Our fourth grade teacher discovered we were learning how to write comments on blogs and asked if we would teach this skill to the fourth graders. They, too, are discovering the joy of writing blogposts.
After our lesson on quality commenting, the Magical Minds created a list of the most important things you need in a comment:
Quality Commenting List
Each third grader was in charge of presenting one requirement from our list. When the fourth graders arrived in our classroom, I introduced the topic of commenting, asking them to activate their schema. ”What do you think a comment is? What do you think might go in a comment? How can we connect this skill with other kinds of writing or thinking that we do?” Once their brains we turned on, I turned the class over to the third graders.
Filled with new knowledge, I asked the kids to apply this new thinking to some examples. Split into small groups, the third and fourth graders were asked to look at a list of comments, and identify which ones were “quality” as well as explain how the non-quality comments could be improved.
Erin Mahollitz is an international teacher currently teaching 2nd Grade in San Francisco, CA. She specializes in inquiry-based instruction, technology integration and social & emotional education.
This website is a collection of stories, ideas, resources and lessons from Erin's classrooms.
Erin Mahollitz is an international teacher currently teaching 2nd Grade in San Francisco, CA. She specializes in inquiry-based instruction, technology integration and social & emotional education.
Teaching Fourth Graders Quality Commenting
Our fourth grade teacher discovered we were learning how to write comments on blogs and asked if we would teach this skill to the fourth graders. They, too, are discovering the joy of writing blogposts.
After our lesson on quality commenting, the Magical Minds created a list of the most important things you need in a comment:
Quality Commenting List
Each third grader was in charge of presenting one requirement from our list. When the fourth graders arrived in our classroom, I introduced the topic of commenting, asking them to activate their schema. ”What do you think a comment is? What do you think might go in a comment? How can we connect this skill with other kinds of writing or thinking that we do?” Once their brains we turned on, I turned the class over to the third graders.
Filled with new knowledge, I asked the kids to apply this new thinking to some examples. Split into small groups, the third and fourth graders were asked to look at a list of comments, and identify which ones were “quality” as well as explain how the non-quality comments could be improved.
This is what cooperation looks like.
Together we know more
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Posted in Literacy
Tagged collaboration, Comments, cooperation, Fourth grade, student blogging