Non-Fiction Matters!

Teachers and Parents with the new Common Core State Standards in place for the 2012-2013 school year, Non-Fiction reading is going to be more and more important to the everyday learning of our students. Fourth and fifth grade students should be spending equal amounts of time reading "literary" text, or fiction  and "informational" text, or non-fiction.  So, how do we help our students and children be ready for the challenge? We need to be informed and ready at home and at school!

Specifically, what makes up the non-fiction reading genre? 

Non-fiction by definition means, "books that are factual and contain true facts about people, places and events." The types of reading included in the Non-fiction category include:  newspaper articles, magazines, websites, social studies and science textbooks, letters, journals, biographies, autobiographies, pictures, recipes, how to manuals and much more!

Why is Non-Fiction Reading Important?

Non-fiction reading is important to our students overall reading ability because as students enter into secondary education, the work force, and college more of their reading will be informational texts. As teachers and parents we must aim to teach students about determining importance of material. This is life skill that they will need for life situations of buying a car, buying a home, and choosing a career. This skill also relates to reading and understanding written material as well. Through Non-fiction reading practice students learn how to determine the importance in a text and how to use strategies to find the important parts of what they are reading. Students need a lot of practice in reading and understanding the language and vocabulary in textbooks. Many college students are lacking the ability to comprehend and understand the textbooks for courses or technical manuals for trade schools. Students need to know how a textbook is read through learning about text features.  The language in textbooks is increasingly more and more difficult so students need to have strategies and skills to help them understand the text through reading diagrams, charts, sub-headings, and pictures. Also, students need experiences reading newspapers and magazines for information, television guides, and instructional manuals to help them be prepared for life experiences outside the classroom. All of these reasons call for the teaching and exposure to Non-fiction throughout early childhood and beyond.

What are some strategies for teachers?

• Teach Text Structures: Teach students how to read parts of a text such as: table of contents, glossaries, indexes, charts, diagrams, headings and sub-headings, captions, pictures and more. 
• Read/Think Aloud: Teach students to stop, think and ask "thinking" questions as they read.
• Graphic Organizers: Organize factual information in KWL charts, T-charts, time lines, Venn Diagrams to Compare and Contrast a variety of information.
• Summarize, Summarize, Summarize: Teach students to pull out main ideas and details about specific text information and re-state in their own words.
• Organize your classroom library in fiction and non-fiction categories so students can self-select Non-fiction books to practice their skills.

What can parents do at home?

• Read Non-fiction: Read recipes, put things together with instruction manuals, kid-friendly portions of the newspaper, subscribe to children's magazines such as "Sports Illustrated for Kids", "Zoobooks", "Highlights", and Non-fiction picture books.
• Ask Non-Fiction Questions about what they read. See what they enjoy!
• Organize your at home library in fiction and non-fiction categories.
• Encourage your child to write a journal or diary.

Great Resource for all:

• Scholastic Non-Fiction Book List

So...get ready get set, READ NON-FICTION!

New Technology Takes Florence into the 21st Century

Parents, look at what's new at Florence Elementary School...technology and integrated learning! With the allocation of our School of Excellence award money, PTA donations and grants written by teachers your child's classroom has been equipped with 21st Century Technology!

Over the past month your child's classroom has been equipped with Tech carts that store LCD projectors and document cameras and MOBI InterWrite Boards . I am sure you are thinking, great now what do they do and how will the affect my child's learning?



The LCD projector brings the world into your child's classroom by enhancing teachers ability to show multimedia presentations, stream videos and allow interactive learning. Anything that can appear on the computer screen can be projected with an LCD projector onto our classroom whiteboards. Some ways in which I use the LCD projector everyday are to show presentations of content material for student learning. Instead of reading material directly out of the textbook, students view the same material in the the text, but in a slide format with interactive pictures and information. This makes the material more engaging for students and learner focused. I also use the projector to show interactive videos to build background on units of study or to expand on topics of information. 

Document Cameras allow written and hands on materials for lessons to be seen in large screen format in vivid color and detail. The Document Camera Video shows the benefits of student interaction with the document cameras in the classroom everyday. As seen in the video students can view experiments, math manipulatives, books, take notes, and most importantly share their work with the entire class.  Students in my classroom love to show off their hard work on the document camera for everyone to see. Its a great way to share in their success. Students explain and show how they solve math problems using the document camera as well as share their written stories and explanations of learning. The best evidence for student learning is through their explanation of knowledge. In using the document camera students not only share work, but use language to describe their own learning!



 One of the newest technologies to engage student learning is the MOBI Interwrite Board.   This piece of instructional technology allows students and teachers to interact with technology anywhere in the classroom, not just at a computer station. The MOBI board allows students and teachers to control the computer at their finger tips. It allows lessons to be interactive where students and teachers are at the control of writing on the tablet to complete math problems in collaborative groups as well as to write and take notes and control the computer while doing interactive learning activities. The MOBI video shows how fourth graders can interact with the MOBI board in the classroom engage learning. 



 The final piece of technology at Florence to engage student learning are student response systems or better known as "clickers". The clickers allow students to work individually or collaboratively to answer multiple choice questions and type responses to teacher made questions. The devices allow for immediate feedback for student learning and teachers can see immediate results of students who may need re-teaching or have already acquired knowledge. I received a grant from Beyond Question which will allow for all the students in my classroom to interact with the "clickers" to review material for tests, work collaboratively to answer questions, and prepare for the format of standardized tests like the NC E-O-G.  The engagement that clickers offer allow students to immediately see if they correctly answered questions and learn from their mistakes in a non-threatening way. In using the response clickers students are more focused on lessons and spend less time off task.

Learning at Florence Elementary has entered a new era one that will bring the world into the classroom and provide students with engaging lessons that will impact their learning on a daily basis. Technology has already transformed the way I have been teaching in just one month. I am excited to see how students continue to grow and achieve success with 21st Century skills.

Please feel free to stop into our classroom and see our technology in action!

Coming Soon to Ms. Porter's Classroom...

Language Arts: 

Bunnicula by James Howe

We will be starting a novel study on Bunnicula this week. Meet the author for some great information on how he writes his novels!

Math:

We will be studying Types of Lines and Angles! You can see lines just about anywhere in the world around you. Can you name the lines in these pictures? Where else in the world can you see lines?















Science: 

We will finish our unit on Animal Adaptations this week Play Animal Adaptations to test your skill of identifying how animals use their adaptations in their enviroments. Magnetism is our next unit of study! Test your skills of Magnets and how they work in this interactive game!






Science Foldables!

In our classroom the past several weeks we have been studying Animal Adaptations. One way to help us read and understand concepts in content-area Non-Fiction reading such as our Science textbook is to create Foldables! The students have really enjoyed creating these and helping them to pull out specific content information in our text.

• What is a foldable? Its a unique,  3-D interactive graphic organizer for students to create for any topic or information.
• Why use foldables? To help organize information in a visual way for note taking, projects, study guides, vocabulary building, an alternative to worksheets!
• What subjects can I use foldables for? ALL! A great way to integrate lessons and all subject areas.

I am looking forward to adding more foldables to our lessons in all subject areas!

Making Multi-Digit Multiplication Easy!

Sometimes when learning to multiply 2 and 3 digit numbers students have difficulty remembering to line up the digits in each row, add the zero and much more. We learned a new way to multiply in class over the last nine weeks. It works everytime and makes multiplying easy! 
Watch the video and let us know what you think. You can even teach your parents, neighbors, and friends!

Welcome to our blog!

You have located my new adventure for the spring semester of my Advanced Technology Course at High Point University. This blog will be used for my fourth grade students, parents and other teachers as we explore fourth grade together!

We hope you enjoy our adventures!