Unit Plan Class Presentations

 Sally: 

She completed a fantastic unit plan on writing persuasive letters for second grade. I found this lesson to be very helpful to me because this is also the topic that I chose so it was helpful to see what a second grader might be learning on a topic compared to what they are learning with my unit plan. I really liked her paper pass group work activity that used the bubble map she created as well as the peer review checklist. Even though it said ‘persuasive’ on that particular worksheet, I would create my own checklist that is more specific for fourth grade for each writing area that covers what my classroom learns and use it consistently. I thought it was great! 

Sarah:

Sarah’s lesson on personal narrative for second grade gave me a lot of insight on different avenues to teach this area of writing. I love how you went through steps so thoroughly such as learning sensory and transition words before completing their own narrative. Umbrella writing sounds very interesting. I have heard of people using this strategy but I appreciate fully knowing what it consists of to use in the future. I would use umbrella writing to allow students to both brainstorm and revise on all forms of writing. This way students know that they are using all of the components and that their paragraph flows together. 

Tiffany:

    Tiffany created a great lesson or persuasion for 3rd grade. I love that she made sure to build each of her lessons together so that they flowed smoothly. I also used the persuasion song that you had in your second lesson. I believe it is great since the content is informative while also being engaging and funny. The peer review checklist and the idea of having an author's chair seem great! If I were to use the author's chair I think it would be fun to include an editor's chair or an illustrators chair as well!

Lynna:

    Lynna's lesson was teaching phonics and phonological awareness to preschool aged students. I loved hearing her lesson because it is so different from lessons I am use to seeing. The way that she used the book Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar for her lessons really expanded her unit for me making it even better with how interactive it became.

Abby:

    Abby's lesson was over personal narratives for 5th grade. Like Abby, I also really like having more of a set schedule with fun activities implemented for my lessons. I really likes that each of her lessons were a different step within the writing process. This layout allowed the unit to flow nicely and with purpose. I found the writing process handout to be a great resource that I would use in my classroom by using it as a poster so students can refer to in consistently.

Ana:

    Ana's lessons were for a 2nd grade classroom learning about descriptive writing. I really enjoyed all of the activities that you incorporated within her unit. Having students focus of their five senses during the nature walk to begin discussing descriptive writing is fantastic! I believe this is a great way for them to think about all of the parts and be creative. The lesson that you had them describe the monsters is something I would love to incorporate in my future classroom. I would try to do something like this for every book because I believe it allows the students to have a deeper understanding for what they are reading.

Everyone did a great job!

Which reading process is my favorite?

 There are four different areas in the reading process including: phonemic awareness, word identification, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Each of areas play key roles for literacy development in the classroom and I feel as though I have thoroughly learned what each one consists of. While they are all necessary, which one would you prefer to teach? 

    Personally, I believe the area in the reading process that I am most excited to teach is fluency. While all areas are fascinating in there own ways, fluency seems to be more creative than the others. Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. This is important because being fluent allows readers to focus more on comprehension rather than the actual words themselves.

    After a lot of research, I found multiple exciting ways to improve fluency in the classroom. The website that had a fantastic list of ideas was Scholastic, that I listed below. A few of the activities that they listed were sight word poetry pages, jumbo book of sight words, and read aloud plays such as the image shows above. 

    Overall, I will say that while all four different areas in the reading process are a must in the classroom, some are definitely more exciting to teach than others for both teachers and students. There is nothing wrong with preferring to teach some areas over others as long as you realise the importance that they all bring to our students and continue to put in the same amount of effort. 

Sources:

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/teaching-tools/articles/7-must-have-resources-to-improve-reading-fluency-right-now.html 

Language Delay in the Classroom...

     We all are aware of how important speech and language development is within the classroom. As teachers, it is our job to ensure students receive the education that they need to progress. In our classroom, there are no two students at the exact same level in all areas. Specific students might need either more or less help within specific areas of our lessons. 

    One thing you will come across often as a teacher is students with speech or language delays. This is a communication disorder that happens when a child is not meeting average milestone markers compared to where they should be. According to an article by Healthline, "delayed speech or language development affects 5 to 10 percent of preschool-aged children." (Healthline, 2020) This causes problems for the child's future development because they will constantly be playing catch up to get to where they need to be. 

    If you are a teacher in the classroom with students that have speech or language delays, it is important to be prepared. Gather any available tools and resources you can find to see what fits best with the student's learning style. Another idea to benefit students with speech or language delays is to set both short and long term goals as these students commonly feel demotivated due to being behind. 

    Overall, I will say that since speech and language delay is so common, teachers need to be ready to help these students succeed by being knowledgeable about what it is and how to help. Also, you need to keep in contact with parents or guardians to track progression and continue development at home if available.

 

Sources:

Pietro, MaryAnn De. “Language Delay: Types, Symptoms, and Causes.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 4 Aug. 2017, www.healthline.com/health/language-delay#diagnosis.

Music in the Classroom

 Do you believe having music in your classroom is a positive for early literacy learning? While everyone has their own opinions on the matter, I believe incorporating songs pertaining to the lesson is a great way for students to engage in the concepts. There are many positives on music within the classroom, listed below are a few reasons why I enjoy them. 

Looking back on my personal education, there are few things that really stick out. This is even more apparent for my elementary years. I would say that the things that I remember the most were forms of learning that were different from the rest. These include areas such as large projects, special sayings, and songs. Even in high school, these findings remain true. One in particular I remember was that my teacher played the song below everyday as we were learning about DNA. While we made fun of it back then, it says something that I remember it so vividly and I also remember some of it helping me on exams. 

According to an article by Mesa County Libraries, "One of the benefits of singing is that it naturally emphasizes the sounds that language makes. Singing together also creates bonding, connection, and helps make learning fun. Understanding what the sounds mean when spoken makes it easier for children to sound out words when they are learning how to read." (Fraser, 2022) This means that from a very young age, music is beneficial for literacy development. If you were to think about it in a different way, most people would find it easier to memorise all of the words to a song rather than recite a short chapter in a book word for word. Why would this be any different for children?

    Overall, I will say that music definitely has a place in the classroom. Not only from what I have listed above, but also the engagement it will bring. Students will most likely enjoy listening to the songs, which in turn will allow them to listen to the content and develop a better understanding for the lesson. As long as teachers do their part and look into what songs to show in their classrooms, I do not see a negative around it. 

Thanks for reading!

-Ashten

Sources:

Fraser, Rose Marie. “Sing with Me: Early Literacy Tips.” Mesa County Libraries, 12 July 2022, mesacountylibraries.org/2020/08/sing-with-me-early-literacy-tips/. 

Kudos for Class!

 Below is a list of my reactions to everyone's first lesson plan presentations!

    Sarah: I loved the books that you found called Jabari Jumps! The small moment graphic organizing worksheets will definitely help them finding out what idea they would like to take further. I am sure students' will really enjoy it!

    Abby: The process that you are planning to take seems fantastic! Starting out with the bubble map will definitely help them to tap into prior knowledge. Also, I love that there are so many different lessons the books can take. I believe it is important to integrate social emotional learning whenever possible. 

    Tiffany: I loved your use of the writing journals as well as prompts that you gave to them. By using prompts like this you will generally receive a better response with student's participation and excitement for the lesson. I think your Unit is off to a great start!

    Lynna: The dust bunny activity is so cute! I loved you idea have working with them on rhyming. As we discussed in class, nursery rhymes are such a great way to accomplish it! I am sure you student would absolutely love it!

    Anna: Your idea of going over the five senses to help descriptive writing sounds great! By doing this, they will have a deeper understanding of all of the details that they can include to be descriptive in their writing. Lastly, the students will love the nature walk and it will hopefully increase engagement! Good job!

    Sally: It's so funny that we both decided to use the book I Wanna Iguana for our lessons! Truthfully I am not all that surprised since we are both creating a unit of persuasive letters and the book it almost perfect! I am sure that the student will get a lot of help from the notecards. Your plan sounds like it will be great!

Thank you everyone for sharing all of the great books to use in the future. You unit plans seem fantastic! 

-Ashten

What is a Grand Conversation?

    Have you ever heard of the term "Grand Conversation" used in a classroom? If you have not, this week's post will explain exactly how they are used and why they are beneficial. Grand conversation is actually a strategy for classroom discussion. The whole point is so that students are the leaders and the ones who facilitate the entire process. While it might seem easy, there is a lot of background work to ensure that students get to the point where they are able to have a grand conversation that is meaningful to their development. 

    The process of grand conversation includes the students leading a class wide discussion. During this discussion, students will be in charge of all aspects such as exchanging their thoughts and perspectives. Also, they will be expected to close out the discussion summarizing what they read or drawing conclusions. Since teachers should intervene in grand conversations as little as possible, there is a lot of preparation that comes into play for students to be able to accomplish this. 

    Grand conversation is not as simple as students exchanging their thoughts. They need to be able to facilitate conversation. To prepare for this, teachers need to give students these resources. One resource would be sentence starters such as the picture above shows. These allow the conversation to flow and gives students the chance to properly give insight to their peers ideas. Another important step is teaching students how to conclude their discussion through either reflecting on what they read or summarizing. 

    Overall, I really like this strategy. It seems like it would be a lot of work to start up but I believe that it would be very beneficial for students in the long run. Grand conversation allows students to see how they can respectively voice their opinions. Also from what I have experienced many students excel when they are able to conversate with their peers rather than directly answering questions from their teacher. 

Thank you for reading

-Ashten

Sources:

Najam, Farah. “Grand Conversations Give Teacher Opportunity to Deepen Content Knowledge.” LinkedIn, 4 Feb. 2023, www.linkedin.com/pulse/grand-conversations-give-teacher-opportunity-deepen-content-najam#:~:text=A%20Grand%20Conversation%20is%20a,facilitate%20and%20scaffold%20the%20conversation.

The Importance of Word Walls

 Word Walls are a key aspect of any elementary school classroom. But what are they and how do they positively influence the literacy development in our students? There are numerous benefits that we can obtain from word walls within our classroom. One way students might gain is by grasping sight words. This is probably the most common way that I have seen word walls used, especially in younger grade levels. Another tool is by creating an area of vocabulary that students can use to refer back to when they might need to do so. Overall, word walls are extremely important to a literacy based classroom. 

 

    Above you can see three examples of common word walls within a classroom. Generally speaking, word walls have an area in the classroom dedicated to them specifically. An average word wall begins with a list of the letters in the alphabet, with enough room in between them to grow. Below each letter you would then add words overtime and place it underneath or connected to the letter that correlates to what the word begins with. 

    While most word walls look the same,  there are also creative new takes on word walls such as the two I have attached above. Even though they are set up in a different way, You will notice that they still consist of the same aspects as the first set shown. In the first image, the teacher has taken your average word wall, cut it out, and hung the list from the ceiling. The second image that I found is not technically a word wall, but I believe that it can be turned into a really fun one. It would be easy to write the letters in the boxes then fill the pouch with the correlating words. There are so many things that you can do with word walls and it is a tool that your classroom would greatly benefit by incorporating! 

Thank you for reading!

-Ashten