Jean Fritz has some great beginnings too in her historical books, such as Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?"Īfter the students studied those resources, Sunda led them in a discussion of ways to catch a reader's attention. "Russell Freedman's lead in Lincoln: A Photobiography is a good one to show that factual information can begin with a strong image. "Although it can be hard to find good sources as inspiration, there are some," according to Sunda. Then I have students look at the first page of the various books they used for their research, to see if any of them have more interesting leads," Sunda said. "First we look at encyclopedia articles, which typically have pretty boring introductions. "I work very hard on teaching students how to write an interesting lead - not just for narrative/descriptive writing, but also for expository writing," she added. "I only asked that they have an attention-getting lead - No 'My report is about. "The students were free to present the written information in whatever manner they chose, "Sunda said. "Since then, however, having discovered the responsibility that comes with publishing to the Web, I do require a sources list."Īfter the students completed their research, the writing process began! "Unfortunately, in this project, I didn't require my students to cite their sources," Sunda pointed out in an aside to teachers. Most of the research was done using school and public library books, although students did use the Web to search for some information and to find pictures. "The booklet briefly touched on a variety of medieval topics and provided a background for the students' further study and personal research."Īfter reading the book and studying the booklet, the students brainstormed a list of appropriate topics, and each student chose one to research. "I also made up a booklet of information about the Middle Ages," Sunda told Education World. Sunda's students began their study of the Middle Ages - and their study of great writing - by reading The Door in the Wall, Marguerite de Angeli's Newbery Award-winning book about a boy growing up in medieval Europe. Recently, Sunda shared with Education World some of the strategies she used to help her students create research reports that avoided the dry prose typical of the genre. That's the sort of writing that came out of students at Brisas Elementary School in Chandler, Arizona, when the fourth- and fifth-grade students in Ruth Sunda's gifted resource language arts class wrote about Life in the Middle Ages. That's what happens at the scene of a joust." - Brian, Brisas Elementary School, Chandler, Arizona The king watches with interest as two lances smash together at full force. The big heavy armor clacks as one knight fights another. Included: 12 great activities for teaching about the Middle Ages. Learn how a unit on the Middle Ages inspired great writing among fourth and fifth graders in Chandler, Arizona. The Middle Ages: Twelve Activities Take Students Back in Time More Great Ideas for the New School Year.
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