January- February
January to February is spent working on our interpretation text-sets unit! This is an exciting unit for students to get into, calling upon all the skills they have learned so far in the year. In this unit, students get a chance to think more deeply about past read alouds and previously read books, as well as apply new skills to wonderful new books they are reading in class. Using picture books and chapter books, we model for students how to grasp the theme from the story by asking ourselves, "What is the life lesson?" or "What is the author's message in this book?" Again, students are using boxes and bullets to jot down their ideas from the story, while supporting those ideas with evidence from the text. Students also begin to discover similarities between a number of texts, as well as make connections with the books we've read aloud. Students learn that if they discover a strong universal theme in one story, that chances are that the same theme will be found in another text! As we get deeper into the unit, students think about various aspects of the story that contribute to theme, such as setting and character development. After they have been actively reading and jotting down their ideas, students have the opportunity to meet with the members of their group to discuss their thinking. |