♪ Good morning to a brand new day ♪ ♪ Time to learn and games to play ♪ ♪ Learning things is so much fun ♪ ♪ Learning is good for everyone ♪ (upbeat music) - Good morning, third graders.

My name is Mrs. Nix, and I am so excited to be here with you and support you as you become amazing thinkers, readers, and writers.

Now, this week's a little bit different.

We're gonna be working a little bit more on the writing process.

Usually we come in and we talk about comprehension and how to read our words.

But this week we're kind of applying everything to what we've been practicing.

And we're gonna be talking about writing a book review.

Now, in order to write a book review, what do we have to do first?

That's it.

We've gotta read a book.

Now, if you're looking for a book to read, you can always check one out from your County library, your school library, or you can go online and check it out with our online app, Sora, in Fresno Unified.

It's totally free.

And then you're gonna be ready to be able to write a book review.

Now, today I have a couple of things we're gonna do first.

We're gonna warm up by looking at some of our high frequency words.

I've got a little bit of grammar with some pronouns, and then we're gonna dig into that book review.

Are you ready to start today?

Okay.

So let's start out by warming up those brains.

Now you're gonna look up here, and you're gonna see this big giant list of 50 sight words.

Oh my goodness.

So I shouldn't even say sight words.

They're high frequency words.

These words are the words that you and I have been doing the last five weeks.

We're in a week six.

This is a review week.

And I wanna show you all the hard work that you've been doing.

Now, remember, you're responsible for your learning success.

So if you see something today, and you think to yourself, hmm, you know, I might need to practice that a little bit.

Is that okay?

Absolutely.

You absolutely can practice those things.

So jot them down, practice them through the week.

Try using them in a sentence.

Use them in your writing and you're gonna get it.

I know you can.

Okay.

Let's go through warming up our brains, reading some high frequency words.

Read them big and loud at home, and I'm gonna read them here.

Let's go.

sing, sleep, she, show, seven, shall, say, see, saw and small.

Nicely done, third grade.

Okay, so let's go through and let's start our morning off with a little bit of grammar.

We're gonna talk specifically about pronouns.

Do you remember what a pronoun is?

That's right.

It can take the place of a name or a proper noun, right?

So if you think about Mrs. Nix, and Mrs. Nix was going to the store, Mrs. Nix bought eggs, Mrs ... Did you start to hear it?

It starts to get really monotonous.

And so pronouns are really our friend.

They come in and they help us to make our sentences more interesting.

So there are some rules that we have, though with our pronouns.

And I wanna talk about some of them today.

Now, remember our pronouns, we have singular pronouns and plural pronouns, just like we do with our nouns.

So think about if you're talking about just a single person, you might use pronouns like me, him, her, it.

And plural means that there's more than one.

So, you, us, them.

There's a lot more, but that's just to give an idea to get you started.

Okay.

So this is an object pronoun.

It can take the place of an object noun.

So remember, you've got different ways that you can do this.

So let's look right here.

So, "Mark invited Kim."

And if we wanted to change Kim, and replace Kim with a pronoun, remember we want it to match, so it needs to be singular, and we know that in this sentence, Kim was a female.

And so we're gonna use the pronoun, her.

So, "Mark invited her."

So Kim and her are the same.

All right, let's practice a few of these.

So it says here, "Read the sentences.

Choose the correct pronoun in the parentheses to complete each sentence," and "then write that pronoun."

So let's look right here.

We have we or us.

Help me fill in the blank.

"Dad helped mm build a tree house."

Hmm.

Dad helped we, or dad helped us.

You got it.

So we're gonna have us.

He helped us build a tree house.

Nicely done.

"I hope mm can come see it."

I hope we can come see it.

I hope you can come see it.

Hmm.

I really hope that you can come see it.

Excellent.

I asked she or her, I asked she to help me clean up, or I asked her.

Yes.

I asked her to help me clean up.

Excellent.

"We can help mm put away the tools."

He or him?

Are we gonna ask he?

We can help he put away the tools.

No.

We can help him put away the tools.

And last one, "Mom saw mm reading a book."

Them or they?

Mom saw them reading a book, or mom saw they?

You got it.

It's them.

Mom saw them reading a book.

Nicely done, third grade.

Okay.

So pronouns.

It's really important as we're writing that they make sense, and that we can use them in our writing.

And today's writing is all about a book review.

Now I have a poster here to remind us of what is a book review, and what do I need to have in my book review?

Okay, so a book review states the writer's opinion about the book, provides a short summary, gives clear reasons that support the writer's opinion, and often ends with a recommendation.

Do you recommend the book or not?

Okay.

So yesterday we talked about an exemplar.

Today I have in that writing process, we're gonna look at what's called a draft.

Now let me stop for a second.

A draft means that it's rough.

Let's look at it.

Does it look like it's very fancy here?

Not yet, for sure, right?

I can see that there are all kinds of mistakes on it.

I even see little scribble-ed out lines.

Is that okay in a rough draft?

Absolutely.

But I wanna see, does my rough draft have some of these pieces that we just said should be in a book review?

So here's a book review on "Antarctica: Life in the Cold."

Okay.

So let's go through and let's read it.

"I just finished reading 'Antarctica: Life in the Cold,' a book about wildlife in the Arctic.

I usually enjoy learning new things.

I did not like reading this book.

It's writer discussed many interesting animals.

He did not go into into much detail about many of them.

In some places, the writing is very repetitive and boring."

Okay.

So let's stop for a second.

Do we know what the writer's opinion is about this book?

Well, yeah, because saying that, "It's repetitive, it's boring, I did not like the book."

So when we look at our chart, we know that this writer is telling us this is not a good book.

They were very clear.

Okay.

So that's good.

What's our next piece that's on our chart?

We're looking for a summary with some clear reasons as to why they didn't like it.

So let's listen for that.

Now, did you notice a couple of spelling errors?

I did too, but that's okay.

Because, remember in a rough draft we're just getting ideas down.

All right.

Let's keep going and see if we've got a summary with some clear reasons.

Okay.

"The writer talks about penguins.

He tells how penguins keep warm by huddling together and because of the soft feathers on their skin.

When the writer mentions that penguins survive the cold by catching fish.

He does not provide enough information about the penguins.

He does not tell how penguins can swim, how they can catch fish, or about the dangers that they face.

I knew more about penguins from writing a research report last year."

Oh my goodness.

Definitely sounds like this writer did not enjoy the book at all.

And have you noticed it's almost a little hard to read, because the handwriting isn't even all that grand?

Is that okay in a rough draft?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Let's finish it out.

"The writer talks about seals.

In this section, the writer provide a good amount of details about the lives of seals in the Arctic.

He goes into much greater detail than he did with penguins, but the writing is repetitive and boring.

The writer begins several sentences in a row with the word the."

Ooh.

So I'm starting to get a little bit of a summary.

I'm learning that it's talking about penguins.

It's talking about seals, and I'm also hearing some clear ideas as to what why this is repetitive and boring.

Having sentences start over and over again with the word the, I agree.

Keep going.

"The writer talks about whales.

He tells about how they keep warm, how they breathe, and what they eat.

Instead of trying to make this section interesting, the writer really just wants to list facts.

I would not recommend 'Antarctica: Life in the Cold.'

The writing is weak and there is not a whole lot of information about wildlife in Antarctica.

Many other books are available about these animals, and you could find more interesting information on the web."

Whew!

That was a pretty brutal book review.

However, did it follow all of the pieces that they were talking about, as far as saying the writer's opinion, giving a short story, giving some clear responses, and then finishing out with a recommendation?

Did you hear the recommendation?

Did this writer recommend the story?

Absolutely not.

Okay.

So today, as you are thinking about writing your book review, I want you to think about the draft.

And here are some things to think about when you go and start your writing.

So in that writing process, plan, draft, revise, edit, publish.

Yesterday, we planned.

Today, I want you to start writing.

So think about, how are you gonna grab your reader's attention?

How are you gonna introduce the book, and how are you going to express your opinion, 'cause that's how we're gonna open.

You're gonna use some reasons, support your opinion, and be really specific in your details.

In the body of your book review, use some linking words and phrases, first, then, next, last.

It makes us so that it flows more smoothly.

Give clear reasons to support your opinion.

Remember, how the writer talked about, "The sentences all started with the word, the."

That can be really repetitious.

Maybe he didn't like that.

Write the ending.

Make sure that you sum up your opinion, and make a recommendation.

Do you recommend the book or do you not?

Depends on what book you've read, and how you feel about it.

And then here's the most important part.

This is the part I want you to start tonight.

Write the draft.

And it says right here, "Don't forget convincing reasons to support your opinion."

So if you were to check out a book about turtles, and you don't like turtles, well, that's not necessarily talking about the book, remember?

So you need to be able to talk about how the author wrote.

Did they give you enough details for you to understand about turtles?

I don't necessarily wanna hear your opinion of the animal, right?

There's a distinction there.

So think about it as you're writing.

How did the author do in their writing?

Okay.

So third grade, thanks for hanging out with me today, as you're getting ready for school.

Remember, you are responsible for your learning success.

So listen, ask questions, and share your ideas, because together we can do so much more.

I look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

(upbeat music) ♪ Good morning to a brand new day ♪ ♪ Time to learn and games to play ♪ ♪ Learning things is so much fun ♪ ♪ Learning is good for everyone ♪ (upbeat music)