Week 6 Blog
#SEACCR
Essential Question: What am I finding as I collect data?
Data Collection has been a whirlwind. Last week I was able
to conduct the book interests survey.
It was actually a very fun activity. To my surprise, a lot of students came up with a lot of
topics that feel into the informational text category. Below are the topics students indicated
they wanted to learn about.
Student
Book Interest Survey
I
want to learn about mud.
I
want to learn about people.
I
want to learn about blue whales.
I
want to learn about the sky.
I
want to learn about the earth.
I
want to read animal books.
I
want to read about the weather.
I
want to read about the arctic.
I
want to read about dinosaurs.
I
want to read about Hawaii.
I
want to read about Princesses
I
want to learn about the weather.
I
want to read about animals that talk.
I
want to learn about cooking.
I
want to read about Castles.
I want to learn about the world.
Princesses
How
to bake
How
to make masks
Learn
Science
How
to make clay
How
to make clothes
I
want to learn about dogs.
I
want to learn about cats
I
want to read about talking dogs
I
want to read about cooking
I
want to read about plants.
Scary
books
Books
about jets
Books
about the Army
NBA
books
Books
about the Miami Heat (basketball team)
Books
about Volcanoes
Books
about basketball
I
want to read about Halloween
Books
about Dinosaurs
Books
about plants
Books
about math
Books
about school
Books
about birds
Books
about Valentines day
Books
about colors
Books
about Aliens
Books
about fish
Books
about:
Addition
Scary
books
Fish
Bridges
Animals
People
How
does wind work?
How
does it rain?
subtraction
mice
spiders
aliens
insects
windmills
houses
volcanoes
fireworks
fire
planes
jets
America
windows
behavior
As a result of this survey, I began adjusting my classroom
library. I was out of the classroom this past Mon-Wed, so when I came in on
Thursday I began my adjustments.
As a class we took all the books from the shelves, and began to sort
them into categories. Some of
these categories included: History/Geography, Science, Math, Animals/Insects,
Alaska...etc. Once all books were sorted,
we put them into bins to be placed on our bookshelf. (Pictures will come soon!). This actually ended up being a very fun activity, as I got to
see students get really excited about the books they wanted to read. In fact, after we sorted the books, and
before we placed them in the bins, we took a break to read a few books that
caught our eyes. And the funny
thing is, they were all nonfiction!
We finished sorting our library today (Friday). After this, I chose a book titled
“Armadillos” to model how to fill out an idea web. I modeled how to figure out the main topic of each page (pictures,
repetitive terms…etc). From there
I listed details about each topic on the outside of the web. Once I completed this, we chose a book
together and made a new idea web. After having students complete an exit slip
(in which they indicated how comfortable they were with being able to do it on
their own) it was determined that students would benefit from having a little
more practice together. As a
result of the exit slips I will conduct another guided practice session with a
different nonfictional text. This
time I will have students help me locate an informational text on the website starfall. From there we will dissect it and
create a web together. After this
activity is completed I will administer a survey. I will attempt to figure out the SMART response system
(clickers) for this activity, if I am having trouble, however, I will have
students record their opinions using survey monkey. From there I will determine whether I will need to do
another guided practice, or have students begin creating their idea webs on
their own.
Amber - what a cool library activity. This also helped the students know what is in your library and get excited about reading all the different types of texts. Starfall is a good resource. Do you have Discovery Education at your district? It also has many non-fiction books available.
ReplyDeleteP.S. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Thank you! The library activity ended up being pretty fun, and now it is soooo much easier to find specific books within our classroom library. I put off this project for so long (as it is/was a HUGE task), but I am glad that it's finally done. Of course, it's far from perfect...but it's a great start! We do not have Discovery Education, although I've heard a ton of great things about that site. Is it too expensive? Does it require too much bandwidth?
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteI love your library activity, what a great idea! Getting students excited about reading different types of books, different genres, and different authors is so important for a well rounded education. Nice job. An idea I had while reading your post that I am not sure how/will fit into your data collection but would be so fun is to do a "blind date" with some informational text books. Simply choose X number of books and cover them in paper. Have the students select one as a class or as an individual. The book they unwrap is the book they read! I would wrap them in different colored paper so it gets them more excited but you do not have to. Anyway, I cannot wait to hear more about your analysis this week. Keep up the good work!
Jamie
Ok so we are going to need to collaborate when I am there for the writing thing in November!!! I may have an idea that you can easily throw in with your project that is a listening activity for when you read informational text. We all look at eh cover and do picture walks or look for headings to tell us what we will be reading about. After that have the students make a list of words they think they will hear. List them and as you read if they hear them have them raise their hand. You can add incentives at that point if there is little engagement. point per word after 5 or 10 words they get a prize or some incentive. When you teach them how to go through the story and find the main ideas they will being to find words and they can use sticky-notes to write their ideas down. they can then check them off as they go. If anything it gets them thinking logically about what they are about to read. The search helps them pick out main ideas and can also support listening skill development.
ReplyDelete