Research is a lifetime skill that will allow all students to continue to open doors, adding to their learning and making new things possible.
After mastering the use of a "Table of Contents" and an index, third graders learn the skills of using an encyclopedia. They understand that a person's last name is their access to biographical articles, and that guide words, headings, sub-headings, and text boxes all contribute to finding the facts they need.
It's time to send home the biography cubes they used to display the information retrieved from encyclopedias and biographies, and move on to creative writing with the "publication" of their own bound thumbprint story books. Students use a storyboard planning sheet to plan out their story and illustrations before thumb printing the base shapes of their characters on index cards corresponding to each page of their plan. The story is then bound using a hand-crank spine-punch machine and plastic binders. The resulting miniature picture books are simple reminders of the complex steps of writing and publishing. It is both eye-opening and satisfying for them to complete their own small books.
