• 3rd-4th Grade
• K-2nd Grade

Using a treasure hunt theme, this lesson teaches primary age students how to read for specific information and extract information to complete a specific task. It introduces students to taking notes and to rewrite information in one’s own words. It teaches students how to extract only the important words and to leave out any unnecessary words which, subsequently, teaches students not to copy word for word (plagiarizing). Rewriting information using their own words will promote the use of their higher order thinking skills. The idea for this lesson came from the “Trash ‘n Treasure” method of notetaking created by Barbara Jansen and can be viewed under “lessons” on the Big 6 website (www.big6.com). Jansen’s notetaking method is designed for students in grade 3 and up. My goal in designing this lesson was to introduce the same concepts to students in grades 1 and 2. Ideally, this lesson should be taught in collaboration with the classroom teacher in the context of a research project or report.