Genre Learning - Biographies!

I used to be one of those people who thought kindergarten students were not able to truly access biographies because of the amount of background knowledge and historical context necessary. This past school year, I was proved wrong! One of my district's units was about how people grow. The enduring understanding was, "Students will understand that people grow in many ways (physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally)." Immediately, I was drawn to the idea of teaching biographies since there are so many wonderful examples of real people who have changed the world with their growth. Yet, I worried about my kids being able to access the content knowledge involved in biographies. This led me to a thorough search of the available children's literature. What I found was incredible. There are really accessible, well-written biographies for young children available. This led me to creating a unit centered around learning about the genre of biography and understanding how real people used their growth to have an impact. One of my absolute favorite books (and one the students' favorites) is Star Stuff by Stephanie Roth Sisson. This is not your typical "Abraham Lincoln" style biography. It's about a man named Carl Sagan who studied the cosmos and became a pioneer in space study and the search for extraterrestrial life. Throughout the book, students see how Carl Sagan grew as a learner and as a thinker, even as a young boy. I begin this unit by building background knowledge about space. By doing so, students are better able to understand Carl Sagan's contributions to science. Here's the link to my planner:

Star Stuff

Another really excellent biography for young children is Me...Jane by Patrick McDonnell. This biography of Jane Goodall is very engaging for young students who love to learn about animals and Jane's interactions with chimpanzees in Africa. Jane also grows as a learner and as an advocate for animal rights. The book goes into depth about her childhood and how she became interested in working with animals. Students can connect with her childhood interests and passions. Again, I start by building background knowledge about Africa and chimpanzees. 

Me...Jane

At the end of the unit, I asked students to reflect on this question: "How do people grow as learners?" I was impressed with the depth of students' responses. Using what they learned about Carl Sagan and Jane Goodall (as well as other people we discussed), they generated remarkable insight into how people grow:

Last Character Growth and Analysis Lesson

Here's my final lesson on character growth and analysis. I love the book Sheila Rae The Brave by Kevin Henkes. The characters in this book experience a role reversal. Students enjoy seeing how the brave Sheila Rae becomes scared, only to be comforted by her "scaredy-cat" sister Louise when they get lost on a walk home from school. Both characters undergo some growth/gain insight into their actions as a result of their experiences. Check out my lesson:

Sheila Rae The Brave

Language - Powerful Words and Phrases

Awhile ago I shared my first lesson focused on character growth and analysis (Babushka's Doll). Here, I'd like to share my second lesson based on the book Maple by Lori Nichols. This book is the first of three books about Maple and her little sister, Willow. Both girls are named after trees, and their growth parallels the growth of their trees. In addition to the beautiful illustrations, Lori Nichols uses graceful language to describe her ideas and help readers visualize. While the language is lovely, it is also accessible for young readers. Readers can connect to and easily imagine Lori Nichol's ideas.

I chose to upload this planner because it illustrates how I teach vocabulary and "powerful words and phrases." Specifically, phase two of language workshop is dedicated to vocabulary and author's craft. During this phase we dig deep to analyze author's word choice and its effect. Take a look at how my class talked about how the author used words to make meaning:

Maple

 The following Thoughtful Log entries would be placed in the "Language" or "Powerful Words and Phrases" section of the Thoughtful Log (click on the link for more information about Thoughtful Log organization).

I'm off to bed!

Thoughtful Logs - The Paper/Pencil Edition!

Thoughtful Logs - Thoughts, ideas, and learning worth remembering in reading and writing.

What are thoughtful logs? A tool readers and writers use to help them grow as learners.

Why are they important?

• They make our learning visible
• They deepen our understanding of what we are reading/writing
• They connect our learning in reading and writing

Oh the joys of organizing a thoughtful log in kindergarten! I have to admit I spent a lot of time stressing about the best method of organization for our thoughtful logs. Kindergarten students are special in this regard because they don't quite understand sophisticated organizational concepts yet, nor are they able to maneuver between pages/sections very easily. I thought about a composition notebook like the majority of my school has. But, the lines were so small, and finding where we left off in the notebook was tricky. So, this led me to the idea of using a 3 ring binder. I figured that our entries could be copied onto paper with spaces and lines appropriate for kindergarten. Then, students could add their papers into the 3 ring binder. This isn't the best solution as we REALLY have to teach students how to use the binder carefully (without dumping pages, getting all the holes lined up, etc.). This is an ongoing teaching process. With upper grade levels, I would definitely use a composition notebook, especially because they are using the thoughtful log more independently as a tool during their independent reading. At the kindergarten level I'm doing a lot of scaffolding, so this works for us.

Here's some examples of what my entries look like. Notice that I print off a color copy of the anchor chart that we created during the lesson. Students cut it out and glue it onto the front of their entry. They can refer back to this anchor chart as they respond. Also, notice that I add the phase number. This is only for my reference. Once I had several different entries printed, and I gave the kids the entry for the wrong phase. Now, if I have the phase number on the entry, it keeps me organized! Don't forget to "pre" 3 hole punch the copies. My copy machine can do this automatically, so it's easy!

Anchor chart as a class "scaffold"

The anchor chart is copied and pasted onto the thoughtful log entry.

On the back side, students respond to my question or prompt.

When finished, students put the paper into their 3 ring binder thoughtful log under the correct tab depending on the type of learning: My Thinking, Strategies, Language, and Genre.

My Thinking: This is where students share their thinking and respond to text using evidence. This is the largest section of the thoughtful log as it houses most of our thinking regarding the books we read. Students are thinking and reflecting on reading in this section. There are often "prompts" to ensure high levels of thinking. We also emphasize using evidence from text.

Here are a few examples:

Strategies: Students are learning and using strategies in this section. In kindergarten this can include decoding strategies, since this is a major part of our reading strategy work, but it also includes comprehension strategies such as asking questions, making connections, inferencing, synthesizing, predicting, summarizing, etc. This section is often full of anchor charts that serve as a resource and scaffold for student thinking. Ideally, students refer back to this section during independent reading to access these strategies.

Decoding Strategies:

Language: This section used to be called "powerful words and phrases." I really liked this name, but now we call it "language" because that encompasses more of the deeper workings of the words and structures within the text. I also combined my language section with word work this past year. I won't do that again. It got too confusing for kids. I will have to find another avenue to house word work. The language section helps students understand how words and phrases help them visualize and deepen understanding as readers and how they can apply powerful word choice to their own writing.

Comparisons - This is an example of a language structure that authors use for effect. We study how authors use a comparison phrase to give readers a better picture of what they mean.

Vocabulary/Word Choice:

Genre: This section is probably my least utilized section in kindergarten, simply because our genre study isn't as broad and/or deep as in other grade levels. I do want to work on getting better at this! This section serves as a resource and scaffold for student thinking within specific genres. Knowing how a genre is typically set up aids a reader in knowing how to read a text and what to look for. Knowing the features of a genre is helpful in analyzing text. In kindergarten, we tend to stick to fiction vs. nonfiction. However, this year we delved a little into biographies and folktales. We also explored the difference between nonfiction and narrative nonfiction in One Tiny Turtle. My hope is to expand on this.

A little biography introduction:

I hope this was a little helpful in learning how I set up thoughtful logs. Of course I do have the Digital Thoughtful Log on the iPad as another format. What really ends up happening in my classroom is that students work on the paper/pencil thoughtful logs with my support during language workshop. I feel that as kindergarten students, they still need the support with the mechanics of learning how to write. During independent reading/small group work time, students work on their digital thoughtful logs because there is more independence built in with the technology component - students can record thinking or take/draw pictures to show understanding on the iPad. I like this "balance" between paper/pencil and digital thoughtful logs because kids get exposure to both formats. 

Character Growth Unit - Babushka's Doll

In kindergarten, we spend a lot of time talking about the concept of growth, especially as it relates to people and characters. In language workshop we do two growth units - a literature unit on character growth and analysis and a biography unit on how real people have demonstrated growth. For our unit on character growth and analysis, I chose a book called Babushka's Doll by Patricia Polacco. The concept of a character's growth and change as a result of the events in a story can be difficult for young students to analyze. Babushka's Doll is a great book because young students can easily see the role reversal that Natasha, the main character, experiences. Natasha is an engaging character that students can connect to. Natasha starts off as a selfish and whiny girl, but her grandmother (Babushka) has a doll that teaches Natasha a lesson about her behavior. Check out my lesson plan for Babushka's Doll to see how young students can analyze characters:

Babushka's Doll

Phase 1: We worked on the literal understanding of the story. We created a story elements chart and discussed why characters behaved in certain ways.

Phase 2: We discussed how the author repeats certain events in the story to illustrate how Natasha's perspective changes. We discussed how this parallel structure helped us truly see Natasha's transformation (of course I didn't use the words "parallel structure" with my kiddos, but they did understand why the author chose to repeat these events).

Phase 3: Now that students understand what the text says and how the text works, we were ready to tackle the lessons the author wanted us to understand. Since this unit is also about growth, we thought about how the lessons related to growth.

Patricia Polacco is a truly gifted author. I would highly recommend her children's literature, especially for intermediate grade levels. There is so much depth to her writing! 

Last Inquiry Unit Lesson - One Tiny Turtle

This was my favorite book for our inquiry unit! I love One Tiny Turtle because it can be discussed on so many levels. This book lends itself perfectly to language workshop because it is a complex text. When teaching kindergarten, I would recommend using it at the end of the year; once students have experience participating in the kinds of critical conversations we expect. The best part about this book is that it has a narrative nonfiction style that tells the story of a loggerhead sea turtle's life cycle from hatchling to an adult finding her way back to the beach where she was born to lay her own eggs. The author also sprinkles in facts about sea turtles throughout the book, using a different style font. Students really enjoyed analyzing the narrative nonfiction style and comparing it to the informational text/facts the author presented. They picked up on the two different writing styles without my prompting! This book helps kids understand that not all nonfiction has to be lists of facts. Nonfiction can tell a story and be just as exciting as fiction!

Check it out!

One Tiny Turtle

Like I described above, we spent time during phase 2 (craft & structure) analyzing the author's writing style. I typed portions of the text and as a class we read these portions and determined if they were told in a narrative/story style, or if the author was simply presenting a fact (information). We created the following chart:

Here's one student's thoughtful log entry about these styles:

During phase 3 (purpose, meaning, connections to texts), I introduced another text, National Geographic Kids Sea Turtles:

This book is excellent because it had a lot of connections to One Tiny Turtle, but is written in a completely different style. Kids made a LOT of connections between the texts. While One Tiny Turtle introduces some information about sea turtles, National Geographic Kids Sea Turtles follows up with more details and new, exciting information. One big difference that we picked up on right away is that One Tiny Turtle talks only about the loggerhead sea turtle species. National Geographic Kids Sea Turtles introduces several species of sea turtles. We had to make a chart to record our connections as well as our new learning:

Check out some thoughtful log entries: