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Sometimes the small can be mighty - read about this height-challenged Brazilian who achieved great heights! |
English/Language Arts
Explore “painting” characters with words
Author Munro has mad skills with a paintbrush - just take a look at some of her art. She also has some enviable skills painting with words. Ask your students to identify the descriptive words she chooses to help readers visualize Dumont. Can they picture him? Can they picture his “contraption?” See if they can draw him using just the descriptions included in the Minute. Now ask them to imagine a character of their own and “paint” them with words. Trade their written description with a partner who will draw the character based on their description.
Explore word choice
What’s in a word? Specifically, what exactly is the difference between a hot air balloon, a dirigible, an airship, an airplane, and a jet? Have your students explore these closely related words so they can see the nuance between them. What other words can they find that are similar, yet different?
Social Studies
Explore the history of air travel using timelines
Take a trip back through some of this year’s Minutes on air travel. Can your students put them in chronological order? Can they create a timeline of flight using the Minutes that mention flight? Have them pull images and paste them along a timeline then fill in with other information they find from online databases and print and web resources. Include a map with your class timeline to identify the places where some of these flight events occurred.
STEM
Explore materials
Take a look at the Crash Course Kids video on materials, the gather a box full of materials for students to play with - make sure to include some bamboo, silk and aluminum - the materials mentioned in the Minute. Throw in some boxes. Can kids make a plane? What other materials may have worked for Dumont's airship? Get creative with materials and explore what works - and what doesn’t work - when it comes to flight.
Research Skills
Explore good video resources
Video resources can really extend learning for everyone, but finding reliable, high-quality sources can be a challenge. Have students work in small groups to comb through YouTube, the world’s largest video search engine, for high-quality video about materials (or any other topic). Each group should identify no more than two videos. Once students have a shortlist, have them share with each other to develop a list of what makes a video resource worthwhile. How do you evaluate video resources? Use the crash course kids videos as models of high-quality resources.
Explore “painting” characters with words
Author Munro has mad skills with a paintbrush - just take a look at some of her art. She also has some enviable skills painting with words. Ask your students to identify the descriptive words she chooses to help readers visualize Dumont. Can they picture him? Can they picture his “contraption?” See if they can draw him using just the descriptions included in the Minute. Now ask them to imagine a character of their own and “paint” them with words. Trade their written description with a partner who will draw the character based on their description.
Explore word choice
What’s in a word? Specifically, what exactly is the difference between a hot air balloon, a dirigible, an airship, an airplane, and a jet? Have your students explore these closely related words so they can see the nuance between them. What other words can they find that are similar, yet different?
Social Studies
Explore the history of air travel using timelines
Take a trip back through some of this year’s Minutes on air travel. Can your students put them in chronological order? Can they create a timeline of flight using the Minutes that mention flight? Have them pull images and paste them along a timeline then fill in with other information they find from online databases and print and web resources. Include a map with your class timeline to identify the places where some of these flight events occurred.
STEM
Explore materials
Take a look at the Crash Course Kids video on materials, the gather a box full of materials for students to play with - make sure to include some bamboo, silk and aluminum - the materials mentioned in the Minute. Throw in some boxes. Can kids make a plane? What other materials may have worked for Dumont's airship? Get creative with materials and explore what works - and what doesn’t work - when it comes to flight.
Research Skills
Explore good video resources
Video resources can really extend learning for everyone, but finding reliable, high-quality sources can be a challenge. Have students work in small groups to comb through YouTube, the world’s largest video search engine, for high-quality video about materials (or any other topic). Each group should identify no more than two videos. Once students have a shortlist, have them share with each other to develop a list of what makes a video resource worthwhile. How do you evaluate video resources? Use the crash course kids videos as models of high-quality resources.
© Karen Sterling, 2018 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission
