Observation Reading

WALT- Identify the main idea/theme of the story

Remember to:

• Must put myself in the author’s place
• Examine the words and phrases (the details) for clues to what is important
• Ask questions about what in my experience the clues combined seem to say about what is valued
• Decide what the main idea is by saying “If I had written this and said things this way what would that say about what I thought was important?”

Texts:

SJ P2 N4 2008 - 5 Dollars

Shared learning intention with students

Explained what a theme was using the example of Little Red Riding Hood. 

Buddy- What do you think the message or the theme is for the text 5 dollars. Write down what you think. 

Students shared back with the group- Many offered up ' Telling the truth, stealing is not okay' 

Anna bumped up the idea by suggesting that all their ideas fit under the theme of honesty.

We do 

Now how do we know this theme is about honesty. We need to look for clues. Anna records down clues on the modeling book- this is the start of co-constructing the success criteria.

Anna models a clue from the text - What is this clue telling us? Share together

Do you agree or disagree- Why or why not- Getting Students to justify.

What does that clue make you think?

Constructed the success criteria. The task was to find another clue in the text and think about how you know it's a clue about the main idea or theme.

You do

Students completed this a returned to share. They shared with a buddy and Anna listened. It was clear that some students had achieved the success criteria.

Tomorrow I'm going to have a go at doing this lesson with a 3 new members of the group. I will record myself and upload the lesson for other teachers in the school to work.

PB4L Goals

Yesterday we had a school PB4L meeting. We had a look at everyone's classroom rules and then we compared ourselves against a PB4L classroom checklist. It was clear that having a PB4L matrix/ class rules that have specific areas or scenarios is key. I have 9 key areas/ times of the day where we have set rules ( E.g in the morning we need to wait till 8.30, come in and put the chairs down, unplug the Chromebooks... Etc) This helps the classroom run smoothly as students know exactly what to do at any given time of the day. 

I have just changed my classroom as I have 27 students and they are getting bigger so it has become hard/ impossible for them to sit and fit on the mat area. I have removed the mat area and created more room for tables. We created a PB4L poster this morning and rules for when we come into school. 

Starting the day:

1. Come inside and get your Chromebook

2. Choose a seat where you are going to be the best learner and stay on task 

3. Chromebook closed and waiting for the Roll and Miss Spies' Instructions. 

My goal is to help other teachers in the school create PB4L matrices that have clear expectations and allow for desirable classroom behaviors. The first step is to create clear rules and then teach and reteach the desired behavior and expectations to the students. If this is done consistently there is immediate success. 

Personal PB4L Goals:

Demonstrate calm, consistent, brief, immediate and respectful error corrections using professional teaching tone and demeanor.

Use a variety of strategies to increase student opportunities to respond (examples: turn and talk, guided notes, response cards).