Jim Dine vs. Peter Max Comparisons

Matisse vs. Marisol Artist Comparisons

Media, Their Techniques, and Autor's Purpose

In reading we learned about various types of media and the techniques used in each to convey the author's purpose. The students learned about internet sites, commercials, pint ads, and product labels. In one lesson, they designed their own print ad using techniques we learned about. In other lesson, they created a "pie" diagram to define the three reasons author's write: persuade, inform, and entertain. In another lesson, they chose two types of media and compared their techniques on a Venn Diagram.

Holidays Around the World

In writing we researched and compared the role Santa Claus plays in The United States, Germany, France, and Mexico. As a whole group, we charted our findings on a grid for who the gift giver is, what he looks like, how he travels, when he comes, and where he leaves gifts. The students then took notes on their own copy of the grid. Using their notes, they chose to countries, and their version of Santa Claus, to compare on a Venn Diagram. After completing the Venn Diagram, they added heads, hats, legs, and arms to the Venn Diagram to look like Santa. Later in Social Studies we compared even more of the traditions of each country. We also looked at the traditions of Hanukkah in Israel as a part of our Social Studies lessons.

Pilgrims and Native Americans

To help the students learn about Thanksgiving and the relationship between Pilgrims and Native Americans, we visited the Scholastic website. The website is filled with various articles and interactives for the students to explore and learn from. We then used Deanna Jump's Thanksgiving Unit to compare and contrast Pilgrims and Native Americans. The students placed sentences on a hula hoop Venn Diagram with whoever it identified. They then used the Venn Diagram to help them create a t-chart and write comparative sentences.