Article of the Day

 Every morning, we start our day by reading the article of the day. Lately, the theme has been about elephants. We also write about what we learn each day. So when this is our fifth article in five days, we are at the point where "Elephants are large" is not fitting with our growing knowledge of elephants. We now had enough background knowledge we each developed to make a mind map or web of what we are learning. 

The part about reading, you can find opportunities for your brain to light up with excitement even about topics that don't normally excite you. Who knew there was so much to read about elephants?! Who knew that we would get excited when we read repeating or overlapping information?! Then, what about when after you've read several texts, you are still learning something new? And what about when you read an article, and you don't agree? There was an article about how elephants have the right to be free. We don't have to agree with everything we read. We might not be interested to start. But there are opportunities in everything we read to get excited and make connections or even have a disconnect with what we are reading. 

This lesson took a little more time to develop. On a usual lesson, Ms. Leom aims for five to seven minutes, which is the longest attention span people usually have for listening. Because she knew it would take extra time, she invited students to take out their play dough, hold it in their hands and use it as a fidget tool, as they listened, contributed, and considered what we were talking about. 

Article of the Day is one tool we are using in our classroom to build community. We are reading shared texts, starting to talk about what we are reading, and starting to make connections, and soon sharing disconnects. It is an exciting time to be a reader and learner, and third grade is a GREAT place to belong!