Wow, well, February just came and went! We actually just finished up our nonfiction reading and writing units, but since I didn't get around to posting them, I'm going back to review how things went.
I started out this unit by introducing new Nonfiction Explorers Journal. I created this journal as a central place for all of the graphic organizers and reading responses that are part of our nonfiction unit. I loved the explorers theme woven through this journal and the kiddos really enjoyed using their journals.
More importantly, I had built-in exit tickets for almost every lesson. Each page corresponded with one of the reading lessons I taught so my readers always had a place to record their notes. They learned to notice important vocabulary, record key facts, and connect big ideas with supporting details.
The kiddos kept these journals in their reading bins, along with leveled books and some nonfiction books from our topic bins (which we created here.) In addition to getting a few leveled books (fiction or nonfiction) I encouraged my explorers to use the "Five Finger Test" to fill their bins with nonfiction books they could read. I always find it interesting how this unit can push struggling readers to new heights as they seek to read challenging books on the topics that interested them.
Once again, this unit allowed my readers to stretch their decoding and comprehending muscles and many of them move up at least one reading level during this month!
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