Rockin’ Our Research Skills

Having spent time yesterday conducting research, mostly online, we discussed the importance of print resources and strategies for reading and gathering information. To learn more about the value of print resources and expand our understanding of movement as a change agent, we began with a close look at the rock cycle.  As we began our read aloud of a nonfiction text, we first looked at the table of contents and identified topics about which we would learn. Depending on what we wanted to know, we could have jumped directly to a section of the book that was most relevant to a specific topic.

Prior to reading our first section, we examined the pages and noted a number of important text and graphic features – titles, subtitles, insets, captions, diagrams, photos. Each element was specifically selected to draw our attention to important information.

Multiple Sources:

We then began our investigation with a look at igneous rock. Using a main idea-detail web, we paused to process what we read and capture key ideas and details.

Below is a slightly different version of the same strategy.

Rock Cycle Resources

We spent much of the rest of the day researching. After recess, Ms. Paula came in to observe our inquiry skills. She had some important questions for us as we explored various resources and valuable feedback – both glows and grows – related to our approaches to learning (thinking, research, self-management, social, and communication skills). In the days ahead, we will make adjustments based on her noticings and our own reflections.

Number lines were also on our agenda for today. Exploring how number lines are related to fraction bars enables us to add another tool to our mathematical toolkit.

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