Book Trailer Projects

A great way to wrap up a book whether students have read it alone or in a group or partnership is to have them create a book trailer. Similar to a movie trailer this is a great way to check students understanding of what they read.

In the trailer I have them share the setting, characters, plot/conflict, major turning points, then stop! They need to then come up with catchy questions to draw the viewer in and make them want to read the book.

One easy way to teach this is to have them watch other student book trailers. I searched it online and found a ton. I usually use Yahoo Kids, they have a whole movie trailer section suitable for kids but was surprised to find the site gone this year.

One important point on this project is to not just let them get online immediately, have them storyboard their ideas, lay out the trailer, have a conference with you about it then release them to the computer.

I am using www.animoto.com this year. In the past I have done the project with www.onetruemedia.com as well. In order to get past the 30 sec. minimum I sign up for a single monthly subscription for about $5.

Here is the link to the free storyboard I used:
Storyboard Freebie

Here is a sample of a book trailer project finished by my students on the book "Freak the Mighty."


Students enjoy this project, you are able to get a great sense of what type of understanding they took from the book they read. This is a great example of students posting and sharing what they have learned online. We will take these and embed them on our blogger blogs. This would be great to get some feedback on. What do you think of this project? Have you done something similar?

Amy

Summer Reading: Are Projects Dead?

OK, I'll be honest. I'm not sure I can sit through one more summer reading project on Frindle or Because of Winn Dixie. It seems as if the same books are being read summer after summer. Even though I'm updated my "suggested list" with new titles, nobody is trying them. In the days of digital downloads I can't blame the local libraries for not carrying them. Are these projects being purchased on the black market? I highly doubt it.

So what are we looking for when we assign these projects? I always felt it gave me some instant insight into student's abilities the first week of school. Now that I am a parent living it, I am not so sure.


I asked myself:
What parent isn't going to help their child look their best during their first week of school when projects are due?
What are these projects really asking and how is it helping us as teachers get to know them?
Creating posters and comic storyboards seems to show off mostly art skills and some comprehension. Does this help?
Am I really looking for deep comprehension meaning from this?


Many read the book 6 plus weeks ago. When they go to present this book, they often can't remember it.

Instead I am thinking of going back to my old faithful: The dreaded READING LOG! This is a great piece of information, an insight into their reading interests, habits, level, and stamina. I'm not getting that info from a book project.

I can see whether they are chronic book abandoners, love series, follow authors, are avid readers, or don't read enough.

So I ask you, do you think it is o.k. to abandon the summer book project? I think I am ready to take the leap! Would love some feedback.
Amy
Here is a link to my TpT store to view the log that I plan to use:

Summer Reading Log

Writing Non-Fiction Books

Recently we just wrapped our non-fiction reader's and writer's workshop unit. After getting through 15 mini-lessons in reading and writing I am happy to say students are published! I was going back and forth as to what students writing topics should be. I was about a third of the way through my writing mini-lessons when it was time to choose a topic. In science we were in the middle of studying animal adaptations and how they survive in winter. Since I already had an abundance of resources in my classroom on that topic-an amazing range of non-fiction resources and a LiveBinder put together online on the subject I thought this would be a perfect topic for students to work from.

When I introduced that they would be creating their own essential question research topic under the umbrella of winter animals I got very little reaction. I grouped them and had them use the books to develop some questions they had as they were reading. What I noticed was that the tone, energy, and enthusiasm in the classroom had changed. Students went from curious investigators to passive participants in their learning.

When reviewing my day I couldn't help but notice the loss of energy in the room when I announced topics would be somewhat controlled. In reflecting on my teaching practices I decided to let the student's guide my teaching a bit and announce that they would be able to choose a topic that they were interested in, had questions about, and were passionate about exploring. What a difference this made. Students dove right in researching, collecting books and websites, applying mini-lessons, and were asking meaningful questions about their topic along the way.

Students owned their learning. They were interested in their subject and dove right in. I wished I had taken video of my conferences because they were so invested and asked meaningful questions. Our conferences involved each of us having laptops available to search for answers immediately and check out how their book was coming. (I am piloting a Google classroom this year and students used Google Presentation to publish their books).


Overall, I must say this was my most successful writing unit of the year. The teacher learned just as much as the students :)

Have you had the struggle of students choosing topics? Yes, it was tough for me to let one student write about One Direction and their rise to fame in the US, but I have to say-it came out great! Would love to hear your story or struggle on this topic.

Colonial Commercials

I just completed a project where students worked in pairs to research one of the 13 colonies that we have been studying. Students were given guidelines and asked to present their research in a commercial format advertising to potential settlers why they should choose their colony to settle in. Students focused on potential jobs, resources, crops, climate of the area, etc. I used a free web 2.0 tool called One True Media: www.onetruemedia.com For longer length videos you can buy a monthly membership for under $5.
Below are two samples for you to view.

For the graphic organizer I used a basic storyboarding sheet. I found the frames on Google Images and just created it into a worksheet.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Have you used One True Media for any projects? Would love to hear about them!

Writer's Workshop Conference Cards: Non-Fiction

I'm not sure how many of you remember, but I had a blog post a few months back about using conference cards with students during writer's workshop. This has been a life saver for me because many of the students that I have are in their first year of workshop. They are not used to the writing environment and often in the beginning of the year were looking for immediate feedback, questions answered, work edited for them, etc.
Some sample cards:

That is when writer's workshop cards were born! It has taught students in my room to be reflective thinkers. That metacognition piece is so important after mini-lessons and application. I find it is the best use of their time if you cannot be 1:1 conferencing with them.

My students are in the middle of a non-fiction writing unit right now. We are writing expert books. We are all under the same topic of Winter Animals. After using an FQR chart for our questions and wonderings students are developing their essential questions. I feel as though I have started to be pulled in so many different directions "putting out fires." I don't want my workshop environment to be like that, so I created another batch of Writer's Workshop Conference Cards. This time I have made them specific for non-fiction writing.

Check them out in my TpT store here

I've kept them at the low price of $1.00 for you to copy and make as many sets for your students as you need. I put mine on construction paper, cut, laminated, and hole punched them for a ring. Staples has great multicolor rings for 3.99 a box.




Enjoy!

Teaching Students to Narrow Their Topic

I have been taking this much needed break as an opportunity to catch up and plan my non-fiction writing unit for next week. As I look at and sdjust my mini-lessons I decided I needed to step back and reflect on what went well and maybe not so well with this unit last year.

We know that true learning occurs with students when we ask them to be metacognitive with their work. As teachers and life-long learners, we must strive to do the same.

I found that one of the most difficult parts of teaching non-fiction writing is teaching students how to narrow their focus when choosing a topic. You want them to be inspired and interested in the topic they are writing about, yet having over 20 different subjects to help students narrow and negotiate through can be a daunting task.

This year I decided that as a class we would take the same topic that we are studying in Science: Animal Adaptations in Winter.

Some steps and points to consider for this unit:

*I will be able to easily gather books and resources on one subject. This will limit running around gathering nf books from libraries since I have many in my classroom already.

*I will model through an INTERACTIVE READ-ALOUD how I would read this book talking about the text features and new information I was learning.

* I will then model completing an FQR chart and creating an ESSENTIAL QUESTION. This question or "wonder" will be the base for my upcoming research.

* Students will then complete their own FQR chart. I will pull students and conference to help them develop their wonder essential question based on their research.

* Hopefully, I will then have 21 essential questions unique to each student in which they are passionate about to learn more and research. Because it is all connected to animal survival in winter, I will have plenty of resources available.

* Students will then complete mini-books based on their question.

Check back for freebie graphic organizers for this unit. How do you manage helping students narrow a topic for non-fiction research?

Great books to have!

This fall I was always in search of mentor texts to use with my Personal Narrative and Interpretive Essay writing units. The Lucy Calkins writing unit books do a nice job of giving you a sample text and using it throughout the unit, but where the books are for grades 3-5 teachers I always run into the problem of students who have had their teachers use the mentor text book before. Seriously, how many times can you see and listen to Tiger Rising broken down and discussed?

Our school is in the process of developing a "hands-off" book list for grades. It would be a list of books that each grade "owns" to use as mentor texts. I cannot wait for this to happen! While I can see the benefit that some students would have knowing the text, there are so many great novels and picture books out there-why not expose them to them?

Often when I do use excerpts of books students will get the book from the library because it has inspired them to want to read on. I just used Frindle for teaching strong characters (specifically the chapter: Mrs.Granger). I had three boys looking for it at our school library. It is just another great way to motivate different lit.

Seeing as there are only 24 hours in each day, I do not have time to read different novels to be able to connect them to different mini-lessons. That is where these two books come in (below). YAY! They are amazing, they not only give you the books to use, but how to use them. It is very similar to the Calkin's style, yet with different text sets.

How do you choose mentor texts? Anybody have any good lists to share?

Happy Holidays!