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February 2009
January 2009 December 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February
Primary Grades
Focus Trait: Word Choice
Literature: Tough Boris by Mem Fox
Materials: drawing paper, crayons and/or colored pencils or markers, pencil
Directions: Gather the students around you and show them the cover of the book. Ask them to predict what they think the story will be about. Then, read the book to the students, showing them the pictures as you go through the book. After you’ve read the book once and discussed it with the students, tell them you’re going to read it again. Explain that one reason you enjoy the story is there are terrific words used to describe Boris and you’d like for them to listen for their favorite word. Read the book a second time. After you’ve finished reading the story a second time, ask the students for their favorite words from the book. They should come up with a basic list of massive, tough, greedy, fearless, scary, scruffy, parrot and pirate. Write the words on the board or chart paper so all students can see the words. Now review the meaning of each word. Most, if not all, of the students will not know the meanings of some of the words (e.g. massive, scruffy, greedy) so you can explain what these words mean. Next, ask the students to return to their seats, pass out a sheet of drawing paper to each student, and ask them to draw a picture of Boris. Allow 5-10 minutes for drawing time and ask them to turn their paper over and write about Boris using at least one of the words from your list. Finally, allow each student to come to the front of the class to show their drawing and read what they have written.
Grades 3-8
Focus Trait: Word Choice
Materials: dictionaries, thesauruses, computer with internet access, copies of the poem Big by Colin McNaughton (the poem appears in his book I’m Talking Big and can also be found online at various sites)
Directions: Read the poem Big to the students. Be sure to read it with excitement! Ask the students which words they do not know and define those words for the students. Tell the students they will be writing a Small poem. Ask them to write down all the synonyms they know for small. Allow two minutes. Have the students share their words with their neighbors and add any words not on their own list. Allow two minutes. Call on students to offer their words out loud and write down all the words on the board. Now provide the students with ten minutes to use any resource in the room (e.g. dictionary, thesaurus, internet search, adults) to find other synonyms for small. After ten minutes, add any new words to the list on the board. Finally, ask the students to write their own Small poem using the same format as the Big poem or any other format they choose. Provide five to ten minutes for the writing. Allow students to come to the front of the class and read their poem. Finally, explain to students that just as colors have shades, so do words. That just because “Lilliputian” appears on the list, they can’t just substitute this word for small whenever they want to. Explain that when they want to use one of the words, they need to check the dictionary to make certain the word is the same “shade” of small as their intent.
What is useful with this lesson is that students only have to memorize one definition, yet they now have access to many new words. From now on, ban the use of the word “small” in their writing.
High School
Focus Trait: Word Choice and Ideas
Literature: New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
Materials: photographs of elderly people, paper and pencil or keyboards
Directions: Read the short passage on pages 3-4 in which Bella describes her grandmother (Gran). Discuss with the students their reaction to the description. What has been done well? What information could be added that would help the reader visualize Gran? Talk with them about verbs, precise adjectives and nouns as well as the use of similes.
Give the students three options:
A. Continue to describe Gran adding details and language that will better enable the reader to picture her.
B. Provide the students with photographs of elderly people (close ups are best). Have students select a photograph and write a paragraph that describes the person. When the students are done, hang the photographs on the wall and read the passages one at a time and challenge the students to identify the person.
C. Have students write a descriptive paragraph describing one of their own grandparents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January Primary Grades (Ideas)
Literature: Go Away, Big, Green Monster by Ed Emberley
Materials: Drawing paper, crayons and/or colored pencils
Directions: Make certain the front of the book is covered so the students cannot see it. Give each child a sheet of drawing paper (11 x 14 is great) and lots of crayons or colored pencils. Inform the students that you are going to read them a story and that you want them to draw what you read! Read the first page (“Big green monster has two big yellow eyes’) and then give them some time to draw the eyes. Then read the second page (“a long bluish-greenish nose”) and provide some time to draw. Continue throughout the book this way through the page that reads, “and a big scary green face! But…” At this point, ask the children to add one more detail to their monster that no one else in class will have. Finally, ask the children to turn their paper over and do some writing about their monster.
I usually ask each child to come to the front of the room, show their drawing, discuss what unusual detail they added to their monster, and read what they’ve written.
This activity motivates students to think about details in drawing and writing and focuses them on unusual details, those interesting details that most people wouldn’t think about.
Grades 3-8 (Word Choice)
Literature: Boy by Roald Dahl
Materials: paper and pencil, chalkboard or white board
Directions: This lesson is a continuation of the one from two months ago! That lesson focused on the trait of Ideas while this one focuses on Word Choice. Read the passage about Mrs. Pratchett (pages 33-34) again but ask the students to listen for their two or three favorite words or a word that sounds interesting but they may not have heard before. Upon completion of the passage, ask for their words and write these on the board. I usually end up with about 20 words. If the students have not offered “sullen” or “plunged” or “loathsome” then add these to the list explaining that these are three of your favorite words from the passage. Review the meanings of any words on the list the students may not know, especially sullen and loathsome. Using whatever method your students are used to, have them narrow down the list to the class’s top ten words. Make sure “sullen,” “plunge” and “loathsome” are on the list. Add them if necessary. Now ask the students to describe a second room in Mrs. Pratchett’s house (see the lesson from two months ago for the details on this) but they must use three of the words from our new word list in their writing.
High School (Organization)
Literature: a variety of essays from books, magazines or newspapers (Anna Quindlan does a terrific job and her essays appear in Newsweek every two weeks)
Materials: paper and pencils or laptops
Directions: This lesson focuses on writing conclusions. Too often we instruct our students that their final paragraph should summarize the key points they stated in their paper. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why write again what they’ve already said? Provide the students time to read a few articles and consider how journalists conclude their essays. Ask the students to work in small groups to identify methods essayists conclude essays. Initiate a class discussion on this topic. Then, provide the students with another essay but this one has the final paragraph cut off! Ask the students to read the essay and create a concluding paragraph. Compare the students’ conclusions with the author’s conclusion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- December
TRAIT: VOICE
Primary Grades (This lesson comes from my colleague Deb Rutherford, a GREAT primary grades trainer)
Literature: Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods that Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis
Materials: individual hand mirrors (I got mine at The Dollar Store) so each student has one, drawing paper, crayons, writing paper and pencils
Directions: Have the students, mirrors in hand, gather around you in your reading area and read the book to them. With each mood, ask the students to look in their mirror and practice making the face of that mood (e.g. silly, sad, angry, etc). Go through each of the moods in the book. After you have read one mood, write down that mood on the board or chart paper. Ask the students to return to their seats and ask them what additional moods they could add to the list. Write these down as well. Next, ask each student to select one mood that describes how they are feeling at the time and then have them look in their mirrors and practice making a face showing that mood. Ask them to draw their face showing that mood. Finally, ask each child to write about that mood and why they are feeling that way.
Intermediate Grades
Literature: Chameleons are Cool by Martin Jenkins
Materials: Copies of two adjoining pages so each student has a copy, paper and pencil
Directions: Make color copies of two adjoining pages from Martin Jenkins’ book Chameleons are Cool. Choose two pages that have a total of at least four chameleons on them. If possible, laminate the pages as well. Explain to the students that the chameleons, based on how they appear, seem to have different personalities. Ask the students to select a chameleon and, in the voice of the chameleon as they perceive it, introduce itself to the class. The writing should be at least seven sentences long. It is very important that you write one first and share yours with the class so they have an idea of what you expect.
Middle School
Literature: “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros from her book Woman Hollering Creek
Materials: paper and pencils
Directions: Students should read the short story “Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros. After reading the story, discuss with the students what the school day described was like for Rachel. Ask the students to guess how Sylvia and Phyllis would have reacted to the incident with the sweater. Hold a brief discussion about how Mrs. Price would feel after the incident and how the sweater, if it could talk, would describe how it feels. Ask the students to assume the role of either Mrs. Price or the red sweater. In that role, they return home after the day that is described in the story and write in their journal about what happened in school that day.
High School
Literature: None needed
Materials: paper and pencil
Directions: Have the class create a list of 6-8 adults in the school who everyone knows. The list may include the principal, assistant principal, YOU, and others. Students should work in groups of two or three students per group. For each adult on the list, they are to write a few sentences in the voice of that adult. They must keep their writing G Rated! Have the students share their somewhat fictitious adult comments and select the best one for each adult. Share this list with the class across the hall or next door and see if those students can identify the speaker. It’s amazing how well our students know us! Trait: Ideas (details and narrowing the topic)
Primary Grades
Literature: Flanimals by Ricky Gervais
Materials: colored markers or pencils or crayons, chart paper, drawing paper
Directions: Talk to the students about the importance of details in pictures and in writing. Have them gather around you on the floor and show them the first “flanimal” in the book. Ask them what interesting details they see in the drawing. After they have mentioned a few details, read the text that accompanies the drawing. Do this with 4-5 flanimals that you have selected ahead of time.
Explain to the students that they will create a class flanimal. Using a large sheet of chart paper, ask one student to come up and draw the body for what will be the class flanimal. One at a time, each student comes up and adds one detail to the flanimal. Expect to have a rather silly looking flanimal. When all the students have added their detail, ask the students to return to their seats. Pass out one sheet of drawing paper to each student and give them time to draw their own individual flanimal, incorporating lots of interesting details.
While the students are drawing their flanimals, create some text to accompany the class flanimal. When the students have finished their flanimals, share with them the text you have created for the class flanimal. Then ask the students to write about their own flanimals and then provide time for all the students to share their drawing and writing.
Grades 3-8
Literature: Boy by Roald Dahl
Materials: chalkboard or white board or four sheets of chart paper
Directions: Ask the students what they think a woman who owned a candy store would be like. Listen to a number of predictions. Ask how many of them know of the author Roald Dahl and what books of his they have read. Read the passage on pages 33-34 on the book in which Dahl describes Mrs. Pratchett. Upon completion, ask the students to compare their predictions with Dahl’s passage. Then, ask the students to think about the question, “What would the inside of Mrs. Pratchett’s house look like?” There should be no talking, just thinking. While they are doing this, make four columns on the board with the following labels: bathroom, bedroom, living room, kitchen. Once the two minutes of thinking time are completed, allow the students to exchange their ideas with their neighbor. Provide one minute for this. Then, call on students who will tell you which room they are thinking about and a detail of something that would appear in that room. Write down the information in the columns you’ve created. Continue to call on students and write down their ideas until the board or chart paper is full.
At this point, provide the students with writing paper and have them describe only one room in Mrs. Pratchett’s house using details from the notes or additional ideas they have that are not included in the class notes.
High School
Literature: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
Directions: Read paragraph two on pages 4-5 from Fast Food Nation (The McDonald’s Corporation has become…than the Christian Cross” and paragraph one on page 102 from The Perfect Storm (A mature hurricane…five thousand miles away). Ask the students why they think you read these passages and what they have in common. Answers should include but not be limited to: they include beyond common knowledge information; they are focused on one specific topic; the students possess some background knowledge.
Once your discussion on the passages is concluded, pass out a passage you have written about a topic the students have knowledge about. This passage could be about their school, an area restaurant they frequent, a local hangout, etc. Make sure the passage contains only basic information that everyone already knows. Ask the students to work independently or with a partner to revise the passage to make it more similar to those from the texts you read.
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