In our book talk lesson, we have been focusing on gaps from our previous assessments. As part of this, we’ve been using different formats so that we are familiar with different ways questions can be presented to us. We worked together as partners to come up with predictions but ensuring we linked this back to what we already know.
In history, we have been learning about where the cacao bean comes from and how it’s grown. We used QR codes to access some reading materials providing lots of information. We then had to use our skimming and scanning skills to help us locate the relevant information to answer questions.
We the looks at the differences between how the Maya processes cacao beans and how they’re processed now to keep up with the demand.
In reading, we have been looking at Pig Heart Boy. In this session, we considered why mum and dad were arguing and which side of the debate we fell on. We then looked at how Dr. Bryce added to discussion and thought about the pros and cons of the procedure. This culminated with us having a conscience alley, to try and predict which side Cam would favour.
In our demo comp, we have been discussing the expectations when answering an inference question. This is a huge area for development for us this half term and we are starting to get the hang of answering these questions and ensuring we provide enough detail to answer the question.
In our book talk session, we’ve been focusing heavily on how to answer inference questions and thinking about the skills we’ll be using to help us do this. As part of the lesson, we have are able to see a guided question and see the model of what an answer should look like before working alongside our peers to answer a different question.
In addition, we have been focusing on our fluency and the importance how being fluent helps us to understand the text and therefore answer the questions. We have been working on our pausing, pace and accuracy which is something we’ll continue with in th coming weeks.
This week, Crew Hamill have really enjoyed our reading book. To begin with, we were a little confused as to what ‘The Invisible Clothes’ might be and we made predictions that it might be clothes that turned you invisible once you were wearing them – a little bit like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Once we had analysed some of the vocabulary and read a brief introduction to the story, we realised that it was actually about a tailor who was tricking someone into buying ‘invisible’ clothes. He was actually stealing the Emperor’s money and pretending to make clothes for him! We have loved reading this story and finding out if the Emperor would be silly enough to go along with the tailor and do his usual procession around town in his ‘invisible clothes’. We found it very funny that he went along with it! During demonstration comprehension, we deepened our inference skills by focusing on 3 inference questions. This allowed us to further develop the skill of finding evidence in the text to support our own thinking.
We are really loving reading in MI at the minute! Everyone is always so excited to find out what will happen next in the story. Our entry ticket looked at fact and opinion statements which is something we are trying hard to work on. We then played 4 corners where we looked at some of the vocabulary that would appear in the text as we read. We always love playing this! When reading today, we read with a partner and independently. Again we worked on the fluency of our reading. Our reasons to read allowed us to give some of our impressions on the different characters but we used the text to support our ideas. Our exit ticket allowed us to voice our most memorable moments in the story so far and this was a great discussion as a whole crew.
Our entry ticket allowed us to think about the text we read on Friday with our partner. We shared what happened with the whole crew then based on our discussions ordered the events on our tables to recall these events. We then discussed the question, “Should Ali Baba have entered the cave?’ We explained our answers with our partner then the whole crew. There was some great discussion.
We then looked at the vocabulary that would appear in the text as we read, we made sure we were familiar with the language before we started to read. From here we started reading the next part of the text, we completed a chorus read, partner read and independent read. Mrs McClare really tried to model expression and fluency during the chorus read. Our reasons to read allowed us to demonstrate our understanding of the text and our exit allowed us to make predictions based on what the main character may do next! A great reading lesson MI.
In our book talk session, we have started looking at some of the elements that make us a fluent reading. Our focus for this lesson was ensuring we pause in the correct places. We discussed the importance of paying in the correct places which helps us with comprehension of the text. We used echo read which allowed us to see where we should pause. Each lesson we will focus on a different element of fluency which will support us as readers.
After completing out written comprehension, we had a guided lesson to help us with being able to ensure we are providing enough evidence and explanation to answer inference questions.
