4th graders think "under the ocean"
What does "under the ocean" mean?
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.
4th grade thinking goes "Under the Ocean"
Above the Ocean Thinking
Above the Ocean Thinking
Above the Ocean Thinking
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:
- Who are the main characters
- What is the setting
- What is the problem that needs to be fixed
- How did the problem get solved
- Who did an action
- Something that is interesting
- There is only one right answer - there is no inferring
- Something that is obvious
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.
under the ocean thinking
Above the Ocean Thinking
Above the Ocean Thinking
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:
- WHY characters do what they do (their motives)
- What characters are feeling
- What are the underlying themes in the story
- How a character is changing
- How you connect emotionally to the characters - you feel like you have "jumped into" the story:
- Something that is important - for example, if it didn't happen, would completely change the story?
- Something that you could debate about because there is no one correct answer - readers can have different opinions as long as they have evidence.
- The important thing to understand is that even though this involves opinions and feelings, you still have to have evidence from the book that supports what you think.
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?
keep track of your thinking in the reading log
check it out
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.
IMPORTANT:
When writing your notes on the Reading Log, 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. Just mark it so you don't forget your idea.
Remember, you always 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.
You have colored sheets in your reading binder that explains in more detail about the ways mentioned below that show Under the Ocean thinking good readers do.
feedback - determine importance
When you read, try to figure out what is important. Remember, it is always "above the ocean." For example, it was important when we found out about how everyone in Karana's tribe have "secret" names. And you don't use them daily because it takes away it's magic.
feedback - inferring
Inferring means you can figure something out that is important even though the author doesn't tell you it's important.
In chapter 1 Captain Orlov lands on the island and he SAYS he comes in peace. But he doesn't act friendly at all. Instead he stands arrogantly and shouts. Then he starts an argument about how the tribe does not own the ocean. So we can infer that he is bossy and thinks he should get his way. He doesn't care if Chief Chowig disagrees.
feedback - What are characters feeling?
You can understand what Chief Chowig is feeling when Captain Orlov is acting so arrogant. He feels suspicious because the Russian hunters had come to the island before and it turned out to be a bad experience. His tribe had gotten tricked in the past and let them hunt. But they made the tribe do all the work and didn't pay for the otter.
feedback - wondering
A good reader wonders about things as they read. You might wonder about if Chief Chowig should trust Captain Orlov. I mean, is it fair to not trust him based on something that happened years ago with a different captain?
Or another things to wonder about it when they are arguing and SUDDENLY Captain Orlov smiles and agrees with Chief Chowig. Isn't that suspicious? Is he just faking it?
feedback - schema
This means that you can use your own experiences to help you understand what is happening in the story. So an example for me is that once I had a friend who was important to me. She was like a best friend. But suddenly she wouldn't even talk to me! We stopped being friends and I never understood why. This helps me understand that sometimes people don't explain or don't tell the truth. So maybe Captain Orlov isn't being honest and Chief Chowig shouldn't trust him?
feedback - Feel like you're inside the story
When I was reading I felt like I was standing right there and I could "see" the smile on Captain Orlov's face. It felt like I was watching a movie. And I immediately felt like it was a fake smile. And I was shocked because he went from being a bossy jerk to being friendly? Weird.
Reading log feedback key - details
1. Nailed it! hooray!
This means you chose something under the ocean AND, you explained your thinking well. You supported your thinking with evidence from the text and you were convincing. Hooray!
2. it was important, but didn't explain enough
This means that you did choose something that was super important. Hooray! But, when you wrote in the reading log you didn't write ENOUGH about WHY it was important. You need to be convincing and go deeper with your ideas.
3. it was important but it's mostly plot
This means you did choose something important 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 was important. Remember, plot matters but it is "above the ocean" thinking.
4. it was important, but it was just more about the same thing
This means that you might have written good ideas but you just actually wrote more about the same event. But it still counts as writing about the same thing. So you don't get credit for a new idea.
5. doesn't count as under the ocean
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.