Children who struggle to learn phonics knowledge will often be delayed in their overall reading ability.
Blue: Questions
Pink: Unknown words Orange: Something funny
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Some of the questions included
● Is your city a large?
● Are you located in the dissected till plains?
● Is your city near the Mississippi river?
● Does your city have any major universities?
● Does your city have fertile soil, good for farming?
The question leaders were responsible for asking these questions in front of the SMART board, so when the other class gave us their response, the answer leaders were in charge of recording those answers.
My class and the class in Nixa got on Google Hangout together and took turns asking questions. Once responses were given, the mappers, recorders, and researchers began tracking this information. They sat closely to one another so they could compare research and narrow down the cities that were left. The other students were busy figuring out what our next questions would be, taking pictures, analyzing maps, or researching new questions if we did not have enough. The expectations that we set up in the beginning stated that our room would be quiet so that each person could focus on their job. Now this does not mean that no one was goofing around. However, I was impressed by the passion and seriousness my students had during this activity. They were determined to use their knowledge and research skills to figure out where our mystery class was in the state of Missouri.
Reference
Vacca, R. T., Vacca, J. A., & Mraz, M. (2017).Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Brooke Hult is a fourth grade teacher in Kansas City, Missouri, in the Park Hill School District. She is working on her Master’s Degree in literacy through Missouri State University.
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