Grade 6 Paraphrasing

Sixth graders are learning about how to avoid plagiarism. After we discussed the skill of paraphrasing (and the need for a good vocabulary ... or at least a thesaurus!), the students wrote original sentences and then paraphrased each other. Here is some of their work:

Original: Ice cream is my favorite snack on a hot day when I am craving something cold.
Paraphrase: He likes to eat ice cream when it's hot.

Original: I want to marry Justin Bieber because I love him, but he is with Selena Gomez.
Paraphrase: Justin is with Selena, and he should be with me.

Original: I went to Coco Keys, and it was like a sauna. 
Paraphrase: When I got to Coco Keys, it was so hot I could melt.

Original: Honey Boo Boo is a show I love to watch. It is on every Thursday.
Paraphrase: I enjoy watching Honey Boo Boo every Thursday.

Original: I eat ice cream.
Paraphrase: I devour frozen cow milk.

Original: For generations, my family sold lemonade that was delectable and left the customer filled with delight.
Paraphrase: My relatives sold lemonade for a long time, and it was very good.

Original: You should buy chicken wings because they taste so magnificent.

Paraphrase: Can you please purchase chicken wings for me because I just love how good they taste.

Original: One of my hobbies is shopping.

Paraphrase: I like to shop in my free time.

Original: Bob fell and hit his head on the ground.

Paraphrase: His head collided with the floor after he fell.

Original: I really enjoy going to the zoo and seeing the animals.

Paraphrase: Seeing the animals at the zoo makes me happy.

Original: My cat ate the whole wheel of cheese.

Paraphrase: The whole wheel of cheese is gone because my cat gobbled it.

Common Core standard addressed: W.6.8 - ... quote or paraphrase ... while avoiding plagiarism.

Celebrate Read Across America on March 1!

The National Education Association (NEA) sponsors the Read Across America event each year on or near March 2, the birthday of beloved children's author Dr. Seuss, who epitomizes a love of learning.

NEARI will celebrate Read Across America on March 1, at Warwick Mall.

The fun begins at 10:00 a.m. and continues until 4:00 p.m. Read Across America is free to the public and includes stickers for every child; a chance to register to win prizes donated by NEARI; puzzle and activity sheets, and reading advice for parents; a book give-away table, sponsored by NEARI education support professionals; and an opportunity to visit and pose with Cat in the Hat herself.

Room 10 Advertising Agency

The Superbowl aired earlier this month, and part of the draw isn't the football, but the commercials. Advertisers pay dearly for the opportunity; a 30-second spot cost about $4 million. While most of the ads are entertaining, they're still trying to get viewers to do or believe something.

Fifth-graders learned about three advertising tactics to be aware of: exaggeration, generalization, and scare tactics. They suggested TV commercials they liked, and we analyzed the ways in which they tried to convince us to buy their product. For example, the Old Spice Moms commercial uses exaggeration (and led to a discussion on brand repositioning), while the Pepsi One Direction/Drew Brees commercial uses celebrity endorsement as a generalization tactic (and covers two major demographics in one spot).

Then they created their own ads using at least one of these tactics:

Common Core standards addressed:  RL.5.6 - Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described. / RL.5.7 - Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text / RI.5.8 - Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text..

Grade 1 Bug Research

First-graders are learning about text features, starting with the table of contents. Their assignment was to find the "chapter" about how their assigned bug looks, then draw a picture and write a fact.

Common Core Standards addressed: RI.1.5 - Know and use various text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text; W.1.7 - Participate in shared research and writing projects

And the Winner Is ... Unicorn!

85 students chose from among
8 Mock Caldecott finalists, and
1 came out on top with
  25votes:

Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

Don't Let the Pigeon Touch the Books! - PM K

In kindergarten, we are discussing book care in preparation for the students' first checkout. I decided to have them teach THE PIGEON some rules.

In case you haven't been introduced to the Pigeon yet, he is the star of a series of books by Mo Willems; the first one is Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! We read that and Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, and I am happy to report that MOST students resisted his arguments (a few were willing to be bought off by his promise of five bucks).

Then we watched this video:

The students compiled a list of rules that the Pigeon should know. For example:

DO	DON'T
read your books	color in your book
keep them away from drinks	put your book in the freezer
turn the pages gently	rip the pages
bring your books back to the library	throw your book on the floor

In our next class, we drew our own Pigeons; Mo Willems has step-by-step instructions for drawing the Pigeon on his site. Then each student chose a rule to teach him. Here they are at work:

Mock Caldecott Voting in Action

First and second graders cast their votes this week ... winner to be revealed in the next post!