During the last several weeks, all students have read a historical fiction novel as part of their independent reading plan. During our library time, we have just started to research the historical setting of the novel. For some of us, the setting is intertwined carefully throughout the book. For others, the setting is just a tiny blip on the radar.
This week in our library lesson, Mrs. Yoder introduced us to EBSCO Explora Database and showed us a couple of online encyclopedias. We spent the library time working on a "Research Inquiry Log" to help us determine what direction our research might take. This was just preliminary research to help answer some "Who/What/When/Where?" questions about our topic and - hopefully - lead us to a bigger picture "Why/How?" question that can guide our research.
Some of the pieces of research are really, really going to stretch our thinking, but inquiry is an important piece of brain development, and it's a skill that kids are going to need no matter where they go in life!
As we move forward with our historical fiction project, we'll do more research and write some informative text. We will also think and write about theme and character development in the historical fiction we read.
No comments:
Post a Comment