Character Traits

While reading "My Brother Sam is Dead" our focus was on recognizing and inferring character traits. (see previous post) This book is historical fiction based on the American Revolution and takes place in Reading, Connecticut. To build background we went to a site on the smartboard to show the setting and other visuals students would need to enhance their comprehension. Here is the site we used:

http://mybrothersamisdead.historyofredding.com

Because the setting of the story actually takes place within a two hour drive of where I live, I thought I may be able to take my students there in real life. But before I did that, I thought I should check it out myself. So with my husband and kids in tow, we set out to visit the landmarks in the story. We actually found the tavern where most of the story takes place, saw Warrups Farm, landed in Putnam Field, saw an officers building and saw many road signs and school signs named after the characters in the book. We also found the grave and grave stones of many of the characters. While I was never able to actually take a group of students, because of logistics and finances, I am able to share my experience and personal photos with them.

Using the website and personal photos helps students build a deeper understanding of the story.

Rocks and Minerals

In the past, I have found the study of rocks and minerals to be boring, but not after finding "The Story of Salt". It begins with " IT'S THE ONLY ROCK WE EAT, and we need to it it to live. It has shaped ancient civilizations, helped build empires, led to major scientific developments - and it tastes good on French fries. It's salt!" I used portions of this book to build background knowledge. I read aloud a section, then copied that section for students to reread. New sections were then copied and given to students to practice the focus strategy: summarizing. Some sections of the story are a bit 'scientific' or 'busy' but the history and uses of salt are fascinating, capturing each child's imagination. Students are very excited to go home and share with their parents about the 'rock' we humans eat!

List, Sort, Label

This activity really built interest when building background for our unit study on the American Revolution. We asked our third graders to look at the pictures provided, then sort them into categories. Students were to discuss how they would do this. Great conversation took place! After students categorized the pictures, they were given a sentence strip to label what the category represented. Our third graders were able to come up with 'battles', 'people', 'documents', 'maps' etc. It was a great way to spend 20 minutes activating and building their background knowledge. The next day we asked the students to look at the pictures again more closely and make some predictions. Awesome activity! Thanks to Jenn D. for this awesome idea!