Nonfiction with 4th and 5th grade

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a vertical planning meeting with 4th and 5th grade teachers. They mentioned that they needed to do more with nonfiction.  That is where I come in! We started planning immediately.

4th Grade

The 4th grade teacher mentioned that her students were specifically having trouble making inferences with nonfiction text. We scheduled a day/time for each of her classes, then started planning our lesson. We decided to create a Nearpod lesson, which is an edtech tool where teachers can create interactive lessons. The lesson shows on the students device screens (we use Chromebooks) and the teacher can give immediate feedback. 

I was in charge of finding the nonfiction passages and the questions. We reviewed making inferences, then we practiced together. We used text clues + schema to come up with our inference. 

I made a note taking sheet for students to fill out while they found clues in the story, plus writing down their schema. 

 

At the end of the lesson was a short quiz that students completed. I was able to send them their scores immediately after completion, and students could see what they answered correctly or missed. 

5th Grade

The 5th grade ELA teacher mentioned that she needed her students to have a better understanding of:

• the different types of nonfiction 
• text features
• purposes of text features

I decided to pull books and magazines to allow the students to have examples in their hands. We reviewed the types of nonfiction, and in groups, students sorted out their books/magazines into types of nonfiction. We discussed features of biography, procedural, magazines, newspapers, and informative texts. 

Then, I showed examples of types of text features commonly found in nonfiction texts. This part was a review, but then we went deeper and discussed how each type of text feature helps us comprehend the nonfiction text. 

The final piece was for the students to find examples of text features in their books and magazines at their tables. They added the examples to a collaborative board in nearpod, but had to include specifics on how that text feature helped them as readers. This was the hardest part, and many students had to go back and add specifics. In the end, they got it! 

Collaboration

If you aren't already collaborating with your teachers, please start! Start small, and your collaborative partnerships will grow. 

Start off by asking to sit in on a PLC or a vertical planning meeting. These are perfect places to offer to help out on a skill that the classroom teachers mention their students need more help. 

Co-teaching and collaborating with the teachers have done wonders for our students on my campus. They have 2 teachers in a lesson to help them, monitor, and teach them.  

Chromebook Academy

I am so excited that our first graders and kindergarten students will be learning to use the Chromebooks this week. When our school first purchased the Chromebook carts, I had quite a few people tell me that they did not think little ones could use them successfully.

Challenge accepted!!

So, I started researching some things and found Clever badges. I immediately sent the information to my library direction, who in turn talked with our technology department. I was so excited to be chosen as one of the pilot schools for the Clever badges.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask! 

After we got word about the clever badges, and I got them all printed out, laminated, and ready to go, Chromebook Academy was in the works. We started off with simple steps -- how to carry our Chromebook, how to open and close the Chromebook, logging in, using the touchpad, etc... The excitement was contagious! 

Look at these smiles! 

I lay my Chromebook flat on a table to use it. 

Kindergarten students can use Chromebooks, too. 

I hold my Chromebook with two hands.

Chromebook Academy

I got the idea of calling it Chromebook Academy from my kids' kindergarten teacher. We were blessed to be able to have the same teacher for both my son and my daughter, and she was AMAZING!! She had different academies throughout the school year, such as shoe tying academy. The students received certificates once they passed the academy. 

I created the presentation below to guide us through each day and each step. This is still a work in progress, but feel free to use the presentation for your school. 

Don't underestimate young students, they are very capable of learning how to use technology. However, don't assume they know how to use technology just because they can play on a tablet. They must be shown how to effectively use devices. 

I will also add that our second grade students were taught how to use the Chromebooks at the beginning of the school year, and all second grade students can login using their Google Account logins. They can learn, and they can use the devices! 

Theme and Character Change

One of the highlights of my job is collaborating with teachers on my campus. Collaboration is easy, you just have to start small! There are so many things that you can collaborate with the teachers about and have co-teaching happen in your school library.

While ELA is not the only subject that librarians can collaborate about, it seems to be the most popular. I am always collaborating and planning with the ELA teachers. One great lesson we did recently was over theme and character change.

I created a template in Google Draw and added it to Google Classroom. Each student had their own copy, and filled in how the character changed throughout the story.

The next week, we discussed theme! I wanted to make it fun and let the kids move around. There is so much more room to move around in the library than in the classroom. The teacher used an app called Chawzi, which groups students. 4 - 6 students put their fingers on the iPad and a colored dot comes up under their finger. This lets them know which group they are in.

Each group received a folder with their mission. The mission was to identify the theme in a story using clues.

Inside each folder was a set of clues to look for, as well as a list of common themes found in literature. Students then had to search the library for their assigned story, and start hunting for the theme.

The students had loads of fun, and learned a lot about finding theme.