graphics to enhance information.
• Create attribute charts and rubrics to promote self-evaluation informational writing.
• View themselves as authors and members of a community of writers.
January 9th, 2012
In November and December, students worked in collaboration to create their "How-To" procedural texts. As adults, we spend most of our time with nonfiction and this second grade year we do, too! Please go to Ms. Frachetti's website to view the wonderful "How-To's" created by our kids. msfrachetti.wikispaces.com/ Go to the left-hand side and click on 2nd grade research and technology projects.
As we wrap up past units, we reflect on our learnings and skills. Students will be creating goals for themselves as writers and readers.
The main genre study for this month is nonfiction research. Students will choose a place with which they have a connection (any city, state, or country), ask questions and research to find those answers. We look forward to writing reports with nonfiction text features, sensory details, important headings, and great conventions.
November 1st, 2011
Our new thinking strategy is "Determining Importance." This will help our students find the main idea and summarize.
The personal narrative unit was a great success! We are moving on to non-fiction with a focus on procedural text. We call them, "How To's." In collaboration with Ms. Frachetti, our fabulous librarian, we will create "How To's" with technology. :) The big ideas for this unit are:
• Understand how-to format for following directions.
• Read for information to make or do particular things.
• Study nonfiction text features and purposes for which they are used.
• Incorporate home culture.
• Identify and dispel stereotypes.
• Use background knowledge, wondering, and questioning to make sense of nonfiction.
• Write how-to texts from own experiences.
• Describe appropriate sequence with a few details and procedure steps.
• Study how-to writing attributes.
• Use details, pictures, diagrams, and other graphics to enhance information.
• Revise and edit how-to writing.
• Use grade-appropriate text features when writing how-to text.
• View themselves as authors.
More details to come!
October 9th, 2011
An exciting development! We now have pen pals with students in South Africa. It provides us a way to connect to our greater community and practice our writing with purpose. :)
Our daily readers and writers workshops are a joy! The students flow through most of the rituals and routines with ease. I could not be happier with their LOVE of reading and writing!
Reading differentiation occurs through independent reading of "Just Right" books, individual teacher/ student conferences, buddy reading and guided reading groups. The students are divided into ever changing groups based on reading needs. The kids name their groups each time from "Girl Power" to "Mario Team!" Some guided reading groups meet each day and others will meet once a week.
The next area to solidify is our Word Work/Spelling/Grammar component of the day. It is 30 minutes a day focused on the mechanics of reading and writing.
Personal narratives are so much fun. The big ideas:
Read personal narratives and identify attributes for personal narrative writing.
Continue to develop reading strategies for decoding and comprehension.
Use sequence of events to retell story with simple narrative structure.
Answer questions to understand a story.
Discuss important characters in a story.
Write from own experiences.
Focus on small moments rather than bed-to-bed stories (focused narrative).
Tell story with sequence of events that has beginning, middle, and ending.
Create attribute charts and/or rubrics.
Use writing techniques, such as effective leads and endings, rich words, and figurative language.
Revise for making sense, answering readers’ questions, showing not telling, adding detail, and developing characters.
Share and talk about their writing daily.
September 20th, 2011
Thank you for bringing your children to read with me one-on-one during the past few days. The diagnostic information I gathered will guide my instructional focus and help me differentiate for each student. The two main categories that I am able to analyze from the DRA test are Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) and Comprehension (Comp). Within the ORF, I look closely at Accuracy (phonics), Expression, Phrasing and Rate. Within the Comp, I study Predicting, Summarizing, Inferring, Interpretation, Reflection, Vocabulary and Metacognition. I look forward to conferences at end of October when I will have a chance to share the data with you. :)
Our "Personal Narrative" writing unit is connected to science strategies, as we gather detailed information through observations. The Botanic Gardens will be a great integration.
Reading is deepening as we work on "Fix-Up Strategies" in class. From the literacy world, there are four main cueing systems that I think about when helping students make sense of their reading; Grapho-Phonic System (letters and the sounds associated with them), Syntactic System (information about the form and structure of language), Semantic System (information about the the meanings associated with words), and the Schematic System (prior knowledge).
So, the questions I ask to encourage "Fix-Up Strategies" are:
1. Does it look right? Do the letters match the sounds? Are there smaller words that you recognize inside the bigger word?
2. Does it sound right in the sentence?
3. Does it make sense? What did that mean?
4. What do you already know about this? Stop and ask yourself what you know already that might help you comprehend this.
5. What is the author trying to tell me?
September 2nd, 2011
These first few weeks have been so joyful! Your children are full of great ideas, have a love of reading, and write with conviction.
WRITING
We have launched the use of our writer's notebooks. Thank you for supporting the decoration of these journals. The students treasure the lessons and writing that live within the covers. Last week we used similies to express character qualities, and this week we shared our favorite places. Fleshing out the sights, sounds, and smells of their secret places has helped to develop their concept of setting. Come by class at the end of next week to see the student writing on the walls.
In addition, we are learning the writing process: Coming up with ideas, planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing, and sharing. For the next few weeks, we will "wake up our stories" and come up with ideas to write about.
Your children may have told you about their choice writing folders. When they finish with their assigned work, the students may write stories of their choice. This is a great motivation and the students LOVE writing fictional stories. We will publish two a year from these folders.
Standard that correlates: 2.W.3 (Writing) - Write narratives in which the students recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events include details to describe actions thoughts and feelings. Use temporal words to signal event order and provide a sense of closure.
EDITING
Loosely using Daily Language Instruction from Hogsback Press, we began to discuss capitals and end marks. There are "bubble-like" like worksheets that accompany the program. Though these are not inspiring, they do provide structure to the learning of conventions. We immediately took our learning to our writer's notebook and edited our own work. The students were very invested! :) Next week, we look at exclamation and question marks.
Standard that correlates: 2.L.2 (Language) - Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
READING
Many children naturally make text-to-self connections. Text-to-text and text-to-world are taking a little longer to develop. We will revisit how "Activating and Applying Schema" helps to deepen our understanding of text in a few weeks as we begin to use our Readers Notebooks as a place to collect thinking. We just began lessons that focus on "Checking for Understanding." I will connect this to the selection of "Just Right Books." I use the acronym, " I - PICK". It stands for "I pick just right books by being clear of my Purpose, Interest, Comprehension and Knowing the Words."
Your kids love to read in class!!!
Standards that correlate:
2.RFS.4 (Reading Foundational Skills)– Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. c. Use context to confirm or self correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
2.RL.1 (Reading Literature) – Ask and answer questions as to who, what where, when, why and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
2.SL.4 (Speaking and LIstening) Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
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August 18th, 2011
Today, we began to develop our community by sharing a little about ourself and listening to each other. The big idea for the next few weeks is that, "We are a community of readers, writers, and thinkers who celebrate the best qualities in one another." The mentor text we read was Quick as a Cricket by Audrey and Don Wood. We wrote similies and designed an animal mask that represents our personality traits. Tomorrow we will use oil pastels to finish the masks and discover traits of our classmates. The academic language we will use in the next few weeks includes, "similies, qualities, traits, characteristics, and properties."
The New Common Core Standards that align with our current learning are:
Reading Standards for Literacy (RL) #7:Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
Speaking and LIstening Standard (SL) #1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g.,gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about
the topics and texts under discussion).
b. Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.
c. Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion.
Language Standard(L) #6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe.
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Our class curriculum is guided by the standards, genre studies, thinking strategies for comprehension, a love of literacy, and student interests.
To access resources, see below.
1. The New Common Core State Standards. Click here.
2. For genre studies, I refer to the DPS Literacy Planning Calendar with lessons from Lucy Caulkins, Ralph Fletcher, Joanne Portalupi, etc. As the year unfolds, students interests and needs may change the plans for each unit. I will continue to update you! :) Click Here
3. Thinking Strategies provide a cognitive throughline from grade to grade. The consistent language and habitual use deepen our comprehension.
