When we go to the beach we see many beautiful sights. We see the sand, shells, crabs, seaweed, birds flying, beautiful clouds, boats on the water, and even more. BUT if you could go scuba diving and go UNDER the ocean waves, you'd see so much hidden beauty. You'd see many different kinds of fish, maybe some dolphins, coral, living seaweed, starfish, sea urchins etc.
Think about how the plot of a story is what is easy to see. It is like what you see above the ocean. BUT, when you read a story, there is so much more than just the plot.
Check out the difference below.
This thinking is about plot questions.
We can't have a good story without a plot, so above the ocean is important. But there's nothing hidden - it's pretty obvious.
It's usually about:
Some examples from the book Blue Dolphin are:
Who was the main character in Island of the Blue Dolphins?
What happened when Karana saw her brother was on the island?
What did Karana use for her fence?
Who is Captain Orlov?
What was Tutok's gift that she made for Karana?
What happened to the canoe when Karana tried to get to the mainland?
How long was Karana stranded on the island?
NOTE: There is only one right answer for these types of questions.
This thinking is about something that is not obvious. Like when you stand at the beach you don't see all the treasures under the water. You have to dive into the water to actually see it.
It means you are diving deep into the story to understand. The answers are often open-ended because there is more than one correct answer. Two people can have opposite ideas, but they can both be correct.
It involves a lot of opinion BUT you still have to be able to support your answer with clues and evidence from the story.
So no wild guessing!
It's usually about:
Some examples from Island of the Blue Dolphins are:
Why did Karana jump off the ship?
Why did Karana decide to become friends with Tutok?
Did Karana have a good reason to hate the Aleuts?
Why did Karana decide to make weapons?
How did Karana change in this book?
What is a good theme for the book Island of the Blue Dolphins?
We don't do a lot of worksheets for reading in room 10.
Assessments are usually formed from student conferences/discussions and post-its that are written while reading literature. At the end of a book, students will take a "Final Thoughts" assessment.
Please consider:
It also is extremely helpful to actually read the same literature book your child is reading. That way you can understand more easily how the post-its were assessed.
Examples:
It might be helpful to see a range of post-its from poor to amazing.
The examples below are based on Chapter 15 of Island of the Blue Dolphins.
FYI, in this chapter, Karana, who has vowed revenge on the wild dog who killed her brother, shoots him with an arrow but then takes mercy on him and saves his life.
IMPORTANT:
When turning in post-its, make careful choices.
As you read, write jot dots when you think something important happened. You don't need to write all your thinking yet. That comes after you decide the Top 4 for the week's chunk.
The post-its need to focus on UNDER THE OCEAN IDEAS, not the plot.
The post-its need to be about something IMPORTANT.
The post-its should NOT be asking questions. This is when you actually decide an answer to something you wondered about. Then, you explain your thinking and why you made that decision.
Overall, you need to WRITE ENOUGH so I can understand your deep thinking.
Post it: Karana made a fire at the cave's entrance. Then she waited for the dogs to come out. Three ran out and then 7 more. Finally the leader ran out. Then she shot him.
This is an "above the ocean" comment that just states something that happened in the plot. It is more like a summary of what happened. This is just the plot.
Post it: My best thinking happened on page 95.
This actually is not explaining your thinking. It says thinking happened but doesn't explain what the thinking was. The student may have a great thought but nothing is written about it so it still gets a grade of 1. I tell the students that I can't tell what they are thinking so they have to explain it.
Post it: There were some puppies in the cave. Karana wanted to hold them. She was so lonely she probably thought it would be awesome to have a puppy. Having a cute puppy would make her feel better.
This shows emotions and talks about something that is super interesting. However, there are many interesting things that happen in the plot. That's part of what makes a story so great. But, it isn't actually something that is important. If there were no puppies in the cave, it does not change the story at all. What WAS important is that Karana forgave the dog and made friends with it. That changed the story completely.
Post it: Karana shot an arrow at the wild dog who had killed Ramo. She did that because she was so angry with him.
This is better. The first sentence is plot. That is actually okay for the first sentence IF it is short. Then, the second sentence refers to the motive of the character. This is a good beginning. However, not much is explained so I call this "a toe in the water" because it starts to get "under the ocean" but then just stops. Again, I tell the students that I can't read their minds so they have to explain what they're thinking.
Post it: Why did Karana not kill the wild dog?
This is definitely a "toe in the water." This is actually a great question. She hated that dog and she had her chance for revenge, but she showed mercy. It can lead to some very great ideas that are "under the ocean."
However, it gets a grade of 2 because it is a question. The point is to think of the answer to your question. Then, write WHY you think that is true. So instead, write "Karana did not kill the wild dog because it was helpless." After that write your reasons why you think that.
Post it: Karana decided to have mercy on the dog.
This is the most important idea in the whole chapter so it is a great beginning! So that sentence is awesome. However, there are no details that EXPLAIN the thinking. I tell the students that if they only write one short sentence, that is a clear clue that it will not get a "green grade." Students need to explain more and try to be convincing.
Post it: Karana had a good reason to kill the dog. After all, it killed her brother and she swore to get revenge. So it's surprising that she chooses not to kill it. Maybe she felt like it was lying there so helpless, and it felt wrong to actually kill it.
This has enough written to really understand the student's thoughts about what happened. It is clear that s/he grappled with the deeper idea of motives. Karana had a motive to kill it. But on the other hand she had reasons to show mercy. Also there is an understanding that her change of mind was completely unexpected.
Post it: Karana is angry at the dog who killed her brother. She loved him so much. I would be devastated if something happened to my sibling. And it's even worse because she is now 100% alone on the island! So why did she have mercy and take him home? I'm not sure I could have done that.
This goes deeply into the emotions of the situation. It shows an understanding of how incredibly sad Karana is. It also shows s/he understood this feeling and was experiencing Karana's feelings. A good reader feels like s/he has "jumped into the story" and reacts and relates almost as if it is happening to them.
post it: Karana was filled with mixed feelings. As she stood there and looked at the wounded dog, she wanted to kill her enemy. But it was so helpless. She was confused. She said "If he had gotten up, I would have killed him." Maybe there is no victory in hurting a helpless enemy. Maybe deep inside she hoped that she could make friends with it. She'd seen dogs as friends before.
This goes the extra mile. This response acknowledges that there is a huge conflict of feelings inside of Karana. Also there is an attempt to show possible ideas of what is going through Karana's mind. This takes a LOT of inferring to do. It also quotes from the text to provide evidence. This response also shows the reader has "jumped into the story" and is evening imagining possible answers to such an unexpected ending. There is a logical reason she considers the dog could maybe become a friend.
Post it: Karana is sleeping on the high rock because she doesn't trust the dog that killed her brother. BUT, she tries to heal his wounds and keeps bringing him food to eat. I think her heart is fighting with her brain. She has a good reason to hate him, but he is accepting her help and not being hostile. She has hope deep inside that she wants to be his friend. It is so hard, but she overcomes her fear and even forgives him. I was shocked!
This is definitely under the ocean thinking. It shows you realize how much she is struggling. It shows you understand it was not easy to forgive and she is afraid that he could kill her too. But at the same time she has another struggle - she is so lonely. It shows you understand that hope she had to be his friend, but that would only happen if she forgave him. The 2 sides of her feelings are clear.
This means you chose something on the Top 4. And, you explained your thinking well. You supported your thinking with evidence from the text. Hooray!
This means that you did choose one of the Top 4. Hooray! But, when you wrote the post-it you didn't write enough about WHY it was important. You need to be convincing and go deep with your ideas.
This means you did choose one of the Top 4 so you were on the right track. However, when you were giving your reasons you basically just explained the plot. That means you just explained WHAT happened. But you were supposed to write about WHY it happened. That is "above the ocean" thinking.
This means that you actually wrote more about the same event. You might have added something really good, but it still counts as writing about the same thing. So, you are now missing one of the Top 4 things.
This one means you DID do some good thinking. You picked a logical idea. And sometimes it is hard to narrow something down to just the Top 4 things each week. If you do a good job of supporting your thinking you can get almost as much credit as "nailed it."
This one is what you want to avoid for sure! It means that you chose something that isn't important at all. It might have been interesting, or funny, or it helped you understand something better. But, if it disappeared from the story it wouldn't really matter that much. The story is better with it, but it isn't crucial.