Today, we wrapped up our unit on Antarctica by reading about a "Whale of a Debate." We read the article "Sea Hunt," featured in Time For Kids magazine. The article discussed two points of view on hunting whales in Antarctica, including both the Japanese (pro) and the IWC (International Whaling Commission-con) points of view. In our class, most students sided with the IWC, but three students thought Japan was right for hunting whale for scientific research, food, and as an oil resource. Which would you side with? In addition to reading critically and debating a point of view, students were also exposed to digital text features, including video links, voice recordings of the text, and vocabulary boxes. Wow, what a great job our class did with 21st century reading skills!
Today we started our non-fiction genre study! Our unit, Navigating Non-Fiction, will focus on reading strategies that are specific to the non-fiction genre, including determining the main idea & supporting details, making predictions, and asking questions. Students will begin with a study of Antarctica. Do you know the differences between the Arctic and Antarctica? Check out this article! As a class, we will compare and contrast how authors write about the same topic by reading a variety of texts on Antarctica and penguins. Check out the penguins of Antarctica forming a huddle to keep warm in the frigid temperatures and whipping winds of Antarctica!
This week, we are studying how different authors of similar texts portray their message about a similar character. We will read and compare and contrast the poem "Watchman" to the books Scarecrow and The Lonely Scarecrow. We will carefully study vocabulary terms that are important to understanding the scarecrow character. In addition, students will be exposed to blogging! Check out our kidblog! Students will begin blogging about their reader's workshop books in class. Blogging is a great way to share good books, as well as comment on what our classmates are reading. Directions on how to appropriately comment on blogs will be sent home soon if your child wishes to do that at home. However, school time will be provided for blogging! Happy reading! Perhaps enjoy a good book outside today….
