Category: CORE ELA

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Join a Pages Online Class this Winter

“So many things have gone out of date. But after all these years, words are still important. Words are still needed by everyone. Words are still needed to think with, to write with, to dream with, to hope and pray with. And that is why I love the dictionary. It endures. It works. And as you know, it also changes and grows.”   ~Mrs. Granger, Frindle

Recently during a Pages Level 2 CORE Class, we explored Frindle, by Andrew Clements. The above quote was offered by Mrs. Granger, Nick’s, 5th grade teacher. Mrs. Granger has quite the reputation for the laser eyes, no messing around, lots of homework and her great love of words. Mrs. Granger has 30 dictionaries in her classroom and one massive one that takes center stage. Her battle cry is, “Look it up! That’s why we have the dictionary.”

The students in my class, similar to Nick, expressed a dislike for Mrs. Granger’s style of teaching. But they also shared a dislike of the dictionary. They didn’t enjoy looking up words and thought of it as chore. We started off the beginning of class by sharing dictionaries we used at home and suggestions for new ones. It had us looking up facts before you knew it!

During the first class we learned a ton from Nick’s report on dictionaries! Many people thought that the first English dictionary was put together in the 1700’s by a man named Samuel Johnson. But there were dictionaries before this. The things that were different about Johnson’s dictionary was the size. He included over 43,000 words! He chose words he thought were important and gave many examples on how they were used. The word “take”, for example, can be used 113 different ways! All of this prompted me to look it up the largest dictionary in the world, the Oxford English Dictionary, which comes in 12 volumes and contains 415,000 words!

In every one of our CORE units, we offer a list of vocabulary to look up in each section, usually 5-6 words. Typically, we infer meaning of words from context when reading. But ask a student, or adult for that matter, to tell you what that same word means, and we usually encounter struggle. Looking up a word helps us truly learn it and then be able to use it within our daily language or writing. We offer example sentences for your student to learn from in our Answer Keys, plus the sentence where the word is used by the author in the book. And we always point our students to the hand-held dictionary. The dictionary, as Johnson started, will give example sentences along with the definitions. These are useful to point out.

We also offer Operation Lexicon, which assigns the student daily vocabulary from exceptional writers, like E.B. White or Ted Hughes. The student will read words used by an author and how the word is used in their writing. They will explore the definition and then craft their own sentences. The week ends with students  choosing their favorite words learned and using them in a micro-story. We will offer Operation Lexicon Pages classes every year and go through these exercises with the students online. Once, I challenged my students to find another definition of the words given and then use the word multiple times in their micro story demonstrating the different meanings. It was quite fun! While talking with one of my past students I was delighted to learn she still used this challenge in her micro-stories.

“At time it felt like even the buntings were laughing at her (they probably were, buntings are crude and obnoxious creatures).”

“Gustavo hated all of the bunting and festivities of the circus, for it was truly nothing more than a prison for poor, kidnapped animals.”

We often discuss words we made up in our families, words we have used over the years, words that are gibberish but we know mean something. You know the words that are said over and over and after a while, we accept as words? “Pank” for pancake, “squishly” for the soft toy. The examples are endless. These are the familial words we know but the outside world might not recognize, words that are not in the dictionary but have meaning because we decide they do!

In a recent Pages Poetry class, we learned fun facts about Dr. Suess, then created found poetry and pastiche poetry. We then Dr. Suess’s poetry to spring into poetry of our own. We challenged our students to use two of Dr. Suess’s made-up words in their poetry. Something Dr. Suess was quite good at is inventing words, creative language and rhyming schemes. We had fun using words like: beczlenuts, hoobub, kwuggerbugs, thanders, sneedle, glikker, wumbus and yuzz.

There are also words that are frowned upon, words we are asked not to use when we are children but are words with meaning all the same. Nick points out the word, “ain’t” is not an approved word by most grown-ups but you can find it in the dictionary. I was told growing up that “ain’t” wasn’t a word. I was asked not to use it because it was not proper English. I had never looked up the word as a child, but now I sure am motivated! I learned that the word is defined as, am not: are not: is not or have not: and has not. I found this really interesting as I am teaching one of my children to use contractions this week. At the bottom of my dictionary there is a note.

Hint: Most people feel ain’t is not proper English. When you are trying to speak or write your best you should avoid using ain’t. Most people who use “ain’t” use it especially when they talk in a casual way, or in familiar expressions like “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” Authors use it especially when a character is talking to help understand what the character is like.

Even as I write this the spell check wants to tells me “ain’t” is wrong and give me other word suggestions!

“Who says dog means dog? You do, Nicholas. You and I and everyone in this class and this school and this town and this state and this country. We all agree. We decide what goes in that book.”   

                                                                                               ~Mrs. Granger-answering Nicks question on how a word becomes a word.

 

In Chapter 12 of Frindle, it brings up the belief of many that the word “quiz” was made up in 1791 by a Dublin theatre manager named Daly. He bet someone that he could invent a brand-new word in the English Language and chalked the letters q-u-i-z onto every wall and building in town. The next day, and throughout the next week, people all over Ireland were wondering what it could mean. Quiz was the only English word invented by one person for no particular reason. I confirmed this story on the internet! Doesn’t this get you curious about words?

Sure enough, my students who do not enjoy using the dictionary tried looking up the word “frindle” because they were curious if it was a real word you could find in the dictionary. Sadly, it was not there. This confirmed it is a great made-up word for this fictional story. This inspired me to do more internet searching! How many words are added to the dictionary each year? I was surprised to find that an estimated 800 to 1,000 new words are added each year! Frindle might one day become one of those words.

Words, words and more words!

By the age of 5 years old children recognize at least 10,000 words. By 10-years old children can speak and write an average of 20,000 words and learn on average 20 new words a day. They can understand that words have multiple meanings. A High school student may know anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 words. When I looked up the average vocabulary for adults it was a range from 20,000 to 35,000 words. Wow. If most 10-year-olds can speak and write an average of 20,000 words and some adults average a vocabulary of 20,000 words, what happened? Did the learning of words stop? Why do we stop being curious, intrigued, and playful with words?

One of my students came to class once and shared that in the publication, The Week Jr., Frindle was listed as one of the Number 1 Most Read Books in New Hampshire.

In my Pages classes, I always introduce the author of the book. Frindle, was Andrew Clements first novel. He began trying to write the book in 1990 and it was eventually published in 1996. I like to give timelines when I can because I think it demonstrates to students that writing, editing, actually having something published takes time. Frindle became more popular than any of his books before or since and turned Andrew Clements into a full-time writer.

Sometimes kids ask him how he has been able to write so many books::

“The answer is simple: one word at a time. Which is a good lesson, I think. You don’t have to do everything at once. You don’t have to know how every story is going to end. You just have to take that next step, look for the next idea, write the next word.”

 

~Clare

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Taming an Idea

One of the weekly activities in our CORE Integrated Literature and Writing is to write a linear recounting the plot of a given section. This activity might seem simple, but it is a simple activity that simultaneously teaches students writing technique and higher order thinking skills.

This student, during Section 1, of My Name is Maria Isabel, captured the essence of the week’s reading perfectly, albeit chaotically. Leaving the ideas in this state would reinforce chaotic communicating. So taking the opportunity to point out errors and asking the student to make a second draft on a separate sheet of paper, would enable the student to learn to polish an idea and participate in the process of writing.

This small activity will teach many obvious writing techniques in one fell swoop:

  • Correcting spelling errors

  • Using an eraser to keep work tidy

  • Keeping capitalization standardized

  • Using end marks properly

  • Ordering ideas in a linear manner

This particular activity offered a really great opportunity to help the student hear how the third idea—a really significant aspect of the plot—was not making sense:

“They went to the prinsubl and weht to class where names weher names assigned.”

Correcting the misspellings would help:

“The went to the principal and went to class where names were names assigned.”

But the student would need to slow into the act of re-reading to actually catch the fact that “names” was in the sentence twice, making the idea awkward to unpack.

Once the student understood that these ideas really mattered, engaging in the work of refinement was not a chore. Th end result is both meaningful and beautiful. This is the art of becoming a confident and competent writer.

 

~Kimberly

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Writing an IDEA is Courageous

I imagine this fifth grade student is full of all sorts of interesting ideas.  As I began to read the rough draft, my first thoughts were not the spelling errors or mechanical issues. What caught my attention was this young writer’s ability to describe the scene and create a mood. The function of his passage was working, his form needed the support of the 5-minute conference to elevate his idea—Form follows Function.

What’s wonderful about the weekly writing exercise is that it provides an opportunity for the student to write an idea tied to the weekly reading. This young writer’s lovely memoir paragraph is inspired by Grayson, Lynne Cox’s retelling of a fantastic ocean experience. What’s even more wonderful about the weekly writing exercise is that it provides an opportunity for the student to engage in all the stages of writing—brainstorm an idea, draft the idea, re-read and conference the idea with a teacher, polish the idea. During the 5-Minute Conference, the mid-point in the writing process, students will be engaging in the authentic process of REAL writing.

This weekly activity—re-reading and conferencing with a teacher—will teach many obvious writing techniques in one fell swoop:

  • Correcting spelling errors

  • Spacing well between words and end marks

  • Keeping capitalization standardized

  • Using end marks properly

  • Ordering ideas in a linear manner

This particular 5-minute Conference  offered an opportunity to demonstrate that sometimes the HOOK—that first sentence that draws the reader into the writing, is often found mid paragraph and that the very sentence written sometimes falls best at the end. Demonstrating that rough drafts are like putty, with tremendous potential to be reshaped to elevate the idea.

Sometimes the 5-Minute-Conference is accomplished side-by-side with the student, but other times the teacher might read and make edit marks before sitting with the student to communicate suggestions.

After the 5-Minute Conference, the student makes all the corrections and changes. It is important to note that in the process of making changes and creating a polished draft (the last stage in the writing process), the student is learning to spell, learning to form letters more beautifully, learning to hear the rhythm of words and phrases. As the student engages in the stages of the writing process, the student is becoming a REAL writer.

This student was not bogged down by the many spelling errors, was open to the idea of rearrangement, and the outcome is tremendous. I think Lynne Cox would smile reading this poetic descriptive memoir paragraph inspired by her story.

I remember it the most. I remember the dark cold water crashing on the rocks. One of my favorite memories is me on a sailboat with my dad. He put me on the water with goggles. I looked down in the water and saw a pod of humpback whales beneath me. I want to go back to that water to see the lighthouse. To see the fog far out at sea. I want to swim to the same spot I saw the whales. I want to dive down in the ice water. I want to swim all around the island and to be surrounded by the endless depths of the sea. If I could swim for three hours straight, I would swim off the coast of Kodiak Island.

 

~Kimberly

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The Section 5 Project is a CORE Literacy

Aesthetics is a set of principles that inform the outcome of a work of art. It taps into that part of our being that connects with beauty. At the heart of this concept is imagination, and imagination is where ideas are born.

There is a trend in all sectors of education to not only discount the reading of pure fiction, but to undervalue the  power of the arts to speak in a way where words fail. This is not wise. Arts education is inextricably linked to English Language Arts.

Section 5 provides an opportunity for students to practice communicating an idea in a visual language. Because great stories offer fodder for the imagination, each and every Literature + Writing Discovery Guide (the CORE of our language arts offering) sets aside a full week to create and celebrate.

Don’t wait until week 5 to begin thinking about your Section 5 idea!

Make a plan.

During Section 2, begin brainstorming. Download our free planning worksheet to begin. Write down your ideas and, since your Section 5 will include a visual component, create small sketches demonstrating different ways you imagine your idea might take shape and what materials you might utilize.

During Section 3, choose the idea you like best and make a full-page sketch with labels that will help you prepare.

During Section 4, gather all the materials you will need to complete your project build.

After all this, when Section 5 rolls around, your student will be prepared to focus on creating a meaningful project. A project that your student will surely be proud of for years to come. Check out our Student Project Gallery to be inspired. Send us photos of your completed project so we can add it to the gallery to inspire others.

This past fall, during our Professional Development offering, I walked teachers through the following little project connected to one of my favorite childhood reads—The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. With a cardboard box, some printed images, paint, pencil, markers, a tiny linoleum sample, and a bit of glue… voilà!

This story that has stood the test of time (published in 1967) and is, in my opinion, powerful proof why we all need to read across many genres, read all kinds of stories. Every time I’ve led students through this purely fictional story set in a very real setting—The Metropolitan Museum of Art—they engage at once in the mystery, but also gain an appreciation for visual art as they wander the museum with Claudia and Jaime Kincaid.

This past fall, during our Professional Development offering, I offered some tips and tricks to elevate the Section 5 Project Build. Click through to a recording of the session.

Happy Project Build!

~Kimberly Bredberg

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Getting to the HEART of Literacy

What is meant by Core & Application?

 

Our English Language Arts program is built around a simple structure of Core and Application materials.  When it comes to literacy, integrating the act of reading and the art of writing gets students thinking independently. Our unique scaffolding supports students as they gather information from books, both fiction and non-fiction, and challenges them to respond with original, authentic ideas. Our longitudinal Discovery MethodTM motivates students to work through the processes of writing: brainstorming, drafting, re-reading, editing, conferencing, and polishing of the final work. While engaging in our Discovery Method, students will gain, and put into practice, skills that will make their ideas shine.

Both our CORE + APPLICATION materials provide opportunities for students to:

1. Read to discover
2. Write to catalog thoughts and insights
3. Think to spark curiosity, ideas, and imagination

Core

Our Core offering is literature based, but is much more than just a literature program. Core is an integrated literature & writing program that uses great writing to model, inspire, and springboard students into becoming great readers, writers, and thinkers.

Application

Our Application offerings provide focused opportunities to develop the specific tools and skills needed for successful writing—vocabulary development, sentence construction, parts of speech, punctuation, rhetorical device, etc. These skills are explored alongside the specific domains of writing—narrative, persuasive, descriptive, imaginative—within various forms—paragraphs, micro stories, research, essays, poems.

While interleaved instruction is used throughout our materials, our Application offerings fall into two broad categories:

• Application 1: Grammar, Mechanics, Style
• Application 2: Research, Composition, Creative Writing

When applied over time, our Core & Application materials lay solid foundations and build strong students that not only have the ability to read well, write well, and think well, but also have the desire to do so.

 

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The Character of Characters

When readers open the cover of a book and enter the pages of a story, they begin a journey.

Each of our Literature and Writing Discovery Guides, Earlybird through Level 4, is a personal journal of that journey. Each section of the journal begins with the observations the reader makes about the characters. Over time, students will encounter diverse characters who introduce them to themes common to real people. At first, at the Earlybird level, the way students describe the characters they encounter will be very simple, single words—kind, happy, silly. As they progress , readers will discover that the character of the characters is complex and will want words at their disposal to accurately communicate what they observe.

How does this happen?

Beginning in the 2nd grade, we inspire our students to begin collecting words. What better way than to follow characters in beautifully illustrated books as they collect words? Operation Lexicon provides 10 years of word collecting for students in grades two through twelve!

In the 3rd grade, with Operation Lexicon: Character Traits, word collecting is specifically related to the characters we read about and the people we encounter in the real world!

Additionally, we have created FREE downloadable character trait flashcards tied to our Levels 1, 2, and 3 for students to have a collection nearby as they construct observations.

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As students progress in their journalling skills, they will learn to defend their observations with examples from the story. Overtime, it is important to teach students to discover a wide variety of traits—both permanent and transient. Sometimes situations that characters encounter determine character in the moment, other times we observe characters growing and changing.

During the first two sections of The Westing Game, this student was attending to momentary reactions which is not wrong, but narrow:

When encouraged to step back and observe Turtle Wexler’s overarching traits, the task was easy because of a treasure trove of specifically descriptive words:

It’s difficult to describe the power of integrating reading + writing through journalling, but it is easy to SEE, and wonderful to be a teacher whose sole purpose is to stand beside and truly mentor students in the important work of becoming literate.

 

~Kimberly

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Comprehension is Comprehensive

Students working in our CORE Literature and Writing Discovery Guides will, each week, respond to “comprehension” questions that chronologically review the plot points from the week’s reading. But here, “comprehension” is an exercise that both draws students deeper into the heart of the story and the art of writing. Comprehension is a comprehensive exercise!

Comprehension is the act of making meaning from something heard or read.

Comprehensive includes all or nearly all elements or aspects of something.

There are many skills embedded into this complex activity beyond demonstrating that a passage has been well read. The act of responding to questions with a complete, detailed statement, is an opportunity for students to slow into the story details, but perhaps more importantly, to press into the work of constructing sentences.

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Following are two examples of the vast comprehensive nature of this weekly comprehension activity.

As a teacher, I scan the following sample from a student new to CORE Level 2,  and notice common spelling errors—their, there, they’re as example. Capitalization too—Communists, Navy. But what I notice first is that each response is a complete, simple sentence construction that parallels the question asked. And this confirms to me this is not the place to be heavy handed with the red pen. Refer to the Teacher Helps for more information on complete sentence responses. I might however, write a little note in the comment space on the Assignment Checklist at the front of the student guide for this section:

Here’s a trick I use to remember the difference between this set of homonyms. Here the correct spelling is used in a correct setting:  “their dog” AND “go there” (remember the’re is a contraction: they are)”they’re friends” … create your own trick and memorize the spelling of these!

When a question is asked, students are free to respond independently:

How does Winn-Dixie make Opal’s Father laugh? 

At first, sentence responses might be simple in nature copying the syntax of the question:

Winn Dixie makes Opal’s father laugh because he opens his mouth in a funny way.

[Here the teacher might suggest ways to smooth rhythm and add descriptive details: “Winn Dixie makes Opal’s father laugh when he opens his mouth in a funny way like he’s laughing.”]

Later, as students become more confident, sentences become more fluid, adopting more sophisticated syntax as in this dependent and independent clause:

When Winn Dixie opens his mouth to copy Opal’s father, he laughs.

[Here the teacher might suggest word choice: “Where you use the word “copy” you might try “mimic” instead.”]

The teacher does not need to correct every single sentence stylistically, but rather look for opportunities over time to inspire the writer to try new things. The best writing teacher will look for small opportunities over time to help students elevate their ideas. One or two suggestions modeled to the student over time is more effective than completing years and years of skill worksheets because this activity is the meaningful of work polishing students ideas.

Each year students using CORE Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 Literature and Writing Discovery Guides will compose over 250 true sentences as they comprehend stories in comprehensive ways.  Ultimately the work—the confident, beautiful, fluid work—will speak for itself!

 

~Kimberly

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Earlybird Introduction to Animals

WE ARE HAPPY TO WELCOME OUR BRAND NEW UNIT:

Earlybird Introduction to Animals!

There are two types of things in the world: living and non-living! Everything you can imagine is one or the other. Taxonomy is the science of sorting it all out. At its basic level, taxonomy identifies, names, and classifies all living things in a systematic way.

Every species has a common name, but also a unique two-part scientific name situating it on the tree of life. In the pages ahead you will get a glimpse of the amazing order that is intrinsic to the natural world.

Over the course of 13 weeks, students will be guided into the work of learning about the animal kingdom, journaling their discoveries along the way. This opportunity to research will not only help them to gain knowledge, but also to springboard into the realm of non-fiction, narrative writing.

As with all our materials, included in the front of the journal is the instructional material. Read through this material carefully. Next, flip through the first week of the journal to familiarize yourself with the daily work of your student. Week 1 is an introduction to the science of classification. After that, students will be focusing on one class of animals every two weeks. Scan through Weeks 2 and 3, and you will notice that on the first week, the reading is tied to comprehension and note taking activities, and the second week is an opportunity to write about an animal. This ongoing, consistent opportunity for practicing constructive writing skills will help students gain confidence in their ability to communicate.

While the unit is included in our 2nd Grade Level Collection, it is perfect for both 2nd and 3rd graders, and available for purchase A La Carte.

 

~Kimberly

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It’s Section 5 Season!

It thrills us this time of year to know that many students have completed (or are close to completing) the first of their six CORE Blackbird & Company ELA units and are brainstorming ideas for the Section 5 culminating project.

To celebrate this season, click through here to download a FREEbie Section 5 Planning Worksheet.

Section 5 is the week when students get to step outside of the rhythm of reading, contemplating, and journaling and create a project to celebrate the story’s wonder! This project is a throwback to a Blackbird and Company limited edition “Section 5 Kit” tied to City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. We provided the box, a lightbulb shaped jar, black paint, glow-in-the-dark paint, paintbrush, Sharpie, and left the rest to the student’s imagination.

Earth is, of course, being ravaged by a series of apocalyptic events known as the Disaster. Light is one of Ember’s most important resources. Without light, the city will cower in complete darkness. Around the clock darkness. Not good. It is this terror of darkness that drives the story. So when the great lamps that light the city begin to flicker, Lina and Doon have a quest set before them. With blackouts and shortages someone needs to take action! Why not our twelve-year-old protagonists?

But we stop here because the purpose of creating a culminating project is NOT to retell the story, but rather to advertise. That’s right, advertise. The culminating project should share JOYbites from the book that will inspire others to pick the book up and fearlessly enter the world of the story.

For this Section 5 project, the student decorated the outside of the box with juicy words and quotes from the story, painted the inside of the box black represent the problem facing the people of Ember, and poured the glow-in-the-dark paint into the light bulb. Ultimately the little project is an amazing advert!

Now its your turn.

Download the FREE Section 5 Planning Worksheet and get started on your build week.

It’s Section 5 Season!

So never, never  e v e r  skip Section 5!

Section 5 is a gift…

~Kimberly

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Flourishing an Idea

Mozart Season Bundle

Aesthetics is a set of principles that inform the outcome of a work of art. Aesthetics taps into that part of our being that connects with beauty. Last spring, after reading The Mozart Season,  knew the section of the story that would inspire the most creativity. I know this because I have seen it here, and here, and here. And when readers stumble upon this three-page passage, well, Section 5 happens.

As the story goes, when Allegra and her mother’s friend, Diedre spend an afternoon in the Rose Garden, well, music happens. Nestled atop a hill in the park is a silvery aluminum sculpture. There are tall columns and arched columns, smaller columns and water uniting them all.

“It was Diedre who started the song. She began slowly, BONG bong Bong bong with her knuckles on the three big columns, walking between them.”

Now I’ve seen some fantastic creative responses to The Mozart Season (some that have won awards), but when this past year, one of my students finished the book and brought in her Section 5 project to share, I marveled that, yet again, it was in response to this specific music-making passage.

And the project she brought in was not only “nique” (as Allegra and her friends would say), but also a perfect opportunity to share some tips to elevate the Section 5 project artistically.

With a cardboard box, some discarded bottles, aluminum foil, a few scraps of notebook paper, one green marker, Scotch tape, and a pitcher of water, my student made a musical instrument! While I have seen many musical instruments (even musical compositions) inspired by this little section of The Mozart Season, this one captured my imagination. Think “don’t judge a book by its cover” for a moment. This homely little project surprised me with rich sounds made from filling the bottles with different levels of water and blowing gently across each the neck. Oh! I was simply tickled, “My favorite Mozart invention so far!”

But the poor dear was in desperate need of a makeover. So I gave the maker a simple lesson.

So following is the simple make-over:

BEFORE

 

  1. To begin, if you are going to use a box (and boxes are a great way to begin), always paint the box! Give yourself a blank canvas upon which you can build your idea. A coat or two of gesso or acrylic paint will do just fine.
  2. Use more than one art medium. Here for example, using green marker and green paint on both folded and crumpled paper makes the viewer read ‘foliage” more clearly.
  3. Give the reader an anchor to the book where the idea originated by posting quotes around the project.

You don’t have to be an artist to make your idea beautiful. And, think about it, ideas are meant to be appreciated. So, go on, beautify.

AFTER

One last thought… There is a trend in all sectors of education to discount the reading of pure fiction. This is not wise. This quiet little story is, in my opinion, powerful proof why we all need to read across many genres, read all kinds of stories. Every time I’ve led students through this purely fictional story set in a very real setting (the competition that Allegra is working toward is a real competition that happens annually in Oregon), they read a few pages and groan. But by the time they get to the end, they have a deep appreciation for the rich story and significant fodder for their creativity to unfold.

~Kimberly Bredberg