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Appendix C: Detailed Lesson Plans of the first two days of week 1

Unit 1: My family

Week 1

Monday

Goals: Students will learn about the topic of families.

Objectives: The student will be able to tell one sentence about their family.

The student will be able to tell one thing about families in general.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

§110.3. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills.

Required reading: book: Children Just Like Me by Susan Elizabeth Copsey and Barnabas Kindersley

Activities:

Book talk – Christina Katerina and the time she quit the family. by Gauch, Patricia Lee (1987). This sequel to another Christina Katerina book tells the story of a girl who is tired of her family. She “quits” being a part, but then later begins to miss them.

Student choice in reading - read silently for 15 min. (SSR). The students are free to read any book that they choose to bring to the class . Before the beginning of SSR, give a book talk about an interesting book, then have it available in the classroom library for students to read.

Student choice in writing - write for 10 minutes every day in their writing journals about anything they want.

Lesson Introduction – poetry

What is a family?

Required writing is done through writing as a process and Reading as a process:

Present to the students the topic of families. Explain to the students that we will focus on everything about families for the next three weeks and by the end we will share with each other about our own families. We will learn about our own families as well as those families of our classmates. We will learn that families are comprised of different numbers and makes ups of people, that different families have different traditions, different likes, dislikes, customs, and languages. We will also learn what makes our families similar. (5 min).

Explain to the students that the purpose of this unit is to understand that people have similarities and differences in their families. As a class we will read books about different families. We will also study a particular book (Children Just Like Me) that tells about different children all over the world. We will study about families and then write about our own. This is our plan for the writing and reading in this unit.Lastly, as a class, make a KWL about the topic. Have the students call out what they already know about families and write that in the K section of the chart. Then have the students call out what they want to know and write that in the W section of the chart.

Assessment of the objective

When the students talk for 10 minutes about what their families mean to them allow each student the opportunity to say at least on thing about their family. When filling out the KWL chart, give each student the opportunity to tell one thing that they know about families in general

Extensions

Tuesday

Goals: Students will learn about research.

Objectives: The student will be able to write the names and number of people in their immediate family.

The student will be able to write something unique about their family.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

§110.3. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills.

Required reading: book: Children Just Like Me by Susan Elizabeth Copsey and Barnabas Kindersley

Activities:

Book talk – Olivia (Olivia the Pig Series) by Ian Falconer (2004). This cute preschool/Kindergarten series is great for young readers or less mature students. It chronicles the tiresome adventures of a little pig and humorously highlights how her actions affect her family members.

Student choice in reading - read silently for 15 min. (SSR). The students are free to read any book that they choose to bring to the class . Before the beginning of SSR, give a book talk about an interesting book, then have it available in the classroom library for students to read.

Student choice in writing - write for 10 minutes every day in their writing journals about anything they want.

Introduction – poetry

Family

Required writing is done through writing as a process and Reading as a process

Research topic. For reading this will activate prior knowledge about the topic so that the students can better build their understanding. For writing this will provide information about their research topic.

Whole Class Activity

First, teach a mini-lesson on research.

Do this by telling the students that research is finding information out about a subject. Tell the students we are going to do our own research about our families. The first thing that we are going to do is brainstorm. Do an example of brainstorming together as a class (after this the students will do this individually).

Assessment of the objective

While leading the students in the individual activity ensure that each student writes the members of their immediate family and writes something unique about their family.

Extensions

If there is still time in class have the students can make graphic organizers taught in social studies to organize the structure of families.

Appendix B – Extension Unit: Our land

Goals: Students will learn about the land around their home and community.

Objectives: The student will be able to write a cumulative poem about the land using the 6-trait writing model.

The student will be able to orally describe one feature about the land in their area. Resources

The type of land of NC is costal plains and tidewaters, piedmont plateau, Appalachian mountains.

Required reading

Here is the African Savanna

Activities:

Students will be assigned to read silently for 15 minutes per day (SSR). The students are free to read any book that they choose to bring to the classroom during SSR time, but there are inevitably students who will either not have books they bring with them or they will finish their own book and look for book recommendations. Therefore, with each unit, I will create a list of book recommends. Each day I will give a book talk about a different book. Those books will then be available in the classroom library for students to read during SSR or during their own free time.

Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema (1992) This cumulative story about a cattle herdsman living in an African plain who wants rain to fall People of the . . .Grasslands/Deserts/Islands/Mountains/Polar Regions/Rainforests (Wide World series by Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers). These informational books discuss people from all over the world that live in a particular type of land and how their environment affects their lives.

The students will write for 10 minutes every day, but this is considered student choice because during these 10 minutes students can write about anything they want or if they cannot think of anything to write they can write about something from the list of writing ideas in the front of their writing journals.

Required writing

The required writing for this unit is a cumulative story about the land and natural animals to this land. They will model their writing after the books read for the class. We will model this writing as we do an example as a whole class about a different type of land. Then the students will be divided into groups of 3-4 and will work together to write a cumulative story about the land of our community.

Writing as a process

Notes on the full PROCESS OF WRITING

Reading as a process

Pre-Reading

Digital Tools

The best digital tools to use with this unit are computers, word processors, digital cameras, scanners, and possibly an electronic microscope to look into better detail the native plants of the area.

The Web

There are many websites that discuss the topography of land, the natural habitat and its accompanying features, such as native plants and animals.

Assessment of the objective

A rubric will be the main form of assessment for this extension unit.

Extensions

1.Encourage the parents at home to help the students with cumulative stories.

2. Study the native plants of the area. Use an electronic microscope to study those plants is great detail, thus incorporating science in to the unit.

Appendix A – Poetry

Unit 2: My community

Alphabet books will be the means by which the students will read about particular communities. They will mimic this form of writing to write about their own community to build a class alphabet book about our shared community.

Goals: Students will learn what a community is and about their own community make-up.

Objective: The student will be able to select a topic to write about within out community.

The student will be able to write a paragraph describing something in his/her community.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

§110.3. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills.

(15) Reading/inquiry/research. The student generates questions and conducts research about topics using information from a variety of sources, including selections read aloud.

(19) Writing/writing processes. The student selects and uses writing processes to compose original text. The student is expected to: (A) generate ideas before writing on self-selected topics (K-1); (B) generate ideas before writing on assigned tasks (K-1); (C) develop drafts (1-3); (D) revise selected drafts for varied purposes, including to achieve a sense of audience, precise word choices, and vivid images (1-3); and (E) use available technology to compose text (K-3).

§113.3. Social Studies, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills. (1) History. The student understands how historical figures helped to shape our community, state, and nation.

Resources

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/history/comm/ This informative website says that it is about community helpers, but in fact, this website is chucked full of information about communities. I used some of the information found here as extension ideas for this assignment, but I didn’t even scratch the surface because there are many, many more listed here. Steiner, S. (2001). Promoting a Global Community Through Multicultural Children’s Literature. New York: Teachers Ideas Press, Inc.

Required reading: Mentor text: L Is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet (Alphabet Series) by Carol Crane

Activities:

Students will be assigned to read silently for 15 minutes per day (SSR). The students are free to read any book that they choose to bring to the classroom during SSR time, but there are inevitably students who will either not have books they bring with them or they will finish their own book and look for book recommendations. Therefore, with each unit, I will create a list of at least 15 book recommends. Each day I will give a book talk about a different book. Those books will then be available in the classroom library for students to read during SSR or during their own free time.

On the Town: A Community Adventure by Judith Caseley (2002) This book mimics a student’s journal of their community with accompanying watercolor illustrations.From Here to There by Margery Cuyler (1999) This book is about a young girl explaining where she lives. She starts with her house, then expands out to her street, town, county, state, country, planet, then universe. This is a short and simple book, but gives a great overview of a child’s world as it expands outward.

Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day by Richard Scarry (1968). This book tells in funny stories about people’s jobs and lives within a community. Appealing especially to boys, this book is great for low readers, as the pictures are interesting and detailed.Community Helpers from A to Z by Bobbie D. Kalman (1997) This alphabet book explores different community helpers and neighborhood jobs from A to Z.

The students will write for 10 minutes every day, but this is considered student choice because during these 10 minutes students can write about anything they want or if they cannot think of anything to write they can write something from the list of writing ideas in the front of their writing journals.

Required writing

The students will write an alphabet book about our community. Each student will be assigned a letter. Then, as a class we will come up with ideas of things in our community that begin with each of the letters of the alphabet. After many ideas for each letter are created, each student will decide which “thing” for their letter they would like to write about and then illustrate. When the students write about the thing that begins with their letter they are to write an entire paragraph about that thing. They can then add an illustration to go with their paragraph.

Our Community

The purpose of the reading is to study Alphabet books and learn about what makes up a community. The purpose of the writing assignment is to create a classroom alphabet book where each student is assigned to write a paragraph about something in our community that begins with the letter they are assigned. The purpose is to better their writing skills. The reason I picked a class book is because it will be a nice addition to the classroom library.Explain to the students what a community is. Lead a discussion amongst the members of the class about our community. Take notes of all the different parts of our community that the students mention for use tomorrow in brainstorming.

Do a mini-lesson with the students, showing the X example to the students and then creating another example using a different difficult letter of the alphabet. By doing two difficult letters it allows some students to repeat easy letters.

Arrange ahead of time with the school librarian to have any books from the library about the local area to have in the classroom. Also, have ready for the students pamphlets, brochures, booklets, internet access, phone books, and anything else the students can use in order to find out information about their particular spot in the community.

While preparing for their writing assignment, the students are building background knowledge for their mentor text.

Friday

Teach mini-lesson on research

Toward the end of the lesson time, talk about and share information collected, reflect on what’s learned.

Preview Mentor Text, which is dependant upon where the lesson is taught, but any book in the Discover America State By State Alphabet Series will do. For this example we will use L Is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet by Carol Crane.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Read a few pages of the mentor text, then lead a discussion about what each student learned about their subject. Then teach a mini-lesson on which information to include in a draft. Next, have the students begin writing about subject, their first draft.

Friday

Read a few more pages of the mentor text

Have students finish draft.

Week 3

Read a few more pages of the mentor text. Revisit purpose and writing prompt. Make sure that students fully understand what the original assignment is so that as they work this week they will be on task. Begin to have the students revise drafts. To do this, teach a mini-lesson according to what students need, focusing on qualities of good writing.

Tuesday

Read a few more pages of the mentor text.

Reread draft and compare to mentor text. Edit parts of their draft that might not align with purpose/goal of assignment.

Finish the mentor text.

Proofread

Have the students hand in their final draft with accompanying drawing to be laminated and put into the class book. Assemble the class book today. Towards the end of class, have the students summarize and discuss what they have learned by reading the mentor text and writing about their own community.

Friday

Digital Tools

Many different digital tools can be incorporated into this unit. Students can type their paragraph on the computer. Students can use digital cameras and take photographs of the places in the community that they wrote about in their paragraph. The class can print off their pages and create a class book to go in the library. The teacher could also send an electronic copy of the book to each parent/student for their own personal use. The students can also present a digital copy of their book to the local Chamber of Commerce or Community Center.

The Web

http://homepages.ius.edu/JLOI/Community%20Helpers%20Web%20quest.htm This website is made for first graders who are studying communities and community helpers. It is designed that students can use this website on their own and with ease, learning about communities and community helpers. It is entertaining and informative.

Assessment of the objective

Assessment will be done using a rubric. The students will receive a copy of the rubric at the beginning of the three week unit and will refer back to the rubric often during the three weeks so that the student can ensure that they are meeting the requirements of the assignment.

My Community 6-Trait Writing Rubric

Name_______________

____/10 Student wrote 10 sentences.

____/10 The 10 sentences are about a selected location in the community. (Ideas)

____/10 The sentences flow together and do not sound choppy. The sentences are well built and varied. (Organization and Sentence Fluency)

____/2 The student writes to the reader in an engaging and compelling fashion. (Voice)

____/10 The student uses a descriptive words in a natural way (Word Choice).

____/10 The student spells correctly, uses correct punctuation, grammar and capitalization. (Conventions).

____/10 The student included pleasing drawings and photos to accompany their sentences (Presentation).

____/62 Total

____%

Extensions

1. The class can go on field trips to the places that are in their community, or places can come to the (such as fire fighters, police officers, city officials, park rangers, the mayor or other community representatives).

2. If students would like to learn about other communities where people live, there is a great website that lets the student(s) become a virtual traveler: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/index.htm . On this website they can visit places and learn about background information, culture, people, maps, facts about the place, take guided tours and create a travel journal on-line. 3. Students can use the “My Community” unit as a springboard for studying about community helpers, which is a theme that has many resources on the internet, such as: www.edhelper.com/community_helpers.htm, and www.lfelem.lfc.edu/resources/sstudies/kinder/communhelpers.html.

Detailed Breakdown

Unit 1: My family

Goals: Students will learn about families, their differences and similarities.

Objectives: The student will be able to write 10 sentences about their family using the 6-trait writing model.

The student will be able to orally describe one difference and one similarity between their family and another family.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills

§110.3. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills.

(16) Reading/culture. The student reads or listens to increase knowledge of his/her own culture, the culture of others, and the common elements of cultures. The student is expected to: (A) connect his/her own experiences with the life experiences, languages, customs, and culture of others (K-3); and (B) compare experiences of characters across cultures (K-3).

(17) Writing/penmanship/capitalization/punctuation. The student develops the foundations of writing.

§113.3. Social Studies, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills.

(14) Culture. The student understands how families meet basic human needs. The student is expected to: (A) describe ways that families meet basic human needs; and (B) describe similarities and differences in ways families meet basic human needs.

(15) Culture. The student understands the importance of family beliefs, customs, language, and traditions. The student is expected to: (A) describe various beliefs, customs, and traditions of families and explain their importance;

Resources

http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-literature/CKHOOSTE/___FAMILY2.HTM This teacher-oriented website features a teaching unit on the topic of families, with four distinct and different lesson plans attached, covering the topics of family history, family trees, traditions and differences between families. This website would be great as an enrichment in preparation to this unit, an extension to this unit, or as a family study continuation.

http://www.education.mcgill.ca/edlibrary/family.pdf. This PDF file is a great resource of books that deal with the topic of families. This PDF file lists the books in separate categories, such as only child, divorce, gay parents, single parents and so on. This is an excellent resource for a teacher who wants to expand their classroom library for this unit, or for a teacher who is in need of ideas of books to read to the class. Also, a teacher can use this for ideas of books to recommend for parents to read to their children.

http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/fam-com.html This simple webpage is packed full of information about families and communities, mainly geared towards teachers. Each website linked on this page has ideas of lesson plans, extensions, projects, information, websites and much more all relating to families and communities.

http://www.k-3learningpages.net/web%20family.htm This website, geared toward Kindergarten thru Grade 3 teachers, is an excellent resource for teachers teaching about families. There are ideas to link the theme of families to all of the content areas, arts and craft ideas, lesson plans and themes, printables, great links to other resources, sample projects completed by other lower elementary students and much more.

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/go/search.cgi?grade=1-2&catid=124&t=themes This extensive website is a treasure chest of links related to teaching children about families. There are links related to family history, family photos, literature that deals with families, family trees, introductory lessons on family and much, much more. This is a great resource for background information as well as ideas to use in the classroom.

Required reading

Activities:

Students will be assigned to read silently for 15 minutes per day (SSR). The students are free to read any book that they choose to bring to the classroom during SSR time, but there are inevitably students who will either not have books they bring with them or they will finish their own book and look for book recommendations. Therefore, with each unit, I will create a list of at least 15 book recommends. Each day I will give a book talk about a different book. Those books will then be available in the classroom library for students to read during SSR or during their own free time.

Olivia (Olivia the Pig Series) by Ian Falconer (2004). This cute preschool/Kindergarten series is great for young readers or less mature students. It chronicles the tiresome adventures of a little pig and humorously highlights how her actions affect her family members.Family Pictures by Carmen Lomas Garza (1989). This colorful multi-cultural book features a girl and her life growing up in a Mexican-American family. It focuses on their family’s culture, traditions and daily life.

The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor (1994). This simple book is a deep look at what is important within and to a family and what is not. It is a great springboard for children to talk about what their family’s value are.The Relatives Came by Cynthia Ryland (1985). This fun read recounts a family’s summer reunion where too many people pack into the house and it is overrun with chaos.Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman (1991) and the Grace Series books. These delightful books feature a small African-American family with a grandmother, single-mother and daughter, Grace. These stories are thought provoking, interesting and fun. A joyful read for this age.

Student choice in writing

The students will write for 10 minutes every day, but this is considered student choice because during these 10 minutes students can write about anything they want or if they cannot think of anything to write they can write about something from the list of writing ideas in the front of their writing journals.

Required writing

The required writing for this unit will be about the student’s family. They are to individually write a minimum of 10 sentences telling about their family. Model this writing a few times as a class before the students are required to do this on their own. The teacher will make an example of her/himself to show the students. Another example the students can do together is to pick a character from a book and do a writing about that character. A third example could also be to have someone like the principal come in and tell us about their family and we could write about that person. Only after we have done it as a class a few times, then the students can do it on their own.The students can ask for the spelling of any words they do not know in order to aid their creativity in the initial draft stages of writing. After students have completed a draft, they can ask other students to read their work. The other student will tell one thing they liked about the writing and ask one question.

Students will ultimately be required to create a piece about their own family that mirrors the type of writing done in the book Children Just Like Me by Susan Elizabeth Copsey and Barnabas Kindersley (1995).I have created a sample writing about myself to share with the students as another example. Here it is:

Writing as a process and Reading as a process

My family

Explain purpose and make a plan (for writing, reading and unit).Present to the students the topic of families. Tell them that we are going to focus on everything about families for the next three weeks and by the end we will share with each other about our own families. We will learn about our own families as well as those families of our classmates. We will learn that families are comprised of different numbers and makes ups of people, that different families have different traditions, different likes, dislikes, customs, and languages. We will also learn what makes our families similar. Make a KWL about the topic.

Research topic. For reading this will activate prior knowledge about the topic so that the students can better build their understanding. For writing this will provide information about their research topic.First, teach a mini-lesson on research. Tell them what research is and how we are going to do it. Tell them that the first thing that we are going to do is brainstorm. Do an example of brainstorming together as a class, then have the students do it individually.A simple sample of brainstorming:

Research and Activating background knowledge.

Teach a mini-lesson on different research techniques, such as writing notes on separate sheets of paper as opposed to one sheet of paper. Introduce to the students that they can write their research on strips of paper that can be arranged, rearranged and eventually taped together. At the end of the lesson talk about and share information collected. Reflect on what’s learned and have the students talk about what more they want to include about their own family.

Preview Mentor Text, Children Just Like Me. What do you notice about the mentor text without reading too much of it.

Discuss the topic of families. Then, have the students write about topic in notebooks. Continue research if needed.

Week2

Tuesday

Read a few more segments of the mentor text.

Have the students talk about their families first and then give them time to write about their family on strips of paper. Have the students write on strips of paper that can be arranged, rearranged and eventually taped together. Wednesday

Read a segment of the mentor text. First, show the students the teacher’s example and then talk about which information to include in draft and which to leave out. Then have the students arrange their family information into topics. Then have them decide what to leave out and what to keep. Finally, have them draft their paper. (Drafting their paper can be as simple as taping the strips of paper together.)

Thursday

Pause and think again about the purpose of the reading and the accompanying writing assignment.

Revisit prompt. Have the students look over what the original assignment was and then have them look over their papers and see if they are on target for the assignment. Then have the students revise their drafts.

Friday

Revision

Have the students get into pairs, read each others papers to their partner and then give each other suggestions on how to change things. The partner has to say one positive, make one suggestion and make another positive.

Editing

Tuesday

Proofread

Have the students talk about what they learned about families from this unit.

Wednesday

Publish and Summarize

Have the students put the information for their writing assignment together in its most final form. Have them write out the final version of their information about their family. Have them draw pictures to accompany what they wrote or paste photos to their booklets. Each student will create their own booklet entitled “My family.” As a class, have the students fill in the L (learned) part of the KWL chart that they created the first week. Have them use this time to summarize what they have learned.

Thursday

Have the students put out their writing project about their family at their desk. Also have the Mentor Text on display so that students can talk about that to their invited guests. Invite parents, faculty and staff and possibly other classrooms to come and see their work. You could also have a time that the students gather and listen to each other read their writing.Friday

Reflect on what you’ve learned, both from the reading and the writing.What did you learn about each other?

What did you learn from the Mentor Text?

What did you learn about families?

What did you learn about writing by doing this writing project?

Digital Tools

The students can type their information about their families on the computer. These can be printed off and the pictures and drawings can be adhered to it, or the pictures and drawings can be scanned in and the page printed as a whole. For classrooms with a lot of volunteer help, the students can create their own power point slides and the class can create a power point presentation as their final project.

The Web

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/family.htm This child oriented website is a place where parents, teachers and children can look together to learn about and explore the idea of families. It has many questions for the student to answer as well as ideas of activities to do.

Assessment of the objective

Assessment will be done using a rubric. The students will be given a copy of the rubric at the beginning of the unit and will refer to it frequently to ensure that they are meeting the requirements of the assignment/objective.

My Family 6-Trait Writing Rubric

Name_______________

____/10 Student wrote 10 sentences.

____/10 The 10 sentences are about self, family, traditions and/or family culture. (Ideas)

____/10 The sentences flow together and do not sound choppy. The sentences are well built and varied. (Organization and Sentence Fluency)

____/2 The students writes to the reader in an engaging and compelling fashion. (Voice)

____/10 The student uses a descriptive words in a natural way (Word Choice).

____/10 The student spells correctly, uses correct punctuation, grammar and capitalization. (Conventions).

____/10 The student included pleasing drawings and photos to accompany their sentences (Presentation).

____/62 Total

____%

Extensions

There are many ways in which the study of families and/or the study of the book, Children Just Like Me, can be extended.

3. The students can continue to study about differences by reading Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! by Annabel Kindersley and Barnabas Kindersley, thus studying holidays, customs and culture.4. The students can do an in-depth study of each of the cultures highlighted in the book. A helpful website for this is: http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/crossroads/spring2004/webliography.pdf. 5. Students can make graphic organizers taught in social studies to organize the structure of families.

Brief Overview:

§113.3. Social Studies, Grade 1. (b) Knowledge and skills. (14) Culture. The student understands how families meet basic human needs. The student is expected to: (A) describe ways that families meet basic human needs; and (B) describe similarities and differences in ways families meet basic human needs.

Students will ultimately be required to create a piece about their own family that mirrors the type of writing done in the book Children Just Like Me by Susan Elizabeth Copsey and Barnabas Kindersley (1995).Writing as a process

3. The students can continue to study about differences by reading Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! by Annabel Kindersley and Barnabas Kindersley, thus studying holidays, customs and culture.4. The students can do an in-depth study of each of the cultures highlighted in the book. A helpful website for this is: http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/crossroads/spring2004/webliography.pdf. Unit 2: My Community

Required reading: mentor text: L Is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet (Alphabet Series) by Carol Crane Activities:

The full curriculum gives ideas of extensions that can be done within the unit as well as after the unit.

Before this Six Week Curriculum is to be taught, there are some things within the classroom that need to be well established:

I am actually a little confused as to what I am supposed to post today.  I thought I was to post my curriculum outline, but the more I read the syllabus, the more that I think that I am supposed to post my Writing as a Process part of my curriculum.  I did it, but the problem is that within the same sketch I also put in the Reading as a process part.  I know I should have done/saved them seperately, but I didn’t.  So you get both.  Luckily, they are in different colors.  Here goes:

My outline for teaching writing as a process.

My outline for teaching reading as a process.

My family

Monday:  Explain purpose and make a plan (for writing, reading and unit).  Present to the students the topic of families. Tell them that we are going to focus on everything about families for the next three weeks and by the end we will share with each other about our own families. We will learn about our own families as well as those families of our classmates. We will learn that families are comprised of different numbers and makes ups of people, that different families have different traditions, different likes, dislikes, customs, and languages. We will also learn what makes our families similar. Make a KWL about the topic.Tuesday:  Research topic. For reading this will activate prior knowledge about the topic so that the students can better build their understanding. For writing this will provide information about their research topic.  First, teach a mini-lesson on research. Tell them what research is and how we are going to do it. Tell them that the first thing that we are going to do is brainstorm. Do an example of brainstorming together as a class, then have the students do it individually.  A simple sample of brainstorming:   Mrs. Bennard’s Family, Husband, me, two kids – a daughter and a son.  Live in a 4 bedroom house with a yard and a garage.  Both parents work and both kids go to school.  Our favorite family meal is pizza night which we have on Fridays.  We live in Old Town Alexandria so we either walk or take the metro to most places we go instead of using a car a lot. Then, have the students each get out a sheet of paper and write “My family” in the center with a circle around it. Then have the students write information about their families. They will do this as we do it as a class. The teacher will lead the students to think of different ideas to write about such as number of and names of members of the family, where they live, what the family members do, their favorite food or a food that their family makes a lot, what their family does for fun, what holidays their family celebrates, any particular customs, language or other things that are unique to their family?  Ask the students if they can bring in pictures of their family to use as inspiration and also to include in their final writing project.

Preview Mentor Text, Children Just Like Me. What do you notice about the mentor text without reading too much of it.  Teach a mini-lesson on the components of this informational text. Discuss the topic of families. Then, have the students write about topic in notebooks. Continue research if needed.Friday:  Introduce mentor text. Read a few segments. Study text, write what you notice about the text.

Week2

Tuesday:  Read, Talk and write.  Read a few more segments of the mentor text.  Have the students talk about their families first and then give them time to write about their family on strips of paper. Have the students write on strips of paper that can be arranged, rearranged and eventually taped together. Wednesday:  Draft paper.  Read a segment of the mentor text. First, teach a mini-lesson on which information to include in draft and which to leave out. Then have the students arrange their family information into topics. Then have them decide what to leave out and what to keep. Finally, have them draft their paper. (Drafting their paper can be as simple as taping the strips of paper together.)

Thursday:  Good writing.  Teach a mini-lesson on a quality of good writing.  Pause and think again about the purpose of the reading and the accompanying writing assignment.  Revisit prompt. Have the students look over what the original assignment was and then have them look over their papers and see if they are on target for the assignment. Then have the students revise their drafts.

Friday:  Revision.  Teach another mini-lesson on a quality of good writing according to the needs of the students.  Have the students get into pairs, read each others papers to their partner and then give each other suggestions on how to change things. The partner has to say one positive, make one suggestion and make another positive. Week 3

Tuesday:  Proofread.  Teach a mini-lesson on proofreading according to what you notice the students need the most help with. Go over what proofreading is, but focus the mini-lesson on the top needs of the class, in particular.  Have the students talk about what they learned about families from this unit.

Wednesday:  Publish and Summarize.  Have the students put the information for their writing assignment together in its most final form. Have them write out the final version of their information about their family. Have them draw pictures to accompany what they wrote or paste photos to their booklets. Each student will create their own booklet entitled “My family.” As a class, have the students fill in the L (learned) part of the KWL chart that they created the first week. Have them use this time to summarize what they have learned.

Thursday:  Have a celebration of final work (an exhibit, a class book, a database, somehow make work public).  Have the students put out their writing project about their family at their desk. Also have the Mentor Text on display so that students can talk about that to their invited guests. Invite parents, faculty and staff and possibly other classrooms to come and see their work. You could also have a time that the students gather and listen to each other read their writing.Friday:  Reflect on what you’ve learned, both from the reading and the writing.  What did you learn about each other? What did you learn from the Mentor Text?  What did you learn about families?  What did you learn about writing by doing this writing project?

Our Community

Monday:  Explain purpose and present topic.  The purpose of the reading is to study Alphabet books and learn about what makes up a community. The purpose of the writing assignment is to create a classroom alphabet book where each student is assigned to write a paragraph about something in our community that begins with the letter they are assigned. The purpose is to better their writing skills. The reason I picked a class book is because it will be a nice addition to the classroom library.  Explain to the students what a community is. Lead a discussion amongst the members of the class about our community. Take notes of all the different parts of our community that the students mention for use tomorrow in brainstorming.Tuesday:  Brainstorming.  Have the students begin brainstorming what their community is made of, then as a class we will come up with ideas of things in our community that begin with each of the letters of the alphabet. This brainstorming supports both the processs of writing and the process of reading, building background information and accessing prior knowledge.  I have created a sample list for the teacher to “fill in” the letters that the students do not think of or to give the teacher ideas of things that they can add in. After many ideas for each letter are created, each student will decide which “thing” for their letter they would like to write about and then illustrate. When the students write about the thing that begins with their letter they are to write an entire paragraph about that thing. They can then add an illustration to go with their paragraph.  List of Questions to help spark the students in their list making:  Are there book characters from our area?  Does our community have sports teams?  Has any historical events occurred in our area?  Is our area known for a particular type of music or muscian?Are there any cultural uniquenesses to our area or community?  Is our area known for particular types of weather?  Are any famous people from our community?  Does our community have any distinguishing symbols or signs?  Have any inventions been made in our community?  Are any animals native to our area? 

Friday:  More research.  Teaching mini-lesson on a different research technique.  Toward the end of the lesson time, talk about and share information collected, reflect on what’s learned.

Tuesday:  Mentor Text.  Introduce mentor text, which is the alphabet book. Study text. As a class talk about what you notice about the text. The entire mentor text is lengthy and detailed. It would be best to read a few different pages each day this week, so that the students do not get overloaded, but also to give them fresh ideas for their writing each day.

Wednesday:  Experience.  Do a field trip or experience relating to topic. Take a trip to the community center or city offices to have a representative talk about what makes our community special and what makes up our community.

Friday:  Final Draft.  Read a few more pages of the mentor text.  Have students finish draft.

Week 3

Tuesday:   Read a few more pages of the mentor text.  Reread draft and compare to mentor text. Edit parts of their draft that might not align with purpose/goal of assignment.Wednesday:  Finish the mentor text.  Proofread.  Teach mini-lesson on proofreading and have the students work in pairs to proofread their papers.Thursday:  Publish.  Have the students hand in their final draft with accompanying drawing to be laminated and put into the class book. Assemble the class book today. Towards the end of class, have the students summarize and discuss what they have learned by reading the mentor text and writing about their own community.

Friday:  Celebration.  Have a celebration of final work. The students can go to another classroom and read their book to younger students. Parents can be invited in and the students can read their book to the parents and other guests. Afterwards, have the students reflect on what you’ve learned about our community and about the reading and writing process.

I don’t know how much I have mentioned before, but I am currently in the process of taking a writing class for teachers.  It’s actually a “how to teach writing” class.  As part of my classwork I have to develop a 6 week curriculum for the grade I teach or want to teach in the future.  I am working on a unit called “My World” broken into two segments called “My Family” and “My Community.”  So, here it is:

Brief Overview:

(b) Knowledge and skills. (14) Culture. The student understands how families meet basic human needs. The student is expected to:

Students will ultimately be required to create a piece about their own family that mirrors the type of writing done in the book Children Just Like Me by Susan Elizabeth Copsey and Barnabas Kindersley (1995).Writing as a process

3. The students can continue to study about differences by reading Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! by Anabel Kindersley and Barnabas Kindersley, thus studying holidays, customs and culture.4. The students can do an in-depth study of each of the cultures highlighted in the book. A helpful website for this is: http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/crossroads/spring2004/webliography.pdf. Unit 2: My Community

Required reading: mentor text: L Is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet (Alphabet Series) by Carol Crane Activities:

This past Saturday I had a small poetry reading at my house.  Here is what I read.  The first two poems are by me.  The last poem is by an acutal poet.  Enjoy.

Late Night, Early MorningBy Donna

My heart walks around outside of my body.By Donna

My heart plays joyfully on the neighborhood playground in front of our house.

My heart walks unsteadily on the front sidewalk trying not to fall.

My heart stands all alone and scared in the middle of the Kindergarten classroom, waiting to make a new friend.

My heart smiles happily coming into my room early on a Saturday Morning.

My heart flies freely on a bicycle along the village green with a puffy, frilly dress flapping behind in the wind.

My heart asks me with uncertainty if I like the unrecognizable art project brought home from school.

My heart asks me to cuddle after a long bedtime story, trying to procrastinate the bedtime hour.

My heart sleeps peacefully in the room next to my own.

My heart walks around outside of my body.

And I hope and I pray and I wish and I want for it to be protected and loved and cared for and treated well.

Life is a tangle of
twisting paths.
Some short.
Some long.
There are dead ends.
And there are choices.
And wrong turns,
and detours,
and yield signs,
and instruction booklets,
and star maps,
and happiness,
and loneliness.
And friends.
And sisters.
And love.
And poetry.

Life is a maze.
You are a maze.
Amazed.
And amazing.

By Naomi Shihab Nye