Wrapping Up the Week!

How on earth is it FEBRUARY already?! With report cards in the works and conferences beginning next week I am quite surprised at the realization that we are almost two-thirds of the way through our year...yikes!!! 

First up...Picture of the Day!

This week we discussed the skill of inferring / inferencing / making inferences (however you want to say it), and how not only in books, but also in games (Brody mentioned Clue), movies, commercials, etc. we make these constantly as we consider evidence (details) we see or read combined without our schema (what we already know from past experiences) to "read between the lines." In Picture of the Day students spend time carefully observing a photograph (we used pictures to remove the barrier of reading text at all different levels), and then using those observations to make inferences. After examining all aspects of the photograph we begin discussing what we can infer is happening. Students are then asked to record their inferences with evidence used to support their thinking. This skill has a direct correlation to making inferences in our reading, as becoming good "inferrers" requires us to carefully examine not only the big events happening in our story, but also the little details, such as how a character's tone of voice tells us about their emotions. Next week students will move into completing this activity with a partner. 

This week's roots and our "concept map." Each week we have been color coding chunks in order to visualize each word in pieces that make sense for both meaning and spelling patterns. Our working vocabularies are growing by leaps and bounds! Again...someone found another word (emphasize) in their reading just today!!! 

Ok, so this isn't from our classroom...but we did have our 100th day of school this week. My munchkin dressed up for kindergarten. Apparently he walked with a limp and a wobbly hand anytime he walked around the classroom. LOL!

Our Learning Bank trip to the FM Symphony to hear Beethoven. It was fabulous!!! I was so thrilled to hear Dr. Herschberger from Concordia (who I was privileged to take lessons from) perform with the Symphony on piano, and even more thrilled that my students recognized many of the pieces he played. 

Heads in for Round Robin long division! This week I introduced long division, and we've been practicing over the past few days. Today we worked in teams to practice and coach one another through the process. Sometimes you just need another fourth grader instead of a thirty-four year old explaining the process for the thirty-fourth time. :) Each team worked independently to solve the same problem at their pod. The activity was very clearly stated to NOT be a race, rather the opportunity to work together as coaches to support one another and have the common goal of achieving the same answer as a team. To make sure we didn't race we put into place pause and resume "buttons", so that at any time a group member could "pause" their team to ask for help or double check the next step and "resume" when ready. I was SO impressed by the way everyone dove right in, tackled the work, and constantly coached one another through. They worked carefully and accurately, and everyone ended the day feeling successful and supported. Yeah!!! (Oh, and don't ask where I was standing to take this picture...)

Inferring

Today we began working with the strategy of inferencing, or making inferences. Rather than explain what that term means, let me share our conversation...

PREDICTING - We compared the process of making predictions and determining if we were right or wrong to putting together a puzzle. Were we to dump out a puzzle (without seeing the picture on the box), we could examine the pieces for details and clues as to what the final puzzle might look like. As we start to put pieces together, we would continue to revise our predictions based on what we see as the puzzle comes together (just like we would evaluate the predictions we make as we read and change them as we progress through a book). In the end, we would be able to see if our predictions were correct as the picture would be "right there" in front of us.

INFERRING - We compared inferring to examining a piece of art. Just like predicting, we can study the details for clues and come to our own conclusions about its meaning, but unlike predictions we won't get a clear picture of whether or not our inferences were what the author intended.

Now let's talk about how we infer as readers...

...and try making inferences with a photo instead of a story.

 Here are the inferences the students made today...

• I observe two otters. I infer that it's a baby and a mother because one is smaller, the mom seems to be carrying the baby, and she is showing affection.
• I infer the baby can't swim because it's laying on the adult's stomach and its fur is dry and fuzzy.
• I infer they are either in the ocean, a large lake, or a zoo because the water is clear.
• I infer its a partly cloudy day because the water is gray (not sparkly) and we see the otters' shadow.

Making inferences is a challenging skill for students since it requires higher level thinking and analysis. Students must carefully examine details in a text and come to their own conclusions. Many times I've found students who are hesitant to do this because they want to have the "right answer" (and inferences are not explicit). Making inferences also requires students, at times, to reread, carefully examine text, and defend or explain their thinking. 

Credit for photos / author of Picture of the Day - Jen Jones of Hello Literacy

http://www.helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-inferences-about-amazon-river.html

http://www.helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2013/08/observing-describing-inferring-with.html