This week we really stretched our brains by analyzing expository texts. In fact, Ms. Smith said that we were doing upper-level high school or COLLEGE work. We're all college-bound, so, while it was challenging, we were very successful. Check out some of the questions we were able to answer:
-How is the author organizing information in this text, or, in other words, how is the text sequenced? -How does the way the author organized this text influence the way we read it and understand the ideas? Why is this important? -Are there any cause-effect or compare-contrast relationships presented in this text? Why do you think the author chose to use these relationships in this text? Wow. It feels great to be a scholar! Woof Buzz...Woof Buzz... Our amazing Old Yeller Literature Circle group has been rocking Cunningham's socks off with their 'Austin Pets Alive' fundraiser. They were so inspired by this novel that they have initiated a school-wide event. You can donate money to the Hive--room 310 (anything helps)--but you can ALSO help 'Austin Pets Alive' by voting for their organization. It's soooo easy, too! Just go to www.VoteToSaveLives.org and select 'Austin Pets Alive'. They could win $25,000 to save lots and lots of needy animals. Spread the love, scholars! ...in fact, we kinda liked them. We spent the week exploring expository texts (texts that give factual information). ALL of them. Apparently, in the 21st century, expository texts have grown exponentially. Here are just a few we explored in the hive:
-Newspapers -iPad Apps (woot woot TED talks) -Political cartoons -Websites (like NationalGeographic.com) -Non-fiction books (duh. We totally already had that one down solid) -Podcasts (Ms. Smith is completely obsessed with Ira Glass) -Photography -Documentaries -Maps -Diaries and Journals (Anne Frank and Lincoln) It was amazing to see the spectrum of expository texts; to experience the flexible and vast range of texts was pretty cool. There were so many overlapping features of all of the texts as well. One thing that ALL of them had in common, was that they presented factual information to an audience. This is the link to President Obama's contribution to the anti-bullying initiative called "It Gets Better." And on a side note...I'm always here to talk if anyone wants to discuss this organization, your own thoughts, or is having problems with bullying. Feel free to view the video if you're interested: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/21/president-obama-it-gets-better
Where did English words derive from?
Are they Latin? Are they Greek? What is etymology? What is a root word? After a week of studying etymology, these are all questions that the Hive Society can now answer. We're experts. And if you're interested in the etymology of the word "expert", then you can look it up at: http://www.etymonline.com/ You may have already noticed this, but there's a NEW TAB up on our website that is fully dedicated to our lit circles. I'm slowly (but surely) uploading groups' projects, so be patient!
EEK! I completely overloaded my teacher-to-do-list, and I'm not going to have new lit circle groupings done until Friday. Breathe. Breathe again. I swear that your independent reading choices (and this hilarious picture of me & the Mitchasaurus) will captivate enough of your interest until then. If not, then meet with me tomorrow and I'll set you up with a spectacular read.
On a [selfish] side note: OPEN TUTORING IS TOMORROW (Wednesday) UNTIL 4:00! So, we're all practically experts on inferencing, but we spent a week digging deeper into the world of inferencing. The older we get, and the further we move in our life-long-learning-experiences, the more complex texts that we encounter will become. We won't just be using our schema to infer, but also definitive textual evidence. Throughout our lives, we not only infer when we read novels, we also infer when we:
-observe works of art -read poetry -analyze mathematical patterns -conduct science experiments What do you infer about in YOUR life? |
the Hive SocietyWe are the class of 2024 at Cunningham Elementary, and we. are. super. scholars. Archives
April 2016
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