Novel Study

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

The beginning of the school year got away from me. One big reason for this is that I completely revamped my reading block. With changing school I suddenly had more time in day. 30+ minutes actually. It gave me the ability to move my schedule around and really teach the way I wanted.

I am not a fan of textbooks. I think the stories are boring and my students were not interested in them. I began to think about great children's literature and I wanted to use those books in my classroom. As I've mentioned before 4th grade in my district teaches in 3 week units by skill. It looks like this:

Quarter 1

Weeks 1-3: Sequence
Weeks 4-6: Compare/Contrast
Weeks 7 - 9: Main Idea

Quarter 2

Weeks 10-12: Cause/Effect
Weeks 13-15: Drawing Conclusions/ Inferring
Weeks 16-18: Story Structure/ Text Features

Quarter 3

Weeks 19-20: Fact/Opinion , Predict and Set Purpose
Weeks 22-24: Literary Elements
Weeks 25-27: Story Structure

Quarter 4

Weeks 27-30: Review, Poetry
Weeks 31-33: Fables & Myths/ Visualize / Greek Gods/Goddesses
Weeks 33-35: Graphic Sources

What I've done is attached a children't novel to these and we are doing a novel study while pulling in other resources to also hit the weekly skill. I have started creating my own novel studies but their are some great ones on TPT also.

Here is the Google Doc I've used for my planning and resources. Not only do I use TPT products, and products I've made. I also use children's literature to pull in mini lessons.




Quarter 1

Weeks 1-3: Sequence: Because of Winn-Dixie
Weeks 4-6: Compare/Contrast: Matilda 
Weeks 7 - 9: Main Idea: The Sign of the Beaver

This Novel study will be live next week. I've been delayed....see below for that explanation!
UPDATE: Now live on TPT!!! 

Quarter 2

Weeks 10-12: Cause/Effect: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 
Weeks 13-15: Drawing Conclusions/ Inferring: The One and Only Ivan
Weeks 16-18: Story Structure/ Text Features: Mr. Popper's Penguins

Quarter 3

Weeks 19-20: Fact/Opinion , Predict and Set Purpose: Bridge to Terabithia
Weeks 22-24: Literary Elements: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Weeks 25-27: Story Structure: Charlotte's Web

Quarter 4

Weeks 27-30: Review, Poetry: Love That Dog
Weeks 31-33: Fables & Myths/ Visualize / Greek Gods/Goddesses: Percy Jackson & the Lightening Thief
Weeks 33-35: Graphic Sources: Open

My students absolutely love these books. My teaching partner and I typed up the list of books we were using and explained to parents what we were doing. We stated that if any parent had a problem with the list they were to write in and let us know, otherwise we would use the books listed. We didn't have a single parent contact us so that was good.

Now did we have class sets of all these books in August? Absolutely not. But we asked around and our school librarian was able to use library funds to purchase class sets for us! Our PTO was also willing to step up and purchase books if we needed them. If you don't have a class set, then do a read aloud. Or, purchase it for your Kindle and throw it up on the screen so your class can read along with you.

I've created a novel study for The Sign of the Beaver that we are currently using in class. I'm going to add it to my TPT store ASAP but my darling son Colin derailed my progress.

Being 100% boy he decided to jump OVER the mailbox. Now mind you, I just told him a few weeks ago to stop sitting on top of the mailbox because he would jump and sit on it. Why? I have no idea. But did he listen to his Mother? Of course not. He tried to jump over the mailbox but missed the landing. He landed on the curb instead and received a nasty wrist fracture. I'll spare you THAT picture. It was disgusting. Bones shouldn't bend that way! After the ER, ambulance ride, countless xrays, and specialist he had to have surgery.

We thought they were just going to go in and move the bone back but instead he had to receive a plate and screws. His arm muscle kept moving the bone back out of place.  He will receive his cast next week. Fingers crossed.

If you've never had surgery, or never had a child that has had surgery, thank your lucky stars. The anesthesia is awful for a few days after surgery. Colin's muscles were so sore for 3 days. He could hardly walk, didn't want to eat a thing, and was just overall miserable. We finally turned a corner yesterday and he was able to go back to school today.

Now that he's on the right track I'll work on finishing my Sign of the Beaver Teacher Edition with the answer keys and I'll get that added to TPT. If you have any questions about how I implemented the changes in my Reading Block just let me know!

I've also started crocheting again and I've finished 3 baby blankets over the last few weeks. All those doctor offices really helped with my crochet!

(Follow the link for the YouTube video for these blankets)

Where is picture 3 you ask? I have no idea.....I know I took it but can't find it now. Story of my life. :)

What's going on with you? Inquiring minds want to know!
-Tracy

5th Grade Scope and Sequence

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

My husband teaches 5th grade and they also had to create a PIVOT for their Scope and Sequence. All of the 5th grade teachers worked together to combine resources so that everyone was teaching the same thing at the same time. This really helps when students move among buildings but stay in the district. I asked him to share what they created to help out other educators and he was happy to share.

ELA Scope and Sequence

Math Scope and Sequence

Hopefully if you are trying to create a PIVOT or something similar you can find some useful information here.

Thanks to my hubby for sharing and to all the SCSD2 5th grade teachers for your hard work.

-Tracy

4th Grade Reading Scope and Sequence

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

Michelle and I worked with the other 4th grade teachers in our district and created a 4th Grade reading Scope and Sequence. While you can use Reading Street as a guide it is not mandatory. Michelle and I very rarely use the textbook, but it's listed if you need it.

We did something new this past year and we focused on a specific skill for 3 weeks at a time. This allowed us to dig deep into a concept before we had to move on. We constantly came back and reviewed the skills throughout the year.

ReadWorks.org is a fantastic website to go along with your reading curriculum and I highly encourage you to check it out if you are not using it in your classroom.

As Michelle and I add materials we will update the doc and you will have even more resources available for you.

If you find resources you think we would love please send them our way!

-Tracy

Scope and Sequence

Math Curriculum

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

This summer has been filled with curriculum meetings. Each grade level met across my district in a very cold room and we mapped out our year. In the past our district used Build Your Own Curriculum to make our curriculum maps. This summer we are redoing and adding everything into PIVOT.

Michelle and I, along with the other 4th grade teachers, have been mapping out our Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling/Grammar for the entire year.

You can read all about our Writing Curriculum here.

Math was a bigger issue for us because Indiana did away with Common Core. Our new standards are similar but enough of a change to give us pause.

Our district uses enVision Math.

 When we adopted enVision we previewed the Indian version and we loved it. Around this time Indiana adopted CC so our district purchased the CC enVision thinking it would be similar.

We were wrong....I'm not a fan of the Common Core version as it seems completely out of order and does not have a clear scope and sequence.

In my opinion the Common Core version felt rushed, thrown together, and the order of the topics was ridiculous. It was almost as if they threw it together so the publishing company could say they had a CC edition. I hated it.

Now that Indiana has done away with CC we are using the Indiana enVision again. (And there was much rejoicing)

Keep that in mind with this curriculum map.

That being said, I'm confident you can still find this map useful. You can search the map for the topic you are covering and hopefully still use our resources. If nothing else use our map as a guide if you have to create something similar! Remember to check back often. This map will update as we make changes!




This map hasn't gone through the "Make it cute and pretty phase". Give me time and that will change. :)

Michelle and I will continue to add and change this as we use it this year. This is our starting point. Hopefully it can be yours as well. -Tracy

Writing Curriculum

You can follow Tracy at her new blog: The Knit Wit Teacher

This summer has been filled with curriculum meetings. In the past our district used Build Your Own Curriculum to make our curriculum maps. This summer we are redoing and adding everything into PIVOT.

Michelle and I, along with the other 4th grade teachers, have been mapping out our Reading, Writing, Math, Spelling/Grammar for the entire year.

Michelle and I spent a lot of time mapping out our writing. We searched through blogs and Pinterest to find ideas to go with each unit.

I've uploaded our Keynote so you can see the map. I'm new to embedding PDF's so bare with me.  I'm also going to attach our Learning Activities for each genre.

This is our starting point. It's a good start and makes this new to 4th grade teacher feel much better. Thoughts?
-Tracy

 


Narrative Writing:
SmekensEducation
Narrative Anchor Chart
Revising and Editing Anchor Chart 
Narrative Writing Framework
Narrative Writing Topics

Persuasive Writing:
Pinterest Persuasive
Pinterest
Read, Write, Think Lesson 
Lessons
BrainPop


Expository Writing:
Smekens: Book Clubs linked with Writing
Expository Writing Pinterest
Read, Write, Think


Research Report:
Pinterest Board
Anchor Chart: Make a Plan
Anchor Chart: Paragraph Changes
ReadWriteThink Lesson