Student Activities

Class Develops Book About Bent's Fort For A  Younger Grade

Grade Level:
Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
Subject:
Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
Common Core Standards:
4.L.1, 4.L.1.b, 4.L.1.d, 4.L.1.f, 4.L.1.g, 4.L.2, 4.L.2.a, 4.L.2.b, 4.L.2.c, 4.L.2.d, 4.L.3, 4.L.3.a, 4.L.3.b, 4.L.3.c, 4.L.4, 4.L.4.a, 4.L.4.c, 4.L.5, 4.L.6
State Standards:
Colorado State 4th grade standards:
• History, Civics
• Reading, Writing and composition, Research and reasoning
• Visual Arts- Comprehend, reflect, create, transfer

This activity was inspired by video: Teaching Channel - Kindergarten Reading Workshop

Design a simple children’s book with your class

  1. Brainstorm topic of book, dealing with Bents Fort (workers, activities, chores, games).
  2. Assign each group a section of the topic to write about. Encourage students to write simple sentences.
  3. Put groups sentences together to form a story.
  4. Discuss Introduction, middle, conclusion.
  5. Assign groups introduction or conclusion to work on.
  6. Put the story together. Edit with the whole class.
  7. Have students draw pictures or take pictures to put into book to go along with each sentence of the book. Have students discuss which pictures are best for which pages and why. If they are from photographs, students can discuss the quality of pictures.
  8. Put together the book and laminate. You may try to go so far as to publish the book (potentially with help from Bents Old Fort NHS's WNPA bookstore.)
  9. Make copies for students who would like to keep a copy.
  10. Distribute to Kindergarten teachers who might be interested in using it for “Pop! Picture Power” learning activity from the website mentioned above. Let your students know if a kindergarten teacher uses your student’s book in their class, this will empower students knowing that their efforts did help other students. 

Last updated: January 5, 2017