ED 311/316 Third Grade Thematic Teaching Unit Assignment

Third Grade Thematic Teaching Unit ED 311 30 points

To begin preparing a unit for a small-group of third graders, choose an author, illustrator, or literary genre such as folktales, ABC books, poetry, humorous stories, etc, as the focus. All lessons will address that focus. The lessons must include a variety of reading and writing experiences such as read alouds, guided reading, technology use, writing responses, writing poetry, etc. You may use more than one of these experiences within a lesson, and experiences may be used more than once. Refer to the Tompkins text Compendium, Awakening the Heart, and the web as resources for specific instructional strategies as you plan.

Use fiction, non-fiction, and poetry texts (i.e., books, magazine articles, pictures, websites, etc.) that relate to your topic during your unit. Your goal is to try out strategies for literacy instruction, while making the learning experience engaging, valuable, and positive for the third graders.

“Getting to Know You” lesson (Google for ideas)  Think about an appropriate space for your lessons (our classroom, the teacher’s classroom, the library, if available, etc.)  Introduce yourself with a visual of some type  Find out about your students’ interests in reading and writing by using an interest inventory, art or writing experience, or game  Get a writing sample, if possible Components that must be included in the unit include: Read Aloud: focusing on personal connections (i.e., reader response) or story elements (i.e., critical perspective) Poetry: Some type of poetry lesson (e.g., reading or writing). Georgia Heard’s Six Rooms Poetry (pp. 67 – 74) is an excellent idea for writing poetry with children.

Technology (incorporate the use of your laptop into at least two lessons) Word Study (one lesson must include the teaching of a decoding skill that applies either phonics, structural analysis (i.e., synonyms, word endings, root words, verb tenses, etc.), or cueing systems such as phonetic skills, context cues, syntactic cues, pragmatic cues) Vocabulary (one lesson must have a component that focuses on expanding vocabulary, e.g. word meanings) REMEMBER: More than one component will often work in the same lesson.

Maintain a three-ring binder with all of your unit materials in it. Keep this binder updated each week as new materials are developed. The professor may request to look at this binder at any time during the unit and may lower the final unit grade if materials are not consistently up to date. Each week, have a written lesson plan using a course format available for the professor and/or classroom teacher to see. Display this plan beside you as you teach so that Dr. S. or the teacher can quietly pick it up without interrupting your lesson.

The final three-ring binder should include:  A written overview of your unit, including a rationale for why you chose this author, illustrator, or genre  Planning grid of your unit showing your focus each week (see example below)  Each week’s lesson plan and any handouts created for the plan.  A brief analysis of students’ performance that answers the questions: Based on my data or observations, did each student meet the lesson objectives? How will this data guide my next lesson?  An example of any student work produced for each lesson (photocopies acceptable)  Family newsletter that gives an overview of the unit and offers ideas for home connections with your unit Use your laptop to make the newsletter visually appealing.  A final paper that reflects on and analyzes your own learning and growth.

Materials submitted for unit grade: 1. The unit overview and grid 2. Your best example of a lesson plan with assessment of each student’s learning of the lesson objectives 3. The family newsletter 4. The final reflection on your own learning

Each of these materials should be submitted to the WebCT Dropbox as 1-2 attached documents.

***Each submission will be graded based on the rubric at the end of this sheet. ED 311/316 Third Grade Unit Rubric 30 points Name Point /30

Excellent Satisfactory Needs Improvement Third Grade Unit The information goes The information meets the Some of the information Overview and beyond the minimum expectations, hi-lighting required in the assignment expectations hi-lighting the the required components is included, but the goals Grid required components in and goals with rationale. and rationale are not fully detail and making clear the Additional research on the explained. It does not major goals and rationale topic and thought on demonstrate adequate for each. Planning shows concepts would strengthen effort and thought. effort, research on topic, the unit. and thoughtful planning.

5 points 3-4 points 0-2 points Lesson Plan Lesson plan is complete Lesson plan is complete Lesson plan is incomplete and includes all parts of an and includes most parts of and missing parts of an effective lesson. All parts an effective lesson. Some effective lesson. The parts of the plan are aligned and parts of the plan are not of the lesson do not align detailed. Plan includes a aligned or detailed. The well. Student learning is high quality assessment of assessment needs either not assessed or not each student’s learning additional work and/or supported. with clear evidence to evidence is weak to support the evaluations. support assessments.

5 points 3-4 points 0-2 points Third Grade Unit The information in the The information in the Some of the required Newsletter newsletter goes beyond the newsletter meets the information is included in minimum expectations, is expectations, is visually the newsletter, but it does visually appealing, gives appealing, gives an not meet the requirements an overview of work, and overview of work, and adequately and needs includes high quality includes suggestions for more effort and thought. suggestions for home that home. Additional thought all families could apply. and effort would strengthen the letter.

10 points 7-9 points 0-6 points Third Grade Unit The reflection is clearly The reflection overall is The reflection is Reflection and organized, professional in satisfactory, and some unorganized, the tone is Analysis (2-3 tone, and free from content reflections on learning are informal, and/or or mechanical errors. It has included. It would be considerable editing is page) a strong analysis and stronger with more depth needed. It does not concrete examples on what and concrete evidence. emphasize the candidate’s was learned about teaching The content focuses own learning and fails to literacy during the unit. mainly on behavior and analyze in depth or management rather than support analyses with literacy learning. evidence. The focus is on managing behaviors rather than teaching literacy.

0-6 points 10 points 7-9 points

Example of a planning grid with the permission of Marlene McNamee, former ED 311/316 student. **Note: This unit was for six weeks; however, you will have only five weeks for your unit. Topic for the Objectives Activities Materials Assessment week Week 1 Learning Students will Discuss Book From I will look at about how listen to the sequence Seed to Plant by the diagrams seeds grow story Diagram a Gail Gibbons the students into plants flower Paper and make and see if writing and they have drawing tools included all the parts I expected them Week 2 Learning Students will Have the Have seeds for I will explain about the learn that students the students to what I expect of way seeds seeds move in reflect on what look at and try the students are planted in many ways. was covered. to decide how with a rubric. different They fall, Have the they may have They will need areas blow away, students write landed where to include a are carried a short story they did. Book definite away by birds from the From Seed to beginning, or animals that perspective of Plant, paper and middle and drop them or one of the writing utensil. ending as well poop them out seeds. What it as supporting at a different felt like when details location. they were throughout the Some fall into moving, how story. water and they moved travel along and if they the water till could see what they get was caught on happening. land. Week 3 Learning Students will Discuss Informational This assessment about look at the differences websites to help will be more of annuals or different between the students learn a participation perennials flowers on the two and what about the type. After the computer and happens to the different students have choose a plants if they flowers. completed their picture of one are an annual I will write a poems I will then write a or a perennial. poem to read to have them share poem about it Write a poem the students. I them with each including the about the will have a other. fact that it is flower and the graphic The poems an annual or stages. organizer for should have perennial the students each stage of flower write their the flower poems on. It represented. will help guide them through the poem. Week 4 Learning Students will Put white 5 white I haven’t about meat work on carnations in carnations, finalized this eating plants. making words vases full of vases, and food assessment yet. We will also with a partner. colored water coloring. talk about Students will leave the Paper and I will assess the how other read pages 30- flowers for the pencils for students on plants absorb 33 in Eye students to journaling. (the their water. Wonder book observe. students will participation. called Plant. The students predict, observe They will need Students will will journal and record data to take care of compare these about what about the their own jar plants to the happens flowers) I may and flower. plants that during our use celery They will need soak up water. next lesson. instead to participate in The students The students the making will view may draw a words portion short videos of picture of the of the activity meat eating experiment. and help the plants. The students group come up will do a with words. making words Overview of Unit This unit is on plants. The students will learn about how a flower grows from a seed to a flower. They will do a simple experiment with white carnations and colored water to get a visual of what happens when a flower soaks up water through its roots and stem. Depending on the type of flower, they will learn how it gets water and nutrients for growing. They will also watch videos about carnivorous plants and work together to decide which videos to watch. The students will be paired up to use the computers and research on preselected sites about what it means for a flower to be an annual flower or a perennial flower. They will write poems that included the different stages of one type of flower, annual or perennial which ever one they choose. The students will be able to observe real seeds. They will have different books to look at to help them see how seeds are transported to different areas before they take root. They will learn the terms used for the different parts of the flower and where this part is located on the plant. Towards the end of the unit I will bring in fictional story books so the students can see that flowers are a part of many stories not just the non-fiction types of books. We will use the many terms that they learn during this unit for a game. I think the students will enjoy this unit.

(Note from Dr. S.: verb tense changed throughout this paragraph to show what students will learn)