In order to continue addressing unit indicators while keeping the students excited about learning, I have been pulling out all of the tricks that I have up my sleeve. Here are a few of my students’ favorites from the last few weeks.
Our “Read and Talk about Series Books in Clubs” unit of study was just about finished when I introduced my class to “2J Book Clubs.” I started by placing each student in a group specific to their current independent level and preferences. (I allowed each student to choose three of the five series options that they would be interested in reading.) I then shared my expectations, including how to log each book and reminders of how to respect other club members, with the class before they began exploring their series. Each day, during “book club” time, students were to read one of the books from their series. They were expected to log the book (in their specific folder) and complete a task that assessed one of the indicators of our unit of study. Tasks included jotting down predictions, following character changes, or listing similarities from book to book. After a few days passed, students began having conversations with other club members about books they both read. However, these conversations were not the familiar “turn and talk” chats. Instead, they wrote about their reading on our class blog (see below) to share their thoughts. In true “2J style,” we concluded our book clubs with a celebration! During our celebration, students had “free choice” to explore other book series and the chance to recommend their series to other students.
The book clubs became a quick and easy way to review workshop indicators while engaging students in conversations specific to a series of familiar books. The students enjoyed working together and sharing their thoughts with each other.
A quick and simple symbol on a sticky note. A short jot that evolves into a sentence - or two. Before I knew it, writing about reading in second grade went from a few scribbled words to multiple sentences about a single thought.
However, some of my students were still struggling with the concept of including an introductory sentence, evidence, and concluding statement to write a full paragraph about their book. I noticed many students getting stuck after adding a “because…” to their first sentence and not knowing how to transition to additional evidence after that thought. I wanted to find a cool and exciting “buy in” for the students that were becoming frustrated and a way for successful writers to showcase work that followed my expectations. After much thought, I decided to add a blog to my class website.
I’m not sure if the newness of a virtual writing reflection or the pressure of knowing that peers would be able to instantly read each post enhanced student motivation. Or, if it was the simple fact that blogging is much cooler than writing in a notebook to an eight-year-old that helped them succeed. No matter what it was, it worked. My students absolutely love our class blog and ask to blog about their reading every day. Both the quality and quantity of what the students are writing has increased and they are now exploring ways to respond to each other’s posts. They reply with compliments, questions, suggestions, and by sharing their opinions on the original post. Not only do they work hard on the content of each post, but they focus their attention on grammar and punctuation, which is always an added bonus for me! It has been a real “pick me up” in second grade and is a great way to keep the class engaged while reflecting on their reading, during these last weeks of school.
Happy Summer (Almost!)