Fourth Grade · Reading · week 21

Two Sources, One Topic: Combine!

Combine specific facts from two short sources on one topic into a single, accurate set of notes.

Read Source A: "The grizzly bear on the California state flag honors an animal that once roamed the entire state by the thousands. Grizzlies were powerful, fast despite their size, and could weigh over 600 pounds."

Now read Source B, on the very same topic: "By the 1920s, hunting and the loss of open land had wiped out every wild grizzly bear in California. The last confirmed California grizzly was killed in 1924, even though the bear remains the official state animal and appears on the flag to this day." Neither source alone tells the whole story -- Source A describes the animal, and Source B explains what happened to it.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Use two different colored pens or highlighters, one per source, then have your child write combined notes underneath in a third color -- the color mixing makes "combining" visible.
  • Ask "which source would I need for this specific fact?" a few times to reinforce that different sources serve different purposes.
  • Point out that almost every real research project uses more than one source for exactly this reason -- no single source tells the whole story.
  • This is a stepping-stone to the Week 27 checkpoint, so keep practicing the merge-into-one-account approach.
Talk about it:
  • Why is combining two sources better than picking just your favorite one?
  • What is something you already know from two different people or books that disagree or add different details?
  • What surprised you most about what happened to the California grizzly?

Mastery looks like: They can combine specific facts from two short sources on one topic into a single, accurate set of notes.

Common stumbles: Just summarizing each source separately, side by side, instead of truly merging them into one combined account.

Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
Records attendance + 15 min of Reading for this learner.
← Back to todayAll coursesYear planner