We read a variety of books about owls-fiction and nonfiction. After reading nonfiction books about owls, students wrote an informative piece about owls which included an opening sentence, a few facts, and a concluding sentence. The students labeled a diagram of an owl. They made an owl out of paper to hold and display their writing piece. We did a lot of cooperative learning this week and it was amazing! I read aloud Caldecott Medal book Owl Moon. The students were each assigned two roles in their groups: quiet leader, on task leader, encourager, or recorder helper and either the predictor, questioner, summarizer, or clarifier. I read the story aloud to the class and at designated stopping points, the students would work with their learning group to discuss the book and write their predictions, questions, summaries, and parts that needed clarifying. It was simply amazing to see the students engaged and discussing the book. It was a phenomenal learning experience! The students then wrote a five sentence opinion piece about whether or not they would like to go owling. They needed to include an opening sentence stating their preference, 3 reasons to support it, and a concluding sentence. They included transition words as well. Because they enjoyed the story so much, I think it made it easy for them to write their opinion papers. The following day we read Brave Little Owl which is a story about a little owl who is afraid to learn how to fly and learns to be brave and never stop trying. The students worked again in cooperative learning groups to ask questions, make predictions, clarify, and summarize. Not only were students applying comprehension strategies to increase their understanding of the stories, but they were learning the importance and skills involved in working with other people. We will continue these cooperative learning experiences throughout the year.
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