But! But! But!

Posted on April 8, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

In our guided reading groups this week the word “but” keeps coming up! We said that when “but” is in the middle of a sentence it often means that what comes after it will be the opposite of what came before it. For example: Mark was really tired, but he read his chapter book anyway!

This afternoon, Pablo gave me a great example of the use of “but” as well as an idiom! Here’s what happened:

Pablo loves going up stairs, but he’s not very good at coming back down. Looks like he’s bit off more than he can chew!

Can you figure out the idiom in that sentence?

More Crazy English!

Posted on April 6, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

Last week, we discussed how often times in English, authors use words and phrases that say one thing when they really mean something else. We said that figurative language helps authors “spice up their writing,” or make it more interesting.

We know when we say, “Kyan is a brain” we are using a metaphor to describe Kyan as smart!

Saying, “Nancy is as bright as a lightbulb,” is simile that is comparing Nancy to a lightbulb because she is bright. We can use our context clues to infer that this simile means Nancy is smart!

We also discussed personification. Can you think of some examples of times when we give human characteristics to things that are not human?

Idioms are another type of figurative language. Idioms are combinations of words that mean something very different than what they say. Here are some examples to think about:

Make your Writing more Interesting! Similes and Metaphors

Posted on April 3, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

This week we have been looking at figurative and literal language. We said that reading English text can be confusing because writers like to “spice up” their writing by adding in special language like similes, metaphors, personification, idioms, and more! Here are some examples of figurative language we discovered while reading this week!

What to read next?

Posted on March 25, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

Today, we finished our amazing read aloud The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane! We loved it! We were so happy with the ending! Thank you Kate DiCamillo for sharing your wonderful writing with us.

We decided we’d like to read some more of Ms. DiCamillo’s work. We are going to vote between The Tiger Rising and The Tale of Despereaux. Check out these fantastic, student made book trailers and then cast your votes soon!

The Tiger Rising

The Tale of Despereaux

Back to Fiction!

Posted on February 19, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

We have enjoyed some amazing nonfiction books this school year (hey, there’s one of our prefixes, “non” means not!) We read The Interactive Biography of Martin Luther King Jr., Different Like Coco, and The Tree Lady. We’ve also read a plethora of books on all sorts of nonfiction topics, from porcupines to escape artists!

On Monday, we began our new read aloud book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. This is one of my favorite books and it holds a special place in my heart. Every time I read this book to my students, they point out something new and interesting about the characters. You all did a marvelous job of quickly realizing that Edward is a selfish rabbit. We said he has a big ego!

Here is a sneak peek into our new read aloud. What predictions can you make based on the movie? Leave your predictions in a comment!

Think about the Genre!

Posted on February 6, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

When you’re trying to figure out the author’s purpose for writing, stop and think about the genre of the text. Thinking about the genre will also help you determine why the author included certain text features, like photographs, charts, graphs, and maps. Here are some genres to consider:

Nonfiction articles
Recipes
Directions
“How-tos” or procedurals
Persuasive Essay or editorials

Check out the articles below. Why did the author write them? Why did the author include those text features?

Easy Origami Heart
Roll A Burrito
Mountains of the World

Snow Days

Posted on January 30, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

This week one of our favorite books, Snow Day by Lester Laminack, came to life in our city! We have had two days off to play in the snow and enjoy the chilly weather. I’m excited to see you all back at school tomorrow!

Icicles hang from a teacher’s car.

The outside hallways were filled with snow!

All the snow is melting on the playground!

Snow remains in all the shadows because the sun has not melted it yet!

The front entrance of our school was covered in snow!

A church in the Southend of Charlotte was covered in snow!

Each swing was covered in snow!

Look how deep the snow was! It covered Mrs. Felter’s boots!

Even puppies left tracks in the snow.

The light rail tracks leading to Uptown were under snow!

Happy Birthday Dr. King!

Posted on January 14, 2014 by LearnCharlotte

Yesterday, we finished reading the interactive e-biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and today, January 15th, is Dr. King’s birthday! Our interactive biography contained the entire “I Have a Dream” speech that Dr. King gave in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. We have been badly wanting to hear the speech, so here are some of the greatest highlights from Dr. King’s speech.

Writing Biography Essays

Posted on December 11, 2013 by LearnCharlotte

I am currently writing my biography essay on inventor Thomas Edison. I have found some great internet research on Edison but I don’t know how to summarize it in my own words! Help me put this information into notes that I can use for the middle paragraphs of my essay.

More Amazing Amazon Book Reviews!