Building Better Readers

This is the final week of our book clubs. Students have been reading selected chapters for five weeks, participating in a book club discussion once a week, and completing one reading response activity each week. They will have a choice of completing one of four final response activities after they finish reading their books.

In the library, Ms. Cameron has purchased a collection of new and notable chapter books for our library. She has invited us down to the library for two sessions of speed reading, where students are moving from book to book, within a genre, and making note of books they are interested in reading from the new collection. Here is a picture of one student's checklist:

In writing, we have been looking at persuasive writing. We are currently starting a nonfiction persuasive writing assignment. After reading a picture book called Winston Churchill: One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming and a nonfiction book titled Human Footprint, students selected a topic and an audience for their writing assignment. They were given a choice to work individually, in pairs, or triads. Their first step is to complete a plan for writing. This includes their reasons for persuasion (in order from least to most important), persuasive words or phrases, and facts that they are researching to support their topic. Next we will begin drafting our persuasive text. 

In art, we are completing our second project with a focus on Elements of Art: Space. We are creating a one-point city perspective drawing. They are turning out quite nicely. If you haven't yet seen our first project, the cat art for Elements of Art: Line, check out some of the examples in the art gallery page.

Upcoming:

Field Trip to Fort Langley Historical Museum for 'The Fur Trade Challenge' on March 13. 

Field Trip: Day of Immunology at UBC on April 27