scaffolding literacy package for teachers 1. a graphic organisation of the program 2. text selection...
TRANSCRIPT
Scaffolding Literacy Package for Teachers: By Emily Livingston
U3068149
Contents: 1. A graphic organisation of the program
2. Text Selection
3. Contextual Understanding
4. Lesson Plans:
a. Text Orientation
b. Language Orientation
c. Transformation
d. Word Study
e. Patterned Writing
5. References
Teacher determines intended literacy learning outcomes: Effective orientations using
concepts such as marked theme. Selects text:
Leo the Littlest Seahorse Written by Margaret Wild Illustrated by Terry Denton
3. Text Orientation: An oral retell of the story
using illustrations from
the text and facial and
body language.
4. Teacher reads the whole book to students.
Teacher selects an
excerpt from the text: “In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorse, Potbelly and Polly.
1. Acknowledging prior learning and experiences: Determined through observations and anecdotal notes taken from brainstorming, concept mapping lessons.
2. Building field or contextual knowledge: knowledge of Australian geographical landforms such as coral reefs and beaches Knowledge of Fauna (animals) found in Great Barrier Reef including habitats and behaviour of animals such as seahorses and groper fish
6. Learners read the Language Orientation selection independently
10. Jointly constructed writing – including patterned writing:
5. Language Orientation: look at the specific language choices of Margaret Wild within the selected sentence and why she has made those specific choices.
8. Transformations: Make the structure of the selected sentence explicit and the consequences of Margaret Wild’s choices.
7. Focus on language choices: If more explicit teaching is required
11. Independent writing: Students independently write their own orientation sentence.
Assessment of literacy learning outcomes.
A diagrammatic overview of the
Scaffolding Literacy teaching sequence
9. Word study: Equip students with several strategies to spell words that are found within the selected sentence of Margaret Wild’s Text Leo the Littlest
Seahorse by looking at the etymology, morphology, orthography and/or phonology. Words used:
Lived Warm
Text selection: Name: Leo the Littlest Seahorse Author: Margaret Wild Illustrator: Terry Denton
Reasons for selection: Rich and complex language: Leo the Littlest Seahorse would be an effective text selection for a scaffolding literacy approach because it contains examples of complex and syntactically rich language which Axford, Harders & Wise (2009) argue is an important criteria when selecting a text. Axford et al (2009) also states that a scaffolding literacy program needs to equip students with the written language as opposed to oral language. Leo the Littlest Seahorse provides an excellent opportunity to teach students written language through the use of marked theme.
The right level of difficulty: Axford et al (2009) argues that a scaffolding literacy approach allows for the use of Lee Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development that is also outlined within Churchill et al (2010). This allows teachers to facilitate learning through social engagement and dialogue by discussing the language in the text to the appropriate level of individual students within the group. Leo the Littlest Seahorse would most likely be above the existing competency level of kindergarten students, thus making this text ideal for a scaffolding literacy program.
Interesting text: The selection of a text should be based on the level of potential interest of both the learners and the teacher (Axford et al, 2009). As this book is set in Australia, is modern and uses animals as characters, it could be seen as relevant to learners and teachers thus making it interesting. Margaret Wild depicted many interesting themes within the story, such as the benefits of being unique or different, perseverance, and everyone having their own strengths and weaknesses. Another feature that adds to the interesting nature of the book is that is features seahorses and shows that it is the male seahorse who has babies as opposed to the female.
Worthwhile teaching outcomes for the book: Students learning about marked theme Students learning about conjunctions Students learning about prepositions Students learning about verbs
Students learning about nouns and proper nouns Students learning how to write interesting recounts of narratives by using the language features listed above.
Other worthwhile learning outcomes could be teaching about character development and teaching about character relationships. However, because this sequence is aimed at kindergarten children, there will only be one sentence studied. That is the beginning sentence which focuses more on describing the setting as opposed to character development, so therefore these two elements will not be focused on within the sequence.
Links with the national curriculum: ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and
that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts ACELA1438 Know how to use onset and rime to spell words: ACELA1440 Recognise the letters of the alphabet and know there are lower and upper case letters: ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own
experiences ACELT1783 Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts ACELT1578 Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text ACELT1785 Recognise some different types of literary texts and identify some characteristic features of literary texts, for example beginnings and
endings of traditional texts and rhyme in poetry ACELT1580 Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images ACELY1646 Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations ACELY1784 Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and
eye contact ACELY1651 Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge ACELY1653 Produce some lower case and upper case letters using learned letter formations
Contextual Understanding: Description of knowledge: Activities: Knowledge of Australian geographical features such as beaches and the Great Barrier Reef.
What constitutes a beach? What is the Great Barrier Reef? Where is it located?
Lesson :
Students will watch movie and look at images of beaches. Students will then rotate around groups that show different elements of the beach such as a video on waves
o A station creating sand castles o A station looking at Google Maps to show how far away the Great Barrier Reef is and that it is located in Australia. o A station where students will play with coral o A station where students watch a video showing the Great Barrier Reef.
Students will have a reflection time to share pictures of their family at the beach Students will complete this lesson by lying down and reflecting on what they have learnt whilst listening to an audio file of sounds
relating to underwater and at the beach. Classroom set up:
There will be parent and staff helpers at each station to help the lesson run smoothly Students will be encouraged to bring in photos of their family at the beach to share with their peers during the reflection time
at the end There will be pictures of animal coral featured in the Great Barrier Reef posted around the classroom.
Other Pedagogical Strategies:
Where possible there will be the names and concepts of things related to the Great Barrier Reef in the mother tongue of the students.
Basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) Build up students’ confidence and
knowledge presenting in front of their peers and communicating with them.
Barrier games:
Will include tasks to promote communication skills through splitting students into pairs and giving one student a picture and getting the other student to draw it, so that effective communication is essential. (remind students to be specific with descriptions) (activity outlined within Hertzberg, 2012)
Cognitive Academic language proficiency (CALP) Build up students’ knowledge Knowledge of Fauna (animals) found in Great Barrier Reef including habitats and behaviour:
Knowledge of the coral reef What do seahorses eat? Where do seahorses live? Is it the female or male seahorses that
give birth to the babies? What is a groper fish? Where do groper fish live? What do groper fish eat?
Lesson: Students will watch a movie about the Great Barrier Reef. Students will listen to an information book read to them about seahorses. Students will watch a clip showing a groper fish, with tense and scary music in the background to show that those fish are quite scary to an animal that might be eaten by them As a class create a list of food that seahorses eat and a list of what groper fish eat from information gathered from the clips and books.
Lesson Plans:
Text orientation: Title: Leo the Littlest Seahorse
Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to holistically introduce Leo the Littlest Seahorse to the learner. Students should be given the opportunity to understand the storyline, setting and characters.
Learning outcome:
The learning outcome for this lesson is for students to understand the story line of Leo the Littlest Seahorse, including the setting and characters. Another focus of this lesson is for students to understand that Leo the Littlest Seahorse was created by Margaret Wild, who had a real purpose to communicate with the reader.
Links with curriculum:
ACELY1646 Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations ACELY1784 Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and
eye contact ACELT1580 Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images ACELT1783 Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own
experiences ACELT1578 Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text
Assessment: The assessment will occur at the end of the lesson. It will consist of a Hot Seat Activity which will be initially modelled by the teacher pretending to be a character within the story, who answers questions that the students pose to them.
Teaching Strategies: This Text Orientation lesson will be given to the whole class and will consist of an oral retell of the story. There will be no questions posed to the students about illustrations.
I will use scanned in pictures that have been laminated to assist me as I tell the story with my own words. The words that are featured in bold below act as a reminder about the language and concepts to focus on during the orientation.
I will use a variety of performance skills such as physical gestures, tone of voice, use of pauses and silences and physical movements around the classroom.
I will also include features from the text such as: information about the author, when the story was written, and what type of text it is, as Axford et al (2009) argues that it is very important to place emphasis on the author as students need to see that the story has been created by a person with a real purpose to communicate with the reader.
Key: Action: In blue italics
Words from text: In bold
Pauses: will be ……….. And featured in red
The picture you would show features above the set text
Orientation script: “Ok Kindergarten, come and sit on our story mat. Today I have brought in something really special to share with all of you. I am going to share this story called Leo the Littlest Seahorse. It was written by Margaret Wild and Illustrated by Terry Denton.”
Information about the author: “Margaret Wild was born in South Africa and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 24 years old. She now lives in Sydney and writes lots of books, one of which we are going to read today. This book was published in 2010 which was not very long ago. This means that this book is not very old and it is one of the newest books Margaret Wild has written.”
Type of text: “Leo the Littlest Seahorse is an example of an imaginative text, because what is happening is a story and it’s not real. Margaret Wild wrote about Seahorses in this story and she gave them names and wrote about them talking. But that’s not real because seahorses can’t talk, so it shows us that Margaret Wild wrote a narrative or an imaginative text.”
Retell of story:
“Today I am going to do something a little bit different. I am not going to read you Margaret Wild’s words, I’m going to tell you the story of Leo the Littlest
Seahorse in my own words.”
“In the warm and tropical waters of the coral reef off the coast of Queensland lived two married seahorses and their names both started with the same letter (P)otbelly and (P)olly. Now Potbelly and Polly really wanted to have a family and they were both really excited because Potbelly was pregnant and
expecting 100 babies. Potbelly’s belly grew really, really big and he had to eat a special diet and make sure he did lots of exercise. Early one evening the babies were born, all 100 and 1 of them. All of the babies were the right size except for one baby who was really small. He was the littlest seahorse and his name was Leo. Potbelly and Polly were so happy. They told their babies that in 3 days’ time they would head off on an exciting adventure but there were a few things they must learn first before they could head off on their own.”
“Potbelly told them that firstly you must learn to swivel your eyes around in lots of different directions so that you can look for food. 100 babies swivelled their eyes this way and that (swivel eyes around dramatically as you tell this part). But not the littlest of the seahorses; Leo tried really hard but could not swivel his eyes around.”
“Now my darlings curl your tails tightly around the coral so that you won’t be swept away (Use pointer finger and make a hook shows the students the
curling action). 100 babies curled their tails around the coral reef but not poor Leo “My tail wont curl” squeaked Leo.”
“To swim straight and strong you will need to flutter your dorsal fins very fast (Use hands in a fin position at your sides and move you hand back and forth
quickly). 100 babies fluttered their fins except for poor Leo whose fin would not flutter.”
“Potbelly began saying “Now the most important thing you must learn is………….”
(Gasp, eyes look widely into the distance) oh no! Oh no! Swimming towards them was the biggest, hungriest, groper fish they had ever seen.” (Use hands
getting larger and larger as you are explaining groper fish)
“Quick! Quick! Swim my darlings. All 100 babies quickly fluttered their fins (Move hands like fins description featured above) except for Leo the littlest seahorse.”
“The gropers stomach was rumbling and grumbling (Grab and pat stomach) “GRRRRRRR I’m coming to eat you up” but he could not find any seahorses to eat. He mumbled “Humff”(hands on hips and shrug with a cross or angry look in your eye) crossly and swam away.”(Move body as if you are swimming
away).
“When it was safe for the babies to come out because the groper had swum away Potbelly and Polly counted all seahorses except…(Pause)… Leo. Oh no cried Potbelly. Quick! We need to look for him everywhere.”
“They searched all throughout the warm waters of the coral reef but could not find him anywhere as if he had disappeared or vanished (Look around class
room with wide eyes and shrug shoulders as if you cannot find him). But then (hand up to ear) can you hear that………….(Pause)…….., the littlest voice said “surprise”. Potbelly and Polly looked over at the part of coral where the noise had come from and to their surprise they saw Leo, who had changed the colour of his skin to match the coral. He had camouflaged himself.”
“Leo had just learnt the most important lesson of all, to camouflage into the coral to hide from creatures that are trying to eat seahorses.”
“Leo’s brothers and sisters asked if Leo could teach them that special trick. Leo thought to himself and said “Yes, of course, if you also help me by teaching me how to flutter my dorsal fin (action of fluttering featured above), swivel my eyes (action of swivelling featured above) and curl my tail around the coral reef (action of curling featured above)”.
“All of a sudden three days had passed and all of the babies were ready to leave Potbelly and Polly and go off on an adventure. Leo wanted one more goodbye because he was a little unsure about leaving his mum and dad. But Potbelly and Polly reminded him that he had learnt everything he needed to. “I am ready to join my brothers and sisters now” squeaked Leo and off he swam to join them. But every now and then Potbelly and Polly hear………(pause)………. “Surprise!” As he visits his mum and dad and surprises them.”
Language Orientation: Lesson purpose: The purpose of a language orientation lesson is to have a narrower focus, which will look at the specific language choices of the author within a selected sentence and why they have made those specific choices.
Learning outcomes: The learning outcome for this lesson is that students will understand the selected sentence from the text Leo the Littlest Seahorse. They will also understand the meaning of each word within the selected sentence.
Links to the curriculum:
ACELT1785 Recognise some different types of literary texts and identify some characteristic features of literary texts, for example beginnings and endings of traditional texts and rhyme in poetry.
ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences
Assessment:
Students understanding of the selected sentence and the meaning of each word through their illustrations of the orientation sentence.
Book title: Leo the Littlest Seahorse
Excerpt from book: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.
Broad language focus for your sequence: The broad language focus for this sequence is an effective orientation.
Specific language focus for this lesson: The specific language focus for this lesson includes topics such as verbs, phrases, proper nouns, adjectives, nouns, noun phrases, simple sentences, adverbial phrases and conjunctions.
Teaching strategies: This lesson will be given to the whole class. There will be several opportunities for student interaction and the use of various multimedia tools. All students will be given an individual sheet on A3 paper with the words printed exactly the same as the ones on my white board. All students will
be given the coloured pens they will need. Students will be seated in a circle on the floor with the teacher included in the circle as well. This will be highly scaffolded as students will be
prepped, assisted with identifying words and then given elaborations on these words.
Script: Preparation Identification Elaboration The first four words in this sentence and in this story are In the warm waters.
“Ok boys and girls can you point to the first four words in the sentence. We are going to read them aloud. (Class read words aloud as a class). “Let’s underline the first four words in the sentence In the warm waters.” “What we are going to do now is draw a circle around the word in.
“The first four words In the warm waters are a phrase. Margaret Wild used these words in this phrase to help describe the setting of the story. They tell us where the story is happening.” The word we have circled is in, this word is a preposition that tells us where the story is occurring (place hoop on the floor and choose student) Can you show me how you can be in the hoop? Great job! Can you show me how you can be in the bag area? Ok now I want everyone to show me
“Now I want you to tap with two fingers the second word we underlined and let’s say it together the.” “Now I want you to put a squiggly line under the third word warm, lets count them 1,2,3 underline the word starting with the w sound.” “Now I want you to point to the last word we underlined, Waters.”
how you are in the classroom, in the bag area, in the other classroom and in the hallway. Great job everyone! Can you see how the word in tells us where something is happening. In the sentence Margaret Wild used the word in to tell us that they story is happening in the warm waters. The next word the is an article: the in this sentence is definite, it refers to a particular thing or things. So Margaret Wild used this to talk specifically about the warm waters. Cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). The third word is warm. Warm is a describing word that tells us about the temperature of something. It means that it is not hot and it is not cold but in-between those two temperatures. (Pass around heat pack) I am going to pass around this heat pack, I want you to hold it and feel that it is warm. The final word that we have underlined is waters. Water is a noun because it is a place in this sentence. I have brought in something very special to show you. (Take out fish bowl with warm water inside it) I want you to put your hand in and tell me what you notice. Yes that’s right, the water is warm. By having the word warm before the word waters it helps describe the word waters. This could be just like the place where the story is set.
The next four words in this sentence are of the coral reef.
“Ok everyone I want you to point to the next four words. We are going to say them together of the coral reef. Very good. Now I want you to underline them. “I want you to put another circle around of
Point to the word of. It is another preposition which shows us where
just like you did for in.” “Now I want you to tap with two fingers the second word we underlined and let’s say it together, the.” Can you point to the last two words we have underlined and say them aloud (class reads coral reef aloud). I want you to underline those words in green.
something is happening. The next word the is an article: the in this sentence is definite, it refers to a particular thing or things. Margaret Wild used the word the here because she is talking specifically about the coral reef. Cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). The two words that you underlined in green are coral reef. Coral reef is a noun because it is a thing or a place. I have brought in some coral for you to feel. (Pass coral around in circle). A coral reef is made up of lots of different colours and shapes of coral like the one that you are holding. Coral reefs are under water at beaches or around islands. We are going to watch this video on coral reefs. I want you to look at the different colours and shapes. The largest coral reef is in Australia and it is called the Great Barrier Reef. It is on the coast of Queensland. The water there is also a lot warmer than the water in beaches near us like Batemans Bay. This tells us that Margaret Wild probably set this story here in Australia in a coral reef off the coast of Queensland.
The next three words in this sentence that we are looking at are (lived two seahorses,).
“I want you to point to the next three words. Let’s say them together lived two seahorses. Great job. Can you underline those three words for me?” “I want you to point to the first word we just underlined then, which was lived. This is one of my favourite kinds of words. Can
The three words we have underlined tell us what is happening in the story. Margaret Wild has told us that in the warm waters of the coral reef there are two seahorses who lived there. The first word we underlined and put a green box around is lived. The word lived is a verb but it tells us more than that, as the (ed) on the end of the word shows that Margaret Wild is telling this story in past tense. Do
you put a green box around it?” “I want you to put a green line under the next two words, two seahorses.” I want you to put a triangle around the line down the bottom of the word seahorses (,).
you know what, boys and girls? I have lived in some very exciting places. I have some picture to show you. (Display picture of you featured in houses and environments. “This is when I lived in…………” can we think of some places where you may have lived? Make a class list. Also show images of animals living in places such as a dog in a kennel, bird in a bird cage, fish in a tank and a giraffe in a zoo. The next two words are two seahorses. The word seahorse in a noun because it is a thing or an animal. This is the type of animal Margaret Wild chose to use as the characters in her story. Do you remember the video we watched earlier on that showed us the seahorses swimming through the ocean? I have actually brought in a seahorse to show you today. Bring out tank. I bought this seahorse from the pet shop on the weekend and it will live in our classroom. Stay where you are and I will bring it around and show you. The word two in front of the word seahorses helps to tell us more about the seahorses, it describes them. The word two tells us that there were two seahorses in this sentence. The symbol that we put a green triangle around is a comma. Margaret Wild used this comma to separate the words and phrases. The words that she wrote after the comma don’t change the meaning of the sentence they just add extra information. As cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007).
The final three words in this sentence are Potbelly and Polly.
I want you to point to the last three words in this sentence. Let’s say them aloud together “Potbelly and Polly” “I want you to put a red underline under Potbelly.” “I want you to put another red underline underneath Polly.”
The last three words that Margaret Wild wrote tell us the name of the characters that are in the story. We know that they are seahorses because she wrote that word in the last part that we underlined. Potbelly is the name of the male seahorse, so it’s a proper noun. Because it is the name of the character, Margaret Wild showed that the word was different by putting a capital letter at the beginning. This is important to do when you write someone’s name. (Write potbelly on the board without capital) the word potbelly without a capital is a describing word
“The second word we underlined was and I want you to point to that word and we will say it aloud as a class.” I want you to put a triangle around the dot that is at the bottom of the word Polly (.).
which talks about your belly sticking out. Because Margaret Wild used a capital letter, it shows that Potbelly is the name of the seahorse. The final word is Polly. It has a capital letter as well and that means it is the name of the other seahorse within the story. The second word we underlined is the word and. It is a conjunction or a joining word. Margaret Wild used this word here because it helps to show the two characters Potbelly as well as Polly. I am going to show you how I can hop and pat my head. Choose a few students in the class to stand up. Can you show me how you jump and spin around? Lastly I want you to listen closely: I want James and David and Sam to stand up. This symbol is called a full stop. It has a very important job to show the end of a sentence. Margaret Wild used a full stop to show that the first sentence of the book is finished.
Transformations lesson: Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is for the teacher to focus on teaching the selected structure of the selected sentence and the consequences of Margaret Wild’s choices. More specifically, this lesson will focus on teaching students about the use of marked theme and describing the setting.
Learning outcome: Students will understand the structure of the selected sentence and the consequences of Margaret Wild’s choices.
Links to the curriculum:
ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences
ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and
that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts
Assessment: Summative assessment could occur quite naturally within this lesson through the use of anecdotal notes of discussions and observations within the lesson. By watching students rearrange the text and asking for explanations, students would demonstrate their understanding of features of written language such as marked theme.
There are two assessment activities outlined by Axford et al (2009) that would be effective is gauging students’ understanding of the words featured within the transformation sentence. These activities could be undertaken at the completion of at the transformation sentence. These include a prediction game which helps to check if words can be read in context. This game involves students closing their eyes as the teacher or a student turns over words featured within the transformation sentence. The learners then have to state which word is missing. To assist all learners you can get students to whisper the answer into your ear so that they feel less pressure in front of the whole class.
Sentence being used for the lesson: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.
Specific language focus for this lesson: The specific language focus for this lesson is Margaret Wild’s use of marked theme.
Teaching Strategies: This lesson will be taught to the whole class. All students will have another A3 sheet of paper in front of them to assist their vision of the text. They
will be seated on the floor in a circle. This lesson involves physical and visual examination of an individual sentence thus allowing for engaging kinesthetic and intrapersonal learners,
which is a theory expressed within Churchill et al (2010). All students will be asked where they will cut before they do, to enable you make sure students understand the concept and to avoid
embarrassment of making a mistake in front of the whole class. The strategy of “think time” may be used, allowing students several seconds before calling on a student for an answer. Other strategies that could be employed would be to inform students that you will ask them to come up and cut before you give them the prompt
so that they can be thinking about the answer for a longer period of time. There will also be a series of grammatical symbols and upper and lower case letters written on post-it notes so that when sentences are rearranged
students can change the starts and ends of sentences.
Script: Where your cuts will go What will you say to guide the students to make the cut
Cut 1. In the warm waters
Ok boys and girls, the first four words of the sentence tell us where the story is happening. Do you remember how it sets the scene of being on the coast of Australia? (Choose student) Can you come out and point to those words that tell us where the story is happening. Yes! Fantastic! Now point where you are going to make a cut. Great job! (Makes cut) can you move the words to the top line.
The next four words tell us more information about where the story is set. Do you
Cut 2. Of the coral reef
remember how we talked about coral reefs on the coast of Australia? Can someone come out the front and point to the four words that tell us more about where the story is set? (choose student) Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.
Cut 3. Lived
Now this next word, boys and girls, is my favourite kind of word. We talked about it last lesson. It’s a verb and it tells us what is happening in the story. (Begin pronouncing the word) Yes! That’s right, it is lived. Can you come up and show me where you will cut? Great job! You can cut it now and place it on the second line but not too close to the other part.
Cut 4. Two seahorses,
The next part we are going to cut off is the part of the sentence that tells us about the characters in the story. Can someone come out to the front and point to the two words that tell us the characters? (choose student) Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.
Cut 5. Potbelly and Polly.
The last three words in this sentence tell us the names of the characters. Their names both start with the same letter. Can somebody tell me what those three words I might be looking for are? (begin sounding out names) That’s right Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.
Show parts in the sentence that contribute to the meaning.
Cut 6: Warm waters
Now we are going to look back at the first cut that we made. The next cut we are going to make is the two words that tell us where the story is set and describe it. That’s right. Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.
Cut 7: Coral reef
The next cut we are going to make is in the two words that give us more information about where the story happened. These two words are the environment that the seahorses live in. Coral reef. That’s right. Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.
Parts of the sentence that can be remove to show the students the importance of each section of the sentence for the story. Take away: Potbelly and Polly
Choose student. Can you come out and point out to me the words that Margaret Wild used to tell us the name of the characters. Great job! Now take those words away. Here, I will give you a full stop post-it note to put at the end on the sentence. Now let’s read this sentence together. (In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses.) This is still a sentence that makes sense it just doesn’t give us as much information as it could about the
characters. Take away: Of the coral reef
Now we are going to put those words back. (choose student) Come out and point to the four words that give us more information about the setting. Good job, can you take those words away. Now let’s read the sentence together. (In the warm waters lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.) This is still a perfectly fine sentence; it just gives us less information about the setting. Can you see that by Margaret Wild giving us lots of information at the beginning of the sentence it makes it more interesting?
Rearrange the sentence to show how ‘theme’ works in sentences Two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly lived in the warm waters of the coral reef.
Now I am going to rearrange the sentence using all of the same words. Let’s read it aloud together. (Two Seahorses, Potbelly and Polly lived in the warm waters of the coral reef.) This sentence still makes sense, it is just different to the one Margaret Wild wrote. Close your eyes and I will read both of them to you. Can you see how the one Margaret Wild wrote sets the scene, just like in a movie and then introduces the characters later on in the sentence.
Word Study: Lesson purpose: The purpose of the word study lesson is to equip students with several strategies to spell words that are found within the selected sentence found within Margaret Wild’s Text Leo the Littlest Seahorse.
Exert from text: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.
Focus word is: lived
Learning outcome: Students will understand the morpheme ‘ed’ can be added to verbs to change the tense of the verb, indicating the verb happened in the past (morphology). Students will also understand that the morpheme ‘ed’ at the end of words make a ‘t’ sound as opposed to an ‘ed’ sound (phonology)
Assessment:
Students will be assessed on their understanding of ‘ed’ at the end of verbs through their ability to identify the morpheme on the activity cards.
Teaching strategies: Axford et al (2009) argues that developing a spelling folder with all scaffolding literacy programs, using words that students study, can help solidify
their spelling knowledge and give students something to refer to whilst completing other literacy tasks. Therefore at the completion of studying this word students will add it to their personal spelling folder.
Method:
Show children the word ‘lived’ from the transformation cards. Have children identify the word within the transformation sentence. Show students how to use the word lived and what it means. Hand out white boards and demonstrate how to write on white board. Then students write the word on their own individual whiteboards.
Word Which of these are useful ways to study this word?
Activity
Lived: Can be broken down into live. Live in this context is a verb that means to dwell or reside.
Morphology: Explain to students that other verbs in English can have (ed) at the end which changes the word by indicating that it happened in the past.
Whole class activity: Give all students whiteboards and have then seated in a circle on the floor. Encourage students to write live in one colour on their individual white board. In another colour students should write a d at the end on the word. Then students should put a circle around the ed. Then explicitly say “live is a verb but when you put a ‘d’ at the end it changes the word into past tense.” Activity 2: Card Game In pairs students are provided with a set of cards that have verbs that they use within their everyday environment. The verbs will have (ed) on the end. Students will have to colour in the verb one colour and then the (ed) another colour.
Phonology: Explain to students that the (ed) at the end of lived makes a (t) sound, so it can be misleading when spelling verbs in the past tense.
Whole class activity: Students are seated in a circle. Go through the book with the class and write all verbs featured that have (ed) at the end including:
Squeaked Curled Fluttered Swivelled
Write up words on the board and ask a few students in the class to read them aloud as you record them into a microphone. Play back these words to students as you point to words on
the board with a pointer. This will help show students that the ‘ed’ sound makes a ‘t’.
Focus word: warm
Learning outcomes: Students will understand the history of the word ‘warm’ and understand that one syllable words consist of an onset and rime and how to identify them.
Links to curriculum: ACELA1438 Know how to use onset and rime to spell words:
Assessment: Students will be assessed on their ability to identify onset and rimes within words and on their ability to locate the word 'warm' within other words.
Method: Show children the word ‘warm’ from the transformation cards. Have children identify the word within the transformation sentence. Show students how to use the word warm and what it means. Hand out white boards and demonstrate how to write on white board. Then students write the word on their own individual whiteboards.
Word Which of these are useful ways to study this word?
Activity
Warm: an adjective Having a temperature slightly higher than usual, but still pleasant; a mild temperature.
Etymology: Explain to students that the history of the word warm can be traced back to the following words in their language:
Middle English werm Old English wearm Proto-Germanic warmaz.
Then explain to students that the word warm has been added to other words to create phrases throughout history. A few examples are listed below: as cited in Online Etymology Dictionary
The phrase ‘warm the bench’ a sports statement was first recorded 1907.
Warm up “to exercise before an activity" is from 1868.
To warm up a car or oven is from 1947 The noun phrase warm-up "act or practice of
warming up" is recorded from 1915.
Whole class: Students are seated in a circle Give all students an A4 paper each with four random selections of the words listed below. Students will then have to identify the word warm and look at why the word has the word warm in it. Students will then copy the word underneath it.
benchwarmers
Heartwarming
Housewarming
Lukewarm
Overwarming
Prewarmed
Rewarm
Rewarmed
Rewarming
Unwarmed
Warmblooded
Warmer
Warming
Warmish
Warmly
Warmth
Warmup Warmups
(Words collected from more words)
Phonology Explain to students that one syllable words can be split into onset and rime to help with spelling. The word warm can be split into the first ‘w’ sound of the onset and the ‘arm’ sound of the rime. (as cited in Wilson and Scanlon, 2011)
Whole class: Have students seated in a circle each with their own individual whiteboard. Ask students to write the letter ‘w’ in green and then the rest of the word ‘arm’ in red. Explicitly show students that the onset is the sound that they hear first so for ‘warm’ that sound would be w and that the rime is the sound that follows it. Get the class to pronounce this as they re-write it
again using the two different colours. Then ask students to brainstorm other onset and rime words they might know: Words to help assist:
Farm Harm
Now ask students to think of other words that have a strong sound at the beginning which is the onset and then another sound that follows which is the rime. Words that may assist:
Cat Sat Flat Hat Mat Tight Light Pen Men.
Activity 2: Card Game In pairs students are provided with a set of cards that have the words featured in the list above on them. Within their group they need to colour in the onset green and the rime red. Activity 3: onset and rime tiles Within pairs students are given a sheet available at: http://www.senteacher.org/worksheet/88/OnsetAndRime.html Students cut up the sheet and fit the correct onset and rimes together.
Patterned Writing: Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to make explicit how the author, Margaret Wild, has constructed the excerpt sentence. Students will then use this understanding as a template or guide to assist them in creating sentences of their own.
Learning outcome: Students will use their understandings of the structure of the sentence and Margaret Wild’s words to construct a sentence, working within a small group.
Links to the curriculum:
ACELY1651 Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge Elaboration:
1. creating short spoken, written and multimodal observations, recounts and descriptions, extending vocabulary and including some content-specific words in spoken and written texts
ACELY1653 Produce some lower case and upper case letters using learned letter formations Elaborations:
1. adopting correct posture and pencil grip 2. learning to construct lower case letters and to combine these into words 3. learning to construct some upper case letters
ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences
ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and
that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts
Assessment: Students’ understanding will be assessed through their ability to write a coherent sentence, using the writing plan provided. Students will then create illustrations to support their sentence to show a deeper understanding.
Sentence being used for the lesson: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.
Teaching Strategies: This lesson will begin with a whole class activity, where the class brainstorms two orientation sentences. Students then go off to their desks and
with the assistance of an adult helper at each table; students come up with their own orientation sentence. There may be some students in the class who need assistance with the spelling of words that they may want to use and some students may need a
scribe to write their sentence for them.
Margaret Wild wrote
In the warm waters
of the coral reef lived two seahorses Potbelly and Polly.
What her language does Where is the story happening?
Tells you more about where: be more specific.
What is happening in the story?
Introduce the characters Give more information about the characters. What are their names?
Teachers 1st Example of sentence
In the dusty cupboard
of Miss Livingston’s classroom
lived
three monkeys,
Alex, James and Sam.
Teachers 2nd Example of sentence
In the sports shed
under a large pile of skipping ropes
sat
two mice,
Helen and Tom.
Be advised: the above featured sequence is very much based on the workshops provided by Misty Adoniou during Scaffolding Literacy (7150). Specific reference to workshops: Monday 19th August 2013, Monday 2nd September 2013, Monday 9th September 2013, Monday 16th September 2013, Monday 23rd September 2013.The graphic overview, assessment, purpose of lessons and script templates have been taken from the works of Misty Adoniou.
References: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Agency) (2013). The Australian Curriculum English: Rationale. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Rationale Axford B., Harders P., & Wise F. (2009). Scaffolding Literacy: An integrated and sequential approach to teaching reading, spelling and writing. Victoria, Australia: Australian Council for Educators Research
Churchill, R., Ferguson, P, Godinho, S, Johnson, N, Keddie, A, Letts, W, Mackay, J, McGill, M, Moss, J, Nagel, M, Nicholson, P & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching Making A Difference. Australia: Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.
Hertzberg, M. (2012). Teaching English language Learners In Mainstream Classes. Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Wild, M. (2010). Leo the Littlest Seahorse. Melbourne, Australia: Penguin Group. Wilson, A., & Scanlon, J. (2011). Language Knowledge For Primary Teachers (3rd ed.). New York, USA: Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). Primary Grammar Handbook: Traditional Grammar, Functional Grammar, Punctuation and Usage (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford.
http://www.penguin.com.au/contributors/1927/margaret-wild viewed: 7/10/13
http://www.senteacher.org/worksheet/88/OnsetAndRime.html viewed 7/10/13
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page viewed 1/10/13
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=warm&searchmode=none Viewed 7/10/13
http://www.morewords.com/contains/warm/ Viewed 8/10/13