Monday, April 30, 2012

Story Elements!!!


I had a great week of reading last week! We are really diving into story elements and defining them at this point in the year; I love this! I reveal a new element each Friday, there is all kinds of buildup the kids begin to wonder, it is exciting! Have I put enough exclamation marks in this post yet?


Last week I read and blogged about More and The Cloud Spinner. Here is the chart my students and I made together, a little shared writing. We were really figuring out characters.
On Friday I revealed setting, and students began trying to identify the setting of books in their book boxes following our Read to Self time. All this week setting will be our focus. 



The book that will tie all the story elements together is the book that I will revisit each week while we work through these elements, Rosie's Walk, the best book in my estimation for this task! It just has it all, great characters, one setting, a clear problem and a resolution all easily contained within simple text!



 Another book that I plan on using this week to help us identify setting is Stella, Star of the Sea. It is perhaps one of the sweetest stories I have been introduced to recently.

I also discovered this book over the weekend, Sweet Dreams by Rose A. Lewis. It is a poetic bedtime story. It is loveliness ten times over and I am particularly partial to a story that includes moon flowers. We have/had moon flowers that come up each year and they are a sweet sight each evening in the summer. I plan on sharing this with my class as well.


 


 And, lastly, a great book for setting, a great book for me this week! Chalk, by Bill Thomson. I have had this book recommended by a few bloggers over the past few weeks because today I am hosting a Chalk-A-Bration for poetry month.  I have been so excited for this day, my class and I have been preparing, I have been preparing, and finally I will read this book to my class today.
 It will be a great start to a great week!

1 comment:

Betsy Hubbard said...

Linda Baie • 6 weeks ago
Wow-I don't know the Sweet Dreams book, but all the others are terrific. What a fun time you are having with your class!

TeacherMotherReader • 6 weeks ago
I love that you shared ideas directly from the classroom! Your students are lucky to be sharing such great books in the classroom. Using picture books at every level of teaching is important for story elements and beyond. Hope your lessons are a success!

novalibrarymom 4p • 6 weeks ago
CHALK is great! And sounds like the perfect tie-in! What did your students think? I'm adding STELLA to my TBR list. Thanks!

Tara • 6 weeks ago
Love all these glorious looking picture books! I think these will Lowry with sixth grade mini lessons about setting, too.

Robin • 6 weeks ago
These look like great reads! I'm curious too...how did the kids like Chalk?

Kellee Moye • 6 weeks ago
Love how you connected all of the picture books to the narrative elements- great minilessons for teachers. Thank you :)

Happy reading this week!