Activating Prior Knowledge at Hollin Meadows Elementary

Students in Ms. Guieb’s Kindergarten class at Hollin Meadows Elementary School in Fairfax County learned about Thanksgiving by viewing a painting of “The First Thanksgiving.” The image used is a secondary source (created in 1932) to the study of Thanksgiving; however, students were able to activate their background knowledge and use a pre-reading/visual literacy strategy to “read” the image.

The Understanding Goal for the Introduction activity was, “Working together helps us to reach our goals.” The Investigative Question was, “How can teamwork or cooperation help people to succeed?”

The students in Ms. Guieb’s class began the activity by reading The Story of Thanksgiving by Nancy J. Skarmeas and brainstorming what they knew about the holiday.  Then, students performed a pre-reading activity of the painting “The First Thanksgiving.” The pre-reading activity asked students to separate the image into four different quadrants.  Students were asked to look at each quadrant and record questions that they had about the individuals in the painting.  After recording their questions, students returned to a whole group discussion where they shared their questions and answered them as a group.

The activity concluded with a discussion of the Investigative Question and Understanding Goal.