Main idea with story time with IF YOU LIVED 100 YEARS AGO

[jenntracy]

Just wondering what you all think.
yesterday we did Storytime with IF You Lived 100 Years Ago.
we put the topic in middle and then 4 boxes with ideas from what we read in each one with lines drawn back to the topic. but then the directions say "color the most important idea". I didn't really see how one could be more important to the other. we listed "work in the 1890s" as topic and then son said 1)1out of 5 women workd 2)blacksmith 3)sandwich sellers (wearing signs) 4) wagon or coach drivers. He said blacksmiths was the most important one. I really don't want to confuse him. i really think there couldn't have been one that was more more important than another. Wasn't the topic really the main idea? why is something which seems it should be simple, seem complicated? Main thing is i don't want to steer my son in the wrong direction and have him confused. i think i confuse myself? Did we just right down the "ideas" wrong in the boxes?

Help!

Jenn D.

[my3sons]

I think your ds did just fine! As he grows into using DITHOR, his answers will be more detailed. As he gets older, you can encourage him to write more phrases for his answer that give supporting details, like around 5 words or so (i.e. blacksmiths worked to...). As far as which one is more important, that question is a higher level question that does not have one right answer. When your ds answered "blacksmiths", how did he explain his answer? In his mind, blacksmiths' work was most important for certain reasons, while the other work seemed less important to him. I bet he had a good reason for this. He was probably thinking along the lines of "without blacksmiths, there wouldn't have been ____ which people really needed because if blacksmiths didn't do _____ then people wouldn't have been able to _____". You can also ask him why the others were less important. I bet he has good reasons for that as well. Another child may have answered differently, and had equally good reasons for his answer. The higher level thinking and encouraging dc to explain themselves is a wonderful opportunity to value their ideas and teach them to support their thoughts with examples. This kind of encouraging dc to support their answers, without making them feel like they are defending their answers or like their answers aren't right, is a great way to help them truly comprehend and remember what they are reading better. I hope something here helps, but it sounds like he's doing some good thinking about his reading.

In Christ,
Julie