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One of the first skills (and a really important one at that!) we discuss is that of main idea. A main idea is important information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or section of a text. It is somewhat of a difficult concept for some students to comprehend. So we make it fun...😀 First we read a paragraph and determine the main idea of the text and the details that support it. We discuss how the details SUPPORT the main idea. Without those details, your paragraph will fail. We use the analogy of a house with a roof. Without those bricks, the roof will collapse.We also use the analogy of a table. Without at least 3 legs, your table will fall. So we took the paragraph with the main idea and details and made tables. We wrote the main idea on the top of the table and the details on the legs. Then we tried to make our tables STAND. If we had enough details, our tables would indeed stand.  Making our tables.  Yay!  Success!  There it is! In the beginning of November the third graders at our school learned a lot about government and the coming election with a fun activity. We read the story, Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. Our students were then on the campaign trail as they chose their favorite candidate (Duck or Farmer Brown) based on traits. They then created campaign posters for their candidate and tried to convince their classmates to change their minds. We discussed how a candidate becomes a candidate, what they do on their campaign, and how the election process happens. We even registered to vote.  We created a "word splash" at the beginning of the unit of the words the students already knew about elections. As we continued to learn, we added more words to our splash.  Learning the campaign process with sequential strips. On the big day, the polls were open bright and early and the students headed to the polling place. We were lucky to have an official polling booth to go to (thanks, Mrs. J!) so the students were very excited. At the end of the day the winner was announced....DUCK with a total of 76 votes (versus 29 for Farmer Brown.) Yay! Duck!  I am one of those annoying people that won't pick a Chicago baseball team. I was born in the city of Chicago on the South side, so I am born to be predisposed to like a certain team of the South side, but I also love visiting the Friendly Confines of the North side. So...when the Cubbies were on their winning streak, I got a little excited, as well as my students. Cubs' wear started to show up everywhere. Everyone was SO excited! When the Cubs had the League championship and then made it to the World Series, it got even more crazy! When they won the World Series after a rain-delayed, nail-biter of a game, they were over the moon! Yay! Cubbies! |
Mrs. Pamela WandersenHello there! Archives
June 2020
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