Building Knowledge and Vocabulary Through Authentic Texts- Author Study: Patricia Polacco Books

School:: Seacrest Country Day School - Lower School
Subject:: Language Arts
Teacher:: Melissa Feliciano
: Myka Calagione
Students Impacted:: 40
Grade:: 4
Date:: September 10, 2023

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

A Champion for Learning - $440.79

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 23

This grant impacted my students by giving them the tools to build background knowledge and make meaning of the text. Students were able to analyze characters using rich vocabulary and make observations. Students engaged in cognitive and metacognitive strategies during classroom discussions to help make meaning of the text. Students used the vocabulary to develop strong sentences when composing responses. Students benefited by improving their language comprehension skills which transferred to new contexts. These texts helped build an understanding of symbolism, figurative language, author's tone, and mood.

Original Grant Overview

Goal

All 4th grade students will build vocabulary and knowledge as they engage in reading grade level books. They will be taught thinking routines in order to improve language comprehension skills.

What will be done with my students

Students will build on background knowledge and make meaning of the text as they read in small groups. They will be taught academic vocabulary through phonics, morphology and etymology. There will be a focus on mentor sentences within the texts that clearly illustrate a grammar rule or figurative language element. Students will make observations, identify the components of the sentence, analyze the impact and write their own version of the mentor sentence. Students will engage in cognitive and metacognitive strategies in order to make sense of the text.

Benefits to my students

Students will benefit by improving their language comprehension skills which will transfer to new contexts. Learning and applying thinking routines to new texts will help students become more metacognitive as they make meaning from a text. Thinking routines builds confidence, kindles refection and promotes peer to peer discussion.

Budget Narrative

The budget for this language comprehension bundle includes 7 book titles and 7 copies of each book. These will be used with all 4th grade students in small literacy groups.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	Mrs. Mack	$62.93
2	Just Plain Fancy	$62.93
3	Junkyard Wonders	$97.93
4	Thundercake	$49.00
5	My Rotten Red Headed Brother	$56.00
6	Meteor	$49.00
7	Mr. Lincoln's Way	$63.00
	Total:	$440.79

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