This past week, we practiced setting a purpose for reading. It's important that children learn various ways to process information while reading. Before reading, we activated prior knowledge by discussing what we already knew about the topic. Then we thought of various questions, or what we wanted to know, about the topic. We organized these questions by using a semantic questioning map. Thus, while we were reading, we were able to answer some of the questions we had thought of. We practiced this as a whole group and in a small group.
In our small group, we read Bats by Gail Gibbons. We brainstormed what we wanted to know and as we read the book together, took notes using our semantic questioning map. Then when we finished, we made a Facts About Bats pamphlet.
Other groups read non-fiction books, wrote definition poems, prepared for a literature circle and made up stories about animals. Here's a little snapshot of some of the work we did this week.
Enjoy!
