Kiker's Strength-Based Learning Cohort

Today we re-examined the art of responding to nonfiction literature. We have learned the framework before, but in steps. We are focusing on pulling it all together into cohesive two and three paragraph essays. We started with the first paragraph, the summary. We have worked extensively on how to paraphrase and be concise, remembering that each sentence should contain essential main idea rather than details. We have moved into developing a second paragraph, where the kids explain something they inferred from the article and then provide a specific text example to support it. The fourth graders have been taking this depth of response to yet a third paragraph, were the focus is on the significance of the piece. Here they have to explain what the bigger understanding is -- now that I know this information, what is the importance? How can we apply this to life? Talk about rigor! The kids have been digging deep...it's way more than just telling me about what they read. It's syn

I wanted to share some amazing writing with you! In our nonfiction/expository study this past few weeks, we have been learning to exercise our writing muscles with this genre. We have been reading, analyzing, and synthesizing a lot of great nonfiction, so we have found a great deal of good mentor texts to get us familiar for writing. What's the point? This activity had us examining author's purpose and message in order to help us come up with a solid central idea for our own piece.  We looked at four different texts, all dealing with the same topic, but with different "points." They were all about immigration, but one was a biography, one was a textbook, another literary nonfiction (nonfiction written in narrative form), and the last was a memoir. We charted the different themes and what the authors' central ideas were. We then examined how every bit of each of those texts supported and focused on that main idea. Next, we used a topic, "The best thing a

We've been busy in the SBLC! Our students have been excitedly preparing a Thanksgiving Program to share with you next Friday, November 18 from 2:00-2:45 in the cafeteria. An invitation will be sent home Monday, so be on the lookout! Second graders will be going to Westcave Preserve on Tuesday, November 22. We will leave Kiker at 9:00am and return at approximately 2:00pm. Students need to bring a sack lunch and wear comfortable clothes/tennis shoes as there is a lot of walking. If you are interested in attending as a chaperone, please contact Mrs. Blake: jennifer.blake@austinisd.org. Our scarecrow activity provided some excellent team-building opportunities! They started by making a plan and then broke into teams to construct different parts of the scarecrow. The most challenging part was figuring out how to put it all together!   The students really enjoyed working together to create their literary characters of choice: Willy Wonka, Dumbledore, and Athena. :) Have a fantast