Close Reading Complex Sentences

Right now we are studying about the American Revolution and the beginning of the Declaration of Independence.  I teach 4th graders.  Here is the text from the Declaration of Independence we are currently working with:

                            "...whenever any form Form of Government becomes destructive to
                            these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute
                              new Government..."  

I'd say that is a pretty complex statement.  Period.  For my 4th graders, definitely!  Complex even for me? Of course, however I have strategies that I have been taught to help me understand this statement which my 4th graders are still learning.

This is how I taught my students how to attack this statement.  I am sure this method can be used or adapted for many types of text.

First, I broke this statement up into pieces and had the students try to put them back together in an order which they thought made sense to them.  I gave them the strips already cut up in random order in an envelope.

They had never seen this statement before so this was all new to them.  After they put it together, I had them share out how their group did it and what their thinking was for why they put it together the way they did.

Once all groups had shared and had the statement in the correct order, I then had them practice reading it aloud to each other for fluency.  As an entire statement, it was a little overwhelming for my students to truly understand the meaning.

So, next came the breaking it down into its original chunks (by this I mean the strips they had to work with to put together) so that we could begin to make meaning.  In a way chunking this statement, is very similar to how we teach chunking words for decoding etc

We started with the first chunk.... "...whenever ad Form of Government.."  We looked at each word to make sure we understood what each word meant.  If we didn't, we looked up the word and wrote the definition under the chunk in our journals.  This part became especially important when we can to the words in the statement...  "alter" and "abolish".

For each "chunk" of the statement we followed these same steps:

1.  Did we know the meanings of each word?

2.  If not we looked up each word we didn't know.

3.  We then chose which definition we thought fit the word best and applied that to help us understand the chunk better.

4.  Then we wrote the meaning of the chunk in our own words.

5.  Once we did this with each of the chunked parts, we then put it all together in what we thought the entire statement meant as a whole.

I found that after using this strategy, my students were better able to understand the entire statement better than before we used this strategy!

Do I recommend this strategy for every text?  Not necessarily!  It does take some time! 

We are using the ELA Modules and the texts can sometimes be very complex.  I am sure there are reading specialists out there that might approach this differently, this is just one 4th grade teachers class and approach.

If you are also teaching from the ELA Grade 4 Modules feel free to check out my Module Guides for Powerpoint and Smartboard.  Module 3B (The American Revolution) also includes kids friendly worksheets and anchor charts easy to print and post included for units one and two.  You can see all of these for grade 4 HERE.  I also have some for Grade 5 if you are interested.

Thanks!

💚💚

My Start with Flexible Seating

So towards the end of last year after asking my principal if I could move from regular desks and chairs to tables, my principal put it into my head to try out some flexible seating.

I read many articles and even followed many posts on FB and IG of teachers that were using flexible seating.  Unfortunately, we did not have the money to move my classroom to a flexible seating one.  Many items are not cheap!  Well, you don't know this about me but, I once I have something set in my mind, I am determined to make it work.

We scavenged tables from school buildings that were closing, so that was pretty much covered!  Next, how was I going to get what I wanted for seating.

That is when I finally decided to look into DonorsChoose.org!  An organization that connects donors with classrooms in need.  Of course I jumped in full steam ahead!  Even though they suggested that projects be under a certain amount, I made a project more than double that!  DonorsChoose was not easy exactly.  I spent many hours and dollars entering contests for DonorsChoose gift cards.  And all during my family summer RV vacation out West.  Yes they were not thrilled with me some days with the amount of time I spent on my phone or computer in the evenings.

With some luck I was able to get that project fulfilled and a few more with many donations from some interesting people, major corporations, foundations, friends, and family.

Now..... my room is decked out!  I have bean bag chairs, wobbles stools (two different styles), ball chairs on wheels, desk chairs on wheels, Zenergy chairs, a bench at a low table, cube seats, and I am sure I am forgetting something!  How do my students like the seating?  They love it! Has it changed how they work and their focus on learning?  I am not fully sure since we began the year this way and I do not have anything to compare it to with this class.  For evidence like that I should have started out the year with regular desks and chairs and then switched to the new items to see the difference.  What I do know is that our class is a community, students are eager to get to the classroom in the morning to choose their seat, we respect one another, choose our seats wisely, and for the most part my students are engaged! I'd say thats a good thing!

A Year Later, A New Me!

TPTFLOCK2017!!

Welcome!  I feel compelled for this to be my first blog post.  I recently attended a Teachers Pay Teachers meet up in Rochester, New York.   I can not even begin to express how
lucky I felt to be among such wonderful, amazing teachers from across the country!

Not only did I make many new friends, but I also learned so much about teaching and creating curriculum that is more engaging for my students!

I will be honest here. A year ago I was at a point in my teaching and personal health where I was not sure if I was really going to be able to continue teaching.  The stress was causing many heath issues and I was really struggling with if I would be able to go back to the classroom.  It was at that time that I decided to join the Teachers Pay Teachers community.

This was my second large meet up with the Teachers Pay Teachers community and I am so thankful to be associated with this company and the teacher authors that make it what it is.  I not only have found a renewed passion for the classroom, but the friendships I have developed in the year that I have been apart of this has been so encouraging.  I am now friends with teachers from around the world!  The things that I have learned from them, even after my 20 years of teaching, has been so invaluable to me.  

I have grown in so many ways.  I have learned coding, graphic styling, I have discovered fonts, clip art (even dabbled a little in making my own clip art, something I never thought I'd do!), I have learned to work with online tools and apps, marketing, and even setting up my own graphics on my blog!   The best thing of all???....... My students are more engaged in their learning because I am more engaged in my own learning and teaching!  Thank you TPT for changing my life and in turn changing my students' lives.

So back to my blog here..... It is my hope to share my learning, the ups and downs, and just my thoughts on things all educational... well mostly educational!   

💜 Kerry