Nonfiction: Cause-Effect Text Structure

Our school has spent about a month in an expository unit already, and a lot of the grade levels are currently working on text structures. The structures that third grade works with are sequential order and cause and effect. Fourth grade adds compare-contrast, and fifth grade adds logical order and classification scheme. 

We have worked hard on starting with a tangible experience - something hands-on designed to have the kids notice patterns in language, etc., and then bridging to application in a text. We're trying to scaffold students' understanding of the ideas.

Text structures always seems to be the key for students to really comprehend. I feel like students often read superficially, skimming and browsing through the text, but not really noticing or reading closely enough to consider the relationships between words in sentences, paragraphs, and the overall text. This happens in fiction and nonfiction, but it's especially difficult in nonfiction.

For cause and effect - a difficult standard introduced and tested in third grade, we decided to start with an anchor chart and Mix-Pair-Share activity with statements on cards. This is the anchor chart we created as a sample:

First, kids will recieve a set of cause and effect statements on cards. Each student receives a card. They mix-pair-share to find their cause-effect match. Then, in their partners, they use the sentence stems on the anchor chart to build sentences including their cards.

My favorite part is the sentence stems on the bottom. We're trying to get kids to use the stems in speaking and writing. We're hoping this will help them think about the relationship between ideas and how sentence structures contribute to that.

One common misconception I've found with text structures is where we see them. In the standards, it feels like the entire text will be a cause-effect structure, or a sequence, but in reality, it's usually a few sentences, a paragraph, or a section of text that are organized that way. Several different types of text structures can be used in one text.

To help other teachers out with these topics of nonfiction, I've been working on a Nonfiction Pack that includes these activities as well as many others! I'm super excited about it - it will be my largest reading pack to date! I'll let you know when it's up!

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Snow Much Fun!

Out of the things that I miss about the classroom, I think math actually makes the list. (Science - no.) Math is fun to teach. It's so tangible. So to amuse myself and to help out my third grade teachers, I put together this math pack: Snow Much Fun Winter Math Stations!
Many of the third grade teachers were saying their kids were struggling with basic number skills, and so I included number lines, rounding, comparing numbers, and place value in this math pack. Hopefully spiraling these concepts through math stations can help students retain the learning they did earlier in the year!

Grab it at TPT or Teacher's Notebook!
To the first five comments (including your email address), I'll send the pack for free!  Have a happy Saturday!
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Retelling Gloves! Fun fun fun

One of the things our K-2 teachers are working on is increasing student accountability for comprehension. This can be difficult for students when practicing independently, such as in daily five stations. We found this adorable and simple strategy to use with kids to help them remember how to retell. It's called the Retelling Glove and it's great for fiction. Our teachers got to make one today during an after-school meeting.

They're super easy to make! You take a glove (they're on clearance now - I got a bunch of pairs for 50 cents each, and you only need one per class!) And you print out an image representing each item necessary for a good retelling. 

These are the images, where they go, and what they represent:

The thumb: a picture of people. This represents the characters.
Pointer finger: a picture of a house/scene. This represents the setting.
Middle finger: a picture of a lock. This represents the problem.
Ring finger: a picture of a key. This represents the solution.
Pinky: a picture of a ladder. This represents beginning-middle-end sequence of events.
Palm: A light bulb. This represents the main idea.
Back of the hand: A heart. This represents a personal connection the kids have.

I got great instructions for it here:
Retelling Glove

The teacher models using the hand to retell during a read aloud or shared reading. After the students have become familiar and received lots of practice, the teacher can put it in their read to self or read to someone station and have students wear the glove to retell. What a cute and easy way to encourage retelling and grow comprehension!

By the way, I just started watching The Tudors today on netflix, and I'm super hooked.

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I don't want to go to work! I want to be a cat instead.

I know I've been largely missing this break. I have enjoyed my time with my family and my hunny. Since he proposed, I've thought of nothing but wedding Wedding WEDDING! and I don't want to think about anything else.

Like work.

Tomorrow I go back. I really really really really don't want to. ("Who cares!" says everyone who went back last week) I think it's gotten worse since I don't have a class. When you have kids, it's different. You HAVE to be there. I know I HAVE to be there, too, but there won't be 22 helpless little baby boos missing me if I'm not there. It's very different.

I was trying to motivate myself, but I think I'm just not going to think about it instead.

Instead, let's talk about what I would rather be than a human: a cat. This break, I have had the pleasure of observing my cat, the Professor, and noticing how he spends his days. And as the days passed, I realized: Being a cat is awesome. It's not really contestable. Here is my photographic evidence of what my cat does all day.

Sometimes he lays on the couch.

Other times, he feels like laying on the chaise.

On some days, nothing will do but lounging on the floor, right in the middle of everyone's path.

When he wants to be extra comfy, he smushes up all the pillows and lays on top.

Guest bedrooms are pretty nice.

And this is my favorite. I would like to say this was the morning after New Year's, but that would be too perfect.

See? I made GREAT use of my time! And so did he.    Pin It

Poppin the Question!

I know I haven't blogged in a few days. Everyone's being so busy-busy and I've done nothing. Every time I look at my laptop, I think, "Nooo....I don't want to go there." Opening my laptop starts a whole series of events that includes compulsively checking my email (which I already check on my phone anyway!) reading the latest Yahoo! news stories (or looking at the pictures anyway) and checking out hundreds of blogs. 
This takes a lot of time, and I've been on cloud nine, so I didn't want to. Why am I on cloud nine? Cause...
Ding-Dong! What's that? It's wedding bells! For me!
Yes, my hunnybun popped the big question on Christmas Eve. Here's the bling:

The smarty-pants checked my pinterest board to see what kind of a ring I wanted. 

That whole day, I knew he was going to do it (he has issues with subtlety) and I was so excited to get home already and exchange gifts (expecting one of those gifts to be a ring). I had spent the whole day nagging him. "HUNNY! Let's go home! Hurry up! Presents presents presents!"
We went to church first and I could tell his hands were cold during the Lord's prayer. Mmm-HMM! I knew it! Nerves!
We got home and he handed me my stocking.  That sounds weird. Let me clarify: I demand a stocking full of things. Special things for me. I also fill up one for him. You're supposed to do stockings on Christmas Day (everybody knows) but he is so excited every year, that we can't wait. So he handed me my stocking and I hurriedly pulled out all the special things he gave me. Creamer for my coffee, a package of rolos, and some mini Oreos and a bottle of wine.  Okay, so it covered both my favorite beverages and some sweet stuff, besides, but no ring? I was sure it would be in there!
I shoved my hand all the way in and felt around the toe. There was something small down there. I grabbed it and pulled it out. It was a Rolo. The package had opened and there were Rolos rolling around down there.
I shoved one in my face.
Then he handed me a large red box.  YES! A big box with a little box in it, I thought. I tore open the paper and saw
sneakers
He got me the sneakers I asked for.
I was very confused. I shoved another Rolo in my face. 
At that point, of course, is when he laughed, got down on a knee, asked me to marry him. With a mouthful of Rolo, I said yes! 
So you'll forgive me for being post-less and comment-less since before Christmas. My head is in another place, full of pearls and flowers, pinterest boards with adorable dresses and favors. I'm excited. I'll let you know how these wedding shenanigans go. And I'll be pinning away for our wedding on my Someday I'll Get Married pin board.

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The Twelve Days of Christmas Brea

It is officially Christmas break. I say that it's official today because normally I'd be at work, and today, I'm sitting. I went to make cookies at my moms, and I ate about 10% of the cookies myself. And then I came home and sat.

It's wonderful. 

As I've sat here, I thought a little bit about what my plans are for this break. I decided to share these plans with you. In the form of a song.

Twelve Days of Christmas Break

On the twelfth day of Christmas break, I will have ...

drank 12 cups of coffee (with whipped cream all over)

eaten 11 (different types of) cookies

watched 10 episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

listened to Charlie Brown Christmas 9 times

worn 8 different pairs of pajama bottoms... as pants

consumed 7 alcoholic beverages (that number 7 is arbitrary and does not actually represent my alcoholic consumption.

visited 6 family households 

finished wrapping the last 5 presents

mailed 4 boxes (of gifts that won't arrive until after Christmas, so I'm a horrible friend)

taken 3 walks (because I feel guilty about the eleven types of cookies)

read 2 books (that I chose to read for myself!)

and gone to see the Hobbit ONCE!

I hope your plans are just as lazy as mine :)

Merry ChristmasPin It