Zoo

This week the theme in Journeys for first graders was the zoo. I co-teach for 30 minutes during the reading block, so I created 2 lessons to support students in learning/reviewing verbs and adjectives along with zoo animals. 

I printed photos of animals from the Oregon Zoo (thanks to the awesome photography of my daughters' Pre-K teacher) and hung them around the room to create "the zoo."
 The quality of these photos enhanced the appeal because they are so clear and beautiful! 

We did whole group instruction around the specific adjectives we chose to use to describe these particular zoo animals. We practiced chorally reading the adjectives and then practiced choosing an animal and finding two adjectives that could complete the frame.

These are the images that were in my pocket chart for whole group instruction. I printed small copies of the the same animal photos plus some adjective cards. I pulled the generic adjectives from these adjective cards and then I also created the ones that are specific to animal coverings. 

In order to practice using adjectives, students went to "the zoo" with a partner and they described each animal they visited with two adjectives. They each got a handout, so they could have the adjective options right in front of them as they went around to visit animals. We circulated around and listened as students talked with their partners.

After students had some time to visit the animals and talk about them, they returned to their seats to write on their handout. They chose one animal and two adjectives to describe it and filled in the sentence frame. Then we returned to the carpet and students shared. They were so eager to share their sentences! I think they all volunteered! 

Lesson Details

For the next lesson, we switched up the sentence frame in order to add verbs. I found new images of the same animals demonstrating a specific verb. We talked about how last time the adjective was after the noun and this time the adjective was before. I arranged the visuals in that order in my pocket chart and used the parts of speech labels to help show where each type of word should go. The verb cards I used have been updated, so the images no longer look the same as the ones pictured, but these verbs cards are what I purchased.

Again, we practiced choosing an animal and then thinking about which adjective would describe it. Then we looked at the new animal photo to decide which verb that animal was showing. Looking back, it probably would have made more sense to use present progressive verbs, but I didn't think of that until during the lesson. Oh well! 

 NOTE: After taking this picture, I changed the word "fight" to "defend" because I thought it was a more appropriate verb to go along with the action for the porcupine. 

 These are some of the animal photos I used. I found them by googling {animal} + {verb-ing}. Once we were done with our whole group part, I quickly hung these around the room to create our "zoo," but I kept them handy when we practiced whole group because I wanted to emphasize that students needed to look at the photo to see what the animals were doing. 

Students got different partners to tour the zoo. We circulated around as they visited animals and used their sentence frame. Then just like the first lesson, they returned to their seats to write one example. These lessons could easily be modified to focus more heavily on writing as opposed to oral language production. The visuals could also be modified so that the words are not printed on them if teachers want to provide more of a spelling challenge. Since these lessons were part of reading class, I wanted the printed words on the cards. 

Once again students were SUPER excited and eager to share their sentences once we came together again at the end of the lesson. 

Lesson Details

I really loved how these lesson provided lots of opportunities for active engagement and TONS of language practice. 

Pets

This week in Kindergarten, our theme was pets. Our lessons emphasized the sight words students have learned so far: I, like, the and also color words. 

In our first lesson (blue pocket chart), students matched pets with different objects that they like. We used the sentence frame: The ___s like the ___. I purposefully kept the sight word like instead of changing it to likes, so we included two images of each pet and a large die-cut "s" so students could remember to add /s/ at the end of their word. They are not at a point where we are teaching about plural. 

Each time we inserted images into the sentence frame, we read the sentence to practice the sight words, then we sang the sentences to the tune of Farmer in the Dell to provide repetition of practice with each sentence (new pet/new object).

Example: 

The dogs like the bone. The dogs like the bone,

Hi Ho The Derry-O

The dogs like the bone. 

Pet Clipart

After we modeled partner practice, students took turns with partners to practice the sentence frame, using a different animal/object each time. I always take a photo of the images we are using so that I can have a paper handout in addition to the pictures in the pocket chart. We give handouts to some children during partner practice if they need visuals to support their language production. They can either just point or use the pictures and say what they can. We find this helpful for our students who are newcomers and other students with special needs.

Once students practiced the target language in whole group by reading and singing, and then practiced more with partners, they used the same sentence frame to write. 

Lesson Details: 

Content Objective: I can match pets with what they like.

Language Objective:

I can tell what the pets like. 

Language Function: 

Describe people and places

Language Form:

plural nouns to name pets

Sentence Frame(s):

The ____s like the ____. 

Example: The dogs like the bone.

In our second lesson, students used color adjectives to express their opinion about which pet they like best.

Again, we used the tune of Farmer in the Dell to sing the sentences after we chorally read them to practice our weekly sight words. We used student helpers so that each time we looked at the different colors of a pet, we could pretend they were shopping at the pet store. We sang the question: What pet do you like best? And then once they responded, we put that pet in the sentence frame, read and sang. 

Pet Clipart 2
Color Clipart

I used this as a handout for our newcomer student so he should show his partner which pets he liked best.

When it came time for writing, he knew the sight words and letter sounds and was able to read his sentence to us!

We always try to make sure that our group instruction matches what students will write about so they have many opportunities to practice the language before writing independently (or with teacher help!).

Lesson Details:

Content Objective: I can name different pets.

Language Objective:

I can tell which pet I like best using color words.

Language Function: 

Describe people and places

tell opinion

Language Form:

adjectives (colors), nouns to name pets

Sentence Frame(s):

I like the ____ ___ best.

Family

My school district uses Journeys as the adopted reading curriculum and lesson 1 for Kinders is about families. This is a great opportunity to be "community responsive" because all families are different and that needs to be normalized.  I heard the term community responsive at an equity training and I really like it. It's a different way of saying culturally responsive, perhaps with a broader lens because by focusing on the needs of your community (your students/your class) you can connect to culture and more. It is yet another way of affirming that we need to know our students and make sure they are represented in our curriculum and our lessons. We took time in this lesson to talk about, and celebrate, that one student just got a new baby sister at home. That is exciting and should definitely be part of this lesson on family! I asked her some questions and she answered (this is an EL student) so that was great language practice! 

Reading the main selection and any other texts related to the theme does not take place during my co-taught language lessons. Kinder teachers read the stories at different times. My lesson reinforce language around the lesson's theme. 

Today we sang and talked about our families. 

I introduced all the family words with "my turn/your turn." This is also a great time to acknowledge ways to say these words in other languages, but I did say we were using certain words for our partner talk. Mommy is fine, but for today, we said "mother."

 The song is to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man.

We practiced putting different family members in the blank and singing the song. {family member cutouts are from National Geographic Reach curriculum}. The song format provides students multiple opportunities to say the target family member word because it repeats 5 times. 

I have a sister a sister a sister. I have a sister and my sister loves me. 

During our lessons we do a few things to reinforce positive behaviors. 1) We pull equity sticks and give students opportunities to be the helpers. Our rule is that if we pull a stick and a student looks like a PAX leader (PAX is our positive behavior system), then they can come be a helper. This helps keep students engaged because at this age, they want to be called on to help. If a student is not showing expected behaviors when the stick is pulled, we will choose a different one. 2) We play the "secret student" game. My co-teacher pulls a stick and doesn't reveal the name. She watches that student during the singing to see if he/she is participating. If they are, they get a PAX ticket (students collect those to buy prizes as part of a school wide PBIS system). Both of these help students focus on positive behaviors and encourages all students to practice the language. 

After I had multiple helpers choose family members so we could practice the song with all different family member names, we (the two teachers) modeled partner practice by sharing who is in our families. We demonstrated "popcorning" back and forth so we each got to share several people. We modeled using the sentence frame from the song: I have a _____. 

We also gave a challenge frame: I have a ____ named ____ . Students could choose to try that if they wanted to.

We taught specific expectations for partner practice earlier in the week using this TALK poster. Today, prior to having them turn and talk, we reviewed our TALK expectations poster. We assign students to partners and also assign them as cookies and milks. Those partnerships change, but stay consistent from lesson to lesson for a decent amount of time. We are careful in planning partnerships to make sure students will work well together. 

For our very beginner students, I typically take a photo of my pocket chart and print it in color so that they can have personal images to use during partner talk. This helps to facilitate the target language or provides them an opportunity to point if they are not yet confident in the target language. We only use personal visuals for students who really need them. Otherwise, we expect students to use the pocket chart visuals and the language to express their ideas. 

Following partner practice, students drew a picture of their family and labeled the different family members. 

Lesson Details: 

Content Objective: I can name family members

Language Objective: I can tell who is in my family.

Language Function:  Describe people

Language Form:

nouns

proper nouns (if family members are named)

number adjectives

Sentence Frame(s):

Teacher: Who is in your family?

Students: 

_____ (mom, dad, sister)

My _______.

My _______is in my family.

I have a _____.

I have a ____ named _____.

I have {number} ____s. 

As a follow-up to this lesson, teachers will also teach a lesson about what students can do with their families. I will not co-teach this lesson with classroom teachers, but we planned it together and I am providing the materials. 

The cards pictured are What's Happening? Photo Cards from Lakeshore Learning.

The language in this lesson is a little more open-ended (students will come up with the verbs to describe what they do with their families/what is happening in the photos). This is a great opportunity to hear a little more about their own experiences. Students will do a piece of writing that uses this sentence frame and they will illustrate what they like to do with their family. They can try to sound out the word and write it (the words in the frame are printed on the page already) or the teacher can listen and write the students idea. 

Cafeteria Language

Everything about school can be overwhelming for our littlest learners, so one lesson I like to do at the beginning of the year with Kinders is cafeteria language. We cover how to ask for help and also how to order lunch. 

The first part is teaching the different hand signals that indicate different needs. I took photos in our actual cafeteria and then paired them with visuals of the hand signals they need to use for each request. But, I also want to encourage students to use language and not just hand signals, so each picture/signal is paired with a question.

I use this song to introduce how we need to use please and thank you and then I used the same tune for the questions associated with each cafeteria need. Some people might dislike the use of "can I" instead of "May I" but the video uses "Can I" so I just stuck with that. Kiddos love this video and then it helps provide some musical styling for working on saying those challenging questions!

After we watch the video, we (the teachers) will role play (remember these are co-taught lessons), asking for help in the cafeteria using manners. With students, we will practice singing the questions and saying thank you, modeling after the video.

The next part of the lesson will be teaching students how to order hot lunch. Using some of the same food images as we used in our Pete the Cat lessons {food pics & more food pics}, we will model and how to tell the lunch lady what we'd like for lunch. We role play examples and non-examples so students can get an idea of what they need to do:

Use a "3 foot voice"

Say the name of the food they want

Use manners (please and thank you)

We use the same tune from the video to model a complete sentence: Can I have the ___ please? At this point we are perfectly ok with students pointing to their food choice or simply saying ___ please, but we also teach and encourage students to use a complete sentence if they can.

We also use play food and real cafeteria trays to practice. We check in by pulling sticks to select random students and having them come up to the front and make a food choice. Then we ask the rest of the students to give a thumbs up/thumbs down to show whether or not the student did all of the things we practiced. 

Language Objectives:

I can say please and thank you when I ask for help.

I can say what I want to have for lunch.

Language function

Express needs, likes, and feelings

Express social courtesies 

Language form: nouns (naming the food items)

Sentence Frame

______ please  (newcomers/beginners)

May I have the ____please?

Can I use the bathroom please?

Can I dump my trash now please?

Can you help me open this please?

Can I get a drink of water please?

Target words: 

please, thank you 

Kicking off Co-Teaching in K

I have not been at all good about keeping up with this blog, but since a few people have asked for the resources I used for my Pete the Cat lesson,  I thought I would create a post with the links and info.

This image shows how I prep all my materials for co-taught lessons. I get everything ready in a pocket chart that is pinned to my wall. When it's time for the lesson, I simply grab the pocket chart and go! In each classroom where I co-teach I have a place to hang the charts I bring (usually over the classroom teacher's chart) and then I carry them away with me when I leave. 

The images I used for this lesson can be found here:

Food Pics

More Food Pics

Pete, Big shoe, and small shoes with color words

I did not use all the food images, just selected what I thought my students might like and foods that represent different colors.

Prior to doing this co-taught language lesson, classroom teachers read:

Content Objective: I can recognize colors.

Language Objective: I can use color words to describe Pete’s shoes.

Language Function: describe people and things

Language Form: color adjectives

Sentence Frame(s):

Pete stepped in a big pile of ________.

I love my _____ shoes. 

This is a really fun lesson to review/teach color words  as well as foods. It's also fun to get a little silly singing along to the tune from the book. If you can access this story as an audio book, it's great to listen to.

We typically choose sticks to select students as helpers. Helpers get to choose a food. Then we use a a  response signal that incorporates think time and have the whole class respond with what color that food will turn Pete's shoes. 

Then we sing using the frame: I love my {color} shoes!

I plan to bring a blow up guitar and also my great karaoke microphone, which the kiddos love to speak into. 

Let me know if you try this with your students too! Kinders sure do love Pete the Cat! 

Using Flipgrid to Support English Learners

Over the summer, Sarah Said (@MrsSaid) and I put together an #EllChat_BkClub
round focused on using the app Flipgrid for English learners. Flipgrid asked us
to share some of our takeaways, so we wrote this blog post detailing the benefits
of using Flipgrid to support English learners. Thanks to all the amazing educators
who chimed in and contributed ideas!

Flipgrid is a great tool for capturing student voice, which is one of many reasons we
selected it for one of our #EllChat_BkClub technology rounds on Twitter. Typically
 #EllChat_BkClub chats are focused on reading books that help us (language
teachers from across the globe) improve our instructional practices for English
learners. Then, Sarah had the idea to add a focus on technology into the mix since
devices and educational technology are so prevalent in today’s classrooms. In
between our book chats, we organize chats around particular apps, specifically how
they benefit English learners and language development in the four language
domains; reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We posted the following 5
questions and asked participants to join the chat using #Flipgrid4ELs.

Over the course of about a week, we had many teachers participate and offer
some great insights around the power of using Flipgrid for the benefit of English
learners.

Check out some of the comments:

Q1: How can using digital media to create support the speaking and listening
skills of ELs?

Q2: How does Flipgrid make conversations more accessible to ELs?

Q3: How can Flipgrid support parent engagement for ELs?

Q4: If you have previously used Flipgrid in your classroom, tell us how you
used it. If you haven’t used it, try it out and tell us how it went!

Q5: How can Flipgrid build speaking confidence for ELs?

Some of the main discussion points reflect that Flipgrid allows students sufficient
time to process, plan, and think about what to say. All of these elements are very
important for students who are learning a new language and likely processing
information in both their native language and English. It also provides opportunities
for students to record their language, listen to what they said, stop, go back, and
listen again in order to ensure they are happy with how their recording comes out.
Listening to their own language production affords English learners opportunities
notice areas where they can improve and also gain confidence.

In our live chat, we discussed how to overcome the barrier of students who are

shy or not comfortable being recorded on camera, such as middle and high
school students who might have concerns over their appearance. We brainstormed
ideas to support students with those concerns such as offering silly glasses,
masks, or photo booth type props they could use to conceal their faces while
they speak. We also chatted about how when students frequently use technology
to record their spoken language and learn how to listen to their own speech to
evaluate their volume, clarity, grammar, etc., they are better prepared for
standardized language assessments that involve voice recordings. For one of
my students who is very soft spoken and shy, the quality of her recordings on
ELPA21 in Kindergarten resulted in a level 4 for speaking because she routinely
recorded on her iPad in class leading up to the test, yet her score dropped to a
2 in first grade because she was not engaging in the same practice with digital
recordings and didn’t have the same confidence as she did the year prior.

Many teachers are diving into the #flipgridfever movement and realizing how fun

and engaging it is for students to use, but we are particularly excited about its
potential as a wonderful tool for English learners. If you’re interested in trying it
out, but you’re not sure where to start, Flipgrid offers some great resources to
help teachers out. The e-book and teacher guide offer ‘how to’ information and
there is also a disco library provides a variety of activity templates created by
teachers, which are organized by audience, topic/subject, and topic goals.
Within this database, there is a category of activity templates for language learning.
These templates can provide teachers with pre-created assignments or they can
serve as inspiration by showing teachers how they can structure assignments in
ways that support English learners. Also, don’t forget to search #FlipGrid4ELs for
additional ideas about how and why Flipgrid is great for your ELs.