Thank you to everyone for rearranging your week and traveling around the world with 3E.  The 3E Countries museum was a success filled with lots of learning both through the research part of the process and the final presentation.

Learning About the World

                  Throughout this project the children have been learning to read nonfiction and to take notes by reading, looking away and writing down what they remember as important.  Many of the children are used to copying out facts here and there.  They are more inclined to skim and scan rather than understand.  I think all of the children know the difference at this point.  I also think they realize that notes in their own words are more easily used when they are writing for a presentation.  They understand them better and find it easier to add details to make their writing interesting and informative.

The final part of this project is the presentation.  Once the children completed their research, they then had to decide how they would like to present what they had learned.  They have been typing and selecting pictures to illustrate what they think they know and understand.  They have been writing and listing.   Some of the children learned a great deal about a wide range of topics related to their country.  Others selected a few facts they truly understand. Others focused on one area like animals or ancient traditions. While still others generated list of facts they found interesting.

It is interesting to notice how each of them works to know and understand.   Regardless of their approach, all of them have become more aware of the diversity of our world. Many of them learned from each other about differences and similarities of cultures and landscapes.  As with all learning, now that they are thinking about different places in our world they noticing more and making connections.  They are more aware of how climate shapes culture.  They are looking deeper to try to understand what makes each place special.  They seem excited to know how different people live and to know about the amazing variety found on Earth.  I’m sure the learning will continue on and on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bits and Pieces – 

• We have finished Peter and the Starcatchers.  It was fun to read such a complex story with so many characters and subplots.  We understand now how Peter can fly and why he doesn’t get any older.  We know why Mollusk Island in now called Neverland.  And we wonder at how the story continues as the Starcatchers battle the Others in order to keep the world safe.
• We will keep our countries in our mind by exploring Cinderella stories from each (well most) of those places.
• Many of the children completed a new blog post sharing different parts of our field trip to the SEE museum.  They created a slide show to share some of their favorite memories of the day.
• Our SEL work this week has continued in fits and starts.  We are trying to understand how to take different perspectives and how to understand social situations from another person’s perspective.  Perspective taking is a challenge, but we’re up for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great vacation next week.  I hope everyone has time to relax and enjoy, stays healthy and returns to school ready for magnet movies, book clubs, new research projects and lots more.