“Stage fright – not me!” Week 6 Fourth Grade

I’ll Be All Right on the Night (Non-fiction, Level 12, Stage 3) by Pat Quinn

Not too long ago we read a book about a boy who was unintentionally mistaken for a spy because of his mannerisms and wardrobe. This week we were able to learn about a group of kids who intentionally used special clothing, speech, props and mannerisms to put on a school play. Through this book we learned so much about coping with nerves and stage fright, practicing to become good at something, working as a team toward a common goal, and school plays in general – all of which were new areas for us since we as homeschoolers haven’t had the opportunity to be a part of a production yet.

The activity I want to highlight this week is the Survey Chart. Several of the Read with Sarah kits have survey charts, and we normally like them just fine, but this one was exceptional, which really helped Elijah connect to the content of the book and think more clearly about the other activities and exercises. The chart contains 5 parts: 1. Predicting what the book will be about from the title page and looking over all pictures, charts, maps, and graphs throughout the book to choose which ones give the best information about the book’s content. 2. Restating the heading and subtitles in the form of a question. 3. From the first and last paragraph of the book, list one thing the author feels is important about this subject that you already knew and one thing that you didn’t know. 4. Answer the questions you asked in Part 2. 5. Write what you believe is the main idea of the book and be ready to explain why you chose this. Through this activity I feel Elijah got the most out of the book’s content, way more than he would have gleaned from only reading it a few times!

For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.