Thursday, January 28, 2016 Determine and discuss the theme – the lesson about life or human nature that the story teaches 8:10 – 8:40

Writing Lesson Being a Writer 8:40 – 9:00

Exploring Nonfiction Week 1 Day 2

Hear and discuss expository nonfiction Goals for Day 2: Hear and discuss expository nonfiction Explore how information is organized and presented Quick-write questions you could ask about a nonfiction topic Explore and write about topics that interest you Cultivate curiosity

GETTING READY TO WRITE Discuss Curiosity Ask and briefly discuss: Students bring your notebooks and pencils to the carpet facing your partners. Yesterday we began exploring nonfiction. We heard parts of the book I Wonder Why Penguin Can’t Fly and thought about nonfiction topics they are curious about. Ask and briefly discuss: Why is curiosity an important quality for a writer to have? Students might say: It’s good for writers to be curious so they can find out lots of interesting things and write about them> If writers aren’t curious, they won’t get interested in anything to write about”

Writers do not need to know a lot about a topic when they begin writing about it, but they do need to be curious about it. By researching things they are curious about, they gather interesting information that they can share with others in their writing. Today we will read parts of another nonfiction book aloud. I want all of you to think about what interest you while you listen to the read aloud.

I will read the title, title page and the author’s name aloud. Look at the cover of I Wonder Why The Sahara Is Cold At Night. I will read the title, title page and the author’s name aloud. I will show and read the first few entries in the table of contents and then read pages 4-11. Look at the illustrations and read the captions. These are text features. You will use these when you get ready to write your researched topic. Suggested Vocabulary: annual: yearly (pg. 5) gravelly: made up of small stones and pebbles (p.5) salt flats: hard ground where water dried up and left salt (p.5) shrubby plants: short plants that look like bushes (p.6) roughly the same size: about the same size (p.7)

What is something interesting you’ve learned so far about deserts? What are you curious about? How does the author give us information about the desert in this book?

Quick-write: Generate Questions About a Nonfiction Topic Review the nonfiction topics you started yesterday in your notebooks and pick one that you have not yet written about. Open to your next blank page in your writing notebook and write the topic at the top of the page.

Think quietly for a moment about the following question: If you were going to write a question-and-answer book about the topic you chose, what questions could you write about? Thought bubble

Take 5 minutes to jot down your own questions. Now, discuss your topics and questions in pairs. Write any additional questions you thought of while you were talking. Let’s have a few volunteers share your topics and some of your questions with the class.

Independent Writing 9:00 – 9:25

NOTICE the Writing Time Expectations below: Return to your seats with partners sitting together. NOTICE the Writing Time Expectations below: Writing Time: Add to the list of questions you began in the quick-write. Write the questions about other nonfiction topics. Write what you know about a particular topic. Write about anything you choose.

SHARING AND REFLECTING Briefly Share Writing and Reflect on Curiosity Talk briefly about what you wrote about today. Be ready to share with the class what your partner wrote about. After a moment, I will signal for your attention: What did your partner write about today? What did your partner write that you are curious to know more about?

Restroom Break 9:25 – 9:30

Vocabulary Lesson Vocabulary REMINDER: curator – a keeper or custodian of a museum or other collection Means what ?????? 9:30 – 9:45

Review: reuse, efficient, and inefficient Day 4 Review: reuse, efficient, and inefficient

If you were writing a report about ways our school might help slow global warming, which of these words might you use? Why? Prompt: If I were writing a report about ways our school might help slow global warming, I might use the word ________ because… Review

“Which word goes with?” Which of these words do you think go with car? Prompt: I think _____ goes with car because… Which of these words do you think goes with firefighter? Prompt: I think ______ goes with firefighter because… “Which word goes with?”

Reading Test 9:45 – 10:55

Return to Homeroom Classes!