Hi everyone. We're writing on a Thursday night because we are at school waiting for our Rock and Reading family night to begin. Because we are short on time, we are going to jump right in with some highlights.
We are still on our Native American unit because of all of our days off (we've had three four day weeks now!), working with our ISAT buddies, and last minute assessing for our second trimester. We are wrapping up our study of the Eastern Woodland Native Americans. We used two different website sources to gather information about their ways of life. These sites are interactive, so they were highly engaging for the students. After reading and discussing the different aspects of the Eastern Woodland Native Americans' daily living, we recorded the important information on a matrix. This killed three birds with one stone- we talked about main idea and details, identified important information, and discussed the importance of gathering information from two sources.
 |
| Website #1 |
 |
| Website #2 |
One part of the matrix focuses on the homes of the Native Americans. The students were very interested in the idea that some Eastern Woodland Native Americans lived in wigwams. We think they just liked the sound of the word, but they said they could not visualize or imagine what that home looked like. So, we found directions on how to make a wigwam out of construction paper and coffee filters. Again, this fun activity not only helped them visualize a wigwam, but also made them read and follow steps in a process.
To review the visualization strategy, as well as poetry devices, we read and discussed the poem, Indian Children. The author is unknown. Then, the students illustrated their visualizations. We really feel that sometimes the strategy of visualizing is underrated, but we think it is vital for students' comprehension. We tell the students over and over again that there should a movie in their minds as they read, and if there is that means they are understanding what they are reading. We model this for them all the time as well.
Another part of the matrix addresses the customs. We learned that the Native Americans loved to play guessing games. One game is called "Passing the Stone." The students loved playing it.
Finally, we revisited the Native American myth and fable from last week. We completed a Venn diagram to compare and contrast The Great Ball Game and Why Bat Has No Friends. We were pleased to see that our students were able to independently generate more ideas for the Venn diagram than before. They are getting closer to our Learning Target Bullseye. (We'll talk about that in another blog.)
Next week we will share a great math lesson from Aims Education, and some articles that really made us reflect on our teaching, and have reenergized us for the last part of the year.
Have a great weekend!
Kim and Anne
No comments:
Post a Comment