1.) Mentor/Coaching Website:
http://www.inspiringteachers.com/mentor_teachers.html
2.) Ways Teachers and Parents can work together:
http://www.teachersatrisk.com/2009/02/03/nine-ways-teachers-and-parents-can-work-together-to-help-the-dependent-underachiever/
3.) Resources for teachers, parents, professional development, etc.
http://www.readwritethink.org/
4.) Online database for professional development conferences that focus on leadership in the classroom
http://www.educatorsprofessionaldevelopment.com/Conferences-and-Workshops-for-Teachers.php?keyword=Leadership
5.) Tools, lessons, guides, and advice from literacy coaches and leaders
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
#6 Conventions: Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver
Lesson Focus: Conventions
Focus Grade Level: Second Grade
Time Frame: 40 min.
Focus Text/Author: Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver
Other Materials: poster paper, markers, dry erase board, dry erase marker
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Conventions
K-2 Benchmark: C. Use conventions of punctuation and capitalization in written work.
2nd Grade Level Indicators: 1. Print legibly, and space letters, words and sentences appropriately. 3. Spell regularly used and high-frequency words correctly. 4. Spell words studied (e.g., word lists, text words) correctly. 8. Use periods, question marks and exclamation points as endpoints correctly. 11. Use correct capitalization (e.g., proper nouns, the firstword in a sentence, months and days).
Book Summary: Punctuation Takes a Vacation is about a class who doesn’t appreciate punctuation. The punctuation feels like it is not appreciated and decides to leave the classroom. The students soon miss the punctuation and realize how important it really is.
About the Author: Robin Pulver started out writing stories about nature on topics such as bagworms and butterflies for magazines like Highlights and Cricket. Later, she began writing stories that are entertaining to students because she had children of her own that inspired ideas. Some of her more popular books include Mrs. Toggle’s Zipper and Thank You Miss Doover.
Lesson Steps:
1. Have the students sit at their seats for this lesson. Get out the 6 traits poster on conventions and discuss with them the types of things they do in their writing such as periods, spacing, etc.
2. After discussing this tell them you are going to read a story about punctuation. Read Punctuation Takes a Vacation by Robin Pulver.
3. After reading the book discuss with the students how the children acted in the book and why punctuation left. Also discuss with them how the students felt when it was gone and why they needed it so badly. Record on the white board some of the responses to what the children missed and why it is important in writing.
4. Tell the students they are going to make a poster to hang around the room that reminds them of things to do in their own writing. They will need at least 5 or 6 ideas. These could include things like having correct spaces; using periods, question marks and exclamation points appropriately; capitalizing letters at the beginning; spelling word wall and spelling words correctly, etc. They also need to include an example of the correct way to apply the rule next to each of their rules on the poster.
5. Divide the students by abilities with about 3-4 in each group. Pass out the poster paper and markers for them to complete the task.
6. At the end of the lesson the students will share what is important to include in writing for conventions and share their examples of what it looks like in writing. Hang these around the room for display and references.
#5 Voice: Chester by Melanie Watt
Lesson Focus: Voice
Focus Grade Level: Second Grade
Time Frame: 2 lessons of 30-40 min
Focus Text/Author: Chester by Melanie Watt
Supporting Text for the lesson: Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel
Other Materials: construction paper, markers, chart paper
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Process
K-2 Benchmark: A. Generate ideas for written compositions.
2nd Grade Level Indicators: 1. Generate writing ideas through discussions with others.
Book Summary: Chester is about a cat who takes a story his owner has written about a mouse and changes everything in it by crossing it off and adding his own thoughts. He does this by using a red crayon and making his own distinguishable marks.
About the Author: Melanie Watt is a children’s book author who likes to write stories about issues that kids face every day. She takes these issues and makes them into cute and interesting stories that appeal to children and help them identify with the character.
Lesson Steps:
1. Call students over to carpet and introduce the 6 trait of voice. Tell students that voice also has to do with showing emotion through the way they show their words with font size and writing style. Tell them you are going to read a book to them and ask them to pay attention to the way the author writes and uses font in the book.
2. After reading Chester by Melanie Watt ask the students to share what they noticed about the font size. If no one offers up the idea about the font changing when Chester the cat spoke, point that out. Tell the students they can add voice to their writing by changing the way the words look and that they are going to do this for a writing project in science.
3. Tell the students that they are going to make posters to hang around the school encouraging other students to recycle. They need to add voice to their poster by using different font sizes and way they write the words on the poster.
4. Read the book Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel to help the students generate important ideas about recycling to add to their poster. After reading Michael Recycle ask students to give ideas on why, how, and what to recycle. Record this on chart paper and hang at the front of the room for all to see.
5. Call the students back to their seats and pass out the construction paper and have them get out their markers. The students will begin working on their posters to encourage students to recycle by adding voice. Let students work on these during day 2 to complete the project. Hang these around the school when the project is finished.
#4 Ideas: The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini
Lesson Focus: Ideas
Focus Grade Level: Second Grade
Time Frame: Several Days of 30-40 min
Focus Text/Author: The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini
Other Materials: writing paper, chart paper, pencils, marker
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Process
K-2 Benchmark: A. Generate ideas for written compositions
2nd Grade Level Indicators: 2. Develop a main idea for writing. 11. Add descriptive words and details and delete extraneous information.
Book Summary: The Perfect Pet is a story about a little girl who really wants a pet, but her parents do not. She does all sorts of things to try to convince them of getting her one. In the end she finds the perfect pet and her parents just might agree.
About the Author: Margie Palatini is a wonderful children’s author who writes about funny characters and stories. She is very creative and uses her creativity and knack for pretending to make these outrageous stories with these goofy characters. Some of her more popular books include Piggie Pie! and Moosetache.
Lesson Steps:
1. Call students over to carpet and discuss with them about the next trait they are working on, which is the Ideas trait. Go over the poster with them and point out the steps about choosing an interesting topic and supporting it with details. Tell them you are going to read a book to them and to pay attention to the details that make the book important.
2. Read The Perfect Pet by Margie Palatini.
3. After reading the story, tell the students you want them to volunteer answers about what types of things Margie did to get her parents to let her get a pet. Record these on chart paper with the students.
4. Discuss with the students the importance of supporting a main idea with details and interesting ideas.
5. Tell the students they are going to write a story about persuading their parents to let them get something. Introduce the graphic organizer to the students with the main idea and 3 details. They can add more details on the back if needed.
6. Have the students go back to their seats to fill out the graphic organizer with a main idea of what they want their parents to let them get and 3 ideas of how they are going to persuade them. After students have completed this let them share with their table partners.
7. On day 2 students will start writing their stories about persuading their parents to let them get something they really want. They will continue to work on these for the next few days and conference with the teacher when they are finished. At the end they will share their stories with the class.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
#3 Organization: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Lesson Focus: Organization
Focus Grade Level: Second Grade
Time Frame: about 3 lessons at 30-40 min each
Focus Text/Author: The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
Other Materials: graphic organizer on overhead, markers, graphic organizer for students, white paper, crayons, pencils
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Process
K-2 Benchmark: C. Use organizers to clarify ideas for writing.
2nd Grade Level Indicators: 4. Use organizational strategies ( e.g. brainstorming, lists, webs, and Venn diagrams) to plan writing. 5. Organize writing with a developed beginning, middle, and end.
Book Summary: This is a wordless picture book that shows a young boy who goes on a magical adventure with his snowman friend. The detailed illustrations lay out what happens in the story.
About the Author: Raymond Briggs is a popular British writer and illustrator who is most known for his book The Snowman. It was also made into a short movie and play and is shown overseas at Christmastime.
Lesson Steps:
1. Students will be gathered at carpet. The teacher will introduce the new 6 trait which is organization. He/she will tell the students that today they will be reading a special book without words.
2. The teacher reads the story The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.
3. After reading the book (showing the illustrations) the teacher will call the students back to their desk to complete the next part of the lesson on the overhead as a whole class.
4. The teacher will introduce the graphic organizer that the students will be using to record the order of the events. The teacher will call on students to respond to questions such as “What happened first in the story?” or “What happened after that?” The teacher will record this on the graphic organizer which is on the overhead.
5. After finishing the graphic organizer the teacher will point out the importance of having a beginning, middle and end. He/she will then pass out individual graphic organizers for the students to start their own wordless picture books. This will be done on day 2.
6. The students will fill out a graphic organizer about going on a magical adventure with a creature, thing, animal, etc.
7. Day 3- After making their graphic organizer with a beginning, middle, and end the students will be given paper to start their illustrations/books without words. They will share these with in small groups and students will talk about what they think is happening in each other’s books.
8. The teacher will end the lesson with a discussion about organization and the importance of having a beginning, middle, and end so that the story flows and follows a sequence of events.
Monday, February 28, 2011
#2 Sentence Fluency: Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe
Lesson Focus: Sentence Fluency (sentence lenghts)
Focus Grade Level: 2nds Grade
Time Frame: 20-30 min.
Focus Text/Author: Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe
Other Materials: oversized six sided dice, overhead, dry erase marker
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Process
K-2 Benchmark: E. Edit to improve sentence
Book Summary: This book follows the reader as he catches fireflies and releases them. It modes sentence variety and shows different types of voice.
About the Author: Julie Brinckloe is a children’s book writer and illustrator. She is also the illustrator of the popular book Sideway Stories from Wayside School.
Lesson Steps:
1. Call the students over and hold a small discussion about the six trait they are working on (sentence fluency). Explain to them that good writers vary the lengths of their sentences. Tell them they are going to be reading a book today where the author uses different lengths of sentences to keep the story interesting. Ask them to pay attention to how the author does this.
2. Read the book Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe.
3. After reading the book call on the students to answer open ended questions such as “What did you notice about the sentence lengths?” etc.
4. Ask the children to help you come up with a topic such as “The day I found A Million Dollars” and record it at the top of the overhead paper.
5. Roll the dice and tell the students to call out the number it lands on. Use this number to make the first sentence of as many words.
6. Repeat this process until the class feels the piece is finished.
7. Read the end product aloud to the class and reiterate the importance of varying sentence length.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
#1: Word Choice: The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
Lesson Focus: Word Choice
Focus Grade Level: 2nd Grade
Time Frame: 30-40 minutes
Focus Text/Author: The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
Other Materials: chart paper, marker, student stories, several thesaurus’
Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus:
Standard: Writing Process
K-2 Benchmark: D. Use revision strategies and resources to improve ideas and content, organization, word choice and detail.
2nd Grade Level Indicators: 5. Organize writing with a developed beginning, middle, and end.
Book Summary: A young wolf plays tricks on his parents by “calling” boy and running them all over the place. Once they catch onto his tricks they decide to ignore his game. In the end he really does see a boy and his parents do not believe him and the boy gets away.
About the Author: Bob Hartman is a published adapter, author, and editor of children’s books. He is also known for his children’s books about bible stories. He feels that story telling is a way to communicate truth and life lessons through books to children.
Lesson Steps:
1. Gather the students at the carpet and remind the students about the six trait they are working on this week (word choice). He/she will then talk about the importance of using descriptive words to make the story interesting to the reader and to show, not tell. He/she will then introduce the book The Wolf Who Cried Boy and ask the students to pay special attention to the words and word choice the author uses during the book.
2. The teacher will read the book The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob Hartman
3. After reading the book the students will list interesting, descriptive, unique, and/or powerful words the hook the reader. The teacher will list these words on chart paper.
4. After discussing and talking about why these words are interesting, descriptive, unique, and/or powerful, the teacher will then put the students into partnerships.
5. The partnerships will read their stories to each other and then chose 3 words from their own stories they are working on to change and make more interesting. The students will help each other by suggesting words that are similar, but more unique and descriptive. They can also use the help of a thesaurus.
6. After discussing and changing their words they will read their stories once more to get more feedback and suggestions on their changes.
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