Today I'd like to talk a little about one of the things that makes my class a little different than most. It is a teaching strategy I learned straight out of college from some award-winning teachers on my (then) first grade team.
As I said in my last post, I teach thematically whenever possible. I do use a basal reading series, though I supplement with chapter books for older or advanced students. But my units do not usually go along with the basal. They are selected based upon my interests, the interests of my students, their ages, and the science and social studies standards for whatever age group I'm working with.
After the typical morning routines, we begin each day with our unit lesson. I read at least one book (some fiction, some non-fiction, sometimes a mix) that goes along with our weekly theme, and then we discuss facts regarding that day's aspect of the theme. Let's take, for example, my insect theme. One day's unit lesson may consist of me reading Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, after which we might discuss the life cycle of a butterfly. After we have covered the science or social studies material for the day, we complete a Language Arts Chart. The purpose of this is to use the thematic unit to reinforce important language arts skills or concepts, which makes them more meaningful to the children.
Here is what the Language Arts Chart time might look like, based upon the previously-mentioned Insect theme. After reading and discussing the book(s) and facts, I point out a language arts skill that will be the focus of our chart that day. Using the above example of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I might point out that "butterfly" is a compound word. I would inform or remind students of what a compound word is, and then ask them to brainstorm to try to think of as many compound words as they can. As they name them, I would write them on the chart. Or , perhaps, I might choose to focus on the "fl" blend in the word "butterfly," and we would brainstorm other words that have that blend in them. Those examples might be for a first or second grade class. For a pre-K or Kindergarten class, I might focus on the beginning sound in the word "butterfly" and we would brainstorm other words that begin with the /b/ sound. This not only provides practice in the specific skill you have chosen for the day, but in categorizing as well!
After we complete our chart, the children use a form I provide to either copy a select number of words from the chart or, for older/advanced students, to use some of the words to write sentences. Below is a copy of what some of our charts have looked like, as well as a picture of the forms students use to copy the charts or write their sentences. I always add pictures for visual appeal, but it's not absolutely necessary. The forms always tell a little about what we've talked about that day so that when they are sent home, they allow the parents to keep up with what we are learning about!
I hope these ideas are something you can use in your classroom or homeschool. Recent units I have been developing for TPT include color pictures to use on the chart, as well as the forms for copying the charts, as you see above. These two are included in my Pirate Unit. You can get the Pirate Unit here: TPT Pirate Unit
Blessings,
Laurie
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