Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Last class - Aug. 2

As a last posting, please share the titles of books, authors, websites or other information from your Literacy Fair ideas.  I will leave this blog intact indefinitely so you can continue to use it as a resource. 
Thought I'd leave you with a smile -- the image is a photo of an actual billboard advertisement!
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Sue
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7 comments:

  1. Mark T.August 3, 2011 at 2:45 PM

    Hey Folks,

    During the literacy fair I shared a website that provides "kid-friendly" news articles. The website is dogonews.com.

    Enjoy the rest of your summer!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmyAugust 3, 2011 at 9:51 PM

    I was unable to make it to class but here are a number of resources/ideas for LA teachers:

    The North Vancouver School District 44 has 4 great teaching resources (along with workshops for tips on how to use them) 1) Reading Primary 44 2) Reading Intermediate 44 3) Writing Primary 44 and 4) Writing Intermediate 44 - these books are great! The books are definitely geared more for singular lessons providing things like graphic organizers, teaching strategies as well as rationales for different forms of literacy. I used mine in my practicum a lot!!


    Another idea that I love is the idea of using Read-Alouds in other subjects. For instance, my Maths class suggested reading a story to the students and then working it into a Maths lesson. One that a collegue and I thought about was for Gr 4 teachers teaching Time Measurement to read the Grouchy Lady Bug which continuously tells the reader what time of day the events of the story transpire. We thought a good summative assessment of time could be a creative write where the students have to write their own short story incorporating telling time, and different ways of expressing time. In this way a final assessment piece can avoid the typical test format while also touching on reading and writing skills.


    Another idea that I heard, from our class's Mark Touzeau, that I plan on using is the idea of Alien Object Journal Write. For this write the concept is the teacher brings in a typical everyday object, ie a comb, and asks the students to imagine they were aliens and found the object and had no idea about humans, what would they think the object could be used for? I think this is a great prompt that allows for all kinds of levels of writers to explore something fun and intriguing! Thanks Mark!

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  3. elisabethAugust 5, 2011 at 5:37 PM

    Hello all,
    If you’re interested in learning more about the Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) for teaching beginner reading and writing, here are a few links to start with. I highly recommend the 1 minute youtube even if you think you’re not interested.

    1. Youtube: Public School Minute featuring PWIM http://youtu.be/hxTmXI8r3IE.

    2. A teacher's (very nice) blog showing how she's using PWIM in her Grade One classroom: http://walnutfirstgrade.weebly.com/pwim.html

    3. PDF of powerpoint slides of PWIM presentation to British Columbia School Superintendents Association. www.bcssa.org/PDFs/Resources/SD37&58-PWIMslide.pdf.

    4. The Book – not long, available online through SFU library, explains how to use the method from Kindergarten up using case studies: Teaching Beginning Reading and Writing with the Picture Word Inductive Model. By Emily Calhoun (1999) Alexandria, VA ASCD.

    5. Lastly, an online catalog of images suitable for PWIM, based out of Iowa: Prairie Lakes Area Educational Agency. Picture Word Inductive Model Images Catalog http://www.aea8.k12.ia.us/en/media_production_services/picture_word_inductive_model_pwim_.cfm.

    That's all! Have fun :)

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  4. MeganAugust 6, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    Hi everybody,
    I was not able to be in class this week, so I was asked to post three teaching ideas for ELA.
    Have a great summer everyone!
    Teaching Idea #1
    When teaching a language arts unit in my first practicum, I incorporated social studies, art, and science to make the unit cross curricular. The class was studying the Inuit in social studies, so I used Inuit legends to teach literary elements such as setting, character, and moral. I incorporated art throughout the unit. Whenever the students were able to finish an activity early, I had them draw a quick sketch about a character or setting from the story we were reading. We did an art lesson with chalk pastels about Aurora Borealis after reading Northern Lights: A Soccer Trail. This art lesson incorporated social studies as the story had information on Inuit society, was language arts based from the reading of the story, and included science as the students did some external research on the how the Aurora Borealis occurs. The second half of the unit moved to the animal legends of the Inuit and the Haida. The final assignment for the unit had the students write an animal legend using the literary elements they had learned. This project involved science because the students had to learn about the special traits of an arctic or West coast animal. The project also included art because the students had to include a picture that showed the characters and setting of their legend.
    Rationale: I believe in teaching cross-curricular units because I think it can increase engagement and understanding of the subject matter if the students are able to connect the information with multiple sources. The ideas become more relevant if they are able to see them in a variety of sources.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MeganAugust 6, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    Teaching Idea #2
    A character study can be a great activity to do during novel studies. There are many activities that can make a character study interesting and engaging. To get an in depth description of the characters in the book, you can do a group character study. This should occur after the entire class has read the novel. Place the students into groups (4 or 5 students per group) and assign a character to each group. Each group has a piece of chart paper. Each group begins writing words and phrases to describe their character. After about 5minutes, have the groups switch to a different character. They can then fill in any descriptors that the previous group may have missed. Continue this until all groups have visited each character page. Have the groups return to their original character. Each group is then responsible for providing a character profile for their specific character using the descriptors provided by the whole class.
    Rationale: My rationale for this lesson was to have all the students involved in describing each character. By seeing what the other groups placed on the character chart, students can synthesize the character description, or provide missing information. Also, the students are involved in describing several characters, rather than one character from the book. The movement around the room can also appeal to kinesthetic learners.

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  6. MeganAugust 6, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Teaching Idea #3
    Many of the novel studies I encountered as a student, or as an observer, have been the typical read the chapter and answer these questions. For some students, this may be enough to keep them engaged, others may find this process of regurgitating information to be boring and meaningless. Providing a variety of activities for novel studies may help increase engagement, especially for reluctant readers. When reading Banner in the Sky in grade seven, my teacher gave us several options for expressing our understanding of the book. We created word searches and cross words for vocabulary practice. We did character studies to better understand the emotions and motivations of the characters. Our final project was open ended. We had to predict what may happen in the future for the main character, Rudy Matt. We could show this in any form, whether it be a written extension to the story, a storyboard, or any other creative piece.
    Rationale: The rationale behind this type of novel study is to provide the opportunity for students to be creative when studying a novel. Often the novels chosen for students are not engaging for them. By providing an outlet for the students to make the novel meaningful to them, we can increase their enjoyment for reading and doing novel studies. This open style of novel study also allows for multilevel activities to incorporate students of varying abilities.

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  7. MattAugust 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM

    Hi all,

    Here are a few items I hope you may find useful.

    For literature circles check out this excellent website: http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=145

    For my lit circles I used the following 5 books with my grade 6/7 class:

    1 The Shakespeare Stealer
    2 James and the Giant Peach
    3 The Ghost Canoe
    4 Everything on a Waffle
    5 I Want to Go Home


    The picture book that I based a creative writing assignment on was:
    Imagine a Place illustrated by Rob Gonsalves, words by Sarah L. Thomson


    Hope everyone is enjoying some time in the sun!

    Matt

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