There is no name to this post because I can't remember what this cooperative learning activity is called.  But it was the second time I've tried it and it's becoming one of my favorites for reading non-fiction. This time we read the story in whole group in Social Studies.  Afterward we made 5 groups of four and were asked to recall facts that stuck with us. A lintroller came in handy for the visual of important facts "sticking" with us.  I also showed the students that readers of non-fiction are like sponges where good readers soak up as many important facts from the text as possible.  Then when asked, they can squeeze the sponge and release all the information they have learned for conversation, cooperative learning activities, or a test.

 

The first person in the group was asked to recall one fact, then the second person had to repeat the first fact and add a second, the third person said three facts, and the last person said all four.  We had one group model this activity for us today.  Their answers can be seen below.  I'm looking forward to differentiating the text levels next time I do this activity.  Everyone did a great job!