A's Class, after the break

Notes from A's class

Pattern Book Lesson

* First, describe who you are teaching.

(Highlight ESOL adaptations. Pattern book lessons by nature are good for ESOL students.)

Title of the book

Describe the environment. (Env. is important. Most of you can remember where you were when you were read to.

Using Rosie's Walk. Hook them, start engaging them. (Maybe where overalls.)

That book is one sentence. What's the pattern? (across yard, around haystack, under beehives) What's the theme? being on a farm.

Have a theme; brings life to your party. Have nice extra touches. When you have a theme, you think of these extra things. Without the theme, you don't.

Back to Rosie's walk. Maybe a matching activity post-reading, to match those nouns with the prepositions. They may not know what a mill is. So maybe bring in a bag of flour, build that schema. Rosie also goes under the beehives. Bring in honey, show them the process on the computer.

When I see flour and honey, I think of cooking. Maybe the cooking is in the post-reading section. Let's get some math in there. Make biscuits, cut them in halves, cut them in fourths. In the end, in the celebration, we're going to have biscuits and honey. They're going to know where everything came from. Get them thinking about where the things that they eat come from. That gets them to be thinkers. That's not on the Sunshine State Standards, but it's what's important.

Rosie the hen is a female animal. I might have a bulletin board of female animals. Female deer is a doe. Female horse is a mare. I'm increasing their schema. Not for this book, but in general.

Reading

We'll have about 4 readings. With each reading, add a layer, and a modalities.

First reading, working on conventions of print, moving my finger from left to right.

Second reading, I want to get the words into the kids' head. (One way is rhythm. Book lends itself to what to do  in each reading. Could be getting kids to fill the picture word.)

Third reading, get the kinesthetic in, and some repetition. Make each of the preposition into a hand motion. Let the kids decide the movement for each one.

Reading four, they are reading it using the labels and acting it out in class.

Sequence

Day 1: Pre-reading and first reading (maybe 20 min)

Day 2: Review pre-reading, add something new (maybe teach them the word oblivious). Reading 2.

Day 3: Reading 3, reading 4. Maybe bring in blue celophane and make a pond. Bring in stuff each day to make something else. Print the words on the floor. Soon you'll have them acting out the book. 

Day 4: Post

Day 5: Post

Story about teacher with neighbor kid:

"We've been working at it for a long time." To be successful with kids, it needs to feel like fun, not work.

Post-reading

Next week

Second thing: make use of the arts. 

Third thing: food.

Integrate curriculum.

Let's say you do the apple tasting. Tie in math, in the shapes you cut or the fractions. Tie in science - taste buds, etc., social studies, etc.

If it has a seed in it, it's a fruit.

I want them to learn Mozart. Don't limit them based on when you learned something. When you feel you are losing them, say this, "I'm going to tell you something that you're not supposed to learn until fourth grade. Don't tell anybody that I'm teaching you this in first grade." They will want to share that with others, their parents.

PRODUCT

find letters that make

PROUD

You want them to have pride in what you've taught them.

Enrich your lessons.

Why shouldn't all children have an enriched curriculum? Don't make it just the basics for them.