This week, the group explored adjectives in more detail by thinking about how words with similar meanings have different shades of meaning. In other words, we examined how words can have different "intensities." Students created their own 'thermometers' to demonstrate the different shades of meaning. An example from Tommy Daly is shown below: To conclude the first part of this unit, the students wrote a poem about the life cycle of a plant using "The Caterpillar" poem as inspiration. They were encouraged to use adjectives and adverbs to make their poems come alive.
Calla Friedman's poem is below: Small seeds scattered around on the soft soil ground, seeds that are under the dirt mound. I felt four little roots under my rain boots as I walked around the wet ground. Stems shoot up all around from plants below just as I walk by to say hello.
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This week, we finished our analysis of the poem "The Caterpillar." We reviewed the importance of using the lines in the poem to support our reasoning. This is called close reading.
On Thursday, we explored adjectives and adverbs in the poem "The Caterpillar." Students learned that these types of words make writing more visible, interesting and colorful. As the students start to write their own poems, they will be using these types of words to paint pictures with words. I sent the students' folder home to have them show you what we have been working on so far. I will start doing this after we finish assignments. Please remind your child to return the folder and work to school by next Tuesday. Some books about adjectives that I recommend include: Many Luscious Lollipops, Heller Hairy, Scary, Ordinary, Cleary Beast Feast, Florian Some books about adverbs that I recommend include: Dearly, Nearly, Sincerely, Cleary Up, Up, and Away, Heller If You Were an Adverb, Dahl Introduction to Unit - What is the power of words? Analyzing figurative language and words in poems.4/5/2016 This week marks the beginning of the third session of ALO. Students were introduced to some of the unit's concepts this week. We read the poem "The Caterpillar" (see poem below) and sequenced the events in the poem to uncover the main idea of the poem.
Another strategy that the students are familiar with is using the "check for understanding" strategy to find the main idea. Students can ask themselves who and what the poem is about. Some vocabulary words we discussed included: stanza, rhyme, beat, and sequencing. I encourage students to read poems and practice uncovering the main idea. Some poems I recommend: Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti, My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Dream Variations by Langston Hughes The Caterpillar Author Unknown_ A tired caterpillar went to sleep one day / In a snug little cradle of silken gray. / And he said, as he softly curled up in his nest, / “Oh crawling was pleasant, but rest is best.” He slept through the winter long and cold,/ All tightly up in his blanket rolled, / And at last he awoke on a warm spring day,/ To find that winter had gone away. He woke to find he had golden wings,/ And no longer need crawl over sticks and things./ “Oh, the earth is nice,” said the glad butterfly,/ “But the sky is best, when we learn to fly.” |
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June 2016
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