Melissa B. McCarty
During the second week of this unit, I will introduce an Arthur book for the week. The first book I will start with is Arthur's Birthday, (Brown, 1991). We will discuss the cover and some connections the students have to birthday parties. As the students share their experiences with birthday parties, I will chime in and ask how they felt at their birthday parties. We will read the first few pages together. The beginning of this book provides the reader with background on what Arthur usually enjoys doing around his birthday. He enjoys writing out his invitations, bringing them to school to pass out to his friends, eating pancakes in the morning with his family and of course, having a birthday party with all of his friends (Brown, 1991). This book is a wonderful example of connecting to a book for a seven year old. What seven years old doesn't love having a birthday party? As we read the first few pages, I will ask my "detectives" to notice how the character is feeling. We will chart these feelings on the chart paper as well as their thinking behind it. After charting a few examples, I will ask the class to go in their independent reading books and search for clues that prove the character is feeling a certain way and write down how they know.
During share time, I will have a few students share their independent reading slips with the class and I will post them on the wall in the reading corner. After share, I will then ask the class, "How did we infer how the characters were feeling? What did inferring look like? What types of things went on inside our heads?" This chart will grow throughout the unit and will be posted also in the reading corner.
What does inferring……
Underneath the column look like, the students might come up with "eyes on the picture of the character." Or, "Heads looking up in to the sky while we think in our heads." For sounds like, the students might say, "students starting with, he is feeling because," or "I know I would react that way." The "because" part of the students response is an important step for them because it forces the students to back up their thinking.