LESSON ONE:  Life is a Journey

LESSON DESCRIPTION

Students understand a journey can be a metaphor for life.  The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the idea of a journey as both literal and figurative. 

GRADE-LEVEL EXPECTATIONS

R1G  During reading, utilize strategies to

§               self-question and correct

§               infer

§               visualize

§               predict  

§               check using cueing systems including meaning, structure, and visual.

LESSON MATERIALS

§         Sources of literature 

o        A work of fiction previously read in the school year or other stimulus piece

§         Supplies

o        Overhead, white board, chalk board

o        Transparencies

o        Transparency markers

§         Handouts provided

o        None

§         Words to know

o        fiction

o        cueing system

o        infer

o        visualize

o        predict

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT    

  Assessment        

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1.    Use the List-Group-Label strategy.  This strategy offers a simple three-step process for students to organize a vocabulary list from a reading selection. This strategy stresses relationships between words and the critical thinking skills required to recognize these relationships.

List-Group-Label challenges students to . .

• list key words (especially unclear and/or technical terms) from a reading selection.
• group these words into logical categories based on shared features.
• label the categories with clear descriptive titles.

Steps to List-Group-Label

• Select a main topic or concept in a reading selection.
• Students list all words they think relate to this concept. Write student responses on the chalkboard. Note: Since the concept is presented without a specific context, many of the student suggestions will not reflect the meaning of the concept in the reading selection.
• Divide the class into groups of three or four students. Groups join together related terms from the larger list. Have the teams provide "evidence" for this grouping—that is, require the students to articulate the common features or properties of the words collected in a group.
• Student groups suggest a descriptive title or label for the collections of related terms. These labels should reflect the rationale behind collecting the terms in a group.

Students read the text selection carefully and then review both the general list of terms and their collections of related terms. Students eliminate terms or groups that do not match the concept's meaning in the context of the selection. New terms from the reading should be added, when appropriate. Terms should be “sharpened” and the groupings and their labels revised, when necessary.

2.   Students create a Word Wall.  Students examine ideas and use the List-Group-Label graphic organizer to   compile information. 

A Word Wall is an organized collection of words displayed in large letters on a wall or other display area in the classroom. It is tool of learning, not just a display. Word Walls are designed to promote group learning and is shared by the whole class.

Word Walls

§         support the teaching of important principles about words and how they work

§         foster reading and writing

§         provide reference support for students during their reading and writing

§         promote independence on the part of students as they work with words in reading and writing

§         provide a visual map to help students remember connections between words and the characteristics that will help them form categories

§         develop a growing vocabulary that becomes part of reading and writing

Suggested Guidelines

§         Add words gradually, five a week.

§         Make words accessible by placing them where every student can see them.

§         Write words in big, black letters; use a variety of background colors so that the most often confused words (there, their; what, when) are different colors.

§         Limit addition of words to common words which students use frequently in writing.

§         Practice words by chanting and writing.

§         Have a variety of activities to provide practice so that words are read and spelled instantly and automatically.

§         Make sure that Word Wall words are spelled correctly in any writing students do.