Teaching the Information Generation: "Tribond" game

Children need lots of support in learning how to “guess the rule.” Vicki suggests that instead of playing the game, Tribond or Tribond, Jr. following the traditional rules, she says to solve one card per day. The NAEP tests the critical skill of making connections between objects by thinking about about they have in common.

For example:
-Milton Bradley
-The Wizard of Oz
-A Chubby Checker Concert

They have Twisters (brand name).

After reading this idea from Vicki (page 169), I tried it with students. They loved it!

Teaching the Information Generation By Vicki Benson Castagna

Vicki presented at the International Reading Association about her wonderful book, Information Generation. She is an awesome presenter with high energy and lots of ideas. Her work with informational text reminds me of my OWL strategy. She has the students Observe and Describe the information they see in the informational text. The students notice things around them. It is looking closely and carefully and thinking about what you notice. The students struggle to find the words so she has the students notice and observe using descriptive attributes:
-action: what is it doing?
-size: how big is it?
-shape: what does it look like?
-location: where is it?
-colors: what color is it?
-number words: how many?
-material: waht is it made of?
-touch/texture: what might it feel like?

Vicki suggested that when the children observe a bird nest, they notice its size, shape, and the materials the bird made it with, and its location (page 91).

Another suggestion that really made a lot of sense to me was encouraging kids to think about having students use verbs to describe photos. What actions are we seeing? She suggests asking “What do you think is happening in the picture?” “Tell me what is happening in the picture.” “What do you think is going on here.” She modeled with a short piece of text about Columbus. What are his actions? What are the verbs? Why did he complete these actions? How did these actions help us understand? What Vicki kept coming back to was the “WHY” and “HOW” of the comments we made. The students make a comment or a notice or an observation. Vicky asks how come or why. By using attributes the conversation shifts from labeling to describing. It is important to record what the children Understand in a chart. This allows for the teacher to model how to take notes (pages 91-93).

The next step in this process that Vicki discussed at IRA was Interpretations. There are two really important questions that we are going to ask today when we read: Why and How. Why is it that shape? Why is it that size? Why did the animal behave like that? How come the animal went in that nest instead of the other nest? How come the nest is on the ground instead of in a tree? How does the bird catch food? (page 118). The purpose of the interpretation part of the lesson is to move the children from fact gathering to interpretative conversation. The children take any fact and ask why. Why is this true? Why is it this shape? Why is it this color? Michael Pressley found that turning a fact into a WHY question pushes our learners to think about the fact, activate prior knowledge about the fact, and answer the question by filling in the knowledge gaps about the fact (Elaborative Interrogation, Pressley & Woloshyn, 1995; Pressley et al., 1992) (Information Generation, 118). Eventually students are taught to ask Where and When questions also. Where does the bird find food? Where does it live? When does it use its beak?

To find answers to their questions, the students are encouraged to (see page 121 for more ideas):
-reread the parts of the text that you need to find the answer (index, photos, captions, skim a section)
-find facts from the text
-think about what you know
-prove it!

The third step in this process is connections that matter! Vicki spoke about making sure that the children are comparing their concrete experiences (connections) with the information. We coach the conversation by asking, “How do you know that?” or “What experience have you had that proves or supports that fact?” “Have you seen this for real?” When we read a fact in a book, we think about where we have experienced that idea. The experience needs to support the fact. How is your experience like the information? How do they connect? Encourage your students to explain their thinking by saying, “I know this because…” (Information Generation, pages 125-130).

I combined the presentation notes with the page references so that everyone has more ideas to support your teaching.

Persuasive Writing Mondo Materials

Mondo has two series available now that I learned about at International Reading Association (IRA). You probably already know about the book, Should There Be Zoos? A Persuasive Text Written by Tony Stead. There are now 4 books available in this series:

Should There Be Zoos?
Should We Have Pets? (second grade)
Should Kids Play Video Games?
Should There Be Space Exploration?

These four books are written by students. Students are writing an argument for pets then an argument against pets. For example, two students wrote that pets are fun. Then two students argued that pets are too expensive. I also liked the books because it explained the class’ writing process so that another classroom can replicate it.

The other set of books are flip sides (which means half the book is yes and half the book is no):
Should There Be Presidential Term Limits?
Are Organized Sports Better for Kids than Pick-Up Games?
Is It Better to be Judged be a Judge or a Jury of Your Peers?
Should We Drill for Oil in Protected Fields?

The organization of the flip-books is that the 1/2 of the book gives 8-10 arguments supporting the position of yes. Then 1/2 of the book gives 8-10 arguments supporting the position of no.

I am frequently asked about materials to support persuasive text, I hope you find these helpful too.

These materials work because they are clear examples of persuasive text. They answer these questions:
1. Does the text argue for a particular position or point of view?
2. Does it attempt to convince the reader to think, act, or feel a certain way?
3. Does it begin with an opening statement which introduces the author’s position?
4. Does it develop the position with evidence that supports your position?
5. Does it concede, acknowledge, or refute an opposing point of view?

Environmental Print Wall

This Environmental Print Wall is added to all year by the teacher (and hopefully the students). The kindergarten ‘word wall’ is not a word wall like the other grades. Instead, we support the kindergartners with environmental print, letters, and experiences. The popcorn words (high-frequency words) are posted around the room. I wrote about this in other postings.