Friday 24 September 2010

Getting To Know Ourselves as Readers

I've been thinking of a way to have younger students look at their book choices a bit deeper. With 4th and 5th graders, they can easily explain what genres they like and dislike, but the little ones are still in the process of figuring out what is fiction and what is nonfiction. So I experimented with the 2nd graders this afternoon by asking them to make their book choices first and then to bring them to our meeting area in the Hub. We then looked at our choices and decided where they fit in the Venn diagram.

And then I figured out that it's a whole lot easier (and quicker!) for 2nd graders to write tally marks. We had a great group discussion with the children who came up unsure of whether their choices were fiction or nonfiction. My thought is to have something like this up every now and then to have the kids quickly add a tally once they have chosen their books for the week.

We did have a few stumpers--what about an I Spy book? After a lively discussion, it felt like both to us.

4 comments:

Becky Maher said...

I love this! I really appreciate you sharing your great ideas! Is this a screen from your SmartBoard?

Tara said...

Becky, it is indeed on the Smartboard. :) Thanks for the great feedback as well.

Colleen said...

Perfect timing! I'm doing Fiction/Nonfiction with my kids right now. I'm doing this next class! Thanks Tar!

Colleen said...

Perfect timing! I'm doing Fiction/nonfiction with my kids. I'm going to do this activity next class. Thanks Tar! You always have great ideas!