Fourth grade and honors projects are humming along nicely. We have had many mini-lessons on how to organize note-cards into categories and order the notecards in a way that makes sense to teach your reader. Students try to find about 4-5 pieces of information that work together and these will become a paragraph.
We have then practiced "talking" our information from a set of cards and then creating a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details. I have found that having students read the information they want to share in a paragraph, then set the cards aside and simply talk with someone (even a pretend "someone") about the information is an essential step to writing coherently. They get a sense for the gaps they need to fill and they find the language they want to use – literally, their own voice.
This coming week, we'll be looking at introductions and conclusions – how to lead readers into your writing and how to leave them satisfied. Sometimes, students like to think of their writing like a hamburger – two nice buns are the introduction and conclusion. They help the reader hold on to the meaty inside and they keep things from getting too messy. It's a little goofy but engaging non-fiction writing is a new world for students. They don't have the same experience as they do for fiction. We read multiple mentor texts to help students find the style they want to emulate.
We are beginning to look forward to presenting our projects orally, too. This week, fifth graders wrote and practiced thirty second speeches about Wolf Ridge which they delivered to the school on Friday. Each 4th grader watched their mentor and used an oral presentation rubric to help identify opportunities for improvement. One fourth grader shared that it was a hard assignment. She didn't want to be "mean." It was the perfect opportunity to discuss the value of genuine feedback. Sharing something that someone can improve upon when the person still has a chance to work on it is a key skill. Receiving suggestions gracefully is also a very important skill. I shared with the class that when I was a student teacher, my first observer was afraid to hurt my feelings and I had to beg her to tell her the (many) things I needed to work on. The fifth graders then assured their mentees that they really wanted to know how to get better. Each child practiced three times and the mentees tracked their progress using the rubric. Of course, by offering suggestions to the fifth graders, the fourth graders were internalizing the expectations for their own presentations, too.
Here we are practicing:
The Rookery 
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