Because of Winn-Dixie

Most of my teaching career has been spent in third grade.  I thought I’d never leave. However, I love a challenge and tend to get board easily so when a fifth grade opportunity came my way a few years ago I decided to go for it.  

So glad I did. Love the 5th grade mentality and independence.  One thing I thought I 
would have to give up was reading 
Because of Winn Dixie as a Read-A-Loud.  
I thought the kids wouldn't get into it.  

Boy was I wrong.  

In a year when I had a group of 5th graders that needed lessons on friendship (naughty group), I dusted off my class set and went for it.  To my surprise the novel lends itself even better 
to upper elementary.  I found there was so much more I could do with the class 
relating to themes and characterization.  

I beefed up my Winn Dixie 
Student Engagement Journal and Activity Unit 
by adding more textual/inferential questioning with an emphasis on citing passages or quotes that relate to major themes. 

As a pre-activity, students created a bubble map about their best friend.  The friend’s name goes in the middle, then adjectives that describe the friend, followed by examples.  

They looked something like this:

Although I generally do not like to show the movie version of a novel read in class, this segment of Opal and Otis in the pet shop, with Dave Matthews singing Butterfly, 
is simply gorgeous.

Time Of Your Life

Fall is such a great time of year to have students write autobiographies. I understand that there is a big push to have students write about the nonfiction pieces that we are analyzing together in class. I get that. But let’s be honest, sometimes you just want your students to write. You want the words, sentences, and paragraphs to come pouring out of them. What better way to do that than to have them write about themselves. 

Yeah! My favorite topic...ME! 

Plus, I get the added bonus of finding out more about my kiddos. Teachers know that the better they understand where their students come from, the more equipped they are to reach them. With that in mind, I created a pre-planning journal for my students to use as the first step in gathering notes and information that they will eventually turn into their autobiography.

I am offering it as a Freebie on TPT.

It includes a take home portion where students interview a family member and concludes with questions about their future goals and dreams.

As always, I like to begin new topics with a song or video clip to get students thinking 
about bigger themes and ideas. 

I play Green Day’s Good Riddance video.

       

I ask students to think about what message they think the songwriter was trying to convey.  Students write ideas down on sticky notes and then we have a discussion afterwards.

Our interactive map might look 
something like this.

This is my attempt to get students thinking at a deeper level beyond, “I love my DS and recess”. 

There is No Rose Without Thorns

“No Hay Rosa Sin Espinas."

"There Is No Rose Without Thorns.”

Earlier this year I read the novel 
Esperanza Rising with my 5^th grade class.  It’s the second time I’ve used the novel as a Read-A-Loud and I can honestly say I am in love with the story.  It’s an absolute joy to read.  It’s bursting with figurative language 
and is heavy on themes.

Identifying the theme of a story can be challenging. It requires students to distinguish main ideas and extend the idea 
to their own world.

I believe that a student’s ability to connect with themes in novels is what creates lifelong readers.  It’s important to me that I do the most that I can to facilitate this process every year.

I always begin a novel unit by building background and context.  Music helps to set the atmosphere. This year I played the Lonely Bull and showed photos to activate imagery.

Rows of Vineyards

 

Casa de Las Rosas may have looked like this.

Esperanza and Mama live a much different lifestyle in the USA.

Backbreaking work in the fields

With so many of my students speaking Spanish as well as English, it’s just fabulous to hear them proudly correcting my horrible accent.

As the novel progresses there is much to discuss as the topic of immigration is central to many.  I am lucky to teach in an incredibly diverse area.  I have students from three continents and a multitude of countries in my classroom.  Looking at my student demographics roster only one family out of 32 identified as White/Non-Hispanic.  The idea of coming to the United States for a better life is not just a story in a book.  This is History and Social Studies wrapped up in a gorgeous novel.  

The possibilities for learning, discussing, 
and writing are endless.

You can check out the Esperanza Rising Theme Unit at my TPT store.

Natalie Merchant - Wonder

I just posted my Thematic Unit on the novel Wonder  on TPT.

Enjoy Natalie Merchant's phenomenal performance of the song "Wonder"

"God’s Own Creation"

I started my third novel unit with my 5^th graders today.  Don’t freak out, I am at a year round school and actually began my year in July.  I like to read a novel a month with my class.  Novels are a big deal with me.  They are non-negotiable.  I’m pretty sure that my district is in the “no time for novels” phase, but I’m not.  I’ll squeeze them in between textual analysis, cross curricular instruction, thinking maps, graphic organizers, journaling, flipping my classroom, differentiating instruction, integrating technology, small group interventions, creating performance tasks, ELD, PCT, PTT, and OMG!

So yes, we began Wonder by RJ Palacio today.  I don’t have a class set.  I encouraged parents to buy it from Amazon or Scholastic.  I’d say about half the class has a copy and the other half are happily cuddled up with a partner. 
I’ve been hyping the book for about a week. 
 It’s like a premier party.  
I started off talking about the 
themes we’d be encountering.

Bullying

Physical deformity

Friendship

Kindness

This is no Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

We had a pretty serious discussion about physical handicaps and being “different”.  
Everyone wanted to share. 
The buzz was building…

I showed the video of Natalie Merchant singing "Wonder".  It’s just her at the piano with her fragile, gorgeous voice, and those emotional lyrics.  You could have heard a pin drop while she sang. I was so into the song myself 
(child of the 80’s) 
and they were so quiet, that I thought they had left. Afterwards, they shocked me. They all started clapping.  Not that pounding fake clapping that is so annoying, but an honest round of applause.  They were hooked.  
They were primed.

My novel units are living breathing entities.  They change every year.  Every class has a different perspective and children relate to themes in ways I will often never know.  
This time is sacred in my classroom.  
Yes, I make it engaging.  
Yes, we have a student journal and we make connections to themes, and analyze character 
and plot development. 
Yes, we respond to literature, 
discuss vocabulary,
 and examine figurative language. 

All the while the kids are loving it.

Engaged Kids

Happy Kids

Happy Teacher

"With Love and Patience and with Faith"