Grade One
After a quick review of PebbleGo, the students sat down to find a person that interested them. This is important because I think there are not enough opportunities for the students to follow their passions. I emphasized being thoughtful from the outset and modeled how they should listen to or read the categories and then begin exploring from a general area of interest.
Here are some of the names that I saw: Galileo, Maria Mitchell, Benjamin Banneker, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ellen Ochoa, Wilma Rudolph, James Lovell, and John Muir. I am thrilled and excited for these students to share their findings with each other. You can read more about the unit in this post.
Grade Four
I admit to stacking the deck a bit and pulling a wide range of picture book biographies and displaying them throughout the library. When the students arrived, I explained the goal for the day: to work with a partner to find a person that both students wanted to study. I reminded them that this unit would have multiple projects and that they should choose wisely as they would spend a few weeks learning about the person. I instructed the students to peruse the displayed biographies and come up with three choices, which would be put on a sticky note with their names and homeroom. It turns out that there were not many overlaps in choices, so after the first class, I had the pair come to me when they had found two options and had them choose one and put a sticky note on the book with their names and homeroom.
I put out about 55 biographies and after the three classes had about 20 to put away - which means they liked my choices! The students will be using this information gathering form during the unit. One thing I am trying to work through is where to hang a timeline to which students can add events and their people. *wishes she had actual walls in her library*
More updates next week. Any feedback is always welcome and appreciated!
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