February, March & April Read Aloud

What’s New in Read Aloud?

Fourth Grade is utilizing the Read-Aloud Period in order to prepare our students to navigate through texts of various genres. We have renamed this period and are now referring to read-aloud as, “Seminar”. During this period we will be focusing on exposing students to different types of fiction and non-fiction genres. Over the next few months we will be focusing on:

      

     Non-fiction:

·      Expository/Informational texts

·      Narrative Texts

·      Argumentative/ Persuasive Texts

·      Instructional/ Procedural Texts

    Fiction:

·      Excerpts

·      Historical Fiction 

·      Traditional Literature: Fables

·      Traditional Literature: Myths and Legends

·      Traditional Literature: Tall Tales

·      Science Fiction

·      Poems

During this period, we will organize ourselves into a circle in order to foster open discussion about the texts as we read them aloud. We will focus on text structure and getting the students used to identifying different text structures in order to ensure better comprehension of the text.

We are encouraging students to make a plan for reading by:

    Non-Fiction Texts

1)   Previewing: To preview a non-fiction text, we:

      Focus on the three main parts:

·      Set-up (title, headings/subheadings)

·      Words (bold words, where specific details are located)

·      Pictures (captions, maps, graphics, and illustrations)

      Ask ourselves:

      1.    “How do the three parts connect?”

      2.   “What’s this passage probably going to be mostly about?”

2)   When reading non-fiction texts:

•               Stop at the end of each chunk of text and think about what you have learned.
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•      After reading two or more chunks of the text, you should think about how what you just read connects to what you read in previous chunks.

·      Ask: How does this new information help me understand what I already read earlier in the text?

3)   Pay attention to non-fiction text structures:

·      Descriptive

·      Sequence

·      Problem and Solution

·      Cause and Effect

·      Compare and Contrast

   

     Reading Fiction Texts:

1)   Preview:

How: Read the title, bold words, pictures and the first paragraph to get an idea of:

•         Main Character
•     Secondary Character
•     Setting
•     Problem
•      Big life topics

2)   Read the text carefully and develop ideas about the main character, problem and themes within the text.

3)   After reading: Confirm or adjust your preview prediction. Jot down the problem and the lesson on top of the passage.

Students will also be required to answer short response questions about each passage. It is important that they follow the structure of a short response paragraph in order to earn the highest possible grade of a 2.