Analyzing mentor texts in ELA

 Analyzing mentor text is an important part of our journey as writers. Before beginning their own artifact writing task, we study and analyze mentor texts to notice what "good writers" do.  

We start by practicing this skill as a class, by answering guiding questions such as:

What makes this a powerful text?

What did the author do to engage you as a reader?

What parts resonated with you most? Why?

Then we move into questions about:

 IDEAS-Are they completely clear? Does anything need to be clarified?

ORGANIZATION-Are they in logical order? Is there a clear topic sentence and closing sentence?

WORD CHOICE-Are a variety of words and sentence starters being used? Is there evidence of strong and purposeful word choice?

Next, the kiddos analyze a new mentor text in small, randomized groups, as shown in the pictures above. They are then in charge of sharing the analysis with the class.  We start each ELA class by sharing one mentor text analysis before we start writing.

Vendredi verbes!

 It's vendredi verbes! On Fridays, we use games like, "Les indices" to review verb conjugations. Our friends C and A are teachers for the day, while the rest of the class tries to find the secret phrase.

 We call this "speed presenting". Students have just 2-3 minutes to practice their presentations before moving on to a new partner.  The goal is to build confidence in speaking in French in a small group setting before moving onto a large group.

 The kiddos are hard at work at creating their top fives! In this assignment, students practiced editing their writing through the use of a word wall.  This is a skill that will help them build independence in editing their French writing through the year.

Bonjour et bienvenue!

Welcome to École Ness and to room 205's classroom blog.  I am SO excited to start this exciting year of learning with the kiddos of 6-5 and 6-6 in partnership with their families and support systems.

We will be using the blog as a way of sharing and celebrating our learning. My goal is to update the blog weekly, so visit often!