In "Where Is/What Is Weekly Book Club," students will interact with nonfiction texts and text features about the wildly popular Where Is/Who Is book series.  Students will gain knowledge while while learning early research skills!  Students will participate in discussion with the teacher and peers and have opportunities to ask questions and make connections throughout the class period.

Students at this age are learning to be good readers while reading for the purpose of finding information.  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.  
• The teacher will present 3 excerpts or quotes from the text for students to discuss.  Emphasis will be placed on building the literary vocabulary and text features (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 also identify where this person lived and worked.
• Students will then spend approximately 20 minutes with teacher guidance, discussing their own quotes and interesting facts they drew from the text.  During this time, we will practice note taking skills, organizing information into time lines, charts, and tables, and listening for key words that are important for overall comprehension of the nonfiction text.  Teacher support will be available to all students during this time. Students should raise their hand if they have a question.
• During the last 5 minutes of class, students will generate a list of questions they have about the topic, encouraging students to continue their study of the influential character.  We will review the material covered in the mini lesson and I will answer any questions prior to dismissing the class.  
 
Topics and Books Covered by Week:
Week of  February 5 <Topic 4>: What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? (close reading, text features, and note taking) 
Week of  February 12 <Topic 5>:  What Was Pompeii? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of February 19 <Topic 6>:  Where is the Bermuda Triangle? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of February 26 <Topic 7>:  What Was the Titanic? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of March 5 <Topic 8>: Where is Mount Everest? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of March 12 <Topic 9>:  What is the Declaration of Independence? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of March 19 <Topic 10>:  Where is Area 51? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of March 26 <Topic 11>:  What Was the Alamo? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of April 2 <Topic 12>:  What Was the Boston Tea Party? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of  April 9 <Topic 13> :  What is the World Cup? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of April 16 <Topic 14>:  What Were the Salem Witch Trials? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of  April 23 <Topic 15>:  What is the Women's Rights Movement? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of April 30 <Topic 1>: Where is Antarctica? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of May 7  <Topic 2>:  Where is the Grand Canyon? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of  May 14 <Topic 3>: Where is the Amazon? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of  May 21 <Topic 4>: What Was the San Francisco Earthquake? (close reading, text features, and note taking) 
Week of  May 28 <Topic 5>:  What Was Pompeii? (close reading, text features, and note taking)
Week of June 4 <Topic 6>:  Where is the Bermuda Triangle? (close reading, text features, and note taking)

Students may start, pause and stop their subscription as needed, and the topics will cycle back to the beginning once this series is complete.  Facts will be drawn directly from the text.