Lisa  

This lesson focused on phonemic awareness through alliteration. The hook and The Z Was Zapped was used to introduce the concept of alliteration to the grade threes. The lesson required students to look at the images and predict what would happen to the letters. They had to think about the sound of the letter and then think of things that could happen that began with the same sound. In future lessons students would make a big book based on The Z Was Zapped using their own ideas. They would continue in their development of alliteration by reading lots of silly poems and writing some of their own. Six of Howard Gardner’s eight intelligences were addressed in this lesson: verbal-linguistic, visual-spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, musical-rhythmic, and bodily-kinesthetic. It’s really important to prepare a lesson in a way that all students will be able to understand. By using a variety of learning styles there is a much better chance of each student succeeding.

Nella: 

“Hello everyone! Now that you guys have seen how letters and sounds go together we are going to do something really exciting.  We are going to make our very own class alphabet book.  It will be a lot like the one Ms. Johnson read, only better because it will be ours!!  Now, each of you will get a piece of paper when I am done explaining the instructions. (Giving out the materials while I am talking may distract them and impede on their ability to focus on the directions.  Also, they may be more tempted to start drawing and ignore the rest of what I am saying.)  I am going to split you up into groups of two, so that you can help each other and share ideas.  Each of you will get a piece of paper with a small letter in the corner.  This will be your letter, and you will be in charge of that letter page in our book!  You will get to draw your letter on one side of the page, and just like in the book Ms. J. read, something will be happening to your letter.  The thing happening should start with the letter you are working with.  For example, I got a piece of paper with the letter B.  What are some things that could happen that start with the letter B?” 

-The students will get 30 seconds to think, and then I will spend 1 minute taking a few guesses. 

Nella:  “Those were great guesses.  What is happening to my letter B?”

-At this point, I will pull out my letter, which will be “B”.  I will have it on a poster board so that everyone can see it.   On one side, there will be the picture of a broken letter B, and on the other side there will be the sentence, “The B is broken.” After the students guess that the B is broken, I will leave the poster at the front so that the students can reference it if they need an example.  This will also help the more visual learners to grasp my instructions.

Nella: “Just like I did, on the other side of the page you will write a sentence explaining what is happening in your drawing of your letter.  Feel free to be funny or creative!  When you get your papers, go back to your desks with your partner and begin please. Are there any questions before we start?” (I could have gotten the students to draw in the circle, but getting them to move from the circle to their desks is good for those students who crave movement.  At this point I will answer any questions and allow them time to work.)

-The teacher and assistants pass out the materials, and put the students into predetermined groups.  The groups will be designed to pair struggling students with more advanced students.  This will help to ensure that the students who are having problems will have support and someone to help them with their work.  Having this peer support will help ensure the success of all learners)

Nella:  “Now everyone write your name at the top of the page please.”   

-The students will now have time to draw and write their letters and sentences.  The students will then come back to the circle to share their work with the class one by one. 

After they have done this they will likely need to move on to a different subject since they will have been working on this lesson for a long time.  So as not to make them bored or overwhelmed, I will collect the papers and finish the second part of the lesson the next day. (However, for our presentation we will be carrying on with the second part of the lesson)

Day #2 (the second half of the Lesson)

Nella:  “OK everyone, I have handed back the papers that you worked on yesterday, and now we will be doing something really cool!  Underneath our sentences, we are going to write poems!  These poems are going to have as much alliteration as possible.   So in other words, you are going to use lots of words that start with the sound that your letter makes.  For example, my letter was “B”, so my poem would have as many words that start with the “b” sound as I can think of.  Here is my poem:

            Bugsy the baby bug broke his bottle,

            He broke it into a billion bits

            He began to cry because he felt bad

            But Bugsy felt better when his brother bought him a bigger better bottle.”

(I will have this on poster board with all of the b’s underlined so that the kids can follow along.  Again this will provide a visual cue, and also provide a model for the kids to reference.)

Nella:  “Now are there any questions??” (I will answer questions and then move on.)

Nella:  “Put up your hand if you understand.  Now if you don’t understand, look around at the people with their hands up.   You can ask those people for help, or you can ask your partner.  Remember the rule, ask 3, ask me.  If you still have questions after you have asked 3 people, then I would love to answer you question.  Now it is time to get back into your groups from yesterday and write your poems.  If you are finished early, show me, and then help other people in the class.  You have 15 minutes to write your poems.  They should be at least four lines long but they don’t have to be as long as my lines. Remember; don’t worry so much about the spelling of the words, I want you to think of words that start with the same SOUND.”   (I realize that certain questions may arise about words that begin with sounds that are different than their letters would suggest; for example, the “sh” sound, the “ph” sound, and the “th” sound could cause confusion. Hopefully students will not get hung up on this point.  I have chosen not to explain these exceptions so as not to confuse the students.   I feel that it would be putting too much information into their heads, when what I really want to focus on is the flow of their writing, their vocabulary, and their general sound recognition.  Also, I don’t want to bore the students with too much teacher talk.   However, if students do ask me about this I will deal with it on an individual basis.)

-I will hand back their papers and let them get back into their groups and work at the tables.  After the majority of them have finished, I will get them to rejoin the circle and share their poems if they wish.  (I will only call on students if nobody volunteers to share.  With grades two and three, there will most likely be more than enough children who want to share their work.  Whenever possible I like to reduce anxiety by not forcing students to read out personal work.) 

CONCLUSION:

Nella: “We have learned how fun it is to work with sounds and letters!  It is really neat to read poems with alliterations in them, and you all did a great job!!   For homework, I would like you to practice reading your sentence, and your poem to someone at home, or to a friend.  Please practice it at least 3 times.  Also, if you haven’t finished your poem, or would like to add to it, that will also be part of your homework.  Remember, you will get to read this poem to your buddy class, so make sure you can read it with lots of gusto and excitement! GREAT WORK!”   

Rajani:

Rationale       – Enhance and reaffirm

           - phonemic awareness – using action phonics (R & P 47 )

                     - prediction skills

                     - connect to prior knowledge

                     - vocabulary

                    - create a resource for class and reading buddies

We decided on this lesson on phonemes for grade 2/3

Cognizant of non-readers such as ESL and other primary, intermediate and secondary students. 

Many older students struggle with reading and their difficulty can be traced to difficulties with vocabulary (CMCM 127).

Once we as teachers realize the source of difficulty then we can begin to address the problem.  If we bring these struggling students together in a small group the embarrassment of being non-readers can be eradicated and then alone can these students start their journey into recovery readers with phonemic awareness.  We have to lay a solid foundation, before we start the building.  With phonemic awareness students can build on their vocabulary.

Our lesson was designed to meet kinesthetic, auditory, and visual learners as well as teach and enhance cooperative learning and creative and artistic talent.

A new novel approach to beginning letter-sound phonics is called Action Phonics which teaches the beginning letter and letter combination sound association through physical actions or movements that begin with the targeted sound. The text book From Phonics to Fluency provides a list of actions for Action Phonics (48).  Young children have short attention spans and kinesthetic movements and action play helps reinforce students’ memories of the letters and sounds.  Thus build vocabulary.

Kids are the best teachers therefore we would deliberately pair up an ESL and struggling student with a more skilled student in order to facilitate greater understanding.

Our lesson was designed to be a continuous building block.  We began with phonemic awareness, and students describing and scribing their respective alphabet using words beginning with the same sound.  Next lesson is on alliteration which reaffirms the phonemic awareness and yet taps into prior knowledge with a fun, familiar tongue twisters or alliteration poems and create their own new alliteration poems.  

Extension of lesson – From phonemic awareness one can move on to rhymes – the ability to hear when words rhyme.  Once children hear rhymes they can read rhyming words by changing the beginning sound and making the word rhymes for example: hen, ten, men, pen or pig, big, fig, jig, dig, wig etc.

Next logical step would be to teach Morphemes by looking at root words, suffixes and prefixes. 

Personally I would being with suffixes which would serve dual purpose of teaching tenses such as present tense I walk; present continuous I am walking.

I would also introduce suffixes such as ed. I walked. Past tense.

Also introuduce s and es.  She walks, talks.  This also confirms pronouns.

From here move on to prefixes and derivational patterns or roots for example international - Nation is the root word, inter is the prefix and al is the suffix.    (prefixes in CMCM – 112 &113)   (Suffixes CMCM – 113 & 114) (derivational patterns R&P – 62 – 72)

Theories – In search of the perfect method of teaching reading there are two major schools of thought - Phonics and whole language.  “Phonemic awareness develops through a series of stages during which children first become aware that language is made up of individual words that words are made up of syllables and that syllables are made up of phonemes” (CMCM 27)  Another component of phonemic awareness is the ability to hear when words rhyme.  Once children can hear rhymes, they can read rhyming words by changing the beginning sound and making the word rhymes.  A kindergarten teacher Junita, an adherent of phonics describes Phonemic awareness as  “sound knowledge and sound play refers to a person’s awareness of speech sounds smaller than a syllable and the ability to manipulate those sounds through such tasks as blending and segmenting sound in words.  Phonics awareness is an absolutely key element in learning word recognition through phonics and overall reading” ((R&P 31-32).  Other teachers believe in the principle of whole language.

The whole language proponents believe that language is learned by exposure to literature based instruction.  Whole language is a child centered, interactive philosophy of learning where a child is exposed to variety of rich literature and has access of reading, writing, learning and constructing meaning within meaningful context with a goal to instill the desire for life-long learners.  

GROUP TWO

Jacquie: Introduction

The following reading lesson is geared towards a grade 6 class. We are hypothetically in the middle of a poetry unit. The students have already had an opportunity to read and write some poetry. Some of this poetry is posted around the class and the classroom library is full of poetry books.

Our goal of this lesson would be to help develop the students’ fluency. All of this will be done using a piece of authentic text, in this case the lyrics to a song.

Since these students are upper intermediate, we felt that the students’ level of fluency was of great concern. Of course we all know that in order to comprehend what we are reading we first need to have fluency. To gain this fluency we will:

It may seem that this is a lot of repetitive reading of the same poem, but as stated by Rasinski and Padak several studies have shown “having students practice read short passages resulted in improved word recognition, fluency and overall reading performance.” (p. 163)

For this lesson, we wanted to choose a poem that would match the goals of the teacher. It is important for us that:

·        the students use authentic text

·        all students are able to relate to the theme of the poem – no matter the students – gender, ethnic background, special needs

·        emotions are okay to have and show

·        music is poetry and poetry can be turned into music.

·        Guy’s write poems to.

In order to prepare for this lesson we needed to:

As we have all read, prior knowledge affects the way students think and the degree they will understand new material. A teacher who is able to help the students connect new material with the knowledge they already have increases the chances the student has of remembering and understanding the new material. Cunningham and Moore state that although understanding vocabulary helps the students comprehend the passage, activating prior knowledge helps the students get the gist of the material. For our lesson having the students get the gist of the poem is enough because once they are more fluent we could look at vocabulary and a range of other extension activities that could be done in future lessons that could help further their comprehension of the poem. Chris will go into more detail regarding some of these extension activities at the end of the lesson.

In the lesson you are about to see, try to notice how we hook our students and how we activate prior knowledge at the beginning of the lesson.

Gina:

Part two of the lesson

Purpose of choral reading (from the first part of the lesson): This type of reading is a type of supported reading in which fluency is developed. The less fluent readers will have a model to follow and will not be embarrassed in front of the whole class if there are certain words they have difficulty pronouncing. This type of reading can even be used with intermediate grades as they teacher can get divide the class into different groups or ask the students to decide when to change the tone of voice or volume.

1)     After students have practiced the choral reading, I will ask them to partner up with the person beside them. I will then hand out one copy of the poem per pair and ask the students to the following with the poem:

·        Each person will read the poem three times through. The first time, you are just supposed to read through the poem, pronouncing every word. The listener will help the speaker with any words that he or she cannot pronounce.

·        The second time through, each person will read the poem smoothly and without stopping. Each person should try as best they can to read it out on their own (but you can always get help from your partner).

·        The third time, each person will read the poem with expression and emotion as if you wrote the poem yourself and you are trying to bring the emotions out. I will then ask for volunteers to read out the different stanzas of the poem. Students can split up the stanza into two parts if they like in order to both read to the class.

In a real classroom, the teacher could have the pairs already chosen in order to put a stronger reader with a struggling one. If the teacher is worried about the advanced students becoming bored with this activity, the students could be asked to memorize their stanza or to perform reader’s theatre if enough time was given. One whole class could be dedicated to practicing this poem.

Purpose of paired reading: The more fluent reader provides a model for the less fluent reader and the students have a chance to practice the readings and any words they do not understand before reading aloud to the whole class. Fluency and word recognition are also developed when students practice paired reading as the listener encourages and offers support. The less fluent reader can also signal to the more advanced reader that he or she is ready to read on their own. Even if the partners are just random, children do not often make the same errors so they will still be able to help each other. This type of reading is also a good opportunity to involve the older students with the younger ones or to get the parents involved even at home.

2)     I would then ask if there are any volunteers that would be willing to read out the four different stanzas either one person doing the whole reading or taking turns by  splitting up the stanza (perhaps the more fluent reader would read the difficult part). I will encourage students to read with expression and emotion. In a real classroom setting, I would ensure the students had enough time to practice the reading with expression before presenting to the whole class.

3)      I will then introduce the song “I am a rock” by Paul Simon.  I will explain that the song is from “Sounds of Silence” cd and it is from 1966. The song reached the #3 spot on the US charts. The song can then be played to the class to see if there are any differences between the way the words are spoken in the song and the way the students read out the poem. Possible extensions to this lesson or even if there was time at the end of the lesson would be to discuss what the students feel is the meaning of the poem is and why (there is not one right answer of course).

Purpose of listening to the song: The students are given the chance to respond emotionally to what they hear and what they have read. Hearing the words spoken by the singer may help to reinforce the emotions of loneliness or seclusion or the fact that the person wants nothing to do with society for example. There are many different meanings that could be interpreted from the song so it allows students to use their imagination and to share their opinions. I believe there would be some interesting discussions that would arise in a grade seven class around this song. Students can then engage in the text at a higher level of thinking and construct a meaning in response to the poem.

In conclusion I have different quotes that I found that I wanted to share with the students. Most of these quotes came from fan websites of Simon and Garnfunkel and one from an interview with Simon.

GROUP THREE

Tammie:      Introduction 

         One of the main areas of concern, or strategies that one looks at in teaching  

reading, is phonemic awareness. Young children learn best how to read, first by sounding  

out letters in a word and then recognizing word patterns. One of the best ways in doing this, is by showing young students vowels and their different sounds, both hard and soft.  Students need to build on a solid base of segmenting, decoding, and using learned spelling skills. This is what our lesson is about today.

    Using phonemic awareness, Michelle and than Sorraya will teach the class through a prepared word wall and a daily storyboard morning message, a review of vowel sounds, and then to look at a letter/vowel blend, and how it will sound when together in a word. This brings together many skills for language arts, such as listening, speaking, reading, and later writing.

    There will be two key areas that this lesson will focus on today.

1. Readers use patterns to decode and spell new words. They will soon learn that words are more than just sounds put together, but are actually letter patterns. Some might compare children’s first steps in reading to making a puzzle and the feeling of achievement when the puzzle or pattern is solved.
2. Beginning readers must develop phonemic awareness and learn some letter  names and sounds. From Chapter Four in Reading and Writing, the authors reiterate,

                        These three goals-phonemic awareness, letter names and letter

                        sounds- are the foundation for developing, decoding and spelling

                        skills. Reading and Writing, Cunningham, Moore, etal., p 87.

This is the foundation for future readers.

    Stacey will wind-up our presentation today and explain the theory behind the

daily storyboard message and how important a tool it can be in the classroom.

Sorraya:                 Reading Lesson Presentation – The Second Half of the Lesson

The ‘During’ phase of this lesson includes playing the storyboard game. The teacher writes on the board a message of the day. I our case the message was October 14, 2005.  Today is our first day back from our holiday. Welcome back! Together as a class, read the message. This touches on the oral and choral reading of the lesson. Explain and reinforce the rules of the game while modeling, this includes students who learn visually and auditory. Tell them to look up at the phonemic word wall to help them look for any of the letter sounds that might be found in the message, to write the designated symbol on top of the letters-sound in the message, and then to turn to the class and say the phonemic sound and word. Let the kids know that this game is played silently, once they have finished they can pass the pen to someone who has their hand up. This game is multi level. For those who do not feel comfortable getting up can just watch and learn visually. While those whom are ready to play can pick their level of difficulty. They can stay with the basic short and long vowels, or they may want to try blended sounds. Since this is presented to the children as a game, it engages the children on many levels: mentally, emotionally, and physically (they have to get up and play the game in front of class). The ‘After’ part of the lesson incorporates a writing activity. The kids are asked to write the message into their daily planners; it is up to the teacher if the kids are to include their symbols. To close the lesson the teacher can do a quick review of the new sound-symbol that they learned that day.   

Stacey:   Lesson Wind Up

I believe the use of Storyboard at the grade 2/3 level is supported by many reasons.  

Firstly, we know that phonemic awareness plays a critical role in learning to read.  One way of supporting the development of phonemic awareness is through Storyboard.    In particular, as students play this phonics game each morning, they learn about sound/letter relationships through the use of a morning storyboard message, poem or song.   

Secondly, because language is the foundation of reading and writing, we know that reading and writing are supported by and connected to the other language functions of speaking and listening.  Children become better readers and writers when teachers develop all of the language arts—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—and use each one to support the other.  Although Storyboard particularly helps nurture phonemic awareness, it also enhances all language arts.   Reading and speaking are developed as children chorally read the message and when they say each phonics and word out loud.  Storyboard is a silent game, and students are required to listen to those who are at the board, listening for the sounds and word being spoken.   Furthermore, writing skills are developed as students write the morning message or poem in their daily planners afterwards.

Thirdly, the Principles of Learning in British Columbia’s Primary Program supports the use of Storyboard.  The Primary Program was developed by the Ministry in 2000, and is an important resource for primary teachers.  It is a guide to effective practices for primary educators.  Although the Principles of Learning are fundamental to all levels of education from kindergarten to grade 12, they are central to the Primary Program. 

The Principles of Learning are:

1.      Learning requires the active participation of the learner.

Storyboard requires the active participation of the students.  It is a game where students are physically, intellectually and emotionally engaged.  There is physical movement when students walk up to the board to write their symbols.  During the game, students are listening and actively searching for sound/letter relationships.  They are also emotionally engaged because they are players in a game and want to participate.  As Storyboard is presented in a game format, it is fun and the students look forward to playing it.   

2.      People learn in a variety of ways and at different rates.

In particular, Storyboard offers an opportunity for children to learn in a social context, through written words and symbols, and by listening to others.  Through Storyboard, students are also able to develop their understanding of how the English language is constructed no matter what level of understanding they have at a particular time.  As a result, Storyboard successfully supports students at all levels of learning.  Because the game is multileveled, more advanced readers can identify harder levels of phonics, such as the difference in the “th” sound in the word “Thursday” versus the word “this.”  At the same time, ESL or struggling readers can identify a simpler level of phonics, such as the short and long vowel sounds. 

But no matter what level of understanding a student is, each time someone goes up to the storyboard, they are teaching each other.  

3.      Learning is both an individual and a group process.

During Storyboard children play an active part is each others learning and development by modeling and providing assistance.  Unlike worksheets, where students would work individually and can’t learn from each others mistakes, each time a student goes up to the Storyboard there is an opportunity for learning by all students.  As a result, students have chances to be leaders.  For example, if a student has trouble finding a sound/letter relationship, another student has the opportunity to help their peers and learn that they have something valuable to offer others.       

(Overhead to be used in presentation)

Why use Storyboard in the classroom?

1. Storyboard supports the development of phonemic awareness and teaches students some letter names and sounds which are the foundation for developing decoding and spelling skills.

2. Although Storyboard particularly helps nurture phonemic awareness, it also enhances all language arts—speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

3. The Principles of Learning in B.C.’s Primary Program (2000) supports the use of Storyboard because it:

1. requires the active participation of the learner
2. it successfully accommodates students who learn in a variety of ways and at different rates
3. it is both an individual and a group a group process