Lesson Learned

One of the comprehension skills that we focus on at the elementary school is identifying the theme of the story.  It is a skill that several of the grade levels are currently working on. Theme is the message or moral of the story.



One of the best strategies that we have found for instructing students on this skill is teaching students to identify the "small picture" vs. the "big world idea". 

Here's an example of "small picture" vs. "big world idea".

In the story "The Ugly Duckling", the duckling was not happy because he was called ugly.  He didn't look like the others, and he ended up being a swan in the end.  That's the small picture because it only applies to that particular story.  The "big world idea", which is the theme, may be "We are all special in our own way" or "Don't judge someone based on how they look".  These are big world ideas because that advice can apply to everyone.  Our small picture SUPPORTS the big world idea.

If asked what the theme of this story is, an exemplar answer would be:

The theme of this story is don't judge someone based on what they look like.  I know this because everyone called the duckling ugly because he looked different, but he ended up being a swan.  Just because they criticized how he looked doesn't mean he was bad or weird, he was just a swan.

Provided below is a link to a PowerPoint.  This PowerPoint explains some simple ways to reinforce theme for your student.  It includes some sample stories that you can read with your student and discuss with them.


https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dTMTAabBS4e1zYtU3VDnuqSs2zlf-huvMdHkBebEY9o/edit#slide=id.p13


Happy reading!

Multiplication and Division Strategies

Many of our third and fourth graders are learning about the concepts of multiplication and division.  Multiplication is counting or adding in a quick way.  Multiplication involves counting in groups, rows or columns.  Division is when you split or separate a total amount into equal groups or rows.

The students have been learning the following strategies for multiplication.  As you can see, there are many different ways to multiply.  At this point in the year, students can use any of these strategies to solve problems. 

The students have also been learning similar strategies for division.  The biggest thing to remember about division is that we start with a total amount.  Many strategies overlap between the two operations. 

 

Your child may need to use objects or draw models to represent given multiplication and division number sentences.  That is perfectly fine as we are developing the concepts.  To challenge students who are developing the understanding, we are asking them to show us a problem in two different ways.