A River Ran Wild

Currently I am serving as a long term substitute in a 3rd grade classroom at an International Baccalaureate school.  If you are not familiar with IB schools, it’s basically an integrated, inquiry approach to learning which looks at global/environmental relationships, changes, and interactive impact. Last week, we began a new unit “Sharing Our Planet” where the focus will rely on inquiry into changing adaptations of organisms to survive and thrive, how human processes impact nature and environment, and how the need for resources influences one’s actions.  The initial idea was to introduce the 3 lines of inquiry (previously mentioned) with pictures and allow for whole class discussion, followed with individual questions to begin the unit, but I thought of a book I used during student teaching and knew I had to use it again.

A River Ran Wild:An Environmental History is a beautiful story with complex, rich illustrations which tie into how a river in the northeast changed over time as humans thirst for greater industry grew without thought to the impact they were making.  It’s told in a beautiful narrative format, sharing the true story of the Nashua River.  The reader can listen/read the story of the words, yet also see the story unfold with the pictures, specifically the framework of pictures surrounding the text, similar to Jan Brett.  When I saw the opening lesson planned during a team meeting, I immediately envisioned the environmental focus of this book – a perfect avenue to provide a concrete frame of reference for a diverse group of children.  I made foldables with 3 tabs, each a separate line of inquiry.  Every once in awhile, I stopped reading the book to let the students interact with the story and each other, then journal in their foldable.  To discuss adaptations, I printed color copies of two of the animals mentioned in the story for one of the lines of inquiry.  The activity was a success with the students which means real connections were made.  I had shared my idea with my colleagues via email.  It was exciting when 2 teachers used the book.  I love the thrill of collaboration.  (I have one classmate from Texas State where we would just volley – going back and forth with ideas.  Love it.)

As a bonus, we will read The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest later in the unit.  Same author!  Isn’t that fantastic?!  I’d love to tie this into an author study, but my assignment ends this coming week and the students are currently researching to publish an animal expository book – hands down, their favorite activity of the past 3 months.  We should have time for discussion to compare the styles and format of both books.  It’s my hope one of my students will discover the coincidence rather than I provide the information so a student can have a moment to shine and an “impromptu discussion”  begins which will miraculously occur when there’s a window of time for the discussion.

I love when an idea works in the classroom – the satisfaction when students experience the joy of learning.

Thoughts on Foldables

I have to admit to not typically being a fan of foldables. However, I recently came across a blog through Pinterest titled Get into the Fold. This blog offered page after page of ideas, using thoughtful lessons including foldables as a means to implement the lesson. I wanted to save each idea onto my Evernote site, but I realized it would be too much. I chose to follow the blog.

What reeled me in? The first lesson was a Reader’s Response to character development using a template from Dinah Zilke’s Notebooking Central Literature Response book. To top it off, they were using one of my absolute favorite children’s books,

. The foldable led the student to understanding the character through explicit words in the text, words spoken by the character in question, words used by other characters, thoughts/feelings of the character, and actions of the character. It was a fantastic use of a foldable to inspire higher level thinking.

Of course, I have added two of Dinah Zilke’s Notebooking Central books to my wish list now. The one listed above and another one on literary elements.

I can’t wait to use them.

Book Trailer Readbox and Cards

Trader Cards to Readbox

I’ve nixed the trader card idea – tried it today, but didn’t like it for this project. I’ve decided to use a Readbox idea from Pinterest for the wall, along with library cards in the classroom library file box.  Both will utilize QR codes to access the book trailer video (see yesterday’s post). Here’s a picture from lessonswithlaughter.com where the students made the book trailers. At some point, I’d like to use this as a student activity, but I think it can also be useful through the year to encourage interest in reading.

lessonswithlaughter.com

lessonswithlaughter.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cards
Using PowerPoint, I’ve created two separate cards for each book on one page to be cut apart once laminated).  One card has a picture of the book cover with a QR code superimposed onto the image.  This card will go onto the Readbox display.  The corresponding card has a title, author, and QR code minus the image of the book.  This card will go into a library file accessed by students during scheduled or earned periods during language arts.  The Readbox display will rotate, but the library file will grow over the year.  Here is a scan of two of my cards (ignore title because it will not be used).

PowerPoint in .jpg format

PowerPoint in .jpg format

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animoto Book Trailer

This past semester I came across the idea of using Animoto in the classroom for student created book trailers.  The blog where I discovered this lesson belongs to Holly Mueller.  I set aside the idea of playing with this project for the summer when more time would be available.  This morning I decided to explore the Animoto website.  I could not stop until I finished my trailer because it was so much fun!  Because Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin hits the middle of elementary reading levels, plus is a personal favorite, it was my first book of choice to create a video.  Using Flickr creative commons, Wikimedia commons, and the advanced search of Google images, I found pictures which I could repost without copyright infringement.  When my video reached 30 seconds, but was incomplete, I bought the yearly subscription.  I couldn’t help myself.  My next project will be to utilize a website I found this past week to create a trading card with a QR code in order to access the book trailer.  Learning is like giving Numeroff’s mouse a cookie: it expands, grows, and evolves.  Exciting, right?  Here’s my video:

Engaging ESLs – Teaching Listening and Speaking

Foundations of the ESL Classroom

This semester I am taking two ESL courses.  What I am discovering is the need to scaffold the ESL learner specifically, but on a grander level – how to better serve all students.  This week, one challenge is to discover activities to promote listening/speaking skills for the non-native student.  One of my favorite ideas is using flockdraw.com.  This website allows real time collaboration via an interactive drawing tool.  Though the concept is driven to collaborate with people in other locations, imagine two children working alongside one another.  One writes the vocabulary word, then draws the image.  Next the other student verbally provides a definition of the word based on the drawing.  The two students discuss the word, along with various methods of describing the word through pictures.  Then the other student takes the next vocabulary word, continuing the process.  Alternative uses are drawing/discussing: events, character descriptions, poetry interpretations, and experiment plans.  (Update, I have since learned of scribblar.com which can save images in a more easily accessible manner, plus has enhanced features, but this site may still prove useful.)

Here’s a version of “decimate”:

Flockdraw vocabulary example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry reading of “Trees”

First Video Podcast

Improvements have been made to the first audio podcast, but I still don’t seem quite like myself.  I’d like to put a little more oomf into it – hmm not sure oomf is a word.  🙂  Zest works.  Voice is not as monotone.  Surprising obervation?  Video podcasts are easier than audio podcasts – at least for me.  In this video, I read “Trees” by Harry Behn in my backyard.  At one point, a chicken can be heard clucking, but I thought it added some fun to the video so I kept it.  The chosen assignment for this is to walk outdoors to find inspiration to write a poem.  It seems fitting since Earth Day just passed.  I also describe a future Venn diagram assignment comparing “Trees” with the student poet’s own poem.  Hope you enjoy!

Tree Poem2

Monitoring Comprehension Lesson Plan with Stellaluna

Monitoring Comprehension – Making Tracks of our Inner Voice when Reading, Grade 2

Anonymous Classmate

Darlene Achee

 

Introduction

FollowingStrategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement  by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, the lesson will teach students how to track their thinking when reading.  Students will develop strategies to connect to their reading, improving understanding and construction of meaning.  Knowledge of the book is not necessary to follow this lesson.

Pre-requisite Knowledge

The students will have learned expectations of how to turn and speak with their neighbor, while staying on task.  There are no other prerequisites.  If children cannot write, they can draw pictures to illustrate their thoughts or discuss their thinking with others.  If students cannot read, he/she can listen to a teacher, audiotape, peer, or other person capable of reading.  The alternatives to writing and reading serve as accommodations as well.

TEKS

2.3  Students comprehend a variety of texts drawing on useful strategies as needed.  Students are expected to:

C.  establish purpose for reading selected texts and monitor comprehension, making corrections and adjustments when that understanding breaks down (e.g., identifying clues, using background knowledge, generating questions, re-reading a portion aloud).

Objectives

At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

  • Use  strategy “leave  tracks of  thinking”  to build reading comprehension
  • Engage with a story through connections and questions
  • Communicate ideas about text
  • More effectively monitor comprehension

Materials

Stellaluna big book

Clipboards with blank sheet of paper on it

Post-its for students

Large post-its for teacher

Small poster for teacher’s post-its

Pencils for students

Pre-assessment/Introduction

The teacher will ask questions eliciting background knowledge of students concerning bats and listening to their inner voice when reading.  Examples include: “What do you know about bats?”  “Do you ever hear your voice talking to you while reading a story?”  “What kind of thoughts do you have when reading?”  We are going to learn to take short notes of what we are thinking: questions that may pop into our heads, events or other books the story reminds us that are similar to the story, and our feelings and reactions to what we are reading.

 

Activity 1

Accomodations:  large book for ELL students or visually impaired, large post-its for the same reason, flexible open-ended learning activity for gifted and talented, separate carpet squares for each student to provide structure and distinct space for 504 students in group time area

  1.  Teacher begins reading story, stopping every page or two to model how she is thinking as she reads the story, jotting key words on a large post-it.  Post-its will be placed on small poster to serve as an example to the students when they use post-its later.  Example:  page 1 “This reminds me when we went to Congress Bridge to see the bats with my daughters’ Girl Scout troops.”
  2. Teacher continues modeling how to jot thoughts down on post-its as she reads.  After page 4 or 5, students will “Turn and Talk” to their neighbor to verbalize their own thoughts about the story so far.  Teacher allows plenty of time for students to share, while eliciting deeper thinking through open-ended questioning (Questions vary according to student responses).

Formative assessment:  Observe and listen to students.  Measure how well students understand how to connect to the story by listening to their inner thoughts.  Analyze student’s ability to communicate their ideas.  Decide whether to continue to next activity or continue working on current ability to personally connect with story.

 

Activity 2

 

Accomodations:  large book for ELL students or visually impaired, large post-its for the same reason, flexible open ended learning activity for gifted and talented students, separate carpet squares for each student to provide structure and distinct space for 504students in group time area, extra independent time to complete student assignment for SPED students

 

  1. Teacher continues reading story, stopping every page or two to model how she is thinking as she reads the story, jotting key words on large post-it to display on small poster.  Example: “Have you ever gone somewhere with your family and become lost?”
  2. Teacher continues modeling.  After approximately page 10, teacher stops.  Teacher gives instructions, then passes out clipboards and post-its. “Remember, write your name on your paper.” Students will write their responses to the story on post-its.

Extension:  If there is extra time, students will share and discuss their written thoughts with one another.  Otherwise, it will be covered in the next lesson.

Formative assessment:  Teacher will review papers to determine if students have achieved objectives.  Whether students have mastered this concept will determine if the remainder of Stellaluna will be used to teach organization of thoughts (labeling post-its as ?, Text –to –self, text-to-text, R = reminds me as taught in Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension for Understanding and Engagement) or remain on this concept longer.