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Drawing Conclusions: Whole Group Lesson

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Our comprehension skill this week is Drawing Conclusions, so I decided to also incorporate some close reading in with our whole group lessons. I’ve been LOVING this book. So many great ideas.

We use the Scott Foresman Reading Street series, which I’m still learning about so I can’t give a full opinion of it yet. I’ve found some of the material to be useful and some not so great features of the program, but I’m still trying to learn what works best for me in 5th grade, so the jury’s still out.
Our story this week is called The Gymnast, so we’ve been discussing the history of gymnastics and what all goes into training for the Olympics. The following passage is actually included in the students’ books, but I always make a copy of it so they can highlight and write notes. The passages are fantastic, but they are so much better when the kids can actually interact with the text. This is eating away at my copies, but it’s benefitting the kids. I try and keep that in mind when I see my remaining copies number dwindle down..

We “cold read” the paragraph first. “Cold Reading” is a neat little idea I learned from the fabulous Lyndsey from A Year of Many Firsts. After cold reading we take each paragraph and discuss. Sometimes I instruct them on what to write on the post it. Other times I simply have them jot down a question, thought, or connection. As they are doing this, I’m walking around to check their understanding of their reading. 
After this activity, we moved onto another passage that also had a graphic organizer with it so we could practice drawing conclusions. This passage actually came from the practice book, but I HATE the way the comprehension practice page is set up. They divide the passage into two parts, which is confusing when trying to number paragraphs and also just weird looking. I’m sure there is some reason as to why they displayed the passage this way, but I’m not getting it. So, I just typed it out and copied it for everyone so we could (you guessed it!) close it. 

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Comments

  1. I am so inspired by all of your posts! Thank you so much for sharing your lessons, you are helping to make me a better teacher!

    Sara 🙂
    The Colorful Apple

  3. We put worksheets etc into plastic sleeves (sheet protectors) and use whiteboard markers for worksheets we want the children to mark up but want/need to save the sheets for reuse.

  4. My fourth grader little girl is dyslexic and i am always looking for ways to help her reading and writting . This is such a great strategy …. Thank you …. I will keep on visiting this blog !

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