I can't wait to try this! Wow! Jennifer In a message dated 2/8/2007 7:16:01 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
also teach first and I like to have kids literally walk a story map that I have drawn and enlarged on a plastic shower curtain. I have designed the retell to look much like a volcano. There are stopping points that we visit along the volcano. It starts out level... like grass and we notice the title and author...make connections to either and place our connections and predictions based on those connections on sticky notes onto the map. Then we start to mount the story just as the details start to mount. kids draw pictures of the setting and adhere them to the map. Then we list main events on sentence strips for the more proficient kids, and the strugglers draw pictures to go with the strips. We continue that way until we hit the top of the volcano (which by the way is exploding) This is the climax of the story... Again, more pictures and descriptions. Then there is a quick decent (though the volcano levels off far above the beginning line) This is the resolution. Kids draw pictures and write on sentence strips. We talk about the volcano leveling off far above the opposite side of the volcano because a reader will never end up in the same place as when he began the story mount. The author and his characters will forever change the reader.... add to his schema .... give new mental images... etc. Underneath that part kids list the theme or message of the author. They try to figure out how they might have had their thinking changed or expanded. To practice the retell, kids take a two minute mount up the volcano.... telling about each part and finally when finished give their reaction to the author's style and message. I liken this activity to David Middlebrook's scrolls. the kids are in the story with the author... walking the structure. When their at the top, they know this is the climax.... that the resolution will come swiftly... the decent of the story takes so much less time than the mount. Some years we add costumes or shoes that might go with the story content...... it's my attempt at kids working with the author to create meaning. Hope this makes sense _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
