In "Elephants:  Endangered Animals 5-Day Nonfiction Reading Camp Series," students will interact with nonfiction texts and text features about elephants, utilizing colorful, informative books by National Geographic Kids.  Students will gain knowledge while while learning early research skills!

Students at this age are learning to be good readers.  They are curious about the world around them, but nonfiction text can seem overwhelming with big words, pictures, and a different visual format than literary texts.  It is important for children to be able to comprehend facts they read as young researchers--but HOW does that happen?  Students must apply literal, inferential, and evaluative skills to answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions based on the text.  In this camp, we will practice answering comprehension questions based on nonfiction texts. 

During the 45 minute class:
• Students will be welcomed to class.  We will quickly review the class rules and our learning goals.  
• We will go over a short 5-minute mini lesson on story structure and plot elements.  Emphasis will be placed on building the literary vocabulary (diagram, caption, bold words, index, table of contents, headings, time line, photographs v. illustrations) Students will then read text and pictures to apply their skills.  
• Students will then spend approximately 20 minutes with teacher guidance, learning to use text features, scan texts, and ask important questions to guide their research. 
Teacher support will be available to all students during this time. Students should raise their hand if they have a question.
• As a class, we will review the material covered in the mini lesson and I will answer any questions prior to dismissing the class.  

Day 1: What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction?  What are nonfiction text features?
Day 2: We will read "Little Bull" by Ellen James.  (We will also practice notetaking skills.  Young children who do not yet have formal writing skills will be directed to make pictorial representations such as drawing pictures and making diagrams and charts.)
Day 3: We will read National Geographic "Great Migrations: Elephants" and apply our knowledge of text features and text structure to comprehend the nonfiction text.  We will also practice note taking skills.
Day 4: We will read National Geographic "Mission: Elephant Rescue." (Students will ask questions and take notes about specific content in the texts).
Day 5: Students will listen to Little Bull again, noticing new information now that they have studied more facts about elephants.  They  will share facts about and watch a National Geographic video on how to save endangered elephants!  

(NOTE:  Children learn reading skills through repetition of stories.  If you feel your child would benefit from hearing the stories again, I would love to have him/her join me in additional sections of the class!)