Underlined words below are lesson vocabulary words that are emphasized and written on sentence strips for my Reading & Writing word wall. I pull off the words off the wall for each lesson, helping students understand this key 'reading and writing' vocabulary can be generalized across texts and topics. The focus on acquiring and using these words is part of a shift in the Common Core Standards towards building students’ academic vocabulary. My words are color coded ‘pink’ for literature/’blue’ for reading strategies/’orange’ for informational text/'yellow' for writing/’green’ for all other words)
Bring students to a common learning point:
Get students engaged
Explain the lesson:
Modeling:
Guided practice:
Students are asked here to recount stories and determine key ideas (RL.2.2), which continues through 6th grade and sets the foundation for determining the theme of a piece and providing concrete evidence of the details. Using text evidence to determine key details and the theme (RL.2.3) of a story is a major emphasis with the Common Core State Standards.
Assign the task:
Student listen and think:
(Read the story – pause when connections come up and prompt some – ‘that seems like a feeling that you might connect to’ or ‘if you remember that happening to you, it might help you understand the boy better.’)
Students review their thoughts:
Scaffolding and Special Education: This lesson could be easily scaffolded up or down, depending on student ability.
My special education students needed a lot of support making deep connections. I prompted them as I walked around and gave one boy ideas on his desk slate so he could participate. They did develop an understanding of what a 'deep connection' could be.
For my higher level students, this was great lesson to challenge them. As I walked around, I asked them about their connections and really asked them to hone in on how the connection helped them to understand. It was good practice for them to explain 'how they know what they know'. Great focus on cognitive education!