Retelling Expository/Nonfiction!!

Hello Everyone!

I am a firm believer that when kids can see and touch their learning, whether it be math, reading, spelling, really anything, they will be able to grasp the concepts, take them to heart, and even use the concepts to extend the learning and apply it to other concepts more  quickly and thoroughly.  Introducing new learning through visual and tactile means builds relationships and connections.  I see evidence of this every single day.  This is the main reason I try to create anchor charts, reminder posters, charts, connections, etc, that are stimulating visually. That is also why, after introducing a new concept, kids have access to these visuals, and then set out to create their own through touch.  Many people think that the connection activities I have my students do are nothing but fluff. I can see where that may be how it looks from someone who doesn’t see the whole process.  The observation and stimulation of the thinking process, the recognition of relationships and connections, the interpretation and perception  of  new discoveries, and finally, the analysis and self-expression to show learning, must be taken in for anyone to understand what went into that “fluff.” 

This week we have been working hard on retelling an expository/nonfiction text in order to show comprehension.  We start off by comparing fiction and nonfiction text, and discovering those differences by looking at examples.  Then I showed the kids some anchor posters to help them visually get the connections needed.  And just like the retelling rings we made for narrative text, we made rings for expository. Some might consider this fluff, but the visual and tactile reminders of the components of the texts we read are invaluable to some …if not most kids!! The kids take both out while reading and manipulate the beads as they retell to reading partners.  This is the kind of fluff  I’ll support any day!  Watch the whole process!

Just like the fiction unit, I'm sharing the nonfiction one.  Having visual and tactile reminders helps kids connect and grow from their learning! 

Click HERE for the unit!

Hope you're having a great week!!! Let me know if you try all of this and how it went!

Have a great rest of the week!  

Thanks for stopping by for a peek!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Owl Open House and a Little Fiction/Nonfiction Fun

 Hello Everyone!
I am coming to the end of my Spring Break already! It was wonderful to have time with my family.  We got to spend a little bit of rainy, cold time down in Galveston---I have been known to sit on the beach in the rain!!  I just love the sound of the surf---relaxes me!!!
But it's time to get back in school mode!  I want to share a bit of how our owl unit turned out.  We were able to do so many of the activities from the owl unit I shared a while back, and display some great work for open house! Here are a few pictures!

We've been working on adding dialogue to our writing, so we decided to add some speech bubbles to our Owl Babies!

 

We ended up using bananas and Bugles for our owl snacks!!

We made some cute owl bags to hold all of our owl work.  Patterns are in the updated unit!

We had fun exploring feathers!!

We learned so much about and through the owl unit!! 

If you need a very comprehensive unit on owls CLICK HERE!!! :)

If you grabbed it a while back, go ahead and re-download.  I added a bit and fixed some typos!! :)

This coming week we will be working on the features of nonfiction text. I've updated that unit as well. It is so important that kids understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction and how the authors have specific reasons for their work. We have worked hard on the parts of fiction stories, so spending time comparing the two genres is valuable.  Here are a few pics from my updated unit.

I will gather as many books as I can that are similar in topic, but obviously fiction and nonfiction. We will do picture walks and text feature walks as we sort, compare and contrast. We will work on retelling each genre and going on scavenger hunts!!

If you think you can use this mini unit, PLEASE CLICK HERE for the free download.

Ok!  I know, short and sweet, but I need to take some time to enjoy these last few hours of my break!  Off to watch a movie with my sweetie!!! Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great week---I know some of you are on break this coming week!!!  Enjoy!!!

I'll be back soon!!  We've got some fun St. Patrick's day activities planned!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Retelling Fiction and Nonfiction

Hello Everyone!
As teachers we should constantly be evolving.  I was reminded of that this week by my teammate.  We were working on our retelling using our story spoons. She mentioned that she included another part to the retelling...the author's purpose.  She, of course, is right.  We had briefly talked about that in the past few weeks, but I did not include that in my retelling charts, posters, or hands on visual tools. Retelling is an important part of detecting comprehension skills in our young readers, and the kids did a great job of including all the necessary parts of retelling a fiction piece, but I needed to revisit my unit to include author's message.  Before I share that, I want to show some quick pics of our work on retelling so far.

We reviewed all the different parts of a fiction story and I introduced the colored symbols we will use to remind us of all the parts. We had kind of a snow theme going on last week, so I used the symbols as buttons on our snowman. 

The kids made their own retelling reminder tools

They worked on writing out their retelling of a fun story, The Biggest Snowman Ever" by Kroll.

Then used their retelling reminders as they read books from their book baskets.
Next week I will have them add an orange button to remind us of telling about the author's message!!

Also next week we will practice retelling nonfiction pieces.  I've had a few e-mails asking if I had anything to share to help kids with that kind of retelling. I finally got busy and put something together!! I am so sorry it took me so long!
We will use the same type of hand to head reminder tool.  For fiction stories we used spoons.  For nonfiction, we will use forks to get to the point!! :)

If you have followed this blog over the last few years, you know I have posted about retelling many times.  I've introduced our retelling ropes with posters, students pages, etc.  I think I am going to like using spoons and forks better.  They are easier for the kids to make, manipulate, and manage. They are easily portable and store well in book baskets. And they are cheap!! 

Evolving, Revolving, and Involving!! My new mantra!!

If this is something you think you can use, or if you think I'm way off base, please don't hesitate to leave me a comment! I promise I read them all even though I don't always reply. 

If you think you want a printable unit on retelling fiction and nonfiction,

CLICK HERE!!! 

The unit (25 pages) includes all the mini posters and directions for the hand to head retelling tools, as well as student retelling pages, poems, and rubrics to "grade" your kids' retellings!! I know I can't wait to see how they do on nonfiction pieces!

Please let me know if you find any typos or other silly mistakes.  Sometimes my ideas are way ahead of my typing!!! 

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek through our little window!!

Till next time, 

Joyfully!

Nancy