On October 29, third grade students at North Elementary stepped into the role of surgeons, using their knowledge of nonfiction text features to “treat” patients who needed help understanding what they read.
Dressed in surgical gowns and masks, students gathered around tables to treat their “patients.” Each patient was represented by an aluminum tray with red yarn serving as intestines. Their surgical tools were text features, including headings, graphs, maps, photos and glossaries.
As they searched through the yarn, students helped one another choose the right text feature to treat each patient. For example, a patient who needed help locating a country or state received a map. Another who needed to understand an unfamiliar word received a glossary.
After selecting a treatment, students completed a post operation report explaining what their patient needed, why they chose that text feature and how it would help.
Third grade teachers Azucena Garcia and Erica Scheele designed the activity to give students a fun way to apply their learning while checking their understanding.
“This helped us assess if students understood the purpose of each nonfiction text feature and if they are utilizing it in the correct way,” said Scheele.
The activity also helped prepare students to use text features as they research weather phenomena in their upcoming nonfiction unit.
What a fun way to practice those reading skills! Keep up the great work, Penguins! Thank you to Ms. Garcia and Ms. Scheele for creating this exciting lesson for our students.
