English to Algebra

GRADE: Secondary level 8/9

INTRODUCTION

This lesson is geared towards grade 8 students, but could also be used as a review for grade 9 math students.  It deals with converting English to Algebra.  This is a major problem with many students throughout high school, as a lack of comprehension when reading sentences and word problems results in a lack of understanding and frustration.  This can be detrimental in mathematics education, resulting in students who shy away from word problems, or are unable to apply their mathematical knowledge to their everyday life.  This lesson aims at helping to lay the foundations for mathematical literacy and to create a sense of fun and enjoyment when dealing with the language of mathematics.

Through our first activity “the hook” we aim to spark interest and enjoyment as well as encourage creativity from the students.  Our second brainstorming activity aims to access the prior knowledge of the students, and create a familiarity with the language commonly associated with mathematics.  We then introduce the new material through a series of individual and group activities.

THE HOOK:

q      Show the video Victor Borge (inflationary language)

q      Discuss the concept of words having phonemes that sound like a number replaced with the sound of the next consecutive number. (Create becomes crenine)

q      Hand out the teacher created sentences and have the students work in groups of 4 to rewrite the sentences with inflationary language.  

q      Have the students share their created sentences with the rest of the class

EXTENSION: This activity can be extended throughout the lesson for students who finish quicker than the rest of the class.  The students can work together to create their own words or sentences using inflationary language, or the teacher can prepare inflated sentences and have the students decode them.

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this activity is to create a sense of fun within the classroom.  It also teaches the students to break various words apart into phonemes and to use their imagination and creativity within a mathematics setting.

BORGE TYPE SENTENCES

q      Princeton is a wonderful place with great opportunity to create a home together one-day. 

q      Snow White and the seven dwarfs had a wonderful opportunity to pick tulips on Tuesday.

q      My forehead hurts when I think of too much information while riding my skateboard.

FIRST HALF OF THE LESSON

ACTIVITY: Hand out teacher created recipe cards (one to each student). These cards contain different ways of writing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students are given time to walk around the classroom and find one other student who has a recipe card with the “same meaning.”

PURPOSE: The purpose of this activity is to build community in the classroom, review and determine students’ prior knowledge in recognizing English to Algebra terms, get the students into pairs for one of the following activities, have the students sit back down in their tables with their partner.

NOTES:

q      Brainstorm with the class different ways that addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division could be written (disguised) in the word problems. Go over  “English to Algebra” sheet (Handout #1).

q      English to Algebra Notes. Teacher and students work together on one or two examples from first level of problems (Handout #2), and then the students complete the worksheet in pairs or independently.

SECOND PART OF THE LESSON:

ACTIVITY: Students are already paired from the previous activity. They are asked to work with each other using earlier prepared and supplied by a teacher Flash Cards. Each pair receives an orange and a green card with the list of the algebraic expressions written in English on one side and with mathematical representation of them on the other side. One student reads the text and converts it to an algebraic equivalent while the other verifies the correctness of the conversion. When done with the first card, students change the roles using the second card so that each one can go through the same learning routine.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this exercise is to get students involved in hands on activity. It is pedagogically proven that when working in groups versus studying independently, bigger part of a brain is actively engaged in learning process. This is why students are asked to work in pairs, talk about the problems, correct each other mistakes and clarify understanding that comes directly from reading comprehension.  The activity involving students’ participation breaks the monotony of the math classes and also shifts from teacher-centred to student-centered way of learning. The teacher becomes a facilitator of learning process.

PRACTICE & EXTENSION: Students will be asked to finish working on the earlier presented notes, as well as they will be given more advanced set of examples to work on (Hand-out #3 - second level of difficulty)

WORD PROBLEM TO THINK OVER NIGHT

Bill and Ben have a combined age of 91 years. Bill is now twice as old as Ben was when Bill was as old as Ben is now.

How old are Bill and Ben?

CONCLUSION

This lesson was cross-curriculum, incorporating both Math and English. Students need to be able to comprehend sentences and recognize which information is important so that they can formulate an algebraic expression. Struggling students need not feel trumped. They are allowed to input their own imagination into what they are doing and will be given hints where needed; extra questions/activities were prepared in advance for those students who may finish early so that everyone is allowed to work at their own pace.

THEORY: Converting and comprehending English to numbers. This shows the relationship between understanding what we read and problem solving skills used for student discovery.

The value of doing this lesson for grade 8’s is to start with good concepts for problem solving skills. In grade 9, these concepts build from the previous year, and students will be able to create more complex word equations and solve these using higher-level thinking.

This lesson was aimed to:

q      Encourage creativity by first accessing prior knowledge to spark interest. Some of the activities are akin to those from our readings such as word whoppers and hinky pinky’s. Creativity allows students to take the knowledge they discover and add it to their own scaffolding.

q      Encouraging students to have fun will create an atmosphere where they learn without being aware that they are storing useful information.

Questions? Comments?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HANDOUT #1              English to Algebra

ADDITION:

-           a number increased by …,

-           … more than a number,

-      … increased by a number,

-      a sum of …

SUBTRACTION:

    -     a number decreased by …,

-      … less than a number,

-      … decreased by a number,

-      A number diminished by …,

-      A difference between a number and …

MULTIPLICATION:

    _     … times a number,

-      the product of … and a number,

-      twice a number,

-      A number multiplied by …,

-      A square of a number

DIVISION:

-      a number divided by…,

-      … divided by a number,

-      quotient of the number and …,

-      half of a number

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HANDOUT #2      ENGLISH TO ALGEBRA

Write an algebraic expression for each phrase:

1)Five more than a number    2)Three less than a number

3)Twice a number                   4) Six less than three times a number

5) One third of a number        6)The sum of a number and ten

Write an equation and solve:    level 1

1)   Three times a number increased by five is fourteen.

2)   Six less than triple the number is negative twelve.

3)   Eight diminished by half a number is ten.

4)   Nine more than eight times a number is one.

5)   Quotient of a number and eight is two and half.

6)   Four decreased by fifth of a number is negative six.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HANDOUT #3

Write an equation and solve:   level 2

1)   Three times the number increased by one is fifteen decreased by four times the same number. What is the number?

2)   Three less than half of a number is one fourth of the same number. What is the number?

3)  Twice the sum of a number and five equals to the same number diminished by nineteen. What is the number?

4)   Twice the sum of a number and five equals to the same number diminished by nineteen. What is the number

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FLAS   FLASH CARD #1 – FRONT  ENGLISH TO ALGEBRA

a number increased by one

a number diminished by five

the product of a number and six

A number exceeded by six is negative ten.

Four less than a number is negative seven.

Ten decreased by double a number is four.

a number divided by five

three more than twice a number

ten decreased by double a number

seven divided by a number

nine subtracted from triple a number

half of a number

seven less than the product of five and a number

eight more than half a number

The sum of six and three quarters of a number is nine

One-third of a number plus nine equals negative two.

Square root of a number is four.

FLASH CARD #1 – BACK

x + 1

x - 5

6x

x + 6 = -10

x - 4 = -7

10 - 2x = 4

x/5

2x + 3

10 - 2x

7/x

3x - 9

x/2

5x  – 7

x/2 + 8

6 + ¾x = 9

1/3 x + 9 = -2

vx = 4

FLASH CARD #2 – FRONT    ENGLISH TO ALGEBRA

a number increased by five

a number subtracted from one

a number divided by nine

Three times a number decreased by six is eighteen.

Kim’s age in four years will be eighteen.

Shari’s age four years ago was ten.

two less than a number

three more than a number

five times a number

six decreased by a number

A number divided by four is eighteen.

Four times a number is twenty.

Six more than a number is twenty.

the sum of two and a number

three times a number

The square of a number is twenty five.

Four less than a product of a number and eight is two

FLASH CARD #2 – BACK

x + 5

1 – x

x / 9

3x – 6 = 18

x + 4 = 18

x – 4 = 10

x – 2

x + 3

5x

6 – x

x / 4 = 18

4x = 20

x  + 6 = 20

x + 2

3x

x² = 25

WORDS THEIR WAY

INTRODUCTION:

Our lesson is based on a system of word study called Words Their Way. Words Their Way is a program used to teach students how to read and write words. It uses “word families” to help students notice patterns in words to help them decode new words. For example, one week could be focused on the key sounds of the beginning letter blends st, sp, and sm.

“Words Their Way’s developmentally-driven, hands-on instructional approach has been a phenomenon in word study, providing a practical way to study words with students.   The keys to this research-based approach are to know your students’ literacy progress, organize for instruction, and implement word study.  This streamlined book and the DVD and CD-ROM that accompany it gives you all the tools you need to carry out word study instruction that will motivate and engage your students, and help them to succeed in literacy learning.  Ordered in a developmental format, Words Their Way complements the use of any existing phonics, spelling, and vocabulary curricula. “ (http://www.allynbaconmerrill.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=013223968X&rl=1)

As stated above, the program is ordered in a developmental format. That is to say that the students begin by learning the onset sounds for each word. The very first group of words focuses solely on the first letter sound in each word. It then moves onto the blending of two consonants at the beginning of words, and onto ending sounds, short versus long vowels and so on. The program focuses on encouraging children to notice patterns in words as well as the slight differences in appearance and pronunciation of words. By introducing similar sounds and patterns children are not confused by randomly grouped sounds and are able to notice those differences that may have not been obvious to them otherwise.

How it works is that each week a group of students is given a sheet with a new set of three word families. They have the key sounds i.e. st, sp, sm and a group of ten or so words that go with each key sound scrambled on the page. The teacher goes over all the sounds and words with the students in detail and they are sent off to cut out the words and sort them according to their key sounds. Throughout the week there are different activities that can be done with the words. These will be introduced later on in the lesson.

Included in the instruction book for Words Their Way is an assessment that can be done with the children before you begin using the program and throughout. It lets you know where the children are in their word development and in what areas they still need practice. Many teachers use this assessment tool to place their students into three groups of different learning levels.

One of the great parts of this program is how it involves the parents. It encourages the teacher to introduce the program to the parents and send home copies of the word sorts and activities that can be done with them. It explains to the parents how the program works so that you don’t have parents unsure of what their child is up to.

Another positive aspect of this program is that they have a separate book that can be used specifically for ESL students. This way if you have students who are still at the most basic level of English learning they can be included in activities using sounds and concepts appropriate to them.

To prepare for this lesson a classroom teacher would first need to perform the assessment to know where each student needs practice. After grouping the students by what concepts they need to learn, the teacher would photocopy the page of sounds for each group. The teacher would need an understanding of how to introduce each group of words and this can be found in the same book and pages on which they found the word sort itself. After introducing the words it is basically a teacher guided, student run program. At the beginning of the year the teacher would need to introduce the routine and the activities, but once the routine is established, the students just need to be reminded what activity to do.

A teacher review of the program:

The theory behind and practice for word sorts allows even the novice teacher to understand how to use the assessments to organize instruction.  The organization of the last five chapters creates a useful resource for teachers.  Each begins with a research-based description and moves into sound instructional practices, giving the teacher a complete understanding of how to meet the needs of students.

Cathy Blanchfield, CSU Fresno 

Reference:

Taken from the World Wide Web on May 31, 2007:

 http://www.allynbaconmerrill.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=013223968X&rl=1

LESSON PLAN:

Grade: Grade 2

Subject: Language Arts - Reading    Date: June 6, 2007

Lesson Plan:  Words Their Way OT, AT, IT Endings             Time: approx 30 mins.

CONCLUSION:

As a group we chose this activity for many reasons. We feel that presenting a lesson that highlights the Words Their Way program is beneficial for people who want to teach all grades. We believe that this is a program that works and one that allows for great flexibility and adaptability for individual classrooms and all of the students in these classrooms.

The Words Their Way program is built on a foundation that it is multilevel. This program realizes that "word study is not a one size fits all program of instruction (Bear et al, 7)." Furthermore, this program encompasses the idea that "teachers must teach to where a child is at. To do otherwise results in frustration or boredom and little learning in either case (Bear et al, 7)." The program follows the stages that research shows kids follow when learning to read but it is flexible in that it does not set in stone when each kid should be going through this stage. The program is free to allow children to move through the stages at their own pace. The assessment process allows teachers to see exactly where the instruction needs to be focused for each individual student. Teachers then place kids in ability groups. This way the whole class is not working on the same patterns, the kids are working in smaller groups at their own levels. There is also a lot of room for movement as assessment for teaching purposes happens often.

Demonstrate and show Words Their Way assessment procedures

The reasons above clearly show how this program supports struggling readers. It allows students to progress at their own pace and work on concepts that are targeted to their own zone of proximal development. Furthermore, having students working in small groups where the children are all around the same level as each other frees up the teacher to provide more one on one help to the struggling readers. It is also important to note that because the struggling readers are working at their own level and pace they are able to feel a sense of success. This is important so that they do not become frustrated and give up on the reading process.

When you are in a classroom it is clear to see how they Words Their Way program is working. This is due to many reasons. First, as mentioned above it is multi level and supports all readers in a given classroom. It also "gives students repeated exposure to newly learned words" in many different forms, which is important in building comprehension in reading (Reithaug, 353). This program is also successful because it has "students illustrate and associate words both visually and linguistically" through the many activities that students can do with each week’s word sort (Reithaug, 358). Lastly, this program is built upon the word families model of teaching and learning to read thus it is successful because it uses "analogies to help students understand the relationships between words. They can analyze how words are similar" in their given sorts Reithaug, 360).

Our lesson was developed for a grade 2 class. It is valuable for this grade level because it introduces concepts that can be used while trying to hone their reading skills. In grade 2 the Words Their Way activities can be translated to many other parts of the curriculum. The teacher can use the word sort patterns in gym, language arts, daily calendar, poetry, and other places. It is also great for this age of children because it allows them to get up, move around, be active, and work with their peers. Most of all the activities are fun for them to do. It is not as though they are memorizing rules for learning spelling words and learning to read. It is hands on and engaging for these young children. As we stated earlier, this kind of lesson is not only valuable for the grade level that we chose. The Words Their Way program can be used up to much higher grades and the sorts come ready to use. It is a beneficial program no matter what grade class one finds themselves teaching. It is great when a school gets on board and the students use the program year after year.

References

Bear, Inverinzzi, Templeton, and Johnston. Words Their Way . Prentice-Hall Inc. New Jersey: 2000.

Reithaug. Orchestrating Success in Reading. Stirling Head Enterprises Inc. Vancouver: 2002.

Derivational Patterns Reading Lesson Plan

Introduction

          There are many strategies to teach reading and writing to young children. Today, the focus of our lesson is introducing derivational word patterns to the intermediate elementary grades (5–7) as we believe students need to study the origins of words in order to better understand the meaning of reading and writing of words.

          Derivational word patterns are not as complicated as they sound and are an important word study strategy used by teachers to help students expand their vocabulary in reading, writing and language. They are essential in helping students decode words to learn about their meanings and where those meanings come from.

           Derivational word patterns are roots which are sections of words that came from other languages such as Greek, Latin and French. For example: Asterisk: ast is the root which came from Greek and means little star. Learning one derivational word pattern, such as ast in asterisk, can help students to understand many more words that are frequently used in English not to mention difficult multisyllabic words. For example: ast is also the root for astronaut, asteroid, astrology, astronomy. All these new words have the same root as asterisk and an association with the stars. They also help the student to decode the root while also focusing on the target words. Aside from learning the meaning, students are also exposed to the proper pronunciation of these words.

          Though a practicing teacher can teach these word patterns to any grade level, it is recommended by researchers to introduce this reading and writing strategy around Grade 3. The reason behind this is because children will have developed their ability in basic word recognition more fully. Thus, they will enjoy decoding words much more.

          There are many ways a teacher can prepare for this lesson in the classroom. Our lesson is an introduction to derivational word patterns but also links up with the students’ previous knowledge of Greek words from a unit on ancient Greece. This makes for a nice bridge even though not all derivations are from Greek. In preparing for this lesson we needed a word list that included various words and derivations. We decided that we would use one derivation for an example and three to four for student decoding within the lesson. Materials needed are pennies, flash cards and selected words. It is necessary to prepare a hook to get the students interested and excited about decoding words. Pay attention to the way Bethany and Josh introduce derivational words patterns and the strategies used in introducing, modeling and instructing activities for our learners…

 Lesson: Part I

INTRO:

Teacher enters classroom wearing toga and laurel leaf “crown”, introducing self as “Socrates”. Review briefly with students what they have learned in their Social Studies unit on Ancient Greece, and inform that this theme will be relevant in today’s lesson.

Teacher introduces the “Derivational Patterns” song with guitar and lyrics on overhead, while encouraging students to sing along – particularly in the “Oompa” sections.

BODY:

1. Leaving the song lyrics on the overhead, teacher asks students:

          *What patterns do you see in the three words that make up the lines of the song? 

          *What similarities does each of the word trios contain?

2. Introduce derivational patterns/roots to students, using the above discussion to begin (song lyrics). Derivational word patterns are those parts of words found in English which are derived from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Discuss with students why knowing these derivations would be useful (inferring meaning from unknown words, inferring pronunciation, etc.)

3. Begin Penny Activity with students:

            *Hand out pennies to each student. What are pennies also called? (cent)

*Hold up loonie. How many cents are in a dollar? (100…review from Math) “Cent” means 100, and is a Greek derivational pattern/root.

*Write “Cent” on overhead. Brainstorm with students what other words have “cent” in them, and how their meaning relates to 100 (centipede = 100 feet, century = 100 years, etc.). Students can also guess the second part of the words.

4. Begin Flash Card Activity with students:

*Split students into groups of 3, each receiving a flash card with a derivational pattern word on the front and the meaning on the back (e.g. Hydro = water, Fore = preceding, Uni = one, Sub = under, etc.)

*Have students use the brainstorming/mind mapping technique used previously on the overhead to come up with words that have that group’s word in them.

*Have students write out a sentence for each word that they came up with.

*Have students come back together and present one sentence to the rest of the class using the board, visuals, drama, etc.

Lesson: Part II

After the three groups have presented their words to the class, the teacher will then lead the extension activity…

RIDDLE EXAMPLES:

Teacher will lead discussion on using derivational roots to make up riddles:

            * What type of arrow can shoot a cloud? ----- An aeroplane!

            * What do a carnivore, herbivore and omnivore have in common?

                                    ------- They are all extremely hungry (Voracious)!

            * Why do 5 and 6 equal four-seven?---- Because they are fore-seven!

Using the derivational root given to their group, students will be responsible to make up their own riddle for homework to present at the beginning of next class. 

CLOSURE:

Give example on the board:

“My brother and sister used to tease me about my intense hydrophobia!”

In our reading, what happens when we come across a word we do not know? 

Break it down to derivational roots!!!

HYDRO = water - PHOBIA = fear…therefore, Hydrophobia is a “fear of water.”

Derivational roots, from many original languages such as Greek and Latin, help to form many English words.  In your reading, when you come across words that are unknown, break the word up and look for DERIVATIONS!

Wind Up

We chose derivational word patterns for our lesson because these meaning-bearing patterns help students decode words, as well as provide information about
their meaning. Students with basic reading skills who are beginning to read on
their own can learn about derivational word patterns that will help them develop their strategies for decoding unknown words, including new words in English. Understanding derivational word patterns will also help students to develop each one’s vocabulary and strategies for understanding the meaning of the unknown words.

Derivational word patterns are usually taught in third or fourth grade when students have basic word decoding skills, including affixes. Our lesson is geared towards an intermediate class that has some prior knowledge of derivational words. We decided to teach the derivational word patterns beginning with the root of the words, and then have the students brainstorm together to discover words they already know that contain the target word root. Brainstorming together in groups is challenging, and fun. Students work together to discover as many words related to the word root they are learning, and the focus is off the teacher as the students engage in the activity. The group activity allows each student to participate, and contribute while they are learning.

This lesson supports struggling readers by reducing the pressure to perform individually, and it encourages participation with an element of fun and support. Although, it is recommended that students be introduced to one or two derivations each week, we felt that the intermediate level of the students, combined with the shared group activity, allowed for more than one derivation to be introduced during this lesson. The riddle extension activity supports and solidifies the student’s recognition and understanding of the word derivations. Because the students are the authors of these original riddle creations, they have an interest in them that includes sharing their ideas with their classmates.

The homework assignment allows students to extend practice their creativity, while sharing the experience with family, and friends. The teaching of word derivations introduces students to the fascinating world of words, and provides strategies for decoding and deeper understanding of words. Humour and fun are used in this lesson to access the student’s imaginations, and to allow for creative engagement and collaborative learning. Students will be exposed to new strategies for discovering and understanding word patterns in a positive environment, ones that encourage them to investigate and tackle new words with confidence.

DERIVATIONAL PATTERNS SONG

Fiddle with a word.
Let’s find the pattern.
Let’s find the root.

Fiddle with a word.
Let’s find the pattern.
Let’s find the root.

Captain, capitol, decapitate,

Contract, contrite, convene,

OOMPA!

Forecast, forearm, forerunner,

Find the pattern, what’s the root?

OOMPA!

Automobile, automatic, autobiography,

Journey, journal, journalist,

OOMPA!

Submarine, sub terrain, submerge,

Find the pattern, what’s the root?

Reader’s Theatre: The Legend of Lightning Larry
                                                                                                              

    Possible Cross Curricular Extensions for Reader’s Theatre activities:

1. Students perform a dramatized role play where they can create their own costumes and props for the set
2. Students perform in a puppet show where they can create their own theatre and puppets
3. Students can write their own play to extend on creative writing in language arts
4. Students can act out performances in front of other students or parents to develop team work and a strong sense of community involvement. Those who prefer to be behind the scenes can develop props or lighting etc.

Phylum Digest

DATE: June 13, 2007 Block D                                                            GRADE: Biology 11

SUBJECT: Invertebrates – Phyla Review

LESSON TITLE: Phylum Digest - Review of Invertebrate Phyla

Allotted Time: 3 Lessons (75 mins each)

GOAL:  To explore Phylum Cnidaria more in-depth by researching essential life functions, comparing different classes of Cnidaria, and discovering the ecological and economic role of Cnidaria

            -to provide a summary of Invertebrate Phyla

PLO/IRP:

- analyse how the increasing complexity of animal phyla represents an evolutionary continuum

-characteristics of Phylum Porifera, Phylum Cnidaria, Phylum Platyhelminthes, Phylum Nematoda, Phylum Annelida, Phylum Mollusca, Phylum Echinodermata, Phylum Arthropoda, and Subphylum Vertebrata (Phylum Chordata)

 -how animals in each phylum carry out their life functions

-ecological significance of various animal phyla

OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to

-review each invertebrate phyla and how each phylum completes its essential life functions

-identify sections of a newspaper and develop criteria for each newspaper section

-create their own format for a newspaper

-create and answer questions about each phylum about essential life functions

Jami: Narrator #1 (Before and during activities)

Jennifer: Narrator #2 (After activities, closure of presentation)

Ackie: Teacher #1 (Before activities up to distributing sample newspapers)

Hamid: Teacher #2 (During and after activities)

Before:

During:

After: (day of assignment submission)

Phylum Digest

For this assignment, you must think of yourself as a journalist. Your group has won your own newspaper, yet you must follow your financial backer’s (the teacher) guidelines. This month’s edition is all about different phyla. If the creative bug bites you may write the newspaper from a phylum representative’s point of view.  You could publish “The Squid Ink” or “The Oyster On-line”. Follow the guidelines below for full remuneration:

1. Use the paper provided.
2. Cover both sides of the paper.
3. Each member in the group should write a minimum of one article from column A and one from column B so as all topics are covered in the final product

You will be paid (in marks) for the above, as well as the following:

1. You may type or hand print your paper
2. You must cover information about the general characteristics of members in your chosen Phylum
3. Your articles must cover information on how members of the phylum achieve:
1. Feeding
2. Respiration
3. Internal Transport
4. Reproduction
5. Mobility
4. There must be information about the classes within your phylum:

ex. Molluska – 3 classes (Gastropods, Bivalves, Cephalopods)

This is an assignment that requires creativity. As such, some of you will revel in the work, while others will find it hard and frustrating. This is the nature of creative work. Remember that in order for you to be creative with the information; you must understand the phylum you are writing on.

The newspaper is worth 50 marks.

Peer Review – 20 marks

Each newspaper will be peer reviewed by another group. The reviewers will read the newspaper and give feed back with regards to the marking rubric. They will help make sure the following.

1.     Details of phylum are complete and accurate.

2.     Writing is grammatically correct

3.     Overall quality of newspaper

Gallery Walk

FRIENDS

Grade Level: Kindergarten

Subject: Language Arts

Description: The activity called Friends is an interactive Language Arts activity where the teacher reads the Friends Story aloud to the children and asks questions and for verbal feedback throughout the reading.  This is an excellent way to develop print and phonemic awareness.  The Friends Story is essentially a repetitive story that revolves around different activities that friends can do together on each page.  This activity should be interactive, enjoyable, and allow students to develop their print and phonemic awareness as well as their phonics ability in the process.

Goal: Students will develop their print and phonemic awareness as well as their phonics ability and enjoy doing so in the process.  Students should begin to develop a comfortable familiarity and awareness of the majority of the letters that make up the alphabet and their corresponding sound(s) as well as some basic vocabulary words.

Prescribed Learning Outcomes / Objectives:

It is expected that students will:

demonstrate an understanding that print conveys meaning

demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of print, including how letter sounds make words, left to right movement in reading and spacing

predict unknown words by using picture clues, their knowledge of language patterns, and letter-sound relationships

identify familiar words and images in charts, lists, signs, informational texts, and storybooks

Materials:

Friends Story book (read aloud activity)

Friends Story enlarged text (pocket chart activity)

Friends Story enlarged pictures (pocket chart activity)

Friends Story text and corresponding pictures (match activity)

Friends Story workbooks (work activity)

Chart paper and felt pens (brainstorming activity)

Procedure:

Teacher introduces/reintroduces concepts of kindness and friendship.

Hook: Teacher states, “I like to go … with my friends because …!” and asks, “What do you like to do with your friends?”

Students are placed in A/B partner orientation (knees to knees) so that they can look and listen to one another.  Students are reminded to have open ears and eyes, to share their ideas with one another, and to be respectful listeners.  Each partner is then given an opportunity to discuss what they enjoy doing with their friends and then to report what their partner prefers to do with his/her friends to the whole class.

Students brainstorm (with assistance provided by the teacher) about other possible activities that friends could do together.   The teacher writes the names of these activities on chart paper.

Teacher introduces the Friends Story book.

The partners will brainstorm and take turns discussing their ideas and predictions about what the story is about.  They may also ask questions as to what the story is about or what they are wondering about the story.

Teacher asks for ideas/predictions about the plot of story as well as any questions the students may have about the story (reporting and discussion).

Teacher reads the book aloud (read-aloud activity) while showing the pictures.

Teacher asks questions to the class throughout the story to assess their awareness and to keep them focused (provide assistance where necessary).

Questions such as:

What letter is this (point)?

What sound does this letter make?

What is a word that starts with this letter?

What is a word that starts with this sound?

What letter does “…” begin with?

What letter does “…” end in?

What is this word?  What does this word say?

How many syllables does this word have?

What things can you see in the picture?

What is this object in the picture (point to a specific object)?

What is happening in the picture?

How do the characters in the story feel?  Why do you think that?

Where do you think the characters in the story are?  Why do you think that?

Do you like to …?  Hands up if you like to ... Who here likes/has been ...?

At the completion of the book, students are asked to recall activities that friends did in the story (review vocabulary).

Teacher then reads the book again together with the class on the pocket chart.  This is an interactive activity as students are asked to repeat the story as well as read the story together.  First the teacher reads the phrases on the pocket chart and has the students repeat them after he/she recites them one by one.  Then the teacher and the students chorally read all the words and phrases together.  The teacher points to the words on the pocket chart each time they are read.

Word Recognition Activity: After reading and being exposed to the text several times, students then participate in a word recognition activity where the teacher chooses key vocabulary words from the text and then asks the students to come up to the pocket chart and locate the given word (usually can be found by sounding out the beginning consonant).   The teacher asks, “Who can find …?” and provides verbal hints (phonics) to assist students in their search.  Students volunteer and are chosen to come up to the pocket chart and locate the given vocabulary word.  The students point to the particular vocabulary word and say, “This is …” so that their classmates have adequate time to look at and focus their attention on the given word (maximize time on text).  This activity can be done individually and in A/B partner orientation depending on ability and comfort level.  

Syllable Activity: Students then participate in a syllable activity where the teacher chooses vocabulary words from the text and then the students have to clap the number of syllables or word parts they hear and hold up one finger for each syllable they recognize.

Matching Activity: Each partner group (pair) is randomly provided with a piece of paper that contains either a phrase or a picture from the story.  The partner groups have to work accordingly and determine what their picture is of or what their phrase states and then find the corresponding match.   This activity should be repeated a few times so that each partner group has the opportunity to work with both a picture and a phrase (text).

Students return to their desks where they are each provided with a Friends Story workbook.  The workbook consists of the same story as was read to the class, but it contains one blank page (last page).  Students are required to colour the various pictures within the workbook nicely and practice reading the text.  On the blank page, students are expected to illustrate an activity that they like to do with a friend (and attempt to label it accordingly by sounding out the words and using recognizable letters and correct spelling).  A large selection of words can be found on the chart paper created in earlier steps or students may try to come up with their own unique example.  The teacher assists with letter formation and spelling where necessary.  The students are asked to share their finished work with their partner.

Assessment:

Student Assessment (PLOs):

Did the students demonstrate an understanding that print conveys meaning?

Did the students demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of print, including how letter sounds make words, left to right movement in reading and spacing?

Did the students predict unknown words by using picture clues, their knowledge of language patterns, and letter-sound relationships?

Were the students able to identify pictures and vocabulary in the book?  Were the students able to identify which letter and sound such pictures and vocabulary words began with?

Were the students able to determine how many syllables certain words contained?

Were the students able to read and/or spell various words in the text of the book?

Were the students able to complete their workbooks and label their picture accurately (letter selection, letter formation, and spelling)?

**Note:

letter recognition, phonics ability, and phonemic awareness to be assessed individually while teacher circulates during workbook colouring, drawing, and labeling exercise

letter recognition, phonics ability, and phonemic awareness to be assessed individually from finished writing product in workbook (after discussion, student dictation, and teacher scribing) and from reading of the text

letter recognition, phonics ability, and phonemic awareness to be assessed individually during centre activities (a few individuals per day – when time permits)

Alliteration

Grade: 2/3

What Is The Value In Using This Lesson With Grade Two/Threes?

Learning Objectives:

Preparation/Lesson Set-Up:

Required Prior Knowledge:

Part One: Introduction

1. Mystery Bag to Predict the Story:

Part Two: Lesson Development

2. Read the Story, Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut by Margaret Atwood

·       The teacher will tell the students to pay close attention to how the author wrote this book.

·       While reading the book, it can be beneficial to stop at certain spots to engage students in further predicting or to briefly explain some new vocabulary presented.  (Not stopping too often however, as then the flow of the story would be lost).

·       On the first page, stop and observe with the children how many words with the letter “P” the author used.  “It sounds like a tongue twister!”

·       Later in the story, stop and ask the children what they think might happen next.          Time:   ~20-25 min_ 

Part Three: After the Story 

3. Partner Work

Part Four: Closure

       4. Gallery Walk

Assessment and Evaluation:

Adaptations and Modifications:

What to do next/Possible Extension Ideas:

INTRODUCTION TO COMPREHENSION STRATEGY FOR LITERARY CIRCLES

 Introduction

We will be teaching a new comprehension strategy for class lit circles. Prior to this lesson, the lit circles have already been established. Students meet in discussion groups twice a week to talk about the book they are currently reading. Students have been taught a “say something” strategy. Knowing that good readers create images, ask questions, make connections, draw inferences, predict, analyze, synthesize, and respond emotionally, each person must come to the discussion with something to say about the book or make a connection to what another person has said. They could also come with a passage from the book they would like to read as a conversation starter. The discussion group is made up of all the students who are reading the same book at any given time. The groups vary in size, but are no more than 5 students. The students choose books from a teacher provided selection of varying reading levels. The teacher joins in the discussion group completely at first, but once students have learned to honor all voices in the group, the teacher will drop in and out. While the discussion is going on, the other students in the class are reading their novels, working on their response journals, and/ or comprehension strategies. The discussion lasts 15-20 minutes. Two to three times per week, students respond in journals to the books they are reading. Once most students, about every two weeks, have read the book a comprehension strategy is taught and students are asked to complete the activity based on the novel they have just completed reading. The activity we will be having the students do is to make a poster representing their understanding of the story.

Lesson Plan

Lesson: Introduction to comprehension strategy

Grade: 4

PLO: Make explicit connections among central ideas from a story they heard. Relate the story they heard to their personal experiences or to other works (connections to self, text, and world).

Materials:

-poster board

-example of ideagram

-story book

Part 1: Group discussion in Literature circle

Discussion group will gather to discuss novel sharing a passage from the novel and connections to self, text, and world as well as inferences, questions, and predictions.

Time: 20 minutes

(This is an example of how a lit circle might sound:)

T: teacher (Tracy)

B: Brenda

R: Ray

T: O.K. group now we have all finished the novel Tales of a Fourth grade nothing. Let’s do our first part of going around the group and hearing your chosen passages and responses to those. Remember to be respectful of each other and raise hands to speak so we don’t interrupt and allow everyone to speak. Brenda why don’t you start.

B: My passage is from the last sentence on page 108 and continues on page 109. (Brenda read aloud passage).

T: Thank you Brenda, so what was your response to this passage?

B: I had a strong personal connection to this because it brought back feelings for me when my dog died last year. I knew exactly how worried Peter felt and I also started to predict that it had something to do with brother Fudge.

T: Does anyone else have a connection to this they want to share?

R: (hand up)

T: Yes, Ray

R: I felt the same way too Brenda when my rabbit died a few months ago so I made a connection too.

T: Thank you both for sharing those personal connections, that took courage to talk about and I’m sorry that you both had to go through that.

T: O.K. Ray you’re next for sharing a passage.

R: My passage is from the bottom of page 110 to page 111. (Ray read aloud passage).

T: Thank you Ray and what is your response to this?

R: I had a connection to this because it made me think of the time that my little sister ate my special eater bunny chocolate while I was at school. I felt like my mom let her because she wasn’t watching her when she went into my room. I know how Peter feels about someone going in their room when they are not supposed to or didn’t ask. And also when I got to that point in the reading I starting questioning if it is possible for someone to eat a turtle.

T: I wonder that too Ray. Thank-you for sharing your response, does anyone else have a reply to that or a similar connection?  (End of skit)

Part 2: Introduction to comprehension strategy

This section represents the main focus of our presentation, how to introduce a specific comprehension strategy to a class, and how to guide them through the process of constructing or finishing it. 

We will be creating “ideagrams” (posters about their novel). An ideagram is a visual poster representation of one of the key story elements of the novel that the students are reading. Students will choose to express the setting, character, scene, plot, or a personal connection in their poster, and then in a gallery walk present their poster to the class or other individuals invited to the walk. 

To begin the teacher needs to introduce a short story to the class, read it, and then actively demonstrated using ‘think out loud’ the process of creating an ideagram that they have brought as an example. 

Much of this time will be spent answering student’s questions as to expectations, what can and can not be done, materials to be used, and the process of creating the ideagram. I would suggest that the teacher keep a log of these questions and the answers provided as they will help her/him later on when developing the marking rubric.

For the purposes of this presentation the story that will be used is “The Rabbits” by ……, and illustrated by…… . *read the last section of the story*

In general ideagrams focus on the main elements of a story. These elements are typically seen as being; major themes, major characters, major plot lines, major setting elements, personal connections, and climatic moments of resolution. As you can see to complete an ideagram, the students must have a basic understanding of these story elements.

This comprehension strategy allows students a significant amount of latitude with regards to their final product. For students who are not familiar with this type of ‘free’ activity, the teacher will have to guide the students more directly, making constructive suggestions as to focus, material selection, and planning. It is suggested that the teacher provide some clear boundaries and expectations as to what is not acceptable for the ideagram, but permit as much creative latitude as she/he believes the students can manage.

In this specific case I have chosen to create an ideagram that focuses on a major character of the story; the Earth. The ideagram is a photo-collage of pictures found on the internet depicting various character traits that I have seen represented in the story of the Earth.

The main element of the ideagram is the spiral image taken from the story of the dead ‘aboriginal peoples.’ This image is used to represent a cyclical journey of opposed pair ideas. Examples of such a pair may be hope and despair, future and past, or exploitation and stewardship. The photos themselves have been specifically selected with intent in mind and arranged with intent as well.    There are over 100 individual photos placed in the ideagram, representing various ‘character traits’ of the Earth. 

            Once the students are relatively clear as to what is expected of them the teacher should then go over the expectations for marking. Ideally, I would hope that they teacher would have constructed a rubric already, or would be willing to construct a rubric with the students at this time. Below are the minimal rubric points needed for this activity.

The designing of the rubric is crucial as the ideagram is a fairly sophisticated comprehension strategy having several dimensions upon which to base an evaluation; especially if you consider the grade 4 comprehension PLOs.

Go over criteria for ideagram

Criteria for ideagram

-colorful and creative

-shows understanding of either the setting, character, setting, or personal connection to the novel

Time: 45 minutes

Part 3: Gallery walk

-students will walk around and see each others posters

Assessment:

Criteria met on poster will show understanding of setting, character, scene, or a personal connection to the story

Windup

     We chose to teach this as a comprehension activity for three main reasons. First, it addresses all of the comprehension PLOs. Second, it addresses many different learning styles. Finally, it tiers instruction to children at different comprehension levels.

     The grade 4 PLOs for comprehension are as follows:

Grade 4

It is expected that students will:

Describe and recount key ideas or information from various media

Interpret their impressions of simple and direct stories, poetry, other print material, and electronic media

Organize information or ideas they have read, heard, or viewed in the form of simple charts, webs, or illustrations

Locate specific details in stories, poems, mass media, and audio-visual media

Identify the main information given in illustrations, maps, or charts

Demonstrate an awareness of relationships among the elements of story structure, including plot, setting, and characters

*make explicit connections among central ideas from a story they heard. Relate the story they heard to their personal experiences or to other works (connections to self, text, and the world).

     All of these skills are incorporated into creating a poster in terms of character, setting, theme, or personal connection.

     The learning styles addressed are as follows:

Kinesthetic: the students are moving to create their poster and are up and active for the gallery walk.

Visual: drawing the poster

Linguistic: students are allowed to use words for their poster

Intrapersonal: this is a personal, individual representation of the story.

Interpersonal: they must share at the gallery walk

Logical: students must have critically thought about the story to come up with a poster theme.

The comprehensive levels are as follows:

Knowledge: know the characters and what happened in the story.

Understanding: could retell the story in their own words.

Application: could use information from the story to demonstrate understanding.

Analysis: use critical thinking to understand relationships.

Synthesis: use analysis to make predictions and infer relationships.

Evaluation: make judgments about characters and situations.

Student’s explanations of their picture during the gallery walk-what they drew and why they drew that particular scene or character and what it means to them- will demonstrate the level of comprehension the child has utilized in his/her poster. A rubric will be developed to grade the poster based on artistic effort (colored nicely and neatly) and level of understanding shown.