The Main Idea: Transportation

As a part of our lessons on how to identify the main idea of texts, we read several books from We Give Books and Reading A-Z about various forms of transportation. Each day we read a new expository text and the students had to verbally identify the main idea of the text. We used Multi-Flow Maps to help chart the details that lead up to the main idea. (Sorry... I did not take a picture of these charts.) After reading about the various types of transporation, the students created a Circle Map of as many examples as they could think of. We then discussed how those examples could be divided into conceptual categories. So, we then created a spider web graphic organizer to sort the examples into the categories of land, air, and water. The students then created a three part foldable to illusrtate one example of transportation from each category. They then wrote at least one fact they learned about that mode of transportation under the flap.

It's Christmas, David!

Today we read It's Christmas, David! by David Shannon to discuss character traits. After reading and discussing David's behavior in the story, we created a class Story Elements Map to define the characters, setting, problem, and solution. The students then answered questions about David's character on a graphic organizer of a boy. The students wrote about what David looks like, how he acts, and what they would do if they were him. They then colored the template to look like David. (Fellow teachers, I do not have an electronic copy of this template because I received it from a former student intern. I love when the interns bring new and exciting things into the classroom!)