Exploring Our World

TSW compare and contrast where we live with another part of the world.

Materials:
1. Reading and social studies books
2. Leveled Readers
3. Soc. St. book
4. Maps
5. Interactive Notebooks
6. Pencils
7. Amazon Echo

Anticipatory Set:
Have students write a question they have about the world and select three students to ask "Alexa" a question with the Amazon Echo.

Lesson:
1. Introduce comparing and contrasting using a Venn Diagram by comparing tropical and temperate rainforests with facts from their reading book story "Rainforests" as a class.
2. Students will use other books that have expository texts about different regions around the world to use as research tools. They will work in groups to pick another region of the world from their literature and compare/contrast to their own part of the world. The Amazon Echo will serve as a question center for students to ask to gain more information about both regions they are comparing and contrasting. They will have already written questions in their interactive notebooks so they are prepared with questions to ask when they get to the questioning station. This part will serve as the prewriting part of the writing process.
3. Students will work in groups to draft a paragraph with a topic sentence, four details, and a conclusion and then revise and edit their drafts. They can use the Echo to check spellings as well.
4. Students will publish their paragraph and illustrate a picture to go with it.

Closure:
The paragraphs/illustrations will be turned into a class book to keep in the classroom and refer to throughout our World unit in reading about different regions in our world.