I would start with the image on the left (courtesy of KWTV in OKC) with no other information. The next task would be to ask the kids: -What questions do you have about the image?
-Describe what you see in the picture?
There are a few things that the kids will be practicing as they do this. For 1, they will be practicing asking questions which is integral to everything (in particular in reading). For 2, they will be making inferences from what they see. They are saying "water is high, dark skies, then I can reasonably infer that it is raining hard and maybe causing a flood." People are having a difficult time because there are cars that aren't moving, and one has its trunk open, which is not normal.
From there we go to: what questions go together, and how can we make an organized attempt at learning more information. Perhaps even going as far as "what do we hope to know when this is all done?"
I feel like this can be done using everyday images that are both local and international. It intersects well with our current events, which will start far earlier in the year.
This seems like a good exercise, even outside the school.
ReplyDeleteI found that my kids were able to formulate useful questions, and had the capacity to string together arguments effectively. Where they struggled was finding articles, and mining them for useful quotes and ideas. Those are skills you need to build, and are difficult to learn without an authentic topic to address.
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