Our focus in reading class continues to be on nonfiction selections. Students have read about the painter Rembrandt, a man who studied snowflakes under a microscope, what it's like to be an astronaut, and even what life was really like as a cowboy. Throughout our study, we're continuing to incorporate new strategies - like using textbook feature to guide our reading. Textbook features include the title, headings, boldfaced words, pictures, and other elements of a written selection that help us to preview and understand what we are about to read. We've also been applying these same skills when using textbooks in science and history.
We're continuing to work on developing our vocabulary skills. In A Day Reading classes, students are piloting a program referred to as RtI All Stars, where they meet in small groups with myself to work on very specific skills to improve their reading and comprehension skills. Presently, we are focusing on vocabulary in context. Basically, if a student runs across a word they do not know, can they tell what it means from the way it's used in the sentence? Or if the word has more than one meaning, can they tell which is the correct meaning from it's context?
My 6th Hour Reading class is also piloting a program of its own. The AMP reading series features high interest nonfiction topics at an accessible level for middle schoolers. Currently, these students are reading about Nature's Fury - including wildfires in California and storm chasing across Tornado Alley. The AMP series also focuses on identifying the main idea, writing accurate summaries, and improving vocabulary skills.
Looking Ahead:
Nov 18/21 - Nonfiction Unit Test for 1st, 3rd & 7th Hours
Dec 8/9 - AR Project #2 Due
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