More about empathy

Back in the Fall, the boys and girls learned all about empathy. Last week, we continued that discussion after students learned about the five steps to using quotation marks.  

I thought about how combining the two could bring about some great writing around what we can say to one another when facing challenges.  The big question was: what can we say to one another that demonstrates empathy in a variety of situations? 

For this reason, I created an "Empathy Poster".  Students have learned about the important features of an effective poster and we reviewed whether or not mine met the requirements (Whew, it did!). I asked the boys and girls to use quotation marks to write about what they would say in each situation.  

To kick off our lesson, and remind students about what empathy is and how it differs from sympathy, we read "The Invisible Boy" by Trudy Ludwig. From there, we moved on to our posters. Students are still working on them, but I'm thrilled that I've been able to teach my students about so many different topics all in one activity. 

The boys and girls are off to a great start and I have to say, their responses to the three different situations posed in the poster are very touching. It is a pleasure to spend my day with such kind and thoughtful people. 

Can I quote you?

The boys and girls are learning how to use quotation marks this week. They're learning that there are five key parts to correct usage. I made this quick video for students to watch to review their skills and assist with any related homework assignments.  

We saved Fred! (well, at least we tried to!)

We had an extra-fun Fun Friday last week! We've been talking a lot lately about what it means to be an effective communicator. Sometimes this means  "picking our battles" and working collaboratively with folks we don't know all that well or maybe we've even had differences with in the past. We've reviewed what needs to be reported to teachers (I saw someone steal something out of a locker)  and what can be solved on our own (I found a pencil on the floor, what do I do with it?).  

Saving Fred is a great way to build a variety of things: a positive community, effective listening (to the teacher's instructions and to each other) along with problem solving (after all, we need to rescue this guy!). 

Here's Fred's story:  

Everyone worked together to try and save little Fred and it was so much fun! I loved listening to their laughter and strategies and you will too in this video below! It was especially heartwarming to hear them speak with such kindness and consideration to one another as they tried to work together on this task.  

There was lots of talking, lots of strategizing and plenty of attempts to rescue poor Fred! Some groups were successful, some not so much, but there was no denying the activity was a hit! Everyone worked together and our afternoon flew by! And what a nice surprise to find that there were lots of gummy Lifesavers leftover to share! 

What's a Wednesday Workshop?

The countdown is on!  
We're going to take it up a notch with respect to our ongoing EQAO prep each Wednesday starting this week.  Moving forward, every Wednesday, students will receive actual EQAO stories/articles and a set of questions.

Not only do these workshops show the boys and girls what to expect from their EQAO booklets, they give us a wonderful opportunity to have really rich discussions about our writing in both Math and Language.
  
By using the Smartboard/Document Camera, we're able to work together through the article/story and questions. We can think out-loud and talk about different approaches to the questions and explore what works and doesn't work in terms of suitable responses. 

I like that our discussions aren't just about "EQAO", but rather about what good writers do.  When you only have five lines to respond to a question that asks for evidence from the text, you have to choose your words carefully. I'm so pleased that my students see how we have to think about our writing on a higher level. 

We have to consider not only the correct response to the question, but our word choice, actual letter size and other important factors. It's a lot of critical thinking that goes into responding to these very thick questions!    

This week,  we looked an article/presentation about the Venus Flytrap plant.  The boys and girls are writing a paragraph about why this is a unique plant using evidence from the text and their own ideas.  

You can read more about this article at an older blog post found here:  Venus Flytrap 2017

Next week, the boys and girls will read a story about a class that goes on a field trip. The story is called "Where's Ms.Mitra".  They will have to use their knowledge of irony to answer one of the questions and then consider if someone did their job well or not.  

They will also complete a set of multiple-choice questions based on the story. The irony question has been a tough one in previous years, but now that students have an understanding of how irony works (this year is only the third time I've attempted to teach it), they can better articulate their thoughts.  

I'm looking forward to seeing how the students take what they've learned about irony and apply it to this writing opportunity.