P.I.E.

Today was PIE Day in fourth grade. It is a "learning extravaganza". We have important learning, and we created fun, hands-on (taste buds-on) learning to develop our understanding. Students used the acronym PIE and the pastry PIE to learn about author's purpose - why do authors write?

First, we took notes. We all needed to know exactly what we were talking about. What our purpose was in class, and the key words we were going to be using today. Not to mention, why author's purpose matters.

Next, we began to research pie. What is it? What is the history. Common definitions included a pastry (pie), a type of chart (pie chart), and a mathematical term (pi).

In the end, our student-approved web searches did not give us a lot of information. Luckily, Ms. Leom had backup, a paper copy of the history of the pastry, pie. We were asked to write 10 facts about the history of pie.

This was the "inform" part of our learning.

Ms. Leom worked with small groups of students to make chef's hats. This was informational (steps in a process) and entertaining.

Ms. Leom's class

Mr. Greninger's class

 Then, we had some taste testing. This was informational. Every year, for some of our students, it is their first taste of pie. For others, it is a family tradition. We had cherry, apple, and pumpkin pie to taste.

 

Students tasted the pie than made a graph about their favorite flavor.

Ms. Leom's class likes apple. Mr. G's class likes pumpkin.

 Often, when people want to persuade you to think or act, they will use data and graphs to make their point.

Camryn Manheim read, Enemy Pie to us. The link to the video is on the right.  We were able to talk about how authors often include characters that our age to entertain us. We talked about the author's purpose of this book.

Finally, Ms. Leom talked to us about the real-life value in USING authors' purpose. We are beginning a new year of campaigning for the next president. It is an issue that people have strong views. We talked about how candidates who want to be president often have the purpose to persuade people to vote for them. They use commercials, advertisements, talk shows, the news, mailed fliers, and more to share their opinions. We need to know our "family rules" and what is important to us. Then we need to read and view carefully. We need to look at what the candidates DO and SAY, and not just what they say and do since they started running for president. Knowing our author's purpose can help us evaluate what we are reading. It can help us comprehend.

Author's Purpose:

Persuade

Inform

Entertain

or a combination. 

Author's Purpose is important, because successful readers identify the authors' purpose to better comprehend and evaluate what they read.