Reading Like Writers

Have you ever heard of the Blue Tongued Skink or an Echidna?  How about a Quoll or a Blue Ring Octopus?  If you aren't familiar with these animals, don't fret!   Our class is hard at work becoming experts on these unusual animals because we know that writers of nonfiction are experts on the topic they write about.  I'm certain that as your child becomes an expert on his or her animal they will look forward to sharing interesting facts with you!

This week we continued to read nonfiction, but we were reading like writers.  We paid careful attention to the nonfiction text features in books and magazines and discussed why authors would include those text features.  We also noticed that nonfiction writers use specialized vocabulary, or special words related to the topic they write about.  We started to think about specialized vocabulary that might be in a nonfiction book about an Australian animal.

Coming up next week:
The children will continue to research their Australian animal in school.  If you wanted to do some research at home or go to the public library and check out helpful books, you are certainly welcome to do so!

In Science the children are continuing to examine their 12 minerals and perform tests on each in order to identify which mineral is which.

In math we are still working on multiplication and division.  The children are using the commutative and distributive properties of multiplication and drawing arrays and tape diagrams to model multiplication and division problems.  There will be a quiz on Wednesday 10/23 on tape diagrams and the distributive property.

In reading we are continuing to learn about the genre of Folktales.  The children learned this past week that folk tales are stories that have been passed down over time in which the characters often have to overcome a challenge or obstacle. Myths, Fairy Tales, and Fables are types of folk tales, each of which has its own distinguishing characteristics.  It can be difficult for young readers (or even experienced readers) to determine whether a story is a general folk tale, a myth, a fairy tale, or a fable, so we will continue to read examples of each and discuss their characteristics.