Jacquie Leighton
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:31:26 -0700
Awesome! On Aug 30, 2009, at 7:57 PM, Kim Wagner wrote:
Hi Jacquie,My classes last one hour and five minutes. I am the only language arts thestudents have so we do it all--writing, speaking, reading, etc.I would love to share ideas with you for sixth grade as the year progresses.I'm always eager to learn what others are doing.This coming week we are going to review a story map (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution). My ESL co-teacher came up with an idea for a kinesthetic "body story map" similar to the one we did last year in social studies. With that one, we had the students pretend they were a globe, stand up, put their hands on their heads for the Arctic, then on their shoulders for the Tropic of Cancer, waist for Equator, knees for Tropic of Capricorn, and finally their toes for the Antarctica. They loved doing this! For the story map she stood with her arms by her side butaway slightly. hands pointing outwards. Her right hand moved toindicate exposition, right arm was rising action, head (roll) was climax, left arm falling action, and movement of left hand was resolution. This approximated our "map" on paper. When she got going fast, it looked like adance move! Very cool.Can't wait to try it. Kim On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 5:41 PM, Jacquie Leighton <jmleigh...@midmaine.com>wrote:Love these ideas you've shared! Think I will create a tree for writing nuts! Your post is positively psyched about the reading year ahead! It's infectious and I thank you for that! I notice you teach sixth grade and I have 2 L.A. classes of sixth graders. How long are you L.A. classes? Doyou also teach writing in the same block? Have an awesome year! Jacquie On Aug 30, 2009, at 4:35 PM, Kim Wagner wrote: Hi Everyone!Well, I devoured *The Book Whisperer* as did my colleagues in 7th and 8th grade language arts. We are attempting to implement some of her ideas thisyear. We will be: -encouraging our students to read 30 books this year -inviting outside readers to read aloud to students-attempting to create a culture of being "nuts" about books--I have a huge tree (with squirrels) that students will place leaves on as they completeeach of their books -allowing students 10 minutes of uninterrupted reading time at the beginning of each language arts class -reading ourselves for those 10 minutes-consuming vast numbers of middle school novels so we can put the "rightbook" into the right hands at the right time (my goal is 50)By the way, I just read the most *wonderful* book in search of terrific titles for my students. It is called *Leo and the Lesser Lion* by Sandra Forrester. It takes place in Depression-era Alabama. The main character isaspunky girl named Mary Bayliss Pettigrew. Near the beginning of the novel her beloved older brother, Leo, drowns. Bayliss breaks her back in the accident. While she recovers she decides she must have been saved for a special purpose and decides to become a nun (much to everyone's dismay, including her teachers at Sacred Heart). She and her family try to dealwiththeir grief while taking on two little girls from a local (overcrowded)orphanage.My description makes it sound depressing, but really, most of the book is not. Forrester's writing pulls you right in and brings Bayliss' world tolife. Best, Kim 6th grade language artsOn Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 7:30 PM, Bill Ivey <bivey01...@gmail.com> wrote:Hi!With some of us started back in classes, and others (including me) gettingready to start, I can't help wanting to hold on to parts of summer break.So- I'm wondering what all you did this summer that was meaningful to you.For me, it's two main things. I spent a great deal of time down in Chatham,Virginia, my "second home" where my wife has housing at her school andwhichI have grown to love, and my friends have said I'm becoming southern. Ithink in this case, they mean slowing down a bit, taking my time, focusingmore on being in the moment and making connections with people and my environment rather than rushing through something in order to get to thenext. I would love to keep that perspective going through the year.The other thing I want to mention was a more traditionally professional development kind of activity, reading a book entitled "The Female Brain." Teaching at an all-girls school, I knew a fair amount of what the bookhadto say about female-brain wiring and its effect on relationships and learning, but I only knew bits about the post-natal effect of hormones on wiring and on behaviors. It was illuminating, and helps me not only in myteaching but also in my social justice work. How about the rest of you? Take care, Bill Ivey Stoneleigh-Burnham School _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go tohttp://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org .Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive _______________________________________________The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go tohttp://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ lit_literacyworkshop.org.Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive_______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive_______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.orgTo unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org .Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
_______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive