Workshop Wednesday Link Up!

I'm so excited to link up with Jivey for Workshop Wednesday!  This week's topic is a big one: graphic organizers!  I use graphic organizers ALL the time in my read alouds to model  the great thinking kids should do in their independent reading.

Right now, I am focused on CCSS 5.5 (explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem).  On our most recent practice test, this was a huge area of concern.  Can I be honest and say that I wasn't even really sure what they kids needed to do demonstrate mastery of this standard until I saw some of the prompts on this test?  The one that stands out to me was something like, "The first paragraph of this passage describes the setting.  Why did the author include the second paragraph?"  Once I saw that question, I realized that the students needed to be able to determine the purpose of different parts of a story.  They would need to explain WHY the author included different chapters and parts of a passage.

Keeping this goal in mind, I created this little organizer.

Click the image to download a pdf version.

I used this graphic organizer to model my thinking as we read Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting.  Please don't judge my chart!  I didn't really think I'd be sharing it!

Sloppiness aside, you can see from the chart that we looked at the first page and summarized.  Then we looked at the next page and summarized.  To fill in the connection, we asked why are these pages together?  Why did the author include them?  What's the connection?  We did the same for the next few pages and used that information to notice the author's emphasis on consequences for people who get caught in the airport.  After modeling my thinking about the pages and their purpose, I sent my kiddos off to do the same in their independent reading.

Right now, my guided reading group (The Tale of Despereaux) is working on the same chart, but instead of working with pages, they are working with the four books within the book.

Tell me, how do you use graphic organizers in your classroom?