In 5th grade EAL today we were treated to a cultural presentation by one of our students, Roy. Roy volunteered to do a presentation about Hanukkah, and he did an excellent, professional job of teaching the class about Hanukkah's history and traditions. The class was engaged and very appreciative. Well done, Roy, and thank you for sharing it with us! In 4th and 5th grade we have been working on using the strategy of questioning to help us understand what we are reading/hearing/researching about. Questioning is an important strategy we use while reading/listening to help us to think more deeply about the text. As we read, we ask ourselves questions and try to figure out what the answers might be. Our questions lead us to make connections, figure out answers, and often lead to further questions. We have also been talking about 'fat' questions - those that are big, deep, more complex questions, versus 'skinny' questions - those that are simple, surface level. Skinny questions have a simple, straightforward answer, while fat questions may require more extensive research or may have many possible answers or viewpoints. Both types of questions may be important to helping us understand a text, but fat questions require more attention to help us understand more deeply. Students have been analyzing their own questions to identify which are deep and meaningful, and therefore require more attention while reading and thinking about the text. Fourth grade has been applying this questioning strategy in the context of their Rainforest unit. They have been asking questions such as, "Are rainforest people healthier than us?" and "Who owns the rainforest?" Fifth grade has been applying this questioning strategy to their independent reading as well as to shared reading. Some questions they have asked include, "What causes a flood?", "How do ocean animals sleep?" and "Why did the mice and the toys have a war?" |
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