Nonfiction Text Structures

Recently, my friends and I studied the different text structures of nonfiction.  Having limited resources available to me in school, I went to my old friend "The Web."  You might know my friend.  No matter what I need, he always delivers.  Okay, enough of the corny stuff.  What I really found on my search for more information on nonfiction text structure was this amazing site:

Literacy Leader

Have you been to this site?  The link above will take you to the page on text structure, but if you browse around there is a lot of other really good stuff there.  Their home page link is here.

This link will take you to their PDF packet on nonfiction text structure.  I used it to make some quick posters in my room to compliment the lessons I did.  If I had more time, they would be a bit fancier, but we are nearing the end of the marking period and I'm swamped with work.  Here is what the posters look like.  If you look at the PDF file, you will see that I enlarged some of the pages to make the posters.

The PDF packet has some fantastic resources in it.  One of the things I liked was the inclusion of signal words to help my friends identify text structure.  I added those to each chart.  Here are some other great things about this resource:

• In addition to signal words, it provides signal questions to help identify which text structure is used.
• It shows the different graphic organizers that are used for each type of text structure.
• There is a fantastic summarizing handout that pulls it together for your friends, sort of like a quick reference guide.
• The last few pages of the packet are five paragraphs on a common theme (crocodiles!) that you can use to have your friends identify the type of text structure. 

Since I taught a different structure each day as a mini lesson, I typed the paragraphs and projected the appropriate one on my ProBoard.  Then, my friends highlighted the signal words within the paragraph.  You could also just print the paragraphs and use them to assess your friends by having them identify the type of text structure and signal words.  I should also point out that my friends loved the content of the paragraphs, and we all learned more about crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gavials.  I know my schema is larger because I had no idea what a gavial was before these lessons!

It can be hard to find real-life examples of the different text structures in books when you don't have the time to look around.  The PDF does have a list of books you can use, but if you have a social studies textbook you have a fantastic resource in your hands.  I find our textbook uses all five structures over and over again.  It was quite easy for my friends to work in partner groups to identify sections throughout the book that use the five different structures.  As we continue to work in social studies, I will throw out the question, "What text structure is being used here?"  I'm happy to say they usually know.

So, when I find a great resource, you know I like to share.  If you have no interest in nonfiction text structure, still take a look around the Literacy Leader web site.  It's a keeper!  I promise you will find something you like.

Finding Fun

Hello!  I know, I've been gone for a while.  Sorry about that.  You know I have been reorganizing my room.  I was at school every day last week until 6 or 7 at night.  I finally have my room about 95% done.  However, by the time I got home, ate dinner, and graded some papers, I was just too tired to post.  So, the plan was to post over this weekend.  I took lots of pictures of my room and am excited to show you.  That would have worked if I hadn't left my camera in my classroom on Friday!  Oh well.  I promise to post it all during the week since I will be back to normal hours. I also have pictures for some other posts I wanted to do this week. I was just going to post without the pictures, but it would take too much explanation.  Besides, I know when I read blogs, I like pictures. 

In the meantime, I was thinking about how we lead such test-driven lives these days as teachers.  In teaching 5th grade, I feel like I often have so much to cover that the fun stuff gets lost.  We don't have time to make something, we have curriculum to learn!!  But, don't we all know that some of the best learning happens in the activities and projects that are fun?  So, I decided to search the web for some learning fun.  Below are some art projects and just some fun stuff I've found around the web that look like something your friends and mine will enjoy.  The title of each project is the link to the activity and the source for the pictures I used.  Take a look.  Maybe you will see something you like!

Literacy

Expository Writing: How To

How cute is this?  There is a teacher in my building that does this every year.  When you see the bubble gum faces all together on a bulletin board, you can't help but smile.  This idea has been around for a while.  You can find it all over the web, too.  That must prove it's a good one!  What I like is that the writing part can be simple for younger friends, as in the picture above with just a "first, next, last" prompt.  Or, for older friends, they can write the entire expository essay.  The link will take you to The Teacher Wife blog.  She shows the entire project in more detail.

Expository Writing:  Description

No pictures or links for this one.   However, there are some pictures on my camera at school.  I'm posting this one anyway.  One of the activities I do for our expository writing for description is have my friends write a description of a favorite object.  We then trade papers, and based on only what was written, another friend draws the object.  Without fail, my more detailed writers get the better pictures. When my friends get their pictures back, it is suddenly very clear to them what they may have left out of their description or how their writing may have confused the reader.  I have them revise their writing, and they are always 100% better.

Fairy Dust Pencils

This is from the preschool blog Fairy Dust Teaching.  She makes these pencils for her friends when she is ready to teach how to hold and use a pencil.  It got me thinking.  Wouldn't it be fun to have your friends make a special pencil or pen to be used ONLY for final copies or special projects?  I'm not sure I would go with the glitter on the pencil.  That might get awfully messy, and I would be afraid of what all that glitter would do to  my pencil sharpeners.  However, if you are decorating pens, I'm thinking about all the patterned duct tape they have out now.  Your friends could cover pens in strips of that and have feathers poking out the top.  Just thinking off the top of my head here.  This might be a fun way to spark some writers.

Book Covers

No pictures or links again.  Well, sort of.  Let me explain.  This is something I have done with my friends with great success.  I have them find a book they have read and take construction paper to fit it for a new dust cover.  I like to do it the size of the book because we actually leave the new dust covers on the books when we put them back in our class library. For the project, they have to create an original cover illustration, and the back will have a "grabber" summary that does not give away the ending.  I'm sure some of you have done this project already. 

Now, I actually do have a link.  ReadWriteThink.org has a book jacket maker online.  Your friends can just plug in all the information and it will generate the book jacket.  You can select to do just he front cover, front and back, or the full dust cover.  You can also select if you want it done in color or black and  white depending on the printer you have available to you. 


Math
Favorite math joke of my friends: 
What did the social studies book say to the math book?  Dude!  You've got problems!
See, they are as corny as I am.  We are a perfect fit!  Anyway, here are some fun math artsy things for ya.

The O.R.E.O. Project

Have you seen this one?  Sadly, I saw it after I had already finished teaching the concepts of mean, mode, median, maximum, and minimum.  However, I'm thinking it will be fun to do during those last couple of days of school when my friends have already essentially checked out.  The link above will take you to the project instructions, but if you want to see real life application, visit Rundee's Room blog.  It is a great blog to follow.  If you visit her site, you will see exactly how she conducted the activity.  This may not be so much about art, but in the end they can make some crazy Oreo sculptures.

Math About Me

This is a great project for the beginning of the school year.  Your friends create a poster that shows all the numbers that are important in their lives.  Shows how math is all around us, and it could be a great get-to-know-you activity.  I'm thinking if you wanted to do this later in the year, you could require your friends to use other number names that the class would have to figure out.  For example, instead of saying I was born on May 8th, they might say they were born on four squared divided by two.  The would write the equation of course, I just couldn't figure out how to type in an exponent!

Math Maps

I really like this, but there was no link.  I found this on Pinterest.  The link above will take you to the board it was posted on, but the link is "uploaded by user" so it doesn't take you to a web page.  However, the comment notes that the kids are given a set of directions to follow so that the map includes parallel lines, intersecting lines, perpendicular lines, a variety of angles and geometric shapes, and more.  I'm thinking you could probably write your own directions for this.  Maybe not directions as much as just saying your map must include X,Y, and Z.  Then, it's up to your friends to be creative.

Science and Social Studies

source

Honest to goodness, when it comes to science, that picture above says it all for me!  Science is my least favorite subject to teach.   I really feel as if it is a different language sometimes.  However, I find when I do hands-on projects or activities with my friends, we all understand the concepts much better.  What follows may not be science experiments but more art centered activities.

Teaching Landforms

This is from the Crayola web site.  They give you all the directions.  Of course, they endorse all their projects in the process.  However, I was thinking this would be a great way to include an environmental aspect to the lesson by having your friends use old magazines to do this.  They could tear out pages that have the colors and textures they are looking for.  They could also search at home for any stray papers that might work.

Lava in a Cup

This is very cool!  This is an area of science I don't cover, but I would love to try this anyway.  The supplies and steps are super short and simple.  It's the last step, sprinkling salt on top, that makes the "lava" bubble up and down the glass.

Sedimentation

This is from a home schooler's blog.  This one actually follows scientific method and involves just a few simple materials to conduct the activity: rocks, sand, soil, and a jar.  Then, like in the picture above which is from the blog, your friends can recreate their results.  I would probably do this as a small group activity rather than have each friend do their own simple to keep the mess and supplies to a minimum.

YOU MUST GO TO THIS PHYSICS WEB SITE!!!

Have I made myself clear?!  Just kidding!  But really.  You must go to this web site if you teach anything to do with physics.  It is all about making laptop books (interactive notebook?)  for a variety of physics concepts.  Honestly, all our notebooks should look like this.  Guaranteed to keep your friends interested and involved.  It takes what I did with my Newton's Laws of Motion flip charts  to a whole new level.  Here's a couple of pictures from the site for the light and sound laptop book to give you an idea.

Open it up, and. . .  ta da!!!!

I'm thinking you could add each component as you teach it.  There are many more fantastic ideas on this site.  I really like the magnetism book. 

Native American Stories

I have done this one!   The link above will take you to the Canku Ota web page, a Native American online newsletter.  The page will have the two pages below, as well as some other coloring pages.

For this project, I've had my friends write the story of a Native American tribe we have studied.  In writing the story, they use the symbols above to replace words as often as they can.  I've also done it as a fiction writing where they write a personal narrative telling about their day as if they were a Native American.  Instead of regular paper, I give them brown butcher block paper and a black Sharpie to write their story.  Then, I have them crumple and recrumple their paper until it is wrinkled and soft as buffalo hide.  They are always amazed at how the paper becomes soft as fabric.  If time allows, you can always go back with paint and color some of the symbols.   It's a fun project.

So, there you have it.  Just a few fun projects to spark some thinking.  How can we bring a little fun back in to our classrooms?  I'll be back on Tuesday with some pictures of my classroom and some other posts during the week.  Until then, have a great Sunday!

Textmapping

Before I begin. . .  what a long week it was!  Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I have been swimming in work and haven't had a moment to post anything.  In the past week, I have created and/or significantly revised 48 different literacy center activities, eight activities in six different literacy areas.  That means thinking of what I need them to be, then typing them up, putting them in folders, and listing all the extra materials and copies I need to gather in school to complete the centers. Of course, the type A in me also had to search Google for 48 different clip art images to make each one fun.  Creating these center activities also meant making and gluing 48 center names on 48 folders.  So, that's what I have been doing with my nights this week in addition to the regular classroom planning and grading. This job can be so consuming at times!  If you teach you know exactly what I'm talking about!

I'm posting today about an instructional technique I used in class this week with great success.  During the week, I will also be posting a few quick posts on some anchor charts my friends and I have created along with a couple of organizing tips.  But, on to today's topic. . .

Have you tried TEXTMAPPING? 

Here's some background info from The Textmapping Project explaining exactly what it is:
 (If you click on the the link above, it will take you to their site, which has a wealth of information.)

Overview of Textmapping

Textmapping is a graphic organizer technique that can be used to teach reading comprehension and writing skills, study skills, and course content. It is practiced on scrolls , which are an alternative environment to books. Textmapping and scrolls can be used strategically, but they are not strategies. They are enabling technologies - simple, basic tools which can be used for reading and classroom instruction. The same strategies that can be taught in books can be taught more clearly and explicitly by using scrolls  and mapping .

• Textmapping involves long paper scrolls, colored markers, and a spatially-descriptive form of marking called mapping.
• It has seven key instructional benefits
• It is easy to learn and easy to implement in the classroom.
• Implementation costs are very low.
• It has been used with mainstream, ESL, and special needs classes at all levels, from elementary through college.

Textmapping enables teachers to clearly and explicitly model reading comprehension, writing and study skills in the course of regular classroom instruction.
Textmapping shines a light on the pre-reading process. It focuses more attention on, and spends more time with, the text itself - lingering on the page, delaying abstraction, forcing readers to engage in a more careful in-context comprehension of both the big picture and the details, and enabling teachers to explicitly and systematically model comprehension processes.
It is low-tech, easy to learn, easy to teach, requires no special equipment, and can be adapted easily and inexpensively for use in the classroom. All you need is access to a copier, tape or glue-stick, and colored pencils, markers, or crayons.

Here's what it looked like in my classroom:

This was a literacy lesson in my reading class.  My objective was to teach features of non-fiction text.  I like to do a quick lesson on this at the beginning of the year because they do encounter this from day one.  If I waited until we do our non-fiction unit, a lot of learning would be lost.  For this lesson, I copied the next lesson we would be covering in our social studies class. 

I paired my friends, they taped together their scrolls, and we went to work.  I posted this on my Pro Board, and worked through it with them.

My friends really enjoyed this lesson.  First of all, it had them out of their seats and using highlighters!  More to the point, I liked the lesson for several reasons:

• I found having the entire lesson visible at the same time, rather than just two open book pages, allowed them to see and make connections across the lesson that they wouldn't usually make. 
• Highlighting and discussing the different text features really drew their attention to the set-up of non-fiction texts, particularly our social studies textbook since that is what we used.
• I totally killed two birds with one stone with this lesson.  The section of text I copied was the social studies lesson I was to read and teach the next day.  Because my friends had so much interaction with the text during mapping, I was able to skip the lesson part and jump right to the assessment which they did very well on.  Their comprehension was spot-on.

So, if you haven't tried text mapping, I would suggest visiting the site for The Textmapping Project and reading more about it.  I think you will like it.

By the way, they write it as one word: textmapping.  I'm thinking it should be two words: text mapping.  So, just to be fair I think I mixed it up in this post! Totally on purpose, of course! ;-P