A Little Non-Fiction and A LOT of Spiders!!

It’s a creepy, crawly week!! We’ve been doing A LOT of spider research this week and learning about non-fiction text features in the along the way!

We started with just being able to identify the features before we dove into really understanding how they help us.

The kiddos are also learning how to use the writing process to write an informational text. This requires A LOT of input! We always start off with our spider pictorial.

We are so lucky to have some amazing teachers in our district who are GLAD trainers and have provided us with SO many amazing resources including this pictorial! The kiddos just love it!

I also added our Leveled Spider Quick Read set to our comprehension tub for literacy centers. This has really done double duty this week because not only are they learning more about spiders, but they are also working on important thinking and comprehension skills.

While receiving all this input, the kiddos were taking notes. Our grade level uses the can, have, are format for taking notes. This gives the kiddos a sentence starter to get their notes written, which is really helpful for them.

Once the kiddos finished their notes, they started their plans. We have been focusing on topic and conclusion sentences so that is an important part of their writing. You can read more about topic sentences HERE.

Some kiddos have moved on to their drafts but a lot of them are still in the planning process. Up next, we are going to be doing our narrative which is spiders from around the world.

This is just a sample of what it looks like. There are spiders from each continent. But we haven’t done it yet so I don’t have a final picture:)

If you aren’t familiar with a narrative, it is a GLAD strategy that tells a story through pictures. It is a really engaging way to teach the kiddos about a concept. The story is on the back of each picture so you know what to say as you are showing the picture. It’s a great way for the kiddos to hear information and content vocabulary, and it’s a different type of input that really seems to stick with them. This narrative was also given to us by our AWESOME GLAD trainer:)

We have been so wrapped up in spiders this week that the kiddos have been on their best behavior! I guess that’s a good sign of some good learning!

Next week, we are going to be moving on to bats. For that we will be doing a lot of the same things and we will be using our Leveled Bats Quick Read set, which you can get HERE.

Before I wrap up to go start bath time and bedtime routines, I want to share something super exciting with you!! We have LOVED our new quick read sets and so have the kiddos! They have so many uses and since there are 6 different levels, the kiddos are all learning the content at a level that is successful for them. Such an easy way to differentiate! Anyways, we are almost done with TWO new sets that will be ready by the end of the weekend!