Good readers make "movies in their heads" while reading. Visualizing helps us understand the text in a deeper way. It connects us to what we're reading. Today in class we read an excerpt from Charlotte's Web that describes Zuckerman's barn. While I read it aloud, I did a "think-aloud," explicitly describing to the kids what I was thinking. After the kids had a chance to read it themselves, we discussed what the barn looked like in our minds. We discovered that our images were affected by our background knowledge AND the text. We used our background knowledge and prior experiences with barns to create an image of Zuckerman's. All of our barns had certain elements (as indicated in the text), but in some ways our barns were different - all according to an individual's background knowledge. We learned that a reader creates meaning as he or she engages with text.
Here's Caroline's barn!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Visualizing
Madison's Multiplication Strategy
I've taught multiplication for many years, and I've taught many different strategies for multi-digit multiplication. But the other day, Madison taught our class a brand new way to multiply! Madison combined elements of the traditional algorithm AND the partial-products algorithm to develop her own strategy - the Madison strategy.
We were all quite impressed with her mathematical skill, and everyone in the class attempted a problem or two using this new way of thinking.
Many times we think mathematics is very cut and dry - boring at times. But Madison has reminded us that math can be creative, spontaneous, and very discovery-based. I'm so proud of the incredible mathematical thinking and creativity that Madison has displayed. Study her work, and see if you can explain why this strategy works. It's very innovative!
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Writing Celebration
What stories! Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our writing celebration. Our young writers shared the personal narrative stories they've been working on for the last month. Our students learned how to find a small moment, slow the moment down, tell the story step-by-step, craft strong leads and endings, revise the heart of the story, punctuate dialogue, and edit our writing. I was so impressed with the quality of their writing! Below you will find a video with some of the pictures from our celebration. I also hope to have podcasts of the student's stories up very soon. Come back and visit the blog for updates.
