4th grade ELA

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Home : 2002 : September : 24

4th grade ELA
By Anneliese

I teach fourth grade in NYS and have found that it helps to back up and teach visualization skills first. I use Midnight Farm by Reeve Lindbergh. I have the students listen and we try to visualize or see the pictures in
our minds. As I read each page, I stop and ask students what they saw. We talk about what had to be there and what didn't matter (such as what kind of dog, if it wasn't specified). After about 6 or 7 pages they get real good at recalling the details. Then I read the 7th page, stop and have them sketch a picture with as many of the details as possible. Later we do a similar activity

with a story called How Turtle Flew South for the winter but I divide the story in 4 parts. Each time I stop I have the students sketch what the heard. Later we take these quadrants and replace them with words to illustrate how the pictures can be represented with notes. These are used for oral or written retellings of the story. I have a formal lesson plan and story for the Turtle story if you are interested. Just email me.