Completing the Circle Curriculum Kindergarten

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE CURRICULUM

KINDERGARTEN UNITS

Developed for the Office of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, by the Center for Language in Learning Copyright: Center for Language in Learning

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE CURRICULUM – KINDERGARTEN UNITS

Language Arts Standards for Kindergarten Page 2

Kindergarten Units:

Our Names & Where We Live Page 3 All About Me Page 70

Working Together Page 19 Families Page 87

Food Page 36 Weather/Seasons Page 102

Plants Page 53 Animals Page 118

Note: The topics for the units were selected after a search to determine what themes were most common across reading series and programs used by BIA-funded schools and across social studies and science content standards. Another consideration for selection of themes was whether or not there was Indian literature available on a topic.

Indian ABC Books Page 133

Where to Get Indian Books Page 133

References for Teaching Books, Poetry Books and Other Resources Page 134

LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS FOR KINDERGARTEN

Students will be able to:

Reading - Oral Language - begin to understand the concept of letter and word stay on topic in classroom discussions focus on some phonics (sound/letter) cues verbalize their own ideas begin to make predictions using meaning and language retell a favorite story or a favorite part of a story structure cues recall a few story elements with assistance recognize upper and lower case letters of the alphabet ask questions to clarify understanding discuss basic story elements (characters, setting, problems, share information from any source about a specific topic solutions, beginning, middle, end) follow simple oral directions listen to a variety of literature (fiction, nonfiction, poetry) recognize and make rhyming words become aware of printed informational sources (trade books, picture dictionaries, electronic media) select and share books use the computer to listen to and read electronic books learn new vocabulary related to literature and content area study These standards apply to every unit.

Writing - develop an awareness of the need for spaces between words demonstrate a developing knowledge of letter-sound relationships (phonics) when writing select a topic for writing begin to write about topics of personal interest or topics of general interest draw pictures with letters and words to communicate a message write own name

Approx. Four Week Unit OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE K - Reading and Social Studies

Soc. Studies Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment

Identify self by name, address and A Name for a Metis by Deborah Research-based content Observations, work samples telephone number Delaronde inquiry strategies and self-assessment. See the White Bead Ceremony by Sherrin Assessment Guide and Recognize name in print Watkins Research-based literacy section on assessment in this How Names Were Given in We strategies for word study unit. Recognize self as a unique person Are the People by the Okanagan Naming Poems in The Wishing Research-based literacy Become aware of place names Bone Cycle by Howard Norman strategies for comprehension Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes Identify the use of a map The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi Research-based writing Turtle Knows Your Name by activities Use basic terms such as near/far, Ashley Bryan left/right, above/below, and My Name is Yoon by Helen Workshops and Activity behind/in front of to identify Recorvits Centers – See Reading and relative locations of people, places Angel Child, Dragon Child by Writing Guides and things Michele Surat

Identify safety helpers such as police officers, crossing guards, mailmen, bus drivers, parents with children, etc.

Be able to give name of parent(s) or guardian

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

Introduction to the Theme and Unit Children’s names are very important to them. A child’s name is part of what makes him or her unique. Stress this with the children as well as the fact that someone took time to think about and select each child’s name. The meanings of the children’s English names can be researched by the teacher and discussed. Surnames are also very important and should be discussed as well. Some of your children may have Indian surnames and/or the children may have been given Indian names. If appropriate, perhaps an elder can visit the classroom and talk about how children are given Indian names and how Indian people got Indian surnames. Tribes have different ways of giving names. The cultural studies teacher should work closely with the regular teacher on this matter and should also stress the importance of the children’s Indian names and Indian surnames when working with the children.

Makidemewabe (Swampy Cree) said, “To say the name is to begin the story.”

In this unit, children will explore the stories behind their own names. They will come to understand how our names reflect who we are, our identities, and how they connect us to our personal, family, and cultural histories. Children will learn about the ways naming traditions can vary across time, cultures, and unique personal and family events. Because some people misuse names to hurt or label others in stereotypical ways, through stories children will explore how some children overcome doubts about or attacks on their names.

In addition, children should be able to understand the place where they live as another part of what makes them unique. I am…..who lives….. As the children learn about other naming traditions, they should be introduced to maps and how they help us show where people live. Simple maps of the community or area should be introduced and children should be able to show where they live on that map and name their addresses or identify community landmarks that locate their homes.

Many times Indian children live where there are no street addresses and often they have no telephones. The teacher will have to decide how to approach these areas. The main idea is that the children need to know where they live in case they are lost. They will have to know the names of their family members and place names of parts of their communities or areas of land (if they have no street addresses). They may have to memorize a phone number of the school, of the police department, or of a relative if their families do not have phones.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

This unit provides an excellent opportunity for working closely with families, elders and cultural studies teachers. It also provides a good opportunity for building community in the classroom as children get to know each other from new perspectives.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible:

Storytelling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual reading in reading workshop Retelling through drama, art, and writing Comprehension strategies including especially making connections, using prior experience, finding important ideas, predicting, questioning, visualizing, using graphic organizers Instructional conversations Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words in native language whenever possible Applying growing understanding of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing in writing workshop Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonics knowledge through writing, poetry, songs and chants, and through ongoing mini-lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

Content inquiry strategies include the following:

Finding content information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations in classroom and through various media Developing sensory awareness Interviews with and hearing from knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT Begin by putting the word “name” on the board and asking the children what they know about names. Begin a KWL chart starting with what they know. Share your name and tell briefly something about your name: where it came from, what it means, how you feel about it. (You will be returning to the story of your name later in the unit so you don’t need to tell everything.) Have the children share what they know about their names informally. Explain that in the unit they will be reading stories about other children and their experiences with names. And they will also be finding out about the stories behind their own names and sharing their stories through art, drama, story telling or sharing, and writing. They will be learning about the naming traditions of their own cultural community and comparing those with other traditions. (Be sure to check with the culture teacher on this matter.)

A Name for a Metis by Deborah Delaronde available from Pemmican Strategies in bold will be explained more fully in the Reading, Writing and Assessment Guides. 1. First Reading. Instructional Conversation (IC): Have children share open responses to the story: connections, feelings, questions. 2. Second Reading: Retelling. With the children, collaboratively think through the events of the story. On a chart, list the people the Little Boy talked to about his name. Have children act out the story informally. 3. Third Reading. IC: Ask open-ended questions to help children think about how names were thought about and chosen. What kind of names did other people pick and why? What kind of name did the little boy seem to want and why? How do you think he was feeling? What do you think about the final choice? How do you think the little boy felt about the final choice? What will his name mean to him? What did we learn from this story about names? How does this relate to our own names? 4. Dialogue Journal. The teacher should model a dialogue journal about his/her name. It can be about who gave the name, the meaning of the name, how she/he feels or felt about the name, being teased about the name, how a nickname came about. Again, don/t try to tell everything. Have the children write dialogue journals about their own names. 5. Using a map, locate the place where the Little Boy comes from. Explain that our names (including the ways names link us to families) and where we live provide two ways to “locate” ourselves in the world. Talk about where the children’s community is on the map. Tell them they will go on to look at more detailed maps in order to find where not only their community is but also where their house is in that community, the school and so on. (Continue with mapping activities throughout the unit.)

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

6. Interview questions. With the children work on the KWL chart above filling in the “What we want to know” portion. Phrase these in terms of a list of simple questions that the children can ask their families about names. Add what was learned (L) from A Name for a Metis. 7. Practice interviewing by having the children ask you, the teacher, questions. If possible invite other adults at the school to be interviewed by the children. 8. Homework: Send home a letter explaining the unit theme to the families and asking for their help. Explain that the children will be asking questions. The parents can share in a variety of ways. They can tell stories, draw pictures, write, or even come to school and share the stories. Be sure to check with the culture teacher regarding asking parents to share naming traditions. 9. Begin each day throughout the duration of the unit with the children sharing what they are learning about their names. The teacher should write a brief language experience story as each child shares, including the important information. These language experience stories can then be used for reading each day. Children can refer back to these language experience stories as well as dialogue journals to eventually decide how they wish to write their own naming story.

The White Bead Ceremony by Sherrin Watkins available from Indian book distributors and www.amazon.com 1. First Reading: IC: Because this is a fairly complex story for kindergarteners, read the story in sections. For each part ask the children to respond openly first. What do they think? Can they make connections? Do they have questions? What are their feelings? Then use an open-ended but focused question to guide the discussion. a. Pages 1 – 2. Mary’s mother wants her to learn words in Shawnee. Mary just wants to play with Maria. Why do you think her mother wants her to learn Shawnee? Why do you think Mary doesn’t want to learn her words? What does Grandma think will help solve the problem? b. Pages 3-5. On Saturday Mary’s grandmothers help her get ready to receive a white-bead necklace. How do you think Mary is feeling? How did you decide how Mary was feeling? (Children may draw on personal experiences or they may refer to the lines in the story that say “she tried to act like all those noisy people weren’t there to see her.”) What is the problem? What do you think will happen? c. Pages 6-10. Where do Mary’s relatives get the ideas for names? Did any of us get our names from animal names? d. Pages 11-13. Why did Mary finally get the name Wapapiyeshe? What did it mean?

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE – K

e. Pages 14 – 16. How do you think Mary feels now? How do you know that? (Children can again connect to their own experiences but also evidence from the story.) Mary hugs her aunties, giggles, she is pleased to hear her Grandpa has a “horse-name,” she is using her Shawnee words. 2. Second reading: IC: What did we learn from this story about names and why they are important? Were any of our questions on the KWL chart answered? What can we add to the L portion of the chart. 3. Read the “Shawnee History” section at the end of the story. On a map, show the children where the Shawnee people lived originally and where they live now. Have the children share facts they think are important about the Shawnee. 4. Venn Diagram. Ask the children to share some ways Name for a Metis and this story were alike and different. 5. Have children illustrate word cards for animals and people, using the words from their own Native language and animals that are important to them. Talk about positive attributes of the animals that might be applicable to people.

How Names Were Given in We Are the People, an Okanagan Legend available from Oyate 1. Introduce the story by asking children how they think the animals got their names. Children should make predictions. Note each child’s initials by notes on his/her prediction and return to that prediction later to ask where the idea came from. ETR 2. First Reading. IC: Open-ended responses to the story including connections, questions, and feelings. Return to predictions and ask the children where their predictions came from? Did those predictions help them think about the story? 3. Second Reading. Retelling. Have the children help you retell the story in a language experience list of events. Assign pairs of children to act as each animal. Give each child a nametag for a particular animal that they can illustrate. Talk about what each animal does in the story. Have the children act out the story. Let them know you will help them remember, referring to the language experience list of events. Let the children repeat this a number of times until they can retell without your support. 4. Third Reading. IC: What did we learn from this story about how the animals got their names? What did we learn about coyote? Do we know any coyote stories? What do we know about coyote from our own stories? Check with the culture studies teacher on this matter. Respect local storytelling times and traditions.

Swampy Cree Naming Poems from The Wishing Bone Cycle edited by Howard Norman. 1. The most common sources of Swampy Cree personal names are affiliations with animals. But many names are also derived from childhood episodes or affinities. See three such poems toward the end of this unit.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

2. Put each poem on a large chart or transparency so all the children can see the poem. Teach each poem on a separate day. Introduce the poem by reading it aloud twice. 3. Instructional Conversation: Ask the children to talk about how they think the name fits the person described in the poem. 4. Visualization. Take the children through a guided imagery in which they close their eyes and you ask them to imagine what each scene might look like. For example with Who Called the Mud Places ask some of the following questions: Where does the mud come from? Are there mountains around? What does the sky look like? Has it just rained? Is the sun out now? Where is the lake? Nearby? Is it large or small? How many people do you see? What are the children doing? What is “Who Called the Mud Places” doing? The children can answer softly aloud or silently inside their heads. Then read the whole poem again. Ask the children to” compose” a picture for each of the poems. The object is for each child to create his or her own mental image. 5. Ask each child to write something about his or her picture using developmental spelling. During writing workshop, over time, sit with each child and ask him or her to tell you about the picture and what he or she wrote. Add an “edited” version and display the finished pictures and “stories” around the room. Eventually take the pictures down and create class books. 6. For Many Talks ask the children what “talk” they might have in their own special basket. 7. Add more information to the KWL chart on what the class has learned from the Swampy Cree poems.

Interviews. If appropriate (Check with the school culture teacher), invite elders to the classroom to share naming traditions of the local tribe including the giving of Indian names and why some people have Indian surnames. Work with the children ahead of time to listen carefully and respectfully. Practice how to ask questions politely. With the help of the class write language experience stories to record what the children learned from each sharing or follow these events by adding to the KWL chart the growing experience of the class with regard to naming.

When Names Cause Problems Our parents or other relatives give us names to support us in becoming the people we want to be as adults. We need to value and understand our names. Sometimes, however, others don’t respect our names as they should. The following stories are all about children whose names caused them discomfort in one way or another. In every case, the children came to understand themselves better as a result of the teasing and valued their names even more. In some cases, the other children learn valuable lessons as well.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

Choose one or more of the following stories as they are available and as you have time in the unit. My Name Is Yoon by Helen Recorvits This story is about a young Korean girl’s adjustment to life in America. She doesn’t like the sound or appearance of her name in English and tries to name herself other things. In the end she accepts that her name means Shining Wisdom in both languages and that she can still be herself in America.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi Another Korean child is anxious about making friends and worries that no one will be able to pronounce her name. She decides to pick a new name but is dismayed when the children in class, in an effort to be helpful, start contributing ideas to the name jar. A new friend and various wise elders help her revalue her own name.

Turtle Knows Your Name by Ashley Bryan Upsilimana Tumpalerado has a problem with his name because it is so long. He has trouble remembering it. His friends can’t remember it either and call him various silly substitutes.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes The children at school make fun of Chrysanthemum’s name and cause her to begin losing her confidence. Her teacher helps make things right.

Angel Child, Dragon Child by Michele Surat Children at school make fun of this young Vietnamese girl who is dressed differently and has a different name. Eventually her teacher helps her classmates learn to respect her, her culture, and her name.

1. With each story, follow the general guidelines as for stories previously introduced. After first readings, let the children make connections, ask questions, and share feelings. After second readings, engage in as much retelling as necessary to ensure the children have all understood the main elements of the story: characters, setting, events. Use the third reading as an opportunity to dig deeper into comprehension strategies beyond the literal. Add to the learned (L) portion of the KWL chart.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K

2. After reading one or two of the above stories, model for the children a dialogue journal about a time when you had a negative experience with your own name. Ask the children to write their own dialogue journals about a time when they had a bad experience with their name or possibly a time when they wished they had a different name.

See Further Resources section for books to substitute or use in addition to those listed here. An Indian book, Where I Live, is available from San Juan School District at www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/media/mediaweb.htm Or 435 678-1283 An Indian book, Wait for Me, is about a little boy called “Turtle” because he was always stopping to look at something instead of keeping up with his brother and sister. It’s available from Oyate. Teacher resources include Earning an Indian Name in The Native American Book of Life by White Deer of Autumn. Check with the school’s culture teacher as to its accuracy and appropriateness. Another is Little Boy with Three Names by Ann Nolan Clark.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT Each child should publish a “My Name” book. The children should choose what stories about their names they wish to include. They may return to dialogue journals or language experience stories the teacher has written based on the stories from home they have shared. Have the children reread (with as much support as needed) what they wrote originally and decide if this still what they would like to say. The teacher can act as editor and write the words for publishing using standard spelling. Leave space for the children to illustrate each page. If possible make two copies of each book, one to take home and one to contribute to the classroom or school library.

Invite families to an author’s tea where the children “read” their books to their families and present a copy of the book to the class and/or school library.

You may want to send the children’s naming stories to Skipping Stones Magazine: A Multicultural Children’s Magazine.[Address is PO Box 3030 Eugene, OR 97403.] This is an excellent magazine that publishes children’s written and art work from many cultures. Volume 9, No. 3 – a past issue used naming stories as a theme, Turtle Island and Beyond: How Came That Name. Past issues may still be available.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE – K

More Content Inquiry Strategies

Students should be able to identify their own full names, addresses and phone numbers in print.

1. Opportunities should be provided throughout the school year for students to see, read and write their names and addresses. Throughout the year, names can be learned in meaningful contexts such as the following:

-Helper chart -Attendance tree or bulletin board (names are moved from one place to another -Sign-in or sign-up sheets for tasks that a group or entire class is to accomplish, such as participation in centers

2. Have printed name cards accessible as models for children to copy in learning to write and read their own names. Have children label their individual work with their names. Use the children’s names to introduce or reinforce letter/sound associations. Stress that their names were chosen especially for them. .

3. When telephone numbers and addresses are being taught, identify children on Helpers and Attendance charts by their addresses and telephone numbers rather than their names.

4. Set up role-play situations such as the following to have children practice saying their names, addresses and phone numbers. The role playing will also help children see the purpose for learning these skills. Begin role playing by saying, “I am a police officer (mailman) (bus driver). Can I help you?” Child should say, “I am lost. My name is (full name) .” Teacher: “OK, (child’s name) , Don’t worry, we’ll get you home.” Child: “I live at (full address) . “ Teacher: Let’s call your family and tell them you’re all right. What’s your telephone number? Child: “My telephone number is (telephone number) .”

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE – K

5. Choral readings of poems such as those on this page will help students learn the Poems concepts in the All About Me Unit and will provide oral language and beginning reading practice. Songs can also be used. Names, names are part of the game. Some of our names just may be the same. 6. Personal messages may be used to introduce letter/sound associations as well as Johnny, Tommy, Sarah and Sue provide personally meaningful print for the children to read. Each day write a Now it’s time to give your name too. brief personal message on the board stating something about an individual child. Choose a different message each day. “Today is Beth’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Beth!” “John is wearing new shoes today. His shoes are brown.” Keep the statements simple and read them to the children. Reread using shared I know my name, both first and last, reading and encourage the children to read along with you. Later on a child may I know just where I live. recognize his or her own sentence and be able to read part of it. Allow children to I call for help so quick and fast, read as independently as possible. Introduce letter/sound associations as the message And my address I give is read. When children are able to read more and their attention span is longer, two or A police officer comes to my aid, three messages can be enjoyed by the class. This activity should be ongoing And helps me find my way, throughout the year. Because I know my name so well, And where it is I stay. 7. Addresses and phone numbers need to be memorized. There are many approaches to learning them: -Role playing with puppets -Putting addresses and phone numbers to familiar tunes -Using play telephones to let children practice giving name, address, and phone number in emergencies -Using play telephones to motivate children to dial their own phone numbers and have pretend conversations with family members -Creating a map on the bulletin board showing a house for each child with his or her name, address and telephone number written on the house.

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8. Children can learn their names, addresses and phone numbers using the computer. Using a paper keyboard, have children color in the letters of their first names, last names, and phone numbers. Using a word processing package, have children type individual letters, their first names, last names, phone numbers and/or addresses. Encourage the children to use the RETURN key and the space bar to discover the purpose of these keys.

9. Send home a Good News Certificate when a child can recite his or her name, address and phone number.

10. Send home a letter to parents asking for their help in assisting their children to learn their names, addresses and phone numbers.

11. Have the children draw or make constructions of houses, schools, school buses, telephones or birthday cakes. Write their addresses, school name, bus numbers, telephone numbers or birth dates on these drawings or constructions. Drawings can be compiled into books.

12. From a chart with all the students’ names, have the children select a name and draw/write a letter to that child.

13. Have children write their names in large letters on a piece of cardboard to create name cards. Pour glue into several jar lids and have children use cotton swabs or paint brushes to put the glue over the letters in their names. Place beans on top of the glue. Encourage students to glue and place the beans on the cardboard one letter at a time.

14. Find out if some of the children have Indian names. After the children read or hear Name for a Metis and/or White Bead Ceremony about getting Indian names, discuss the fact that Indian names are very special. Have the children share their Indian names and who gave them the names.

15. Give each child a ball of water-base clay to form into two long coils. Use the clay coils to form the initial letter of the child’s first and last names. Partially insert a paper clip into the back of each letter before the clay air-dries. Children can hang their clay initials at home.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K Who Called the Mud-Places Many Talks Turtle Wait

I’ll tell you This girl did not give up baskets easily. He always watched he would always be out front She sewed many, and also traded for them turtles. One lived around here, when our families went walking. in this village the one who caused his name. He would step in the mud and all over, in other villages. Before anyone else. The baskets sat in rows on the ground, At an early age he waited for turtles each filled with talk. You see, to come up on their logs. Then he would call she put something important to her Everyone knew this back to us, “MUD! MUD!” in each basket. Something from her life. about him. He’d wait. Wait. And one turtle Then you could pick one out would be the last out of the water. And when he found some mud ahead of us for her to talk about, He had moss, mud, sometimes sticks we would lift the new-walking babies just by lifting the cover! On his back up on our shoulders And he was a slow one. so they wouldn’t get stuck That way you let the talk out. in mud. Other turtle watchers gave up. But he would This is how she had many mouths wait until that turtle came out Then, into the lake LAUGHING! sitting in rows on the ground. to tell him things he washed that mud and no one else. off his feet. Sometimes he had The time I picked one it had mud all over him! a catfish skull in it! So, in that way the turtle She told about catching this fish caused his name. He called the mud-places who was GRINNING under some rocks The last one to wait for. each time we went walking. when she caught it. It was the first fish she ever caught. Up on his rock or log. So his name got on him that way. She grinned all through the telling.

OUR NAMES AND WHERE WE LIVE - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Carrying out level of responsibility with regard to classroom pets and observations • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

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WORD STUDY

Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will teach grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of their regular program. Thematic units will help children develop vocabulary semantically through clusters of words related thematically to the unit. The clusters or categories are based on meaning rather than grapho/phonic relationships.

Develop wall chart collections of vocabulary words as the unit unfolds, encouraging children to identify words that can be added to each category. Children can draw pictures for each word to add to this chart. In kindergarten, children may be able to identify categories with teacher guidance. Create word card sets for children to use individually or in groups for word sorts. It is not necessary to choose all the words listed here and others may be substituted. These are examples.

White Bead Ceremony provides an excellent model for word study for this unit. Using the word cards from the book, have the children create their own word cards using words for animals and people with various relationships to the children. They should use words in English and their native language. Cards should be illustrated.

Have each child create their own name card, including words and illustrations, which describe them and the meanings of their names from a name book or otherwise.

Finally include and discuss the following: nicknames “name calling” stereotypes labels first names surnames

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Further Resources for Our Names and Where We Live From Anne To Zach by Mary Jane Martin Our Street/Sunshine/Wright Group C Josefina Hates Her Name by Diane Engel Places/Little Red Readers/Sundance C The First Thing My Mama Told Me by Susan M. Swanson My Home/Wright Group B & C Sophie’s Name by Phyllis Grode Houses/Wright Group C Hope by Isabell Monk Where Do You Live?/Tiger Cub/Peguis C *Who-Paddled-Backward-With-Trout by Howard Norman, Available from www.amazon.com *The Lost Boy and the Monster by Craig Strete (Indian Author) A House/PM Starters/Rigby A Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel My House/Carousel Earlybirds/Dominic Press A Matthew A. B. C. by Peter Catalanotto Where I Live/Carousel Earlybirds/Dominic Press B What’s Your Name from Arial to Zoe by Marilyn Sanders Here’s a House/Windmill/Wright Group A The Other Emily by Gibbs Davis My Home/Literacy 2000/Rigby A The Girl with Two Names by Lois Carrier House/Little Celebrations/Celebration Press C What’s Your Name: Jokes about Names by Scott Peterson *Red Bird by Barbara Mitchell Mommy Doesn’t Know My Name by Suzanne Williams I Hate My Name by Eva Grant Name That Ed by Laura Driscoll How I Named the Baby by Linda Shute A Perfect Name by Charlene Costanzo My Name is Johari by Anne S. O’Brien Other books and poems on the theme Elephants Never Forget Addresses by Graham Perry Everywhere in Mississippi by Laurie Parker The Kids’ Address Book by Michael Levine *Indian books Be sure to read books before placing them in units to ensure that they include the concepts desired.

Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

Approx. Four Week Unit WORKING TOGETHER K – Reading and Social Studies

Social Studies Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Develop respect for self and others Circle of Thanks poem in Research-based content Observations, work samples, self- Circle of Thanks/ Bruchac inquiry strategies assessment. See Assessment Guide Accept responsibility for personal Shemay, the Bird in the and section on assessment in this needs and working cooperatively Sugarbush/ D. Martinson Research-based literacy unit. Bidii by Marjorie Thomas strategies for word study Accept responsibility for class duties Jingle Dancer by Cynthia L. Smith Research-based literacy Help develop classroom rules My Apron by Eric Carle strategies for comprehension Seven Blind Mice/Ed Young Identify and give reasons for rules Clock, Clack, Moo: Cows Research-based writing That Type by D. Cronin activities Recognize devices for measuring Safety Can Be Fun by passage of time (clocks, calendars) Munro Leaf or other Workshops and Activity books about safety Centers – See Reading Identify and appreciate work done and Writing Guides by others

Identify the responsibilities of family members

Identify safety helpers such as police officers, crossing guards, mailmen, bus drivers, parents with children, etc.

Understand safety rules

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Introduction to the Theme and Unit Children in kindergarten should be made aware of their personal responsibilities and the responsibilities of others throughout the school year. In order to work cooperatively, children need to accept personal responsibility for following rules. Some rules are taught and practiced while others are generated as the need arises; some rules are dictated by the teacher while others are developed through group processes. Activities to teach rules should be teacher-directed with open-ended questions, visual aids, books, and classroom demonstrations. The following groups of rules should be included:

- Classroom rules - Conservation rules (not wasting things such as paper, lights and water) - Fire safety rules - Pedestrian safety rules - Playground/school rules

The following guidelines may be helpful when forming rules:

- Encourage children to participate in rule making. - Make as few general rules as possible. - State rules concisely and in a positive way. For example, “Use quiet voices inside.” Is preferable to “No loud voices inside the classroom.” - Review the rules on a regular basis. - Utilize the local tribal values as the basis for behavior expectations.

The books in this unit contain aspects of working together to get work done or to solve a problem. Other books may focus on safety.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the Native language whenever possible: Storytelling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual reading in reading workshop

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Retelling through drama, art, and writing Comprehension strategies including especially making connections, using prior experience, finding important ideas, predicting, questioning, visualizing, using graphic organizers Instructional conversations Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words in native language whenever possible Applying growing understanding of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing in writing workshop Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonics knowledge through writing, poetry, songs and chants, and through ongoing mini-lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

Content inquiry strategies include the following:

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT

For this unit, six pieces have fully developed lessons. The teacher should decide how many of the books to use. Also, all the lesson plans include multiple writing assignments but the teacher should consider which writing activities would be most effective for her students. Strategies in bold are explained further in the Reading, Writing and Assessment Guides.

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Indian Author) available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com Family members come together to solve a problem.

1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Start with open-ended response in which children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections, etc. 3. Second Reading: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques (LEA) to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large papers that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of story. 4. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models drawing, writing and sharing about a time when he/she needed people to help him/her get something done. The children draw, write and share about the same topic. 5. Third Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion with the children to help them understand main theme(s)/events in story. This book raises several important issues: the willingness and need to work with others, knowing when you need help from others, the importance of teaching and learning traditional art forms. The following are example guiding questions: Why do the family members contribute jingles to Jenna’s dress? What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? Why is it important to learn from our elders? What kind of jobs do the family members have? 6. Readers Theater: The teacher should begin by making a script from the book. There are enough characters so that most of the class can participate. The teacher needs to write just the dialogue and narrator’s sections and then give each actor a copy of the script with their dialogue highlighted. Those that can’t yet read need to memorize their lines or be prompted. 7. Narrative Writing Activity: “Working Together”: The teacher models writing about projects/activities he/she likes to do that involve several people helping/participating. In pairs the children discuss the same topic and then write or draw about it. ideas. 8. Interactive Writing: Native Language Development: Community Participation: Homework: The homework assignment is for the children to learn about this theme from their families and community as well as from their experiences in the classroom. These assignments are meant as opportunities for the children to initiate conversations with their families and then share their knowledge with the class. As a form of reporting to the class, the children should draw and write about what they learned from their families. The following is a question that can be used to initiate the conversation: Tell me about a time when our family had to work together to get something done. Tell me about something you learned from your grandparents.

WORKING TOGETHER - K

The Circle of Thanks poem in The Circle of Thanks: Native American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) available from Indian book distributors and www.amazon.com 1. First Reading: Start with open-ended response in which the children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections. 2. Second Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): The teacher facilitates a discussion with the children about who is working in the poem. In this poem the author uses personification and describes the stars, sun, moon, and trees as dancing. The teacher should pay attention to the Native American perspective in which the stars, moon and trees are portrayed as living beings. Extend the conversation to include a discussion about how the sun, moon, trees and stars work with humans and how, in the last stanza, the people are all dancing together. 3. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models thinking aloud, drawing, writing and sharing about how he/she finds beauty in working together with others. The children think, draw, write and share about the same topic. 4. Third Reading: Illustrate the Poem: The teacher provides each child with a copy of the poem. Each stanza is copied onto a page so that the child can provide and illustration for each stanza. 5. Interactive Writing, Community Participation, Homework: The children take home their illustrated poem books to share/read with family.

Bidii by Marjorie W. Thomas available from Salina Bookshelf at www.salinabookshelf.com 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Start with open-ended response in which children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 3. Second Reading: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques (LEA) to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times during the literacy block to support their reading/retelling of story. 4. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models drawing, writing and sharing about a time when he/she didn’t follow directions and something went wrong. The children draw, write and share about the same topic. 5. Third Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them understand main theme(s)/events in story. This book raises several important issues: the importance listening to one’s parents, the importance of

WORKING TOGETHER - K

following directions, and that showing-off is inappropriate behavior. The following are example guiding questions: Why does Bidii want to go to the sheep dip? How is Bidii supposed to help his family? What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? What do the other family members do to contribute to the family? What instructions does Bidii’s father give him? Why? Why doesn’t Bidii listen to his father? 6. Narrative Writing Activity: “Team Effort”: The teacher models writing about a time when they were part of a team or group effort but they didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. In pairs the children discuss if they have ever been in this situation. The teacher uses LEA strategies and as a class the children and the teacher write a paragraph about their experiences. 7. Interactive Writing, Native Language Development, Community Participation, Homework: The homework assignment is for the children to learn about this theme from their families and community as well as from their experiences in the classroom. These assignments are meant as opportunities for the children to initiate conversations with their families and then share their knowledge with the class. As a form of reporting to the class, the children should draw and write about what they learned from their families. The following questions can be used to initiate the conversations: How does each family member contribute to the well being of the whole family? Is their work that we all participate in? What work do I do to help the family? Read also Shemay, The Bird in the Sugarbush that includes a community working together to gather maple sugar.

My Apron by Eric Carle 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Start with open-ended response in which children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second Reading: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques (LEA) to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of story. 4. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models drawing, writing and sharing about a time when he/she has gone to work with a family member and/or worked with a family member. The children draw, write and share about the same topic. 5. Third Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them understand main theme(s)/events in story. This book raises several important issues: the importance teaching and learning about work and

WORKING TOGETHER - K

working skills from our families, the role of extended families, that all trades/professions have tools specific to them. The following are example guiding questions: What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? Why is it important to learn about work from our elders? What kind of jobs do your family members have? Do they have tools that they need to do that work? What are those tools? What are work responsibilities as a student? What tools do you use as a student? 6. Narrative Writing Activity: “How I Help My …”: The teacher models writing about a family member who he/she helps with his/her work. In pairs the children discuss the topic and then write and draw about it. Individually the children write about the same topic. The teacher should meet with each child individually to help them develop their ideas. 7. Interactive Writing, Native Language Development, Community Participation, Homework: The homework assignment is for the children to learn about this theme from their families and community as well as from their experiences in the classroom. These assignments are meant as opportunities for the children to initiate conversations with their families and then share their knowledge with the class. As a form of reporting to the class, the children should draw and write about what they learned from their family. The following are questions that can be used to initiate the conversation: How do I contribute to the family? What are my responsibilities to the family/community/tribe/clan?

Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Start with open-ended response in which children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 3. Second Reading: Readers Theater: The teacher should begin by making a script from the book. There are enough characters so that most of the class can participate. The teacher needs to write just the dialogue and narrator’s sections and then give each actor a copy of the script with their dialogue highlighted. Those who can’t read may memorize their lines or be prompted. 4. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models drawing, writing and sharing about a time when he/she didn’t ask for help and he/she couldn’t complete a task at all or as well as if he/she had had help and input from others. The children draw, write and share about the same topic. 5. Third Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them understand main theme(s)/events in story. This book raises several important issues: the importance of having multiple perspectives to gain insight into a situation, the need to step back and reflect on initial assumptions, and the importance of working together

WORKING TOGETHER - K and building on everyone’s contributions. The following are example guiding questions: What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? Why can’t they see the entire elephant? What does the Black mouse teach them? How does this story apply to your own life? 6. Interactive Writing, Native Language Development, Community Participation, Homework: The homework assignment is for the children to learn about this theme from their families and community as well as from their experiences in the classroom. These assignments are meant as opportunities for the children to initiate conversations with their families and then share their knowledge with the class. As a form of reporting to the class, the children should draw and write about what they learned from their family. The following questions can be used to initiate the conversation: Why is important to have many perspectives/opinions before making a decision? Why is it important to learn how to work in a group?

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Start with open-ended response in which children share feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second Reading: Retelling: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques (LEA) to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that he children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of story. 4. Dialogue Journal: The teacher models drawing, writing and sharing about a time when he/she worked with others to organize to work for something they believed in or protest against something they opposed. The central idea is that the children hear a real life example of working together to stand up for one’s rights or of protesting against injustice. The children draw, write and share about what they think/believe/feel about the concepts of strike, protest and organizing as illustrated by the book and the teacher’s example. Striking and protesting are powerful examples of people working together to change/improve their world. 5. Third Reading: Instructional Conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them understand main theme(s)/events in story. This book raises several important issues: the importance of communities coming together to change the world, taking responsibility for improving one’s life and not being afraid to stand up for what one believes. The following are example guiding questions: What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? What is a strike? When and why should people go on

WORKING TOGETHER - K

strike? The cows organized themselves in order to stand against the farmer. Do you know of other examples of people organizing to protect their rights? 6. Narrative Writing Activity: “Working Together to Defend Our Rights”: The teacher models writing a paragraph about a time when he/she did or wish he/she had worked with others to defend their rights. In pairs the children discuss issue or situations in their lives that they see as unjust or conditions that need to change/improve in their immediate environment. In pairs they write and draw about something they want to change and how they would go about working with others to bring about that change. The teacher meets with each pair to help them develop their ideas. 7. Interactive Writing: Native Language Development: Community Participation: Homework: The homework assignment is for the children to learn about this theme from their families and community as well as from their experiences in the classroom. These assignments are meant as opportunities for the children to initiate conversations with their families and then share their knowledge with the class. As a form of reporting to the class, the children should draw and write about what they learned from their family. The following questions can be used to initiate the conversation: Have you ever organized/protested to defend your rights? Why? How? Tell me the story?

See Further Resources section for books that can be substituted or used in addition to those listed here.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT Working Together Class Book: The teacher and the children work together to construct a class book about how they work together as a class and as a school community. The teacher and the children take a walking trip through the school and photograph people working together (e.g. children reading books together, children working at a computer together, a teacher and the assistant working with children, the principal and the staff working on daily tasks). Each photograph becomes a page in the book. For each photograph the children and the teacher write about what is happening in the photograph and how it is an example of people working together. The teacher uses Shared Writing/LEA strategies to help students write the text. Famous Quotes: See if the children can remember who said what and from what book. “You are a good helper.” “What is it?” “You don’t go everywhere and you don’t show off.” “Go slowly with the sheep.” “May I borrow enough jingles to make a row?” “We’d like some electric blankets.”

` WORKING TOGETHER - K

More Content Inquiry Strategies

1. When introducing the meaning of rules, ask the children to think of examples of rules and write them on the board or on chart paper. If the children have trouble remembering the rules, give your own examples such as, “In my kitchen, we have a rule that my children must let me turn on the stove.” or “In our house, we are responsible for putting our own things away.”

2. Using selected rules and responsibilities, play a “What might happen if…” game with the children. For example, “What might happen if we all didn’t put our center/workshop materials away… or clean the cricket’s cage… or hang up our coats?” “We have a rule that we don’t throw our blocks. What might happen if we didn’t have this rule?”

3. When the need for a rule arises in the classroom, brainstorming can allow the children to assist in forming or generating the rule. State the problem situation that has just occurred and ask the children to brainstorm possible rules that would prevent it from happening again. Or have the students role play the situation, then discuss with the children the behaviors they have just seen and encourage them to think of alternative ways of behaving and a rule for it. Point out that children are responsible for their own behaviors. Stress the importance of working together to get things done. Read and discuss Jingle Dancer.

4. Take the children on a classroom tour and explain how to use the various materials in the classroom. Brainstorm with the children to generate a collaborative list of rules for using the computer. Questions such as the following might be used to initiate discussion: - What might happen if you try to plug in the computer by yourself? - What might happen if all of you run toward the computer at the same time? - What might happen if someone puts clay on the keyboard?…spills a paint jar near the computer?…throws a bean bag or block at the monitor? A collaborative list of rules could be posted in the Computer Center.

5. Take a playground walk around the school to acquaint the children with the equipment and its proper use. Take a walk through the school and explain appropriate behavior while walking in the halls and visiting the library.

WORKING TOGETHER – K

Some Safety Rules Activities

1. Play the game, “What might happen if…” For example, “What might happen if you crossed the street without looking?” “What might happen if you ate some pills from the medicine chest?” Teach the children about 911.

2. Introduce rules through role play and practice. For example, to practice crossing streets, lay out a model intersection using rope, string, pebbles, or chalk on the blacktop outdoors. Have the children practice looking left, right, and left again before crossing the street/road. Have a child take the role of a crossing guard or police officer. Other children can pretend they are drivers or pedestrians. Have all children practice appropriate safety behaviors.

3. Through questioning, initiate a discussion about the job of the bus driver and the appropriate behavior of children riding a bus. For example: - What things must the driver do? - What would happen if the driver had to keep turning around to correct the children? - How should children behave on the bus? - What could happen if children put their hands out of the window/yelled/kicked the seat in front of them? Invite the kindergarten bus driver to discuss his or her role and bus rider rules with the class. Discuss the bus safety agreement with the children before sending it home.

4. Review the safety rules regarding strangers with the children.

5. Replicate a model intersection onto mural paper and place on the floor in a Dramatic Play Activity Center. Encourage the children to practice safety behaviors using toy cars, trucks, and people. Miniature traffic lights, stop signs, and/or other road signs can be introduced and used in the centers to reinforce recognition of colors and symbols associated with “stop” and “go.” Discuss the roles of police officers, crossing guards, and safety patrols. Bus rider rules can be practiced in the Dramatic Play Activity Center by creating a model bus using chairs and blocks.

6. Check with your principal as to the fire drill procedures for the school and teach the children fire safety rules.

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Poetry for Teaching Rules Teach the following poems using the shared reading technique. Have the students role play the poems as they say them.

At the Curb Corner Fire Drill

At the curb before I cross (stand on masking Little Jack Horner stood on the corner The fire drill rings, tape) (stand with feet together on masking tape) We drop all our things, (put down I stop my running feet. (point to feet) Watching the traffic go by. (look left and activities and stand) I look both ways to left and right (look to left right) We never run at all. (walk to the and right) And when it passed, he crossed at last door an form a line) Before I cross the street. (cross the street) (cross the road) We wait for our teacher (wait) Lest autos running quietly (stand on masking And said, “What a safe boy am I.” (put To tell us to go, (say, “go”) tape at opposite side of road) thumbs under arms as if bragging) And walk quietly down the hall. Might come as a surprise, (walk down) I don’t just listen with my ears (point to ears) Fire Safety Rules But look with both my eyes. (point to eyes) When your room is full of smoke We get out of that place This one rule you must know And line up at our space; (line up So that you will never choke: outside) Walking Home “Get down, stay low and go!” We try not to talk or shout. (be quiet) If your door feels way too hot, We say “here” to our names, When I walk home from school today, (walking Go and raise the window. That’s part of the game, along masking tape) Wave and scream and yell a lot Now we know that everyone’s out! I’ll walk the safe and careful way. ‘Till people come to help you. (call roll and have children respond) I’ll look to the left—I’ll look to the right. (look Now you have fire safety tools, left and right) You know just what to do. Then I’ll cross the street when no car is in sight. Go and teach your friends these rules (cross road) So they can be safe too!

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Some Jobs/Helping Activities

1. Encourage the children to discuss and demonstrate ways in which they help other people both at home and school. To initiate the discussion, ask questions such as the following: - How do you help at home?… in the classroom? - Can you show us what you do? - When someone helps you, how do you feel? - Can you tell us what you say or show us what you do when someone helps you? - How do you feel after you’ve helped someone? - How can you help the bus driver?… crossing guard?

2. Have a class Helpers Chart. Six children may choose special classroom jobs for the week.

3. Provide opportunities for the children to help other children with specific tasks as the need arises. Allow time for the children to discuss how they have helped others or others have helped them. Have the children draw and/or write about the ways in which they have helped others and compile their work into a “Helping” book.

4. Children need to develop an awareness of time and recognize their responsibility to perform certain tasks at specific times. When writing the day’s schedule, draw a clock beside several activities to show the time when they begin. As children note the position of the clock hands, say the time. Additional clocks can be added as the children begin to understand them. At significant times during the day, refer to the clock, the positions of the hands, the activity that will begin next, and the time. Reinforce awareness of words such as before, after, today, tomorrow, yesterday, and last week.

5. Read and discuss Shemay and Bidii that include working together. A Dramatic Play Center can be used to reinforce children’s responsibilities for working together cooperatively, using materials appropriately and putting materials away. Equip the center/workshop with clothing and tools for various occupations. Encourage the children to share their knowledge about the tools, materials or occupations. Discuss the responsibilities involved in the occupations.

WORKING TOGETHER - K

Poetry for Helping/Working Together

This is the way we water the plants Come and join us, Yes, you may. You’re my best friend, as you can see Water the plants, water the plants (beckoning hands) You mean so very much to me. This is the way we water the plants We are playing a game today. We work and play together each day. To make them big and strong. Isn’t it fun to be friends this way? Jump the rope! (jump) This is the way we wipe the board Ride the bike! (steer) Wipe the board, wipe the board Catch the ball! (hold out hands) Indian Poems/Songs This is the way we wipe the board Let’s take a hike! (walk in place) To make it nice and clean. Sing your song Come and join us, Yes, you may. looking up This is the way we stack the blocks (beckoning hands) at the sky - Nootka Stack the blocks, stack the blocks We are playing a game today. This is the way we stack the blocks I make them dance To tidy up the room. those brave men those brave men This is the way we set up for snack I try my best in all I do, every one of them. Set up for snack, set up for snack Hard things, easy things, tough things too. - Woodlands This is the way we set up for snack Just give it a try, To help all my friends. Please don’t be shy. TRY! TRY! TRY! Other poems on these topics.

(To the tune of “Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”)

WORKING TOGETHER - K

WORD STUDY

Action Words Other Descriptive Words strike ultimatum neutral demand spear impatient run pillar sturdy exchange cliff supple snoop tale wide plaster wisdom sharp scold batch breezy defend chimney stringy howl stump mischievous hoot regalia greedy hobble saddle faded wool carders bridle Remember to include words from the Native language.

WORKING TOGETHER - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Carrying out level of responsibility with regard to classroom pets and observations • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

WORKING TOGETHER – K

Further Resources for Working Together I Read Signs by Tana Hoban We All Help Out by Wil Perry/Houghton Mifflin I Read Symbols by Tana Hoban House Cleaning/Book Bank/Wright Group A Magic Monsters Learn About Safety by Sylvia Tester Together/Sunshine/Wright Group C Try It Again, Sam: Safety Where You Walk by Judith Viorst My Dad Cooks/Carousel Readers/Dominic C When I Cross the Street – By Myself by Dorothy Chiad Who Will Help?/Carousel Readers/Dominic B The Danger of Strangers by Carole E. Vogel. Going to School/Storybox/Wright Group C Berenstain Bears Learn about Strangers by S. and J. Berenstain Going to School/Smart Start/Rigby A Arthur’s Fire Drill by Marc T. Brown My School/Little Readers/Houghton Mifflin B Stop, Drop and Roll by Lyn L. Hester We Go to School/Carousel Readers/ Dominic B Home Fire Drills by Lucia Raatma To School/Sunshine/Wright Group A The Wheels on the Bus by Maryann Kovalski The Way I Go to School/PM Starters/Rigby B Curious George Visits the Police Station by M. Rey and A. J. Shalleck Walking to School/Voyages/McGraw Hill C Curious George at the Fire Station by M. Rey and A. J. Shalleck Cleaning Teeth/Wonder World/Wright Group C I Can Be a Policeman by Catherine Mattias Signs/Literacy 2000/Rigby B My Mommy Works by Roberta Chad Signs/Little Celebration/Celebration Press C Wacky Families Series by Allan Ahlberg Danger/Storybox/Wright Group C *Powwow ABC by Sandy Hummingbird (Indian Author) Safety/Interaction/Rigby C *Powwow Activity Book by Sandy and Jesse Hummingbird (Ind. Authors) Call 911/Twig/Wright Group C *All About How Dennis Todacheeni Came to School,Navajo Soc. St. Proj. At the Playground/Little Red Readers/Sundance C *My Family Likes to Work/San Juan School District, 435 678-1229 My Friend at School/Visions/Wright Group C *Sharing Unit in The Learning Circle,First Nations www.inac.gc.ca The Dressing Up Box/Book Bank/Wright Group C *Jingle Dress Dance: Color Your Own Poster Kit, Prairie Edge The Bus Ride/Celebration Press C *Alfred’s First Day at School by Dearrell Pelletier My Class/J. Stewart and L. Salem, Seedling A * Indian books Other books and poems on working together/safety

Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

Approx. Four Week Unit FOOD K – Reading and Science

Science Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Identify and classify foods The Popcorn Book by T. dePaola Research-based content Observations, work samples and within related groups The First Strawberries by Joseph inquiry strategies self-assessment. See Assessment Bruchac Guide and the section on assessment Describe and contrast the Iktomi and the Berries by P. Goble Research-based literacy in this unit. shape and texture of foods American Indian Food by J. Miller strategies for word study How Food Was Given in We Identify the foods in a Are the People by the Okanagan Research-based literacy balanced diet and why they Bears Make Rock Soup by Lise strategies for comprehension are necessary for good health Erdrich Eating the Alphabet by. L. Ehlert Research-based writing Choose nutritious foods Legend of Food Mountain by H. activities Rohmer Prepare nutritious foods The Tortilla Factory by G. Paulsen Workshops and Activity Carlos and the Cornfield by Jan Centers – See Reading and Recognize necessity for Stevens Writing Guides practicing sanitary measures Bread Bread Bread by A. Morris when handling food Jalopena Bagels by Natasha Wing The Berry Book by G. Gibbons Practice appropriate eating Watermelon Girl by Kathi Appelt habits Cook-a-Doodle-Doo by S. Crummel The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin Participate in small groups Stone Soup and cooperate Growing Vegetable Soup by Louise Ehlert Identify/describe various Yummy: Eating Through a Day by scents, tastes and sounds Lee Hopkins

FOOD – K Introduction to the Theme and Unit Food is a profound theme because it represents core American Indian values about the interdependence of all living things. Food – along with air, water, and shelter – is one of the basic needs of all living things. We begin the unit with stories about the origins of food that demonstrate the connection between humans, the earth, and other living entities that provide food. Other Indian stories relate to the origins of particular food groups. Children learn about foods traditional to their place on the earth (geography, climate, eco systems) and that people in other places may depend on different foods and have differing food traditions.

Children go on to learn about different food groups and how they relate to nutrition. They learn about the ways in which technological advances may upset the natural balance of traditional food practices. They learn about varying eating practices, e.g. social etiquette with regard to eating differing foods in differing contexts.

Teachers should connect this unit to resources and activities in the “Plants” and “Animals” units. Children will also want to incorporate the products of their inquiries about food into the “Families” and “All about Me” units.

Snacks will become a part of the children’s learning. Using snacks, teachers can emphasize the following:

- Washing hands before eating - Not eating food dropped on the floor or partially eaten by someone else - Taking at least one “try it” bite of each food - Chewing food properly and completely - Saying “please” and “thank you” - Using a napkin - Using eating utensils properly

The teacher will need to explain that nutritious foods provide things the body needs to be healthy. Some examples of nutritious foods are fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, and nuts. To avoid conflict in the child’s mind when many non-nutritious snacks are available to him/her, the teacher can point out that we would get sick if the only things we ate were “junk” foods. Children need to learn about nutritious foods so that when they have a choice, they can make wise decisions.

FOOD - K Stress with the students the American Indian Content Standard that states “Indian students should develop an understanding of elements of nutrition and how they were applied in the diets of American Indians prior to the arrival of Europeans.” Perhaps an elder from the community or Community Health Worker can speak to the class on this matter.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible:

Storytelling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual reading in reading workshop Retelling through drama, art, and writing Comprehension strategies including especially making connections, using prior experience, finding important ideas, predicting, questioning, visualizing, using graphic organizers Instructional conversations Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words and words in native language whenever possible Applying growing understandings of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing in writing workshop Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonic knowledge through writing; poetry, songs; and through ongoing mini lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

Content inquiry strategies include the following:

Finding content information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations and experiences in classroom, through video, computer and in nature Developing sensory awareness Interviews with and hearing from knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

FOOD – K INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT Prior Experience With the children create a chart of all the foods they can think of. Talk about favorite foods, family foods, any foods. Begin to ask questions about how these foods might be grouped in order to explore the children’s initial understandings about different food groups and their relationship to nutrition. Return to the chart with each new reading or experience in order to let children gradually add it its complexity rather than you telling the “right answers.” You can certainly ask probing questions or point out things you see to support their emerging understandings. See Instructional Conversation in the Reading Guide. Ask the children to play the name game. Children try to think of a food they like that begins with the same sounds as their names, e.g. Greta grape. Go around the class with each child sharing a name and associated food. Depending on the focus of the lesson, accept foods that don’t begin with the same sound. (Or press the children if the focus is also phonics to find a food with the same beginning sound.) Have the children try to remember the names of the other children with their food connections. If books seem too long for the students, chunk them and read them in sections and review parts already read before starting a new section. Strategies highlighted in bold are explained more fully in the Reading Guide.

How Food Was Given in We Are the People by the Okanagan (Indian Author) available from Oyate at www.oyate.org 1. Experience/Text/Relationship (ETR) This strategy asks the teacher to begin helping children make the connection between their prior experience and the text they read. Prediction Begin by asking the children to predict the answer to the story title. Take note of their answers and their names. 2. Read How Food Was Given using storytelling strategies. 3. Instructional Conversation (IC) Have the children share open responses: questions, connections, favorite parts, etc. 4. Second reading IC Ask the children to retell the story informally and collaboratively. Dramatize the story informally after being sure the children have the retelling in hand. 5. Third reading IC Return to the children’s predictions and ask them where their prediction came from and how it helped them read the story. (ETR) then open the discussion to ask. “What lessons did we learn from this story?” 6. Return to the food chart. See if the children have further ideas about clustering the kinds of food they are familiar with. The story should probably elicit at least the categories represented by the living creatures in the story: meat, fish, plants. 7. Homework for the unit should include asking families to support children as they inquire about favorite foods for each family member, favorite family recipes, and food stories particular to the community. Respect the local traditions regarding storytelling times, etc. Children will share family input throughout the unit.

FOOD – K Legend of Food Mountain by Harriet Rohmer 1. Tell the children this is a story about the origin of food from another group of people in Central America. Show them on the map where the story originated. 2. Read the story using storytelling strategies. 3. IC First responses from children are open-ended, questions, connections, feelings, favorite parts, etc. 4. Second reading Informal retelling This story is more complex than the first so the teacher needs to scaffold more carefully. Perhaps create a list with simple symbolic or picture reminders. Ask the children to pick one part to draw and create a class storyboard. Use the storyboard as a further support to further retellings as needed. 5. Third reading IC Ask the children what lessons they learned from the story. 6. Return to the food chart and use this story to think about the ways they have grouped foods. 7. Compare this story to the first, finding similarities and differences. May want to use a Venn diagram. First story emphasized the different animals and their direct relationships to different kinds of food. It also emphasized using songs for thanks and healing. Second story emphasized the importance of asking for rain – also stressed the importance of corn. 8. Children will be sharing family stories and foods. 9. Invite guests – elders, family and other community members – to share food stories and traditions particular to the local culture. Respect their storytelling traditions regarding time for telling stories, etc. 10. Teacher models a dialogue journal about her favorite food and why she/he likes it. 11. Children write their own dialogue journals about their favorite foods. 12. May want to create a class book about favorite foods at this point.

By this time the class should have organized their food chart to include staple carbohydrate foods, the basic building block for various cultures, such as grains, corn, rice etc., along with fruits and vegetables and meats and/or fish.

American Indian Foods by Jay Miller available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. Read this book one chapter at a time. IC Discuss with the children what they learn in each chapter and how it relates to food in their own region. Topics will include the staples of a particular region, how people gathered food, and so on. 2. The class should add food to the food chart. 3. The class may also want to use a large map and add kinds of food found in different parts of North America.

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4. Ask individual children to take turns illustrating the different kinds of food and add illustrations to the chart and/or map. 5. Ask the children to find out the Native language name for their illustrated food and add that to the chart and/or map. 6. Rather than reading the book all at once, the teacher may want to read a chapter at a time spread throughout the unit.

Background information: Introduce the importance of carbohydrate staples such as corn, potatoes, rice, grains, and beans to all cultures. Tell the children they are going to study several of them. (Teacher needs to decide how many of these foods to study.)

CORN Use Corn is Maize by Aliki as a resource book on the history of corn and Indian people if needed. Available from www.amazon.com

The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola available from Indian book distributors and www.amazon.com This book provides a brief but fun introduction to corn. 1. Read the story. 2. IC Ask the children for open-ended responses – their own connections, stories, questions 3. Second reading IC Ask the children to discuss what they learned about corn and about popping corn. 4. Have the children assist the teacher in popping corn. Use language experience to write down the steps. Post the enlarged “recipe.” 5. Ask the children to think of describing words for the experience using their senses. Discuss recipes as a text genre. 6. Ask the children to draw a picture and write their own recipes for popcorn. 7. Children can begin bringing favorite recipes from home.

The Tortilla Factory by Gary Paulsen This book explains how corn is used to make a different kind of food. 1. Read the story. 2. IC Open-ended responses What are the children’s own experiences with tortillas? 3. Second reading 4. IC What new information did they learn about corn and the ways in which corn can be used for food? This book can be read by the children in small groups with teacher support.

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Carlos and the Cornfield by Jan Stevens In this story, the children learn about a contemporary boy who is learning about planting corn from his father. The children will learn new information about corn. But they will also want to discuss the boy’s experience with taking responsibility for work or not, and later taking responsibility for what he had done wrong. 1. Read the story using storytelling strategies. 2. IC First responses should be open-ended. What are the children’s connections, questions, favorite parts, feelings? 3. Second reading The story is fairly complex so the teacher should support a collaborative retelling, informally at first. 4. IC At this point the teacher may want to ask the children what lessons they are learning from the story. The teacher will probably want to return to this question again. 5. Third reading Teacher could try a language experience retelling by stopping at predetermined points in the story to ask the children what has just happened. Teacher records their ideas. 6. Have the children (in pairs or small groups) pick one of the events of the retelling to illustrate on large paper. Create a wall story using the language experience sentence or sentences under each picture. 8. IC Ask the children again what they think the boy learned? What did they themselves learn from the story?

BREAD Introduce the topic of bread by asking the children what kinds of bread they eat or know about? Explain that they will learn that bread is made from many kinds of grain and is turned into many kinds of bread across the world. Read Bread Bread Bread by Ann Morris and Bread Is for Eating by David and Phillis Gershator 1. IC With the children talk about what they are learning about bread, how it is made, what forms it takes in different parts of the world. 2. Ask the children to find out if there are bread traditions in their particular communities. 3. Talk about why the idea of sharing food together is often described as “breaking bread” together.

Jalopena Bagels by Natasha Wing In this story a child with parents from two different cultural traditions struggles to decide what kind of food he will share at a class feast where children share different kinds of food.

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1. Read the story. 2. IC Discuss with the children the boy’s problem and his solution. 3. This may be an opportunity to open up the discussion to the joys and struggles of bringing two different cultural traditions into one family. 4. Have a bread sharing day. Invite families to participate in actually baking bread or making fry bread. Or have the children bring different kinds of bread to share. 5. In the book Grandma Maxine Remembers from the Grade 1 Families Unit, Grandma Maxine talks about making fry bread. She says, “You must cook with good feeling, or it won’t turn out well. Bad feeling will go in the food.” Two books that children can read in small groups with teacher support are Bread and Bread is for Eating by D. and P. Gershator.

RICE Everybody Cooks Rice by Norah Dooley This book provides yet another opportunity for children to learn about another staple and the various ways different cultures use the staple as food. Discuss wild rice harvested by Indian people.

FRUIT, ESPECIALLY BERRIES Introduce this as another food group important to all people and needed for a healthy balanced diet. First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story retold by Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) available from Indian book distributors or Amazon. 1. Read the story using storytelling strategies. 2. IC First response should be open-ended. Children share their own connections, questions, favorite parts, feelings. 3. Second reading With the children, retell the story informally. 4. IC What lessons did we learn from the story? 5. Have the children brainstorm the kinds of berries with which they are familiar. Iktomi and the Berries by Paul Goble available from Indian book distributors and www.amazon.com This story is not just about berries as a source of food and the origin of a particular harvesting tradition, but it is also about Iktomi as a trickster. The teacher may want to find out if the children are already familiar with Iktomi or any other tricksters. If so, what do they expect in a trickster story? Check with the culture studies teacher regarding telling of local trickster stories and respect traditions.

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1. Read the story using storytelling strategies. The author gives ideas for pausing during the reading and inviting the children’s active participation in predicting and making connections while the story is unfolding. 2. Several readings of the story will be necessary for the children to be able to retell. Begin informally and tighten the retelling with each reread. 3. IC Ask the children what they learned from the story. What did they learn about Iktomi? What did they learn about berries?

The Berry Book by Gail Gibbons This book is well supported by illustrations and a fairly small amount of text. 1. Read the text but pause for discussion of each page having the children make connections and ask questions. 2. Reread the book in small groups. Ask each group to take responsibility for different sections. Create a language experience chart using their words to state the important idea of that section. That group of children will illustrate their section and present their information to the class, supported by the picture. Use these illustrations and language experience texts to create a wall storyboard.

Watermelon Girl by Kathi Appelt 1. Follow previous ideas with regard to reading and rereading the story. 2. IC Discuss the way the author uses describing words to help us smell and taste and see the watermelon in concrete detail. 3. Have the children return to their original dialogue journals about favorite foods. Help them brainstorm describing words using their senses to add to their stories.

Cook-a-Doodle-Doo by Susan Stevens Crummel This book may be used in connection with berries since the characters collaboratively create a strawberry shortcake. Or it may be used with the “stone soup” genre following that involves collaboration in cooking a meal/food. Connections may also be made to The Little Red Hen and other stories in the theme of working together. 1. Read the story 2. IC Open discussion

FOOD – K 3. Second reading Pause during the reading to discuss the various animals’ confusions. Go on to discuss “What did we learn from this story?” This will include specifics about cooking but also lessons about working together on projects and the value of trying again and getting better with practice. 4. Have the class follow the recipes in the book to create strawberry shortcake and teach cooking vocabulary.

VEGETABLES The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin This story introduces the food group of vegetables and helps children differentiate plant groups – foods, flowers. It also works as a transition to the theme of stone soup. 1. Read the story. 2. IC First responses are open-ended 3. Second reading With the children engage in an informal retelling. 4. IC What lessons did we learn from this story? About people and sharing? About vegetables in particular? 5. Return to the food chart and with the children to see if they have further ideas about vegetables they know and like – or dislike! Discuss why vegetables are an important food group. 6. May want to refer to Tops and Bottoms book in the grade 1 Plants unit which also talks about vegetables that grow above and below ground, or alternatively which different parts of the plant are eaten- roots, stems, seeds and so on.

Bears Make Rock Soup in Bears Make Rock Soup by Lise Erdrich available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. Read the story 2. IC Open response While making connections, the children may make text to text connections about other versions of Stone Soup or about the two stories previously read, Cook-a-Doodle-Doo or The Ugly Vegetables. 3. Second reading IC What lessons did we learn from this story? 4. Especially highlight the meaning of rocks to the soup in this story. “Rocks are the bones of the earth. They hold mysterious life.” 5. Read other versions of Stone Soup. 6. Read Sip Slurp Soup by Diane Bertrand, a humorous “stone soup” genre story. 7. Use a story matrix to compare different versions of this story genre.

FOOD - K Growing Vegetable Soup by Louise Ehlert 1. Have the children become more specific about what ingredients might go into a stone soup. 2. Have each child bring one vegetable or staple like potatoes or rice (or get it from the school kitchen) and cook soup for the class. 3. Discuss the role of the stone and what it represents. Why is it in the stories when it actually is not a food?

OTHER CULTURES/OTHER FOODS Dim Sun Although this story is not about soup, it is about another culture’s traditional foods and creating a meal collaboratively.

Yoko by Rosemary Wells Children can learn about another culture’s food traditions and the attitudes people sometimes have toward different food traditions.

Watermelon Girl – See above under Fruits Still further connections could occur using The Gingerbread Man/Boy, The Pancake Boy (Norwegian), The Bun (Russian), or The Stinky Cheese Man (modern satire version).

The Sugar Bush by Winona LaDuke (Indian Author) available from Oyate at www.oyate.org Some tribes tap trees for maple sugar.

MANNERS How My Parents Learned to Eat Use as an introduction to class discussions of different ways of eating different foods, differing expectations with regard to manners, and so on.

Those Tiny Bits of Beans by John Weler available from Pemmican at www.pemmican.mb.ca Aunt Madeline tries to give Uncle Henri a lesson in manners but things don’t quite work out. See Further Resources section for books that can be substituted or used in addition to those already listed in this unit.

FOOD – K CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT 1. The class may want to save one or more of the culminating cooking activities until the end of the unit. 2. Class can create an ABC book of fruits and vegetables using Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z as a model. Each child would contribute a page. 3. Use the poems in Yummy! Eating Through a Day selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Have groups of children learn different poems and create choral readings to present to the class. The presentations might occur by doing a class food celebration with families invited. 4. Add food stories – individual or family to the “All About Me” books or “My Family” books created for other units in this curriculum.

More Content Inquiry Strategies

1. Sorting and classifying using food cards, introduce children to a variety of fruit and vegetable foods and provides the opportunity for them to organize their knowledge. Model the sorting process using a group of pictures of food. Explain to the children that they can sort them any way they wish, and they might be asked to tell why they sorted them as they did. Provide additional sorting experiences to challenge the children to sort food pictures in new ways or in ways that reflect their own experiences. Have children find seeds from several foods and sort them in the following ways:

- Foods that contain seeds/those that don’t - Foods with lots of seeds/those with few - Foods with green, red, or yellow “skins” - Foods that are soft/those that are hard

Encourage two children to guess the identity of each other’s groupings. Follow up with a discussion of other ways the items could be grouped. Allow the children to work together to form groupings, with dialogue occurring naturally. Talk informally with one child at a time to determine how he or she decided upon each grouping. These discussions can help you know more about the child’s thinking patterns, knowledge, and ability to express him or herself orally. Point out that Indian people long ago ate meat, nuts, roots and berries and some grew vegetables such as corn, squash and beans.

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2. Cooking is an integral part of the kindergarten program, providing the opportunity to introduce and reinforce a variety of skills. The following procedure can be used when preparing food in the classroom: - Write and/or draw the recipe on chart paper. - When children come to the food center, have them first wash their hands - Use shared reading to read through and discuss the recipe together to determine the sequence of procedures, the implements that need to be gathered, the procedures for safety and clean up, the procedures for cycling the children through the Food Center/Workshop, and the preparations for eating the food.

As children are working, use questions to help them focus on various aspects of the cooking process, for example: - What is happening to the powders as we add the liquid? - What do you notice changing? - What does the batter feel/smell/look/taste like? - If you have a problem with your batter, do you have any ideas for solving the problem?

Encourage the children to share their discoveries with each other. Listen for children’s dialogue as they work in order to notice what the children are learning and ways in which they are solving problems. Read Bears Make Rock Soup and Stone Soup, compare stories.

Clean up is also the children’s responsibility. (Be sure the cooking utensils are washed properly before using again.)

Have the children evaluate their experiences by asking questions such as: - What was your favorite part of cooking? - What problems did you have? How did you solve them? What did you learn from your problems? - Which job did you like best? - If we made this ______again, would you change the recipe? How?

A collaborative story can be used to record the children’s ideas about the food preparation processes and their perceptions. In addition, the children might write about their cooking experiences in their journals.

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3. Encourage children to take only their fair share of snack by placing number signs in front of specific snack foods to require their taking 2 apples or 10 raisins only for example. Refer to How Food Was Given to stress sharing. Stress that Indian people long ago and today hunt for game. Talk about how Indian people had healthy diets long ago, eating meat, nuts and berries.

4. Have each child draw/write a picture of his or her favorite food dish. Compile these drawings/writings into a class “cookbook.”

5. Write a letter to the parents explaining to them that the class is studying food. Encourage the parents to talk with the children about food and have the children help make a shopping list. Ask if the students have any restrictions to foods.

6. If it is Thanksgiving time, read the book, Giving Thanks: A 1621 Harvest Festival by Kate Waters. Explain to the children that many of the foods we eat at Thanksgiving and eat every day were first eaten and provided by Indian people: potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, corn and that Indian people are always thankful for food and other things. Refer to The Popcorn Book about how some Indian people grew corn. Did the local tribe(s) grow corn? Have the cultural teacher/elder tell about that.

7. Look at, feel, smell and taste pumpkins. Outside: Notice the skin. Feel the flesh. Feel how thick the flesh is. Thump on the pumpkin. How does it sound? Inside: Feel the stringy material and the seeds. Describe them. Seeds: Describe the seeds. How do they feel? Open one. How are pumpkin seeds and apple seeds alike and how are they different? How is the pumpkin like an apple? How is it different?

8. Describe items on the school menu for the day. Have the students guess what foods they will have. Have them write their menus.

9. Make a book of local foods with native words.

10. Compare tortillas and fry bread using a Venn diagram.

11. Take the class out to eat at a restaurant if possible.

FOOD – K WORD STUDY Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will teach grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of their regular program. Thematic units will help children develop vocabulary semantically through clusters of words related thematically to the unit. The clusters or categories are based on meaning rather than grapho/phonic relationships.

Staples/starches Fruit Vegetables Meat rice berries carrots fish – salmon grain – wheat strawberries onions buffalo corn watermelon pumpkin deer potatoes cranberries squash beans Note: You may want to introduce the idea of a general word with specific examples e.g. fish-salmon, grain – wheat, berries – strawberries. Remember to also include words from the native language. Foods Corn Action Words Describing Words Cooking Words popcorn kernels pop golden cup bagels husk harvest black tablespoon cornflakes cob plant round teaspoon fry bread dig crunchy measure tortilla cut ice cold wash soup sweet bake cook heat

FOOD - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Carrying out level of responsibility with regard to classroom pets and observations • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

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Further Resources for Food Unit The Barbecue/Sunshine/Wright Group A Today is Monday by Eric Carle Dinner!/Sunshine/Wright Group A *Sasquatch Exterminator by Don Freed Eating/Foundations/Wright Group A *Native American Cookbook by Edna Henry (Indian Author) Huggles’ Breakfast/Sunshine/Wright Grp.A *Southwest Indian Cookbook by Marcia Keegan I Like to Eat/Reading Corners/Dominic A *Circle of Life HIV-AIDS Curric. about germs In the Supermarket/Smart Start/Rigby A *Creating Sacred Places Curriculum K-3, Vol. I Unit on Food with food poems Time for Dinner/Smart Start/Rigby A *Keepers of Life, Discovering Plants Through Native American Stories Food to Eat/Little Readers/H-M B by Joseph Bruchac, also story cards, audiocassettes and teacher’s guide Giant’s Breakfast/Literacy 2000/Rigby B *American Indian Curriculum – Unit on Food, United Tribes, Bismarck, ND Counting Noodles/H-M Series Poems Me Stew, Recipe for a Hippopotamus, I Must Remember, With His Mouth Good to Eat/Twig/Wright Group B Full of Food, Melinda Mae, Hungry Mungry and Sarah Cynthia Stout Would What’s for Lunch/Storybox,/Wright Grp.B Not Take the Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein Ben’s Banana/Foundations/Wright Grp.C The Seven Silly Eaters by M. Hoberman and M. Frazee Breakfast/Foundations/Wright Group C My Whole Food ABC’s by David Richard In My Garden/Literacy 2000/Rigby C What Food Is This? by Rosemarie Hausherr Lunch Time/Carousel Readers/Dominic C Sack Lunch by Bob Reese Monster Meals/Literacy 2000/Rigby C The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food by Stan Berenstain Lunch Orders/Tadpoles/Rigby C Eat Your Peas, Louise by P. Snow Stone Soup/Houghton-Mifflin Series Little Bear’s Birthday Soup by Janice Brustlein The Gingerbread Man/H-M Series What We Eat by Sara Lynn and Diane James The Amazing Porridge Pot/H-M Series Something Queer in the Cafeteria by Elizabeth Levy Fruit Salad/Literacy 2000/Rigby A I Eat Leaves by JoAnn Vandine Great Enormous Hamburger/Wright G. B Feast for 10 by Cathryn Fallwell Be sure to read books to determine if Lunch by Denise Fleming they include the concepts the teacher I Need a Lunch Box by Jeanette Caines intended before including them in unit. *Indian books Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

Approx. Four Week Unit PLANTS K – Reading and Science

Science Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Describe characteristics and The Bitterroot in Keepers of Life Research-based content Observations, work samples needs of living things and plants by Caduto and Bruchac inquiry strategies and self-assessment. See in particular The Legend of Indian Paintbrush the Assessment Guide by Tomie dePaola Research-based literacy and the section on assessment Care for a variety of growing The Legend of Bluebonnet by strategies for word study in this unit. seeds Tomie dePaola The Circle of Thanks in The Research-based literacy Observe and describe the Circle of Thanks by Bruchac strategies for comprehension germination of a seed and Emma and the Trees by Lenore growth of a plant Keeshig-Tobias Research-based writing The Reason for a Flower by Ruth activities Describe ways in which living Heller things change as they grow Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Workshops & Activity and develop Flower Bloomed by Lola M. Centers – See Reading and Shaffer Writing Guides Describe how seasonal changes The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein affect plants

Use senses to describe objects and events

Observe and describe plants found in the local environment

Record nature observations

PLANTS - K Introduction to the Theme and Unit Indian people have a close relationship with nature. Most Indian people gathered berries and nuts and hunted for their food. Many still do today. Plants offered cures for diseases. It was believed that when medicine or food plants were gathered, the plants gave themselves to the people. If the people did not care for the plants properly, the plant may not continue to grow in the future. Some tribes grew food plants and were accomplished botanists. Concepts to be learned in this theme are the importance of learning through careful observations and sensory awareness, understanding the interconnectedness of humans, plants, animals, and environments; understanding humans’ responsibilities toward plants; and understanding a respectful and thankful relationship with plants rather than control over them. In kindergarten, the study of plants focuses on the basic characteristics and parts of a plant, how plants grow, develop and change over time especially with the effects of seasonal changes.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible Storytelling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading and individual reading in reader’s workshop Retelling though drama, art and writing Comprehension strategies including making connections to the children’s everyday experiences, using prior experiences and knowledge, finding important ideas, predicting, asking questions, visualizing, use of graphic organizers Instructional conversations Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words and words in the native language whenever possible Applying growing understandings of cueing system to read labels and simple texts Reading language experience stories and individual writing Developing vocabulary including both sight and content words and words in native language whenever possible Applying growing understandings of cueing systems to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing in writing workshop Writing including journals, dialogue journals, information writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonic knowledge through writing; poetry, songs, and changes; and through ongoing mini lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

PLANTS - K Content Inquiry strategies include the following: Finding content information in narrative and non-narrative texts Observations in classroom, outdoors nature walks, field trips, through video, and computer Developing a sensory awareness Interviews with and hearing from knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT Start the unit with an Indian story, such as The Bitterroot, The Legend of the Bluebonnet and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. These stories communicate and underscore the larger concept of the interdependence between human beings and the environment, particularly our responsibility in taking of plants and the gifts that we receive from plants. The Bitterroot by Michael Caduto and Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) in Keepers of Life, pp 127-128. 1. Make an overhead of the illustration on page 128. Use storytelling strategies and refer to the overhead picture often to facilitate the children’s understanding of the story. 2. First Reading: Prior to reading the story, use the overhead of the illustration to promote discussion about the story. Ask the children to look at the overhead illustration carefully and describe what they see in the picture. Ask a few prediction questions, e.g. Why do you think the bird in the tree is watching the women? What do you think the woman is doing? Provide the title of the story. Connecting to the children’s own experiences and knowledge, ask them if they know what a “bitterroot” is or predict what they think a bitterroot might be. Write their predictions and responses on a butcher paper entitled: What is a bitterroot? With two columns under the heading—one column will be entitled “predictions” and the other column will be entitled “actual.” Be sure to note each child’s contribution with his/her initials. Refer to the illustration often throughout the reading asking questions to encourage predictions and check for their comprehensions. At the end of the story, refer to the matrix and ask the children to help fill in the column entitled: What is a bitterroot? Actual. Record their responses and check to see how their predictions align with the predictions. Illustrations and/or print can be used on the chart. 3. Second reading: Read the story again. Prior to reading the story, remind the children of the first reading by referring to the illustration on the overhead. Ask the children to look at the illustration and to “think to themselves” something they remembered about the story. After a few seconds of “think time,” ask them to turn to their neighbor or partner and tell them one thing they remembered from the story. Give them a few seconds to tell each other what they remembered. Announce that it

PLANTS - K is “time to share.” Ask a few children, to share what their partner told them or what they told their partner. This participant structure,” Think Pair Share,” is often used to give children time to think about the answer to a question and provide opportunities for everyone to share with a partner and/or the class. It decreases the possibility of the same children responding to the questions and increases the opportunities for everyone to be an “active participant” in the learning process. 4. Children collaboratively retell the story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event on large paper. Children can illustrate each of the main events in small groups or partners. The children’s illustrated pages become a wall story or a class book. This will further support their retelling/reading of the story during other times of the day or during a literacy block. 5. If available, bring a bitterroot to the class for the children to examine and use all senses to facilitate their understanding of what a bitterroot is and what it is used for. 6. The illustrated pages can also become backdrops for a simple re-enactment of the story performed by the children. As the teacher reads the sentences on each poster, children could act out or mime the actions of the story. Another version might be that groups of children practice choral reading the sentences, while other children act out the various parts of the story. 7. Third Reading: What did we learn from the story The Bitterroot? About the gifts of plants? About our responsibility to plants? About the use of plants?

The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. Use storytelling strategies. 2. First reading: Prior to reading the story, have a couple of small potted flowering plants, if available, in full view for the children to see or have a few pictures of flowers from magazines or other sources displayed. Ask the children to describe the flowering plants (color, shape, size, texture and the parts (petals, stem, leaf, roots) and share their experiences with flowering plants. What is your favorite flower? What color is your favorite flower? What kinds of flowers do you have around your home or what flowers do you see around the school? After they have shared their observations and ideas about flowering plants, ask them: Have you ever wondered where the very first flower grew? I have. Where do you think the first flower came from? The children’s ideas can be written down noting each child’s name by his/her idea for later discussion. Explain that the story The Legend of the Bluebonnet may help us to find out where one particular flower came from. Use the picture inside the cover or on the back cover to show the children what a bluebonnet looks like. At the end of the story, ask the children to explain where the bluebonnet came from and if its origination was similar to their previous ideas of where the first flower came from.

PLANTS - K 3. Second reading: Read the story again with plenty of opportunities for the children to ask questions. After the reading, the teacher models and illustrates something she liked about the story. The children share and/or draw something they liked about the story. Dialog journals could be used for this activity. 4. Children collaboratively retell the story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event on large papers. Children can illustrate each of the main events in small groups or partners. The children’s’ illustrated pages become a wall story or a class book. This will further support their retelling/reading of the story during other times of the day or during a literacy block. 5. The illustrated pages can also become backdrops for a simple re-enactment of the story performed by the children. As the teacher reads the sentences on each poster, children could act out or mime the actions of the story. Another version might be that groups of children practice choral reading the sentences, while other children act out the various parts of the story. 6. Third Reading IC: What lessons did we learn from this story? The gift of plants? About forgiveness? About thankfulness? Helping each other? Family? The importance of rain for the plants and people?

Content Inquiry Strategies 1. If the flowering potted plants were used for the first reading of the story, ask the children where they think the plants might grow best –some place indoors or some place outdoors. Write up their predictions on a chart noting each child’s name next to their contribution using a matrix—Indoors/Outdoors-listing the various places the children suggest. Have a discussion as to why specific places might be the best place for the plants. Place the plants in the suggested areas. Everyday, ask the children to observe the plants and describe what they see happening to the plants. If the children notice that the plants are dying, or wilted, encourage them to problem solve to determine what they might do to help the plants to grow and live in the selected places. With the teacher’s guidance and support, the children will begin to understand the concept that with proper care and nourishment (water, sun, air, food), the plants will survive. Daily observations, illustrations of their observations and discussions about the plants’ well-being should occur. Later, go back to the children’s predictions and discuss their new understandings about what plants need to develop and grow. 2. Language experience techniques can be used to create a class book about the above experience using the children’s illustrations and photos taken during the experience. 3. Buy seeds of some of the students’ favorite flowers and as a class activity, plant the seeds. Based on their experiences and discoveries from the experiment with the flowering potted plants in the above activity, the children collaboratively discuss

PLANTS - K what needs to be done to make the seeds grow. With guidance and support from the teacher, the children will plant seeds to grow. Photos of the process of planting the seeds should be taken and used for a language experience. The teacher can write one or two sentences about the photos as suggested by the children. The photos and the sentences become a wall chart or a class book about the experience. Daily observations of the planted seeds and the progress of the growth and development should be documented via illustrations or more photos. Discussions and questions about the growth process should be encouraged. 4. Draw the outline of various flowers onto white or brown butcher paper. Provide the children with color markers, crayons, or water paint to create a mural of their favorite flowers for a display in the classroom or somewhere on campus. With the teacher’s guidance, the children can collaboratively create a title for their mural and/or sentences or create a poem related to the mural

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie dePaola available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First Reading: Instruction Conversation (IC). Connect to the children’s prior experiences with the The Legend of the Bluebonnet written by the same author. Ask them to make predictions about what this book may be about based on the title, illustration on the front cover and emphasize that the book was written by the same author. Write the children’s predictions on the board or large paper noting the name of child’s contribution next to his/her ideas. Use the inside/back cover illustration of The Indian Paintbrush to show the children what the flower looks like, and if possible, other pictures or the live plant. Encourage predictions throughout the reading and comprehension questions 3. Second reading: Reading the story again, providing opportunities for the children to ask questions and make comments. Teacher generated questions and comments can help to promote comprehension. At the end of the reading, the teacher models and illustrates one favorite part of the story. The children are provided an opportunity to discuss their favorite parts and illustrate their selected part of the story. 4. Children collaboratively retell the story. Teacher uses “language experience” techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event on large paper. Children can illustrate each of the main events in small groups or partners. The children’s’ illustrated pages become a wall story or a class book and will further support their retelling/reading of the story during other times of the day or during a literacy block. The illustrated pages can become also backdrops for a re-enactment of the story performed by the children.

PLANTS - K 5. Third Reading (IC): What lessons did we learn? About thankfulness? About our talents and gifts? Uses of plants? How is this story similar to the other legends about the origination of flowers? How is it different? A Venn Diagram would useful in comparing/contrasting the three stories. Within the Venn diagram, words and illustrations can be used to create the comparison.

Content Inquiry Strategies 1. Create a “museum” in the classroom of the mural, photos, the children’s class books and/or wall charts created through language experience techniques from the three stories, The Bitterroot and the two Tomie Depaola books. Invite other classes to come to visit the museum and the class can give brief tours of the museum to their friends, family members and other teachers. This will encourage them to practice their oral language and presentation skills about what they learned about Indian legends, flowers and seeds thus far. The museum may be an ongoing project throughout the unit and can be used as the final culminating project. Be sure to incorporate the Native language/culture as much as possible. 2. Provide opportunities for the children to create their own illustrations and/or oral stories about how their favorite flower originated. These may be dictated stories or videotape/audiotaped as the children create the stories orally. Let them listen to their stories and revise the stories, as they feel appropriate. This process will help them to understand the value of oral stories. Consider community members visit the classroom and tell traditional oral stories. The children’s oral stories as well as the community members’ oral stories may be included in the museum 3. The children can re-enact the three stories from their illustrated pages as a performance for other classes, families, friends and teachers. Simple props can be added to make this performance a more “formal” production. Or consider a puppet theater.

The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First Reading: Prior to reading the story, pose the question: Why do we have flowers? Can you think of some ways that we use flowers? Create a chart with the children’s contributions for each of the questions noting each child’s contribution with his/her name next to it. Show the children the book cover and announce the title and author. I wonder why there are bees in the flowers. Encourage the children to discuss the reasons for the bees and the hummingbird in the flower. Why are they so attracted to the flowers? After reading the story, ask the children if they can remember some of the reasons for flowers. Write these on the chart and compare to see if any of the children’s predictions were actual reasons.

PLANTS - K

3. Second Reading: Read the story again with plenty of opportunities for the children to ask questions. After the reading, the teacher models and illustrates something she liked about the book. The children share and/or draw something they liked about the book. Dialog journals could be used for this activity. 4. Third Reading: What did we learn about flowers? What are some of the reasons we have flowers? Write the children’s responses on chart paper with their contributions noted.

Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Flower Bloomed by Lola M. Schaffer 1. First Reading (IC). Bring in some examples of the various fruits, vegetables and nuts that are illustrated in the book. Connecting to the children’s prior experiences, ask them if they know the names of the items. Did you know that all of these fruits, vegetables and nuts started from a single flower? What do you think the flower looks like for each of the items? Announce the title of the book an author. As you read through the book, pause prior to flipping to the picture of the actual fruit, vegetable or nut, ask the children to predict what fruit, vegetable or nut has grown from the flower. 2. Second Reading: Read the story again with plenty of opportunities for the children to discuss and describe what happens to the flowers. Afterwards, have the seed packets of peas, corn, peanuts and pumpkins available. Ask the children to choose their favorite seed and talk about why they like a particular seed. Dialog journals can be used. 3. Third Reading: what did we learn about peas, corn, peanuts, raspberries and pumpkins? What’s the same? What’s different about each flower? A Venn Diagram can be used to show the similarities and differences.

Other Related Books Planting a Rainbow by Lois Elbert This book illustrates the process of buying bulbs/seeds to plant flowers spanning across the season.

Real Wild Rice by David Martinson (Indian Author) A little boy talks about going for rice and the pleasures of the day.

Eating the Alphabet Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert This book has colorful illustrations of various fruits and vegetables categorized from A-Z.

PLANTS - K It’s Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall A beautifully illustrated book showing how pumpkin seeds are planted and cared for by children and their dog. At the end, pumpkins are picked and jack-o-lanterns are made for Halloween. A great story that can be used in combination with a language experience and the making of a jack-o-lantern for Halloween.

Pumpkin Circle by George Levenson Illustrations are photos and provide information about the planting of pumpkin seeds and their development in a garden.

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss This book demonstrates how a little boy plants a carrot seed and is told it will not grow. He faithfully takes care of the seedling and finds success at the end.

Emma and the Trees by Lenore Keeshig-Tobias (Indian Author) 1. Use story telling strategies 2. First Reading: Show the front cover of the book to the children and ask the children: Why do you think the little girl is hugging a tree? What are some things you like about trees? Let’s find out why Emma is hugging the tree. Announce the title of the book. You might also want to show the children that the book is written in two languages. 3. Second Reading: Retelling-- Encourage and support the children in retelling the main events of the story. Use pictures of various trees and discuss how the trees seem to be waving to us. Encourage the children to find a tree to be their friend and wave to the tree everyday. After the children have found their favorite tree to become their friend, ask the children to illustrate their new friend and give one reason why they chose the particular tree. 4. Third Reading: At the end of the story, create a class book of all of the children’s illustrated favorite trees from the second reading. Collaboratively write sentences for each of the illustrated trees.

The Circle of Thanks (first stanza) in Circle of Thanks by Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) 1. First Reading: Show the illustration for the poem The Circle of Thanks. Ask the children to describe what they see in the illustration and what they think is happening. Afterwards, explain to the children that the poem (first stanza) is written as an expression of giving thanks to trees.

PLANTS - K 2. Second Reading: Read the first stanza. Have it written on sentence strips and placed in a pocket chart. During the reading of the stanza, ask the children to read along with you (choral reading). After that reading, ask a few children to re-enact the stanza as the rest of the class reads it (choral reading). Ask the children what they learned from the poem (stanza). 3. Third Reading: Ask the children to draw pictures or illustrations of the stanza and use dialogue journals to share their thoughts about the stanza. What did we learn about giving thanks?

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 1. Use storytelling strategies. 2. First Reading: Show the front cover of the book and announce the title. Ask the children to make predictions as to what the book is about. Throughout the reading, pause after various points and ask the children to predict what will happen next. 3. Second Reading: Collaboratively retell the main events of the story. Children can illustrate their favorite part of the story. 4. Third Reading: Children can re-enact the main events of the story. Use a large drawing of a tree and select children to act out or mime the actions of the little boy and the tree during the reading of the story. 5. Fourth Reading: What did we learn from this story about all that trees give us? Did the boy give back to the tree? This story provides a good opportunity to discuss the importance of responsibility to plants.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT Create a museum or add to the museum ideas presented earlier. Invite other classes, teachers, family and community members to see what the children have been learning about plants. Encourage the children to become active “tour guides” of the various selected items for the museum. Performances/re-enactments of the stories and class books with photos and sentences generated by the class can also be exhibited. See Further Resources section for books that may be substituted or used in addition to those already listed.

More Content Inquiry Strategies 1. What are the parts of a flower? For this activity you will need flowers collected on a nature walk, from a nursery or from home, transparent tape, magnifying glasses, white paper, a role of plastic wrap, a simple illustration of a flower with the parts labeled and if so desired, pieces of paper with the name of the parts of the flower, for example, petal, leaf, stem, root, stamen, pistil, An overhead of the illustrated flower may help to enlarge the illustration for the children to actually point and/or refer to the various parts. The teacher may want to model the activity with the children prior to children working in groups, partners or individuals.

PLANTS - K Put your flower on the white paper to examine it carefully. Compare your flower to the one in the picture. Can you find the same parts? You may need a magnifying glass to help you. Carefully take your plant apart. First find the stem, leaf, petals, etc. Use transparent tape to tape the parts to your sheet of white paper. Label the parts, cover your paper with plastic wrap, and hang it on a wall of your classroom. Write a sentence giving a reason for flowers or what you like best about your flower. Try to find out why each part of the flower is important.

2. Why do seeds travel? Visit a vacant lot or field in the late spring or early fall. Be sure to wear long pants and stockings/socks. Explore the field. Try to find plants that have bloomed and are producing sees or “turning to seed.” Walk through the field and examine your pants and socks. Look at trees in the neighborhood (especially in the fall) See if you and the children can find seeds or nuts on or around these trees. Be sure to include a dandelion. While on the nature walk, collects as many different kinds of seeds as you can. Have the children look at their pants and socks. Do they see anything?

The children can put the seeds gathered on a clean, white sheet of paper at their desk or on a table designated for the seed inquiry. Have the children examine the seeds with a magnifying glass. Remind them that seeds are spread in many different ways. Can you imagine how your seeds might have traveled? Did you examine your pants and socks after the nature walk? If a dog or a furry animal walked through the field, what might happen? Find more books in the library or media center on how seeds travel. Have the books available for the children to browse through during various times of the day.

3. What’s inside a seed? Put large lima beans or other broad bean that are easy to handle. Cover beans with water and let them soak overnight. The seed coats will become loose and easy to handle. The next day distribute one water soaked seed and one dry lima bean to each student. Observe and describe the dry and soaked seed. The children can examine the seeds closely using magnifying glasses. Encourage the children to describe the seeds in terms of color, texture, firmness, etc. Let the children trace the seeds on a piece of paper. The children can also measure the lengths of the seeds using a ruler. Now observe the wet seed. How is it different than the dry seed? Look at the seed coat and find the spot where the seed was attached to the pod. This small hole in the seed coat lets water into the seed. Carefully remove the seed coat and place it to one side. The teacher may want to model this process prior to letting the children work in partners, small groups or individually. Split the seed to show the different parts—the outside or seed coat, then pull or split the two halves of the seed apart. The big parts store food for the baby plant inside (embryo). The baby plant (embryo) has a root, stem and leaves.

PLANTS - K 4. How do seeds grow? The children can study the soaked seeds further by planting the seeds. The children place cotton around the inside of a clear plastic cup. The seeds should be placed between cotton and the inside of the cup. The seeds should be placed in different directions in the cup. In this way, the students can observe how the roots, stem and leaves develop and in what direction they grow. Add water to the bottom of the cup and allow the cotton to soak up the water. This activity can be done in small groups, partners or individually. Print the names of the teams, partners or individuals on the masking tape to identify their container.

Examine the cotton each day to be sure it remains moist. Within a few days, growth will begin. Prior to the growth, ask the children to predict what will happen in the development of the stem, leaves and roots. Record their predictions with their names to identify their predictions. Within 3-5 days, growth will begin. Pose questions such as “Which way do the roots grow? Which way do the stem and leaves grow? Does the position of the seed make a difference? Why do the roots grow down and the stem up? Record the actual observations of the children on the same chart where they made their predictions.

Any left over beans may be taken home and grown at home. A comparison between the growth of the beans in the different environments (school versus home, inside versus outside, dark room versus light room) would be encourage children to consider the influence of various environments on the seed growth.

5. How do plants drink water? You will need celery, masking tape or labels, plastic glass, water, red or blue food coloring, plastic knife, large plastic bad and pencil/crayon, a Digital or Polaroid camera to record the process and to use for a language experience/class book later. This experiment happens very quickly if the celery is a little limp.

Write each student’s name on a piece of masking tape or label and attach to a plastic glass. Hold up the celery stalk. Ask for them to identify it. Is this a plant? How do you know? Identify the parts of the celery i.e. leaves, stalk. What happens when the celery gets thirsty? How do they drink water? Encourage all students to respond. Pour water into the glasses a little more than 1/2 full. The teacher may model how to do this and then allow the students to perform the experiment. Each student adds 2 drops of food coloring into the water. Red or blue tends to work the best. Each student places the stalk of celery into the glass with the leaf end up. Put the glasses someplace where they will not be disturbed. Ask the children to predict what they think will happen. Record their responses.

PLANTS - K

Wait about 2 hours and then observe the celery stalks. What changes have occurred? Cut off about 4 centimeters off the end of each stalk or if the children are able to do so, with a plastic knife. Ask the children to describe what they see. The tubes that carry the water are colored. Ask what made the tubes change color and how the water traveled to the leaves. After the children have had time to respond, you can explain that in most plants, water travels through tubes similar to straws. However, most of the time the tubes are very tiny and hard to see. Document what happened on the same paper or chart where their predictions were recorded. Use the photos to make a class book with sentences that describe the process. The teacher and students should create sentences collaboratively to determine the best sentence for each photo. The children can take the celery home in a plastic bag to explain to their families what happened to it. Reinforce the idea of how plants drink water when the children are drinking using their own straws. This same activity can be done with white carnations.

6. A Pumpkin Investigation For this activity you will need a pumpkin with a lid pre-cut. Use orange construction paper cut in the shape of pumpkins or with pumpkin outlines so that the students can cut out the pumpkins. These will become the outside of the book. For the inside of the book, have 1 sheet of white paper in the pumpkin shape for each student. Also have orange yarn, dried out pumpkin seeds and make a chart that says “Inside of a pumpkin” and “Outside of a pumpkin” to organize their oral descriptions of pumpkins. Encourage children to talk about what they know about pumpkins: What do you think it would look like inside? Have you ever carved a pumpkin? Encourage the children to use their senses to describe the outside of the pumpkin and record their responses on the chart. What does it feel like, smell like, look like, etc?

Open the lid of the pumpkin and ask the children to look inside. The children can observe and describe the inside of the pumpkin. Record their oral descriptions on the chart noting each child’s contribution on the chart. Ask the children to estimate the number of seeds inside the pumpkin. Record their responses. At a later time, have the children count the pumpkin seeds to determine the number of seeds inside. Review the recorded responses of the children for the inside and the outside. The children can record the descriptions of the outside of the pumpkin on the cover. On the white paper inside, they can paste pumpkin seeds and orange yarn and illustrate the inside of the pumpkin using crayons, markers, etc. After the students have made their pumpkin books, ask them to share their books with their classmates and take them home to share with their families. Photos of the experience can be used later for a language experience story about the pumpkin investigation.

PLANTS - K

7. Tree Detectives Prior to the activity, collect twigs and leaves from 5 different trees on the school grounds. Use a digital camera or other type of camera to take photos of the trees where the fallen twigs and leaves were collected. Pick common trees that grow in your area. Also photos can be taken during the class nature walk to show the process of identifying the 5 different trees as a class. Cut the twigs so that they are about 4 inches in length and place in a plastic bag along with 1 or 2 leaves from the tree.

Divide the children into partners or 5 teams. Give each partner or team a bag with the twig and leaves. Pass out a small lump of modeling clay to each group or partners. The modeling clay will be used to make an impression of the bark of the tree or crayons and paper can be used to make a rubbing of the bark. Instruct the children that they will go outside and be “tree detectives.” They are to find the tree that matches the leaves and twig they have. They will also make a rubbing or an impression of the identified tree.

Guide the children to each of the 5 trees and tell them the name of the tree. Then give them time to determine if the twigs and leaves they have in their bag matches the tree. If they think they have a match, ask the partners or groups to explain how they made the identification. After the class has examined all 5 trees and each group has identified their tree. Ask the children to make rubbings or impressions of the tree bark.

When the class returns from the nature walk, the photos can be matched with the children’s twigs, leaves and bark rubbings/impressions. A mural or bulletin board of the 5 trees can be made by attaching the leaves, twigs, rubbings next to the photos of each of the trees. Using language experience techniques, the teacher and students can generate sentences collaboratively explain the process and the experience of being “tree detectives.” Ask the children to select their favorite tree and illustrate the tree in their dialog journals. Make a class book about the 5 trees with photos.

8. Have an elder visit the class to explain how Indian people were good farmers long ago and how Indian people used (use) plants for medicinal purposes.

9. At Thanksgiving, have the children list the foods that come from food plants that were first grown or domesticated by Indian people: corn, potatoes, pumpkins, cranberries, wild rice, tomatoes, etc.

PLANTS - K WORD STUDY

Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will be teaching the grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of the regular reading program. Thematic units on the other hand help children develop vocabulary largely through large clusters of words related thematically to the unit, with categories based on meaning rather than grapho/phonics. Develop wall chart collections of vocabulary words as you move through the unit encouraging children to spot words that can be added to each category. Some children may even be ready to develop the categories themselves.

Word and picture sorts can be beginning activities for kindergarten children and may be based on a various aspects of words: the alphabetic principles/knowledge, letter recognition (upper/lower case), letter naming, letter writing, and letter sounds. Concepts such as opposites (cold/hot, dry/wet) may also be highlighted as well as sentence recognition and building. It is not necessary to include all the words and the class may choose others. Remember to include words from the native language. These are examples and many other words may be included or substituted: Plants Parts Characteristics Actions Weather flowers seeds red dig rain pansy bud yellow pull thunder daisy stem purple water sun roses leaf green feed lightening tulips roots rough cut snow tree pollen smooth smell spring peanuts petal soft taste summer pumpkins hard touch fall peaches fuzzy feel winter raspberries sweet observe cold corn tall buzz dry rice short see hot

PLANTS - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Carrying out level of responsibility with regard to classroom pets and observations • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

PLANTS – K Further Resources for Plants Unit Jack’s Garden by Henry Cole Poem, The Garden, by Shel Silverstein Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert Edward Plants a Garden by Dale Gottlieb From Apple Seed to Applesauce by Hannah Johnson Oliver’s Fruit Salad by V. French From Seed to Jack o’Lantern by Hannah Johnson One Bean by Anne Rockwell From Seed to Salad by Hannah Johnson Giant Vegetable Garden by Nadine Westcott All About Seeds by Susan Kuchalla How a Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman Growing Pumpkins by Melvin Berger From Seed to Pear by Ali Mitgutsch Other appropriate books and poems on this theme. From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons Alphabet Garden by Laura J. Coats From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg *Why Saguaros Grow on the South Side of Hills in And It Is Still That Way by Byrd Baylor, available from Indian book distributors *Legend of the Lady Slipper by Lise Lunge-Larsen, Clear Light Press, www.clearlightbooks.com *The Big Tree and the Little Tree by Jean E. Speare, [email protected] *Creating Sacred Places for Children Curriculum – K-3, Vol. I Food Unit *Keepers of Life, Discovering Plants through Native American Stories by Joseph Bruchac, story cards, audiocassettes, teacher’s guide FOSS Kits, Trees The Seed/Wonder World/Wright Group A A Little Seed/Smart Start/Wright Group B My Garden/Beginning Literacy/Scholastic B Our Pumpkin/Learning to Read/Creative Teaching Press B In My Garden/Carousel Readers/Dominic C The Enormous Turnip/Houghton-Mifflin Series Trees/Twig/Wright Group A *Indian books Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell

Approx. Four Week Unit ALL ABOUT ME K - Reading and Social Studies

Social Studies Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment

Identify self as unique person Mama’s Little One by Kristina Research-based content Observations, work samples, with individual ideas and feelings. Heath inquiry strategies self-assessment. See Two Pairs of Shoes by Esther Assessment Guide and Demonstrate positive self-concept Sanderson Research-based literacy section on assessment in The Good Luck Cat by Joy word study strategies this unit. Work with others Harjo . Baby Rattlesnake by Te Ata Research-based literacy Identify and compare own feelings and Lynn Moroney comprehension strategies and actions with those of others Just Another Kid in Chorus of Cultures by Alma Flor Ada Research-based writing Discuss own experiences and We Chased Butterflies in Dancing activities feelings Teepees by Virgina D.H. Sneve Olivia by Ian Falconer Workshops and Activity Develop awareness and acceptance Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie Centers – See Reading and of similarities and differences de Paola Writing Guides among people Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt Koala Lou by Mem Fox Use information to make sense of please, baby, please by Spike and the world and communicate ideas Tonya Lewis Lee to others Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus Apply knowledge and skills to new situations

Be proud of heritage

ALL ABOUT ME - K

Introduction to the Theme and Unit

The purpose of this unit is to celebrate children’s uniqueness and help them come to an appreciation of their feelings as a manifestation of that uniqueness.

Indian people believe that children are sacred and that they have been endowed with special gifts. Starting long ago, a whole village would take the responsibility of rearing the children and teaching them. Each child was watched to see what was special about him or her and what gifts he or she had been given. Then the whole village would assist and encourage the child in pursuing the gifts. This same view of children should be promoted in this unit “All About Me.” Invite an Indian elder or the cultural teacher to explain how Indian people feel about their children.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible:

Story telling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual reading (reading workshop) Retelling through drama, art, and writing Comprehension strategies including especially making connections, using prior experience, finding important ideas, predicting, questioning, visualizing, using graphic organizers Instructional conversations Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words Applying growing understandings of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing (writing workshop) Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature. Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonic knowledge through writing; poetry, songs and chants; and through ongoing mini lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

ALL ABOUT ME - K Content inquiry strategies include the following: Finding information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations in classroom, Developing sensory awareness Interviews with knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT Mama’s Little One by Kristina Heath available from Oyate at www.oyate.org Begin by telling the children that each one of them is very special and that their families have taught them things to make them be the very best they can be. Mama’s Little One is a powerful and rich story about a mother teaching her young child about the importance of being hardworking, kind and generous to relatives and community. Strategies in bold explained more fully in Reading Guide. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling – Conduct an informal readers theater where several students play the part of Little One and they each ask a question from the book. The students are prompted to ask the questions by the teacher as she/he is the narrator. Several other students play the part of Guka and respond to Little One’s questions. 4. Dialogue Journal – Teacher models writing and sharing about responsibilities he/she had to the community as a child. . Children draw/write in their journals about the same topic and share. (Include in an “All About Me” book.) 5. Third reading-Instructional conversation (IC): What lesson(s) is the book teaching us? About getting up early About being honest About love and compassion About working hard About helping others 6. LEA (Language Experience Approach) – Teacher uses LEA strategies to help students write a text about the importance of working with others. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 7. Venn diagram – Teacher and students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Little One’s feelings about his responsibilities and the children’s feelings about their responsibilities. Also read We Chased Butterflies, poem in Dancing Teepees by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve (Indian Author), Amazon.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

BEING UNIQUE Two Pairs of Shoes by Esther Sanderson available from Oyate at www.oyate.org Explain to the children that one reason they are special is because they come from a special culture. This book is a beautifully simple account of the complex situation of living in two cultures and how one can come to appreciate and celebrate both. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling – Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story. 4. Instructional conversation (IC): This story, while easily accessible to kindergarten age children, raises an important issue that is the beauty of having multiple cultures/identities and being able to enjoy both. This book is a wonderful opportunity to explore this issue with the children and needs to be a central point of discussion and extended activities. The following are examples of guiding questions: How do we all live in two or more cultures? How do we feel about that situation? What are the advantages of living amongst many cultures and languages? How do you move back and forth between the cultures? 5. Dialogue Journals – Teacher models writing and sharing about a cultural event that she/he participates in and/or celebrates. Children write, draw and share about an event or cultural item that is important to them. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 6. Third reading – Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them identify what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story. 7. Narrative Writing Activity – “My Two Shoes” – Teacher models the writing process by bringing in two pairs of her/his shoes that represent two aspects of the teacher. The teacher begins by sharing why she/he chose those two pairs of shoes and then draws them. Then the teacher models writing about the shoes. In small groups the children share about how the shoes they are wearing represent something about them. Then the children draw/write about two pairs of shoes and how they represent two sides of themselves. (The shoes can be imaginary.) The children share their writing projects. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

ALL ABOUT ME - K

Just Another Kid by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve in A Chorus of Cultures by Alma Flor Ada, Violet Harris and Lee B. Hopkins The theme of this poem is about the power of an elder and/or family member to influence and shape a child’s cultural identity and understanding, symbolized by giving a child moccasins. Here are the first lines of the poem:

I was just another kid in a T-shirt and blue jeans

1. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 2. Second reading: Teacher facilities a discussion with students about the importance of their culture and cultural identity. 3. Dialogue journal: Teacher models writing and sharing about how someone in his/her life helped him/her appreciate and respect his/her culture and who he/she is. The children draw, write and share about someone who has taught them to respect their culture and therefore themselves. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 4. Third reading: Choral reading: Teacher provides children with individual copy of poem. Collectively they read the poem. Children rewrite the poem and change the last line to reflect something they were given or taught by an elder that helped them understand their culture. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus Stress with the children that each child is different, unique. This book is about a little lion that is slow in developing his skills. His father worries and works at being patient while the mother is confident that he will bloom. In the end Leo blooms. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling: Teacher uses guided writing strategies to help students identify, draw and write about the beginning, middle and end of story.

Note: If a story seems to be too long for the students, read it in sections and review past sections before beginning a new one.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

4. Instructional conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates a discussion about how the students feel when they can’t do something. The focus is on helping the students understand that we all have strengths and limitations which is what makes our accomplishments that much more worthy of celebration. 5. Use a Venn diagram to discuss and compare and contrast the things Leo can do and the things the students can do. 6. “Blooming Flowers” Writing activity – Teacher models writing and sharing abilities and talents in which he/she is about to bloom. The focus is to get children to understand that there is always something in our lives that we are learning about and trying to get better at. The children draw/write and share about something they are trying to learn and/or get better at. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 7. Third reading – Readers theater: This book is ideal for readers theater. The story line is simple and does not require the teacher to be the narrator. The text is short enough so that the book can be performed a couple of times with different students participating in each performance. 8. Dialogue Journal – Teacher models writing and sharing about a time when he/she had to be patient with his/her own leaning process. Students draw/write and share about an experience where the learning happened over a period of time. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 9. Letter writing activity – Teacher models writing a friendly letter and shares with children. Teacher uses interactive writing strategies to help students write a letter to Leo to share their feelings and support his blooming efforts. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

Olivia by Ian Falconer This story is about a confident, independent and opinionated little pig. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling – Teacher uses interactive writing strategies to help children create a story map to show Olivia’s activities on rainy and sunny days. Children use the story map to collaboratively retell story. 4. Instructional conversation (IC): Introduce and discuss the concept of self-confidence with the students. Develop a self- confidence meter from 1 to 10, where 1 is the least amount of self-confidence and perhaps characterized by Leo and 10 is very self-confident and characterized by Olivia. Invite the students to gauge themselves on the continuum.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

5. Dialogue Journal –Teacher models writing and sharing about a time when he/she lacked self-confidence and what she/he did to overcome the situation. Students write/draw about something they don’t feel confident doing, how they feel about it and what steps they might take to overcome the situation. 6. Venn Diagram – Children and teacher use a Venn diagram to compare Leo and Olivia. 7. Reflective Writing – Students select a character from one of the books read thus far and discuss and then write/draw how they are like and unlike the character. “I am like Leo because…, I am not like Leo because… . (Include in “All About Me” book.)

Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie de Paola

Like Two Pairs of Shoes gives a child’s perspective on the complex issue of cultural identity, this book gives a child’s perspective to the issue of having different ideas and different preferences. Oliver is a little boy who wants to dance instead of participating in the typical boy sports that his father prefers. His mother, dance instructor, and teacher support his interest in dance and help Oliver show all doubters what a phenomenon he is. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story. 4. Instructional conversation (IC): The theme of this book is that boys are often forced by society to participate in activities and behaviors that don’t let them be who they are or make them happy. Teacher facilitates discussion about expectations of children as boys and girls and how they feel about these expectations. Children can identify the characters in the book and their responses to Oliver. How did their responses make Oliver feel? Did their responses change? 5. Dialogue journal: Teacher models writing and sharing about a time when he/she was expected to do something simply because he/she was a boy/girl and how he/she felt. Children write/draw and share about how they feel when they are expected to do something simply because they are a boy/girl. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

ALL ABOUT ME – K 6. Third reading: Teacher facilitates discussion with children to help them identify what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story. Children also identify the problem and solution in book. 7. Narrative writing activity: “I am Phenomenal” –Teacher models writing and sharing about a skill or quality he/she is good at and/or enjoy very much that is not typical of what a woman/man might enjoy doing. Children draw/write and share about something they enjoy doing and/or are good at that is perhaps not necessarily what girls/boys are expected to be doing. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

HAVING FEELINGS Baby Rattlesnake by Te Ata and Lynn Moroney available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com Explain to the children that every person has feelings. Part of being unique is having one’s own ideas and feelings. This book is about a baby rattlesnake that is sad about being too young to have grown a rattle. She cries so much about not having a rattle that the community finally decides to give her a rattle. Instead of appreciating the gift, she misuses it to scare others and learns a difficult lesson about the consequences of not respecting others. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling. Use objects from a storyteller’s bag to model using pneumonic devices to support retelling. The teacher uses objects to stand for the baby rattlesnake, the rattlesnake family, the elders and the chief’s daughter. 4. Let the children take turns retelling, using the objects. 5. Dialogue journal: Teacher models her response to the story and shares with children. The focus of the teacher’s response is on the baby rattlesnake’s feelings. Children draw and write in their own dialogue journals and share with the class. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 6. Use an informal readers theater to have children “read” the story with the teacher as Narrator. Children take the parts of the baby rattlesnake, rattlesnake family, Jack Rabbit, Old Man Turtle, Prairie Dog, the Elders and the chief’s daughter. 7. Instructional conversation (IC): What lesson did we learn from this story about our gifts and others? 8. Children illustrate teacher made little books of the story. 9. Children practice reading the story with the teacher in small groups 10. Children take books home to “read” to families.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

The Good Luck Cat by Joy Harjo available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com How would you feel if you lost your pet? This book is about a little girl’s love for her cat. Woogie, as her aunt explains, is a lucky cat. Not all cats are lucky but Woogie is and he has nine lives to prove it. Follow along as the little girl deals with worry and Woogie’s adventures. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling: Use objects from a storyteller’s bag to model using pneumonic devices to support retelling. Here the teacher would choose objects to stand for each of Woogie’s nine lives (e.g. the car, the dryer, the pow wow). 4. Instructional conversation (IC): The focus of the dialogue should be on how the main character feels about what happens to Woogie and how her relatives respond to her feelings. 5. Dialogue journal: The teacher models writing and sharing about a pet he/she had/has and his/her relationship with the pet. Students write/draw and share about their pet(s) and their relationship. If child doesn’t have pet they can write about why they might like to have a particular pet. (Include in “All About Me” book.) 6. Third reading: Children dramatize each scene in the story and add their own spontaneous dialogue in an effort to capture the main character’s feelings.

Mean Soup by Betsy Everitt This book is about how a mother helps her son deal with his mean and cranky feelings that are a result of having had a hard day. 1. Use storytelling strategies. 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling – Invite children to retell orally focusing on each event that makes Horace upset and have the children discuss why he is upset. 4. Third Reading – Instructional conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates a conversation about how others can help us feel better when we are upset. Students generate a list of strategies for how to help themselves when they are upset, how to help others and how to ask for help from others.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

5. Dialogue Journal – Teacher models writing and sharing about a terrible day he/she had and what he/she did to feel better. Children draw/write and share about a terrible day they’ve had and what they did or could have done to feel better. 6. Creative writing activity: My Perfect Day Banner – The teacher creates a “My Perfect Day” banner. This includes a written text describing the teacher’s perfect day. The banner is decorated with symbols that refer to the narrative. These can include family pictures, magazine cut outs, drawings, and related items that are glued on. The teacher shares and reads the banner to the students with accompanying music and taking as much time as necessary to answer all questions, respond to comments and explain the affixed symbols. Children model the same process and create their own banners. The following is an example of a teacher’s text:

My Perfect Day

My perfect day is a summer day. I awake it is hot, clear and bright. I am well rested and have projects planned. My favorite blue jeans are freshly washed and my very worn but favorite blue T-shirt my brother Miguel gave me is folded in a drawer. While I’m dressing I also brush my teeth and think about breakfast. Good strong coffee is a must. I take three sugars and quite a bit of milk. I turn on the stereo and play the Lila Downs CD.

My son Javier wakes up. He still has sleep in his eyes. He runs and jumps in my arms. He says good morning and his warm breath sweeps over my face. I ask him what he wants for breakfast and he says that whatever I want is perfect for him. I make quesadillas with flour tortillas, a fresh salsa with green chiles and eggs over easy.

After breakfast Javier and I discuss the work ahead of us. We’ve decided that we’re going to make stepping stones for a section of our backyard. The stones will include his hand and footprints as well as rocks, and pieces of glass and ceramic that we’ve collected. It is a creative and messy project but we have lots of fun and new memories. When we’ve finished we are hungry. My son suggests that we have a BBQ. He wants to pick fresh lemons from our tree and make lemonade. I get the charcoals going and marinate chicken with a Teriyaki sauce. While I BBQ, Javier sets the table. We eat dinner as the sun goes down. He wants to watch a DVD before he goes to bed. We watch Harry Potter. Half way through the movie he falls asleep on my lap. I carry him to bed and tuck him in. I kiss his round face good night and take a deep breath as a form of thanks for another perfect day.

ALL ABOUT ME - K

Following are other topics that the children can write about and include in their “All About Me” books. • My Favorite Things • My Firsts • My Family • My Gifts 7. LEA – “Mean Soup Recipe” writing activity – Teacher enlarges copies of simple recipes and discusses the structure of a recipe. Children and teacher brainstorm what they would want as ingredients in their Mean Soup to help them feel better. As a class they write the recipe. Encourage creativity and imagination. For example you might suggest that you need bubble bath in your mean soup because bubbles make you feel better and relaxed after a long day at work. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

Koala Lou by Mem Fox

This book is about Koala Lou, a little Koala who misses the sole attention of her mother. She devises a plan to regain her mother’s interest only to learn that her mother was paying attention and loving her all along.

1. Use story telling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling: Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large papers that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story. 4. Letter writing activity: Koala Lou’s letter – The teacher writes a letter from Koala Lou to the children. In the letter Koala Lou is sharing with the children how she feels about not being the only child and getting less attention from her mother. Teacher uses interactive writing strategies to help the children write a response letter to Koala Lou. The focus of the letter should be to help students express how their would feel if they were in her situation, share their feelings about her situation and provide helpful suggestions. (Include in “All About Me” book.)

ALL ABOUT ME - K

5. Third reading: Instructional conversation (IC): Teacher facilitates discussion about how students feel when they are not given the attention they want. Teacher and students formulate strategies for how to let other people know how we are feeling in general and in response to their actions. 6. Dialogue journal: Teacher models writing and sharing about something he/she does to show another person that he/she loves him/her. 7. Children draw/write about something they do to show someone else that they love them. (Include in “All About Me” book.) please, baby, please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee Through simple text and beautiful illustrations, this book captures the true behavior of children that is often frustrating to adults. It is also a lovely portrait of parents’ patience and love. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling: Children dramatize each scene in the story and then discuss what their response to the baby would be if they were the parents. 4. Third reading: Instructional conversation (IC): The focus of the conversation is helping the children understand why the baby behaves as she does and how the parents’ responses are loving and understanding. The children should be asked questions about what the baby is doing in each scene and why they think she is behaving in such manner. Also, they can respond to questions about their feelings about when they misbehave and how they are responded to. 5. Dialogue journal: Teacher models writing and sharing about something that he/she does that bothers someone else and what he/she is doing to try and behave differently. Children draw/write and share about something they do that bothers their parents or someone else and what they can do or try to do to behave differently. The focus is on negotiating relationships and being aware of how we affect others. (Include in “All About Me” book).

Content Inquiry Strategies 1. Unit matrix: Construct a matrix with each book in the unit listed vertically. Along the horizontal write questions that the children should answer for each book. These questions should help students make connections across the books and think more deeply about the theme. For example: How does the main character change? How do others feel about the main

ALL ABOUT ME - K

character? How does the main character feel about herself/himself? What did we learn from this story? How can this story help us learn about ourselves? How can I use this story to help me understand my feelings? 2. Interview family and community members about strategies they use to deal with feelings. 3. Guest Speakers: Invite elders to talk/share with the children about how they learned about their culture and in particular about how they feel and understand who they are.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT 1. Famous Quotes Game – The children participate in game to answer the following questions: Who said it? , To whom?, Why?, and What does it mean? The following are examples of quotes taken from some of the books in this unit: “I made it.” “I could do that in about five minutes.” “From now on you must remember when and how to wear each pair.” “Patience.” “He’s too young and he’ll get into trouble.” “Your turn.” “What’s the name of this soup?” “Why must I do so many things today?” The quotes can be written on index cards and made into a game that can be part of a learning center during Readers Workshop. 2. All About Me book - The content of the book consists of the writings, drawings and other products created throughout the unit. It should include a dedication page, an author’s page and a comments page where invited readers can write their comments to the author. The teacher also constructs her book right along with the students. See Further Resources section for books that can be substituted or used in addition to those listed so far in the unit.

More Content Inquiry Strategies 1. Read The Good Luck Cat and Baby Rattlesnake to talk about the feelings of sadness, fear and worry. After reading the books together, encourage the children to talk about the feelings of the characters. Ask the children if a story reminds them of an experience they have had. Have them understand that feelings can change. Explain to them that we all have feelings. 2. Drawing/writing activities provide children with appropriate ways to express a variety of feelings. Construct several class books with blank pages. Label these books with titles such as “Things That Make Me Happy” and “Things That Make Me Sad.” Children are to choose a book and contribute drawings and/or stories about their experiences. Read the class books

ALL ABOUT ME - K

with the children using shared reading strategies. Encourage the children to read the class books to each other. Explain to the children that it is important for them to share their feelings with others in order to feel better when they are sad or angry. Writing their feelings just for themselves can also be helpful. 3. Pantomiming and role playing are similar strategies that provide opportunities for children to act out feelings and try out roles. Introduce pantomiming or role playing by modeling or having volunteers act out feelings using only facial expressions and body movement. Ask the rest of the children to guess and name the feelings. Encourage the children to think of situations they have experienced and to pantomime their feelings at the time the situation occurred. Discuss their feelings with the other children, emphasizing commonalities and acceptance. Provide the children with situations or music for pantomiming: - You and your mother are at a big store and you are looking at something you would like to buy. All of a sudden you look around and realize that your mother is not where you last saw her. - You and your friend are outside playing and you find a treasure! - You come home from school and find that your favorite toy is broken. 4. Have students think about what makes them happy, sad, afraid, angry. Have the students show how their faces would look if they are happy, sad, afraid or angry. Have the students pretend that they are clowns, happy and sad clowns. How would the clowns act? Have the students pretend that someone is behind the door and scares them as they enter the room. What expression would they have on their faces? Provide a bag of various objects that the children can use to act out situations.

I Am Special We Poem I am a person, a very nice person. We are all different. (point to others) I am special as I can be. . We’re not the same. (shake head) I am a person, a very nice person. Look in our eyes, our face, our hair I like me, oh, I like me. (point to eyes, face, hair) Yet we all CARE. (hands on heart) ____ is a person, a very nice person. Look at our skin, our hands, our feet. She/he is as special as she/he can be. (point to skin, hands, feet) ____ is a person, a very nice person. Aren’t we ALL so very neat! (clap) I like ____ and I like me.

ALL ABOUT ME – K

WORD STUDY Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will teach grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of their regular program. Thematic units will help children develop vocabulary semantically through clusters of words related thematically to the unit. The clusters or categories are based on meaning rather than grapho/phonic relationships.

Feelings Characteristics Abilities Native Language Anxious patient read nitanis happy young write Kokom sad honest eat nosisim upset kind speak Noh frightened giving bloom Guka safe generous rattle Noquiish excited hardworking learn Mahose love strong sing compassion old dance pleased helpful hunt joyful creative play mean thoughtful climb frustrated considerate grouchy Remember to include words/concepts from the local native language. tired

ALL ABOUT ME - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers, however, should never limit themselves to short descriptions or even extended checklists. They should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the social studies concepts in the unit • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the social studies concepts of the unit.

ALL ABOUT ME - K Further Resources for All About Me

Being Unique Feelings Willaby by Rachel Isadora Me/PM Starters/Rigby A Three Little Kittens Girls Can Be Anything by I Like Me/Visions/Wright Group A Sad Day, Glad Day by Vival Norma Klein I Like/Sunshine/Wright Group A L. Thompson Luckiest One of All by Bill Look What I Can do by Jose Aruego A Moving Day by Tobi Peet Look at Me/PM Starters/Rigby B Tobias *Circle of Life HIV-AIDs All of Me/Literacy 2000/Rigby B Jellybeans for Breakfast by Curriculum, K-Unit 1 I Can/Little Readers/H-M B Miriam Young I’m Terrific by Marjorie Growing/Windmill/Wright Group B William’s Doll by Charlotte Sharmaat I Am/Little Readers/H-M B Zalolow Peter’s Chair by Ezra Keats Me/Reading Corners/Dominic Press C Let’s Be Enemies by Whistle for Willie by Ezra I Like/Literacy 2000/Rigby C Charlotte Zalolow Keats Things I Like to Do/Carousel Earlybirds/Dominic C I’ll Fix Anything by Judith Importance of Crocus by What Can You Do?/Tiger Cub/Peguis C Viorst Roger Duvoisin What Can You Be?/Tiger Cub/ Peguis C Where the Wild Things Magnificent Moo by Are by Maurice Sendak Victoria Forrester Growing Up by Ezra Keats Petunia by Roger Duvoisin Berenstain Bears Go To Cornelius and Pezzetino School by S. Berenstain both by Leon Lionni Howie Helps Himself by . John Fassler Be sure to read books before including them in a unit to ensure Andy by Tomie dePaola that they include the concepts intended by the teacher. *This Is Me!/San Juan School Dist. 435 678-1229 Other suitable books and poems on the theme *Indian books Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

Approx. Four Week Unit FAMILIES K – Reading and Social Studies

Social Studies Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Recognize that all living things Mama, Do You Love Me? by Research-based content Observations, work samples, have needs Barbara M. Joosse inquiry strategies self-assessment. See On Mother’s Lap by Ann Scott Assessment Guide and Recognize that families help Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher by Research-based literacy section on assessment in this meet needs and have needs Becky Ray McCain word study strategies unit. Northwoods Cradle Song by Recognize similarities and Douglas Wood Research-based literacy differences among families Mothers Are Like That by Carol comprehension strategies Carrick Identify family members and their What Mommies Do Best/What Research-based writing responsibilities Daddys Do Best by Laura activities Numeroff Recognize how families fulfill When I Was Young in the Workshops and Activity basic emotional and physical Mountains by Cynthia Rylant Centers – See Reading and needs of children Keepsakes: Using Family Stories Writing Guides in Elementary Classrooms by Identify themselves as parts of Linda Winston families as well as individuals Hairs and Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros Share family traditions and celebrations

Recognize family members according to clan or tribal system

FAMILES – K

Introduction to the Theme and Unit

Families are very important to American Indian people. The concept of family goes way beyond the immediate family to a large extended family. Indian people keep track of their relatives and especially acknowledge them. Indian people have a saying, “We Are All Related,” “mitakuye oyasin” among the Lakota, and many times they really are related by blood. But, in addition, Indian people have a special bond that makes them feel that they are related, even if they are not truly related in the non Indian way.

Indian families often have different ways of identifying family members; sometimes it is a result of the tribe’s clan system. An example of a different way of identifying family members is that often times one’s grandmother’s sisters are also considered grandmothers. People’s first cousins may be considered aunts or uncles to their children. In a clan system, sometimes a little child is an older person’s grandparent. Therefore, accept the children’s identification of members of their families. Sometimes the oldest grandchild is reared by the grandparents in Indian families. This is a traditional way and not at all considered abnormal. Sometimes Indian people will adopt someone into their families, not legally, just in a tribal way. The teacher should learn how families are viewed and identified in the tribe(s) of their children.

Family is a critical foundation for life in Indian cultures, as it is in many if not most cultures. However, understanding Indian concepts of kinship and family provides additional unique perspectives for a theme study focused on family. The theme of family as exemplified in this unit and in the resource Keepsakes: Using Family Stories in the Elementary Classrooms can do much to help close the often large divides between home and school as we come to understand that the everyday lives of families and their histories provide a much needed foundation for building more positive outcomes in school.

“Everyone has a story to tell, if only someone would listen, if only someone would ask.” William Zimmerman in Keepsakes, p.1

This theme is built around stories, all kinds of stories about families and places and homes and celebrations and events and work. Stories become buffers against hardships and ways to pass on culture and values. What people remember and pass on becomes part of their family stories.

FAMILIES - K

In kindergarten, the theme of family focuses on a child’s immediate family, especially mothers and fathers. Sometimes the caregiver is a grandparent. The most important concept is that family members care for one another. Building in concentric circles outward, first graders inquire further into extended family relations with an emphasis on elders. They explore differences among families and also the concept of home. In second grade, children continue to learn about all that goes into the idea of a family. They broaden their understanding of home to include a place on the earth, not just a house. They learn more about ways in which families are the same and different both within a single culture and across cultures.

When discussing families within the classroom, the following guidelines should be followed: - No child should be required to discuss or draw about his or her family. - The child’s definition of his or her family should be accepted. - Similarities and differences among families that the children bring up should be handled with acceptance, appreciation, and respect. - The concept of needs is an important one because it identifies similarities among peoples. At the kindergarten level, children will identify items of importance to them as needs. Accept all responses. In teacher-directed activities, focus on the basic needs of food, water, air and shelter. - When brainstorming, allow plenty of time for the children to respond and accept all responses without criticism or hesitation.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible:

FAMILIES - K

Applying growing understandings of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing (writing workshop) Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature. Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonic knowledge through writing; poetry, songs and chants; and through ongoing mini lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

Content inquiry strategies include the following:

Finding information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations in classroom, Developing sensory awareness Interviews with knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT

Questions for Inquiry Kindergartners will explore several questions about family. Who is in my family? How does my family take care of me? What do we do together? What do we eat? What are our favorite stories and songs? What do we celebrate?

FAMILIES - K

Teacher should begin the unit with a dialogue journal in which she/he shares a story about her/his own family. Children should then be asked to create a dialogue journal about their own family using pictures and words. Children will share their journals with the class. It is important that teachers be extremely sensitive when asking children to share about their families in any form – talking, writing, or drawing. This is especially true if children are going to be asked to share. Children may wish to keep this part of their lives private. Children can be invited to journal and share about any family – perhaps an imaginary family or a family they’ve read about if they would prefer and don’t want to feel left out. Teachers should not use “family tree” graphic organizers that might highlight missing family members or imply stereotypical family structures. After sharing, the teacher leads the class in an instructional conversation (IC) asking the children what they’ve learned about families from sharing so far.

Connecting with families

At the beginning of the unit, send a letter home to families explaining the theme of the unit: Who is in my family? How do families care for each other? What do families do together? Let them know the children will be coming to them and asking them to share things like favorite stories, foods, lullabies or songs, activities. Explain that they would be especially welcome to come to class and share, especially to the culminating family celebration.

On Mother’s Lap by Ann Scott available from Indian book distributors and www.amazon.com

Again, a reminder. Not every child lives with a mother. You will want to remind children that this might be a father or grandmother or grandfather. Our families are the people who care for us! Strategies in bold explained further in Reading and Writing Guides. 1. Show the children the cover of the book and read the title. Ask the children to predict what this story might be about . Write their answers and note each child’s initials so you can return to their predictions individually after the reading. (ETR) 2. First reading. Instructional Conversation (IC). Ask the children what they think about the story. How did they feel? Responses should be open after the first reading. Return to the predictions and ask why they made the prediction (where did the idea come from in their own experience) and how did it help them understand the story. 3. Second reading. Retelling. Collaboratively retell the story. Ask the children to act out the story informally giving everyone a chance to play a part.

FAMILIES - K 4. Third reading. Ask the children to join in the reading chorally, especially with the repeated refrain. IC: Why didn’t the boy want his sister to sit on his mother’s lap? Is there always room for one more? Ask the children what they would like to bring to their mother’s lap? 5. Have the children draw a picture of something they would like to bring to their mother’s lap. Make a class book. Or make a class collage with a picture of a mother and her lap piled high with the children’s choices.

Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com In this story a child finds that her mother will love her no matter what: when she makes a mistake or even does something wrong on purpose, when she runs away, when she teases, when she pretends to be someone else. Our families always love us. 1. Do a picture walk and let the children ask questions and predict what the story might be about as above. Explain to the children that this story takes place in the Arctic with the Inuit people. They will be learning new words about the places and animals that come from where this little girl lives. 2. First reading. IC: Open response…connections and questions. 3. Second reading: Let the children ask about words they don’t know and let them try to figure out from the pictures. Create a chart of words from the story with illustrations if possible. You might make an enlarged copy of the pictures and label the picture….e.g whale and spout and so on. Collaboratively retell the story 4. Third reading. IC: What lessons did we learn from this story? 5. Work with the story patterns below, having the children create their own patterns with animals they know. This can be done elaborately or simply depending on the children’s enjoyment of the activity. a. How much do you love me? More than….. Ask children to substitute animals they know and think about what their animals would love. For example, more than the skunk loves his smell or more than the porcupine loves his quills. b. How long? Until…..think of animals or important objects in their environment and think of something silly that that animal really cannot do. For example, more than the horse flies to the moon, or more than bees have birthday parties or…. c. What if I………. Children describe an accident. Mother replies, “Then I would be sorry, but I would still love you.” d. What if I……… Children describe form of mischief. Mother replies, Then I would be ………, (fill in appropriate emotion) but I would still love you.” e. What if I turn into………… Children describe an animal. Mother replies, “Then I would be ………., but I would still love you.”

FAMILIES - K

6. Final reading. IC: What have we learned so far about how families take care of us? Start a chart to which further ideas will be added until the end of the unit. 7. Create a class book based on these variations giving each child an opportunity to contribute one idea or page. Illustrate. Send copies home with every child if possible. 8. Might want to compare with the Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.

What Mommies Do Best/ What Daddies Do Best by Laura Numeroff

1. Show the children the unusual layout of this book – one story going one way, the other going backwards and upside down. This is a good time to discuss the ways books are usually organized. Ask the children to predict whether or not mommies and daddies will be different? Write their predictions and initials so that you can return to their reasons later. (ETR) 2. First reading. IC: Open response, feelings, connections, questions, favorite parts. 3. Second reading. IC: What did we learn from this story that we can add to our charts? 4. Dialogue journal. Teacher models first. What is one of the favorite things my mommy, mom or my daddy, dad did with me? Ask the children to create their own dialogue journals. If you wish these might be edited and illustrated for a class book.

Mothers Are Like That by Carol Carrick

Some animals take care of their families in ways that are remarkably similar to humans.

1. Using a KWL chart, ask children to share what they know about how animals take care of their young. 2. First Reading: IC: Open response. Children can make connections, ask questions, give feelings or favorite parts. 3. Second Reading: IC: Do our families take care of us in similar ways? Can we add these to our chart? 4. The children may want to inquire into the ways other familiar animals take care of their young. They can look in other information books, ask families or other members of the community that might have these answers. This might be an opportunity to invite an “expert” on a particular animal to visit the class. Children could brainstorm questions they wish to ask ahead of time.

FAMILIES - K

Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher by Becky Ray McCain available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com

Grandmothers also take care of children and other family members. In this story Kimmy stays with her grandmother while her parents find a new home in a new city. Grandmother helps her overcome her nightmares and deal with her worries about the move and the temporary separation from her parents.

1. Introduce the story by asking children what they know about dreamcatchers. (prior knowledge). They may also wish to share experiences they have had with bad dreams. 2. First reading. IC: First response is open. Children can make connections to their own experiences or ask questions. 3. Second reading. This story is more complex than previous stories in the unit. The teacher should help children retell the story. The teacher may want to create a simple reader’s theater script that can guide the children in acting out the story. Parts do not have to be read word for word but a sentence strip with a picture or symbols or an object will help the children remember their parts. 4. Third reading. IC: Ask the children what they learned about families and how families care for each other from this story. Add to the class chart. 5. IC: May also invite children to tell other dream catcher stories. 6. Teacher can share in a dialogue journal about an experience with her/his grandparent. Children can write in their own dialogue journals about a grandparent or any other aspect of this story.

Indian stories about grandfathers include Askii and His Grandfather by Margaret Garaway available from www.amazon.com and Johhny Lee and His Grandfather by San Juan School District, phone 435 678-1229

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

This is the story of a young girl growing up with her grandparents in the mountains. They care for her in many ways, for example, walking her to the Johnny House when she eats too much okra. This book is used in the second grade family unit. Here it is optional but would make a good read aloud if the children would like to hear more about grandparents.

FAMILIES - K

Hairs/Pelitos by Sandra Cisneros

This story shares the different kinds of hair in one family. The description of the mother is particularly beautiful and comforting. 1. First reading. IC: Open responses, feelings, connections, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Second reading. IC: Talk about the describing words in the story. 3. Draw a picture of someone in your family and use describing words. Teacher can either take dictation or support children in writing with whatever transcription knowledge they have reached.

Northwoods Cradle Song: From a Menominee Lullaby by Douglas Wood available from Indian book distributors or Amazon

In order to let their children know they loved them, Indian mothers – like other mothers – sang lullabies to them. 1. Talk with the children about lullabies and how they might differ from other kinds of songs. 2. First Reading: IC: Open response. Connections, questions, feelings, favorite parts, etc. 3. Second Reading: IC: More open response. Tell the children they are going to learn this lullaby and present it chorally. 4. Continue reading over several days till children have learned the lullaby. 5. Create a class mural. Let the children choose a special animal, insect, part of nature to paint and cut out and add to the mural. The mural should be completely colored – use a dark butcher paper background – dark blue. 6. Present the lullaby as part of the family celebration at the end of the unit. 7. Northern Lullaby is another book that might be compared. There is also a Hopi lullaby in Dancing Teepees by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve. 8. Other poems about mothers can be found in Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers edited by Pat Mora. Several of these would also be appropriate for a family celebration presentation.

Other Indian lullabies can be found in Northern Lullaby by Leo and Diane Dillon and Weave Little Stars into My Sleep by Neil Phillip. Both are available from www.amazon.com

See Further Resources section for books that can be substituted or used in addition to those listed here

FAMILIES - K

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT

1. Family Book. Throughout the unit, children will talking and writing about their own families. Pages in the book might include the following: • Who is in my family? • How do we care for each other? (Children can use the class chart to help them with this.) • What do we do together? • What are our favorite stories, songs, lullabies, dances? • What do we celebrate? Children should create, edit, and illustrate their own books. The books can be shared with families at the family celebration. 2. Present the Northwoods Cradle Song choral reading (with the mural backdrop) as part of the family celebration. 3. Hold a final discussion about the ways families care for us and prepare a formal list to share with the families. Children could each present one line. 4. Invite families to share their own stories, songs, activities at the family celebration.

More Content Inquiry Strategies

1. Through the identification and discussion of personal needs, children begin to recognize the similarities among all living things. Brainstorm with the children some of the things that they need to be healthy and happy. Accept all responses and write or draw them on chart paper. The teacher can insert food, water, air and shelter if they are not mentioned. Use the charts to promote discussion about how they get the things they say they need.

2. Classifying helps children see similarities among their needs. Have the children draw about one need they have identified in the brainstorming activity. Have the children discuss the kinds of pictures they have drawn. During the discussion notice common needs that they have identified, such as “family,” and place this label on chart paper or the bulletin board. Have the children place pictures that fit under this label on that chart. Continue the classifying process until all the pictures have been placed.

FAMILIES - K

3. Brainstorm with the children to develop a collaborative list of items that their families provide for them. Ask the children to draw a picture and write a story about the an important thing that their family gives them. After reading MaMa, Do You Love Me?, On Mother’s Lap and Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher, discuss what a family provides in each of these stories.

4. Experimentation in family roles, problem solving and cooperative group behavior can be promoted through the use of a Dramatic Play Center. The children can role play various roles, interests and hobbies of family members, or various occupations of parents or other family members. Provide the children with the opportunity to handle and talk about props in the center/workshop. Discuss the ways in which the items could be used, emphasizing their uses in the children’s families. All the children should have time for independent experimentation with the props. Have the children pretend to hold their babies while the teacher reads Northwoods Cradle Song.

5. Through the sharing and discussion of their own and others’ art work, children begin to appreciate differences and similarities among families. Before children draw or paint, discuss the general topic of their artwork to help them build mental pictures. Use drawings or paintings to focus discussion on different aspects of families, such as family interests, structures, responsibilities, jobs, changes, and needs.

6. Use paintings or drawings of families to develop an appreciation for the similarities and differences among families. After children have drawn or painted pictures of their families, discuss their art work with them. Use questions such as: - What is the same about all these families? (numbers, hair color, clothing, interests, etc.) - Do you think this group is a family? Why or why not? - How is this drawing or painting like your drawing or painting? - What do you see the people in the picture doing?

7. Fold 12” x 18” pieces of construction paper lengthwise. Have the children draw their family on one side and write the names of their family members on the other side. On 6” x 6” pieces of paper, have the children draw/write about special interests of their family. Assemble each child’s work into a mobile. Insert a clothes hanger inside the folded drawing of the family. Staple the top closed. Hang the 6” x 6” “interest” pictures from the covered coat hanger with yarn. Display the mobiles.

FAMILIES - K 8. Provide the children with 6” x 6” pieces of tagboard and assorted yarn. Have the children draw the face of one member of their family on their piece of tagboard and cut it out. Yarn hair can be glued on if desired. Glue or staple each child’s puppet face to a popsicle stick. The children can form small family groups, using their puppets to act out a variety of family activities.

9. Discuss with the children the different kinds of homes that families live in, houses, apartments, big houses, little houses. Have the children draw pictures of various homes on a 6” x 6” paper. Glue the drawings onto mural paper to create a large pictorial graph showing the different types of homes that children and their families live in. Discuss the kind of homes that people of the children’s tribe(s) lived in long ago. Ask an elder from the community to come and speak to the class about this.

10. Provide old magazines and ask children to cut out pictures of people, all kinds of people. Have the children paste the pictures on a large piece of mural paper to create a “family collage.” A collaborative story about the family can be written beside the family collage. Stress with the children that we all have needs, are similar and we all need families.

11. Send home to parents the following letter encouraging their children to write at home.

Dear Parents,

Writing can be an enjoyable and very natural process for kindergarten children. At school we encourage drawing/writing in a learning center. Children draw pictures about topics of interest to them and sometimes they add printed letters/words to the drawing. The print may be a single letter to represent the beginning sound or simply letters the child knows. We encourage the children to write their messages using letters and sounds they hear in words –we call this “invented spelling.” The print has meaning for the child and he or she is able to read it.

We accept the children’s translations and encourage them to tell more about the topics as they read their writing pieces to each other. You may wish to encourage your child to draw/write at home. Suggest that your child draw a picture about experiences you have recently shared and add whatever letters or letter-like marks your child wishes to create. You can be supportive of your child’s drawing/writing by being a good audience for it. In order to know what the writing says, you need only to say, “Read me what you wrote.”

FAMILIES - K WORD STUDY Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will teach grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of their regular program. Thematic units will help children develop vocabulary semantically through clusters of words related thematically to the unit. The clusters or categories are based on meaning rather than grapho/phonic relationships.

Develop wall chart collections of vocabulary words as the unit unfolds, encouraging children to identify words that can be added to each category. In kindergarten, children may be able to identify categories with teacher guidance. Including pictures or symbols will be useful for children at this stage of development (and for English language learners of any age). Teachers may want to make enlarged copies of some of the text illustrations in each book and label the pictures using appropriate vocabulary. This is an extension of labeling objects in the classroom (environmental print). This strategy is suggested explicitly in the unit using the book Mama, Do You Love Me? but can be applied to most of the other books as well. It is not necessary to choose all the words listed here and others may be substituted. These are examples.

Names for family relationships Feelings Animals Sensory language to describe relatives angry pig heron, tall and wise kin sad horse silver gray-green dragonflies clan surprised walrus sings of silken moths mother, father happy whale thunder beats of the drum aunts, uncles sorry polar bear warm smell of bread before you bake it grandmother, grandfather loving puffin hair like fur/slippery/thick/straight/lazy/ brothers, sisters scared wolf like a broom

Words for actions that show families care snuggle hug cook sew Remember to include Native words. cuddle tuck read clean rock kiss play grow love hold teach

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FAMILIES - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers, however, should never limit themselves to short descriptions or even extended checklists. They should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the social studies concepts in the unit • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the social studies concepts of the unit.

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FAMILIES – K

Further Resources for Families Jonathan and His Mommy by Irene Smalls Kevin and His Dad by Irene Smalls Be sure to read books before including them in Shoes from Grandpa by Mem Fox a unit to ensure that they include the concepts We’re Very Good Friends, My Grandpa and I by P.K. Halleman intended by the teacher. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam Bratney I Want Another Brother: Poems About Families by Anna Currey Families are Different by Nina Pelligrini Talk About Books – Brothers Mommy, Where Are You?/Ziefert & Boon, Puffin B Talk About Books – Sisters I Love My Family/Wright Group B Talk About Books – My Mom Moms and Dads/PM Starters/Rigby A Talk About Books – My Dad all by Debbie Bailey My Family/Sunshine/Wright Group A 123: A Family Counting Book by Bobbie Combs Big Sister/Visions/Wright Group B My Dad and I by Julio Racardo Baerga Dad/Little Readers/Houghton-Mifflin B MaMa Eat Ant, Yuck by Barbara L. Edmonds Our Baby/Learn to Read/Creative Teaching B ABC: A Family Alphabet Book by Bobbie Combs My Little Brother/Windmill/Wright Group C Nobody Asked Me if I Wanted a Baby Sister by Martha Alexander Our Grandad/Sunshine/Wright Group C The Terrible Thing That Happened At My House by Marge Blaine Our Granny/Sunshine/Wright Group C Going to Grandpa’s by Marilyn Frankford Wake Up, Dad/PM Books/Rigby C Goldilocks and the Three Bears – Wake Up, Mom/Sunshine/Wright Group C *also in an audio tape Navajo version/San Juan School District Where Is My Grandma?/Foundations/Wright Group C *American Indian Curriculum Family Unit ,United Tribes, Bismarck, ND Mom/PM Starters/Rigby A I Have Four Names for My Grandfather by Kathryn Lasky Little Brother/Sunshine/Wright Group A Families/Interaction/Rigby B Going to Grandpa’s by Marily Frankford, Kaeden Books C Dad/PM Starters/Rigby A Other books and poems on the theme *Indian books Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

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Approx. Four Week Unit WEATHER/SEASONS K – Reading and Science

Science Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Observe, record and discuss daily Seasons of the Circle by Joseph Research-based content Observations, work samples, weather patterns Bruchac inquiry strategies self-assessment. See Byron Through the Seasons by Assessment Guide and Record observations in nature that Children of LaLoche and Friends Research-based literacy section on assessment in this occur because of the weather Did You Hear the Wind Sing Your strategies for word study unit. Name? by Sandra DeCoteau Orie Discuss clothing and student Nicely, Nicely in Dancing Teepees Research-based literacy activities appropriate for weather by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve strategies for comprehension Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Recognize that weather changes Laan Research-based writing can be noted and measured The Wind/San Juan School Dist. activities Rabbit’s Wish for Snow by Tchin, . Observe, record and discuss Carol Ewing Workshops and Activity seasonal patterns and changes Tell Me a Season by Mary Centers – See Reading and McKenna Siddals Writing Guides Record changes in plants/animals The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats occurring because of season change Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. Rain Song by Lezlie Evans Collect objects such as seeds, cones, Rain in Silver Seeds by Paul and leaves, and classify/sort them Paolilli and Dan Brewer according to color, shape and size Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn Branley Identify appropriate seasonal Spring is Here by Taro Gomi clothing and activities

Learn Indians studied weather

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WEATHER/SEASONS – K

Introduction to the Theme and Unit

The children should learn that Indian people have always been scientists and observed nature to know when to plant, to gather, to celebrate and give thanks. For example, they have watched animal behavior to predict the weather. They knew such things as:

• If beavers build their dens more than four feet above the water level, the winter will be unusually cold. • If muskrats build their homes in the middle of the lake, there will be a long winter. A muskrat will build in deep water so that there will be open water to make certain that he can get out if there is a long, hard freeze. • If snakes linger toward late summer, this is an indication of a late fall. • If rabbits turn white early, there will be an early winter.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible

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WEATHER/SEASONS - K Content inquiry strategies include the following Finding information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations in classroom, through video, and in natural habitats Developing sensory awareness Interviews with knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT Begin with a semantic map. Put the word “seasons” in the center and have the children brainstorm as many words, ideas, experiences, facts as they can think of. Throughout the unit, as the children learn new vocabulary and concepts, return to the semantic map and add the new information. New information can be written in a different color so that children can see the knowledge base they are developing. This map can also be used as a resource for children during their writing activities. Note that the strategies highlighted in bond are explained more fully in the Reading and Writing Guides. SEASONS Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn Mansfield Branley This book answers the question, Why are there seasons? by explaining about the rotation of earth on its axis and around the sun. 1. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 2. Second Reading: Retelling – In the book the authors use a pencil, an orange and a flashlight to show how the earth spins on its axis which is why we have day and night and the seasons. Have students use same supplies to demonstrate and explain the concept. 3. How to Writing Activity: Teacher and students write the steps taken for the activity explained in step #2. Each child is given a copy and takes it home to demonstrate to family. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Science Journal: Teacher reviews with children what they have learned about why we have day and night. Children write, draw and share their explanations about day and night. (Include in My Seasons book.) 5. Third Reading: Teacher and students list ways that the sun makes each season. 6. Science Journals: Children draw, write and share their understanding about how the sun makes a particular season. (Include in My Seasons book.)

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Seasons of the Circle: A Native American Year by Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 2. Second Reading: Retelling – Teacher divides months by seasons and asks students to list activities depicted in book within each season. 3. Dialogue Journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about a particular activity he/she participates in that is determined by the season and/or month. Children draw, write and share about the same topic. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Third Reading: Culture teacher and/or elder are invited to facilitate discussion about practices, traditions and celebrations particular to the Indian tribe(s) of your school.

Byron Through the Seasons – A Dene-English Story Book by the Children of La Loche and Friends available from Oyate at www.oyate.org 1. Ask the students to name the seasons. Start a heading for each season and invite the students to contribute what they know about the season and/or any experience/memory they have of that particular time. Write what each child says and include the child’s name in order to return to individual contributions later. 2. Lead a Book Walk with the students. 3. Use storytelling strategies. 4. First reading: (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 5. Second reading: Retelling – Have the students listen for and identify the events that the family participates in for each season. Have students add this information to the chart they started in step one. 6. Reader Response Journals – Teacher models writing and sharing about something he/she does to prepare for/or because of a particular season. Students write, draw and share about the same topic. (Include in My Seasons book.) 7. Third Reading – Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large papers that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story.

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8. Introduce Science Journals. Teacher explains and models how students will record their daily observations and experiences with daily weather patterns and seasonal changes. Teacher uses a Venn diagram to help students think about the differences and similarities between Byron’s experiences with a particular season and their own. Students draw what a season is like for Byron and then draw what the same season is like for them. This can be done for each season. Teacher takes care to help students focus on the appropriate clothing worn for each season, the food available, and the look of the physical environment.

Tell Me a Season by Mary McKenna Siddals

In this book each season is described by color. As the seasons progress, so does the time of day, from summer day to fall evening, and, finally, winter night. Children can try to guess the season with the clues provided.

1. First Reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 2. Second Reading: Retelling Teacher uses objects from a story teller’s bag to model using pneumonic devices to support retelling. As the story is rich with detail and the illustrations are important clues the teacher has much to choose from. For example: color squares, holiday décor, clock to indicate length of daylight/nighttime. 3. Teacher Directed Mini Lesson: Teacher gathers resources to teach a mini lesson about the length of daylight during the different seasons. 4. Science Journal: Teacher and students record the daylight hours for a week. This information is obtained from the newspaper and/or internet. The teacher and students also record the phases of the moon during the same week. Students record this information in science journals. 5. Third Reading: Teacher introduces and explains format of a riddle. Teacher reads several riddles to students and then explains that they will write riddles about the seasons. Have students use information from book and unit to develop simple riddles. (Include in My Seasons book.) 6. Language Experience Approach: Teacher uses LEA to help students write a color paragraph for each season. For example: Summer is blue. Summer is blue because…. Children pick color for each season and then formulate sentences to explain why that color depicts that season. Children illustrate their text. (Include in My Seasons book.)

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Did You Hear Wind Sing your Name? An Oneida Song of Spring by Sandra De Coteau Orie available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com The narrative poses a series of questions, asking readers if they have heard, seen, or experienced various phenomena that signal the approach of spring. 1. Use storytelling strategies 2. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 3. Second Reading: Retelling: Have the children explain how the illustration relates to text and what it tells them about spring. 4. Science Journals – Signs of Spring entry – Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about signs that tell him/her spring is approaching. Children write, draw and share about how they know spring is coming and/or has arrived. (Include in My Seasons book.) 5. Third reading – Teacher guides students in formulating possible answers to the questions posed in text as well as thinking about why and how the questions are relevant to spring. 6. Language Experience Approach (LEA) – Teacher and students write their own text by formulating questions based on their developing knowledge of spring and their relationship to spring.

Spring is Here by Taro Gomi This book helps children to use their imaginations to discover their environments. 1. First Reading: (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Second Reading: Retelling Have children explain the illustrations and how they are relevant to the seasons and themselves. 3. Narrative Writing Activity: As this book encourages imagination and unusual ways of looking at the seasons and their environment, this writing activity encourages the same. The teacher models writing and sharing about a personal interpretation of how he/she experiences spring. For example: “Spring is here because I have to wash my windows and plant my garden.” Students write, draw and share from same perspective. Type each child’s text and copy the illustration. Make a book consisting of each child’s contribution. Have children take home and read to family. Keep a copy and add to classroom library. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Third Reading: This is a very simple text. Make copies of text and have students read along with teacher. Ask for volunteers and have students read aloud. Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Laan is an Indian story about winter. It is available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com Another Indian book is Alfred’s Summer by Darrel Pelletier, Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies, Canada

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Develop a semantic map. Put the word “weather” in the center and have the children brainstorm as many words, ideas, experiences, facts as they can think of. Throughout the unit, as the children learn new vocabulary and concepts, return to the semantic map and add the new information. New information can be written in a different color so that children can see the knowledge base they are developing.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

1. First Reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Dialogue Journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about their first experience with snow or why he/she would like to experience snow. Children draw, write and share about same topic. 3. Second Reading: Retelling Children collaboratively retell story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story. 4. Narrative Writing: My Favorite Weather – Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about his/her favorite weather. Teacher’s model can include activities, food, traditions and clothing associated with favorite weather. Children write, draw and share about their favorite weather. (Include in My Seasons book.) 5. Third Reading: Teacher facilitates discussion about appropriate clothing for a snowy day. 6. Venn diagram: Teacher and students use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the main character’s winter and their winter.

Rabbit’s Wish for Snow by Tchin, Carol Ewing is an Indian story available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com

Nicely, Nicely, a poem in Dancing Teepees by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve available from Indian book distributors or Amazon.

This poem is about rain and introduces personification. 1. First Reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Second Reading: Children collectively read poem aloud.

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3. Third Reading: Teacher provides copy of poem to each child. Children illustrate their copy of poem. Teacher facilitates discussion about how other weather is like a relative caring for us. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Dialogue Journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about how the weather cares for him/her. For example: “The shiny sun is like my aunt wrapping a blanket around me.” Children write, draw and share their example of how the weather cares for them. (Include in My Seasons book.)

Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault 1. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Second Reading: Retelling – Children collectively read poem aloud. Teacher helps students listen for and identify rhyming words and repeating phrases. 3. Dialogue journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about an experience he/she has had with rain. The teacher includes something the rain was telling him/her. For example if the memory is of being in a storm the teacher explains that the rain was saying, “Go inside before you get sick.” Children draw, write and share about an experience they’ve had with rain. Teacher acts as scribe and children dictate what the rain was telling them. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Third Reading: Teacher provides copy of poem for each child. Children illustrate their copy of poem. (Include in My Seasons book.) 5. Science Journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about the things he/she has to change because of a rainy day. Children draw, write and share about how a rainy day affects their daily schedule. (Include in My Seasons book.)

Rain in Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer This is a beautifully simple and rhythmic acrostic poem, a poem written about rain starting each line with a word beginning with a letter in the word rain. The teacher should first introduce and teach the definition and form of an acrostic poem. The teacher can model the content and construction of an acrostic poem by writing one about herself and using the letters of her name. This will help the students focus on the first letters and still have a concrete example of the content being about the essence of what one is writing about. The first line of the poem is:

Rap-tap-tapping

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1. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, and so on. 2. Second reading: Children collectively read poem aloud. 3. Writing Acrostic poems: Teacher models writing and sharing an acrostic poem about his/her favorite weather. Teacher uses guided writing strategies to help children collectively write an acrostic poem. Then children individually write an acrostic poem about the weather. Children illustrate their poem. (Include in My Seasons book.) 4. Third Reading: Teacher provides copy of collective poem for each child. Children illustrate their copy of poem. (Include in My Seasons book.)

Rain Song by Lezlie Evans This is a playful rhyming poem. The illustrations show two girls enjoying the experience of a rainstorm. It is fun to read aloud. 1. First reading (IC) – Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, etc. 2. Second Reading: Children collectively read poem aloud. 3. Dialogue Journal: Teacher models writing, drawing and sharing about things he/she enjoys doing on a rainy day. Children draw, write and share about things they enjoy doing on a rainy day. 4. Third Reading: Teacher provides copy of poem for each child. Children illustrate their copy of poem. (Include in My Seasons book.) Make rain sticks using paper towel holders, dried beans, peas or corn, construction paper, things to decorate them.

The Wind is an Indian book by San Juan School District, www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/media/mediaweb.htm

Other books about different kinds of weather can be added. See also Further Resources section for books that can be substituted or used in addition to those listed here.

Content Inquiry/Observations 1. Science Journals – Throughout the unit children will check the classroom thermometer and take note of daily temp. A classroom graph of the daily temperature will be kept to track the changes and patterns in temperature. Students will also draw/write about the appropriate clothing to wear given the temperature.

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2. Start a Matrix Chart headed by each of the seasons. Down the side list the following: weather, clothing, food, celebrations, changes in plants, changes in animal life, changes in my life and text that helped us learn more. This chart will allow you to gather information about the seasons and weather as well as make connections to and across the texts. 3. Nature Walks – These should be conducted throughout the unit are for the purpose of collecting nature samples, making observations and collecting data for science journals.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT 1. My Seasons Book – Students develop individual multi-medium books that include narrative writings about their experiences during different seasons, art works, poems, songs, pictures and nature samples. 2. ABC Seasons Book – In small groups or as a class, students develop ABC book using information and language they’ve learned throughout the unit. This can easily be a big book and consist of multi-media art activities. 3. Seasons Banner: Prior to introducing activity teacher makes a model. The banners are multi-medium and consist of cut out text, drawings, magazine cut outs, realia (e.g. leaves, seeds, etc) and anything that represents the season to them. A banner is made for each season and added to throughout the unit.

More Content Inquiry Strategies

1. Discuss weather phenomenon with children, focusing on how it affects them. For example: It’s raining again today! What are some of the things we cannot do when it rains? What are some of the things you like about rain? What are some of the things you don’t like about rain? After discussion, the children can draw/write about weather or seasonal changes they have noticed.

2. Use a calendar with large spaces for each day. Choose a child to record the weather (e.g., rain, snow or sun) each day. Provide the child with a piece of paper the size of a square on the calendar. Have him or her draw a picture that illustrates the weather or type of clothes to wear for the weather. For example, if rainy days are being recorded, the child may choose to draw raindrops or an umbrella. Have the child paste the picture on the appropriate date on the calendar. At the end of the week or month, count the number of rainy and non-rainy days with the children and construct a graph. Encourage the children to generalize about the weather using the data on the graph.

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3. Read and discuss Seasons of the Circle and Byron Through the Seasons. Stress that Byron was written by children. Have children record “signs of the seasons” on the calendar. For example, during the fall observations and discussion could lead to discoveries of fallen leaves, changing colors in leaves, and heavier coats on animals; in the spring, flowers blooming,

4. Children’s drawings/writings about weather and seasons can be compiled into class books on a variety of topics. Topics that might be used include “Fun in Winter,” “Winter Clothes,” “Spring is Here,” or “Playing in the Sun.”

5. Simple experiments can be scheduled or even suggested by children when they are interested in a particular weather phenomenon. Experiments promote thinking, problem solving, and oral language skills. Mark a large, wide-mouthed jar with a permanent marker at one-inch intervals. Place the container outdoors during a rain or snowstorm. Have the children measure the amount of rain or the snow collected and observe changes as the snow melts.

6. Have the children fill a clean eight-ounce milk carton with water and staple it closed. Set it outdoors to freeze. The next day peel off the paper carton and observe how it melts into a pan. Record the melting time.

7. Have each child cut two long streamers from different colored crepe paper. Help the children tie these streamers together with yarn, leaving a long piece of string free for them to hold on to. Have the children wrap tape around the knot. Take small groups of children outside to experiment with their whirly-birds. Have them observe what happens to the streamers if they twirl them overhead, run with them, walk with them, or stand still. Discuss their observations with them later in the classroom. Point out that they create a wind when they move. Or make and fly kites.

8. Create a bulletin board showing the characteristics of a particular season, such as flowers for spring or snow for winter. Ask the children to paint or draw a picture of themselves participating in their favorite seasonal activity. Have the children cut out their portraits. Attach their drawings or paintings to the bulletin board.

9. Discuss with the children the types of clothes that are worn in the winter. Ask them to draw pictures of themselves dressed in their winter clothes. A background for the mural can be created by combining Ivory Snow soap flakes and water and whipping

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them with a hand beater. This mixture can be smeared on the mural paper to represent snow. Have the children cut out their drawings and attach them to the mural paper. Display the mural. A collaborative story can be created about the mural and displayed also. Have the children read Rainbow Crow and discuss winter. Have the children rewrite Rainbow Crow and illustrate it to take home.

10. Discuss the characteristics of spring weather with the children. Questions such as the following might be asked to initiate discussion: It’s springtime and the sun is shining! What do we wear in the springtime? What do you like best about spring? What don’t you like about spring? What do you like to do in the springtime?

After the discussion, the children can choose to draw/write about spring and contribute their drawings/writings to a springtime class book. Read Did You Hear the Wind Sing Your Name? A Song of Spring.

11. Have the children discuss the difference in the way Indian people predicted weather long and ago and how they learn what the weather will be like now. Have an elder or the cultural instructor talk with the class about this.

12. Prior to reading, brainstorm characteristics of the season (or seasons) that is the topic of the book. Make a list on chart paper of these characteristics, creating a collaborative chart. After reading the book, discuss the story with the children, add or change the information on the collaborative chart based upon new knowledge from the book. Display the chart in the room.

13. Songs and poems are an enjoyable way to discover the characteristics of seasons. Write the words to a song such as Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head or a poem on chart paper and use shared reading strategies to help children read and learn the words. Model any body movements as you teach the words. Repeat the songs whenever appropriate during the year. Use the written words on the chart whenever the song is sung, so that the children become familiar with the print associated with the words they are singing.

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Poems and Fingerplays for Weather/Seasons

Rain, rain, rain, rain, (fingers making rain) There were five little snow people, standing together Knocking on my window pane. (knock on imaginary And the first one said, “What beautiful weather!” windowpane) The second one said, “I’m happy today!” I press my nose against the glass, (press nose with The third one said, “Well, what shall we play?” finger) The fourth one said, “I’d really like to stay.” And wait for all the rain to pass. (clap hands) And the fifth one said, “But, we’ll melt in May!”

It’s such a bright and sunny day, (outstretched arms Fall Leaves circle head for a sun) Down, down, It would be fun to go and play. Yellow and brown, I’ll quickly grab my coat and hat, (put on imaginary Fall the leaves coat and hat) All over the ground. I’ll also need my ball and bat. (swing at ball with a Rake them up batting motion) In a pile so high, They almost reach . Up to the sky. Watch the clouds s-l-o-w-l-y moving by Making pictures in the sky. What do you see as they go by? Sing a song of seasons! I see a ______way up high. Something bright in all! Flowers in the summer, Fires in the fall!

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Seasons Clothing Actions Months Plants/food Places winter moccasins play January sugar camp spring parka hunt February lard ice house summer boots follow March flour La Loche fall jacket gather April tea creek gloves plant May fish north Senses scarf touch June berries south hear shorts run July moose east see pants dance August bannock west touch sweater race September strawberries field taste blouse poles October Buttercup meadow feel shirt weave November Violets forest sandals build December Cedar tells Sweet grass

Remember to include words/concepts from the native language.

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ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing – see Assessment Guide for characteristics of the various genre • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

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Further Resources Bee Gets a Sweater by Keith Faulkner Air Is All Around You/Let’s Read and Find Out Science, HarperTrophy The Sun and Wind/Houghton- Mifflin Series All to Build a Snowman by Samuel Tang Snowman/Smart Start/Rigby A Snow is Falling/Let’s Read and Find Out Science, HarperTrophy Weather/Smart Start/Rigby A Rain by Robert Kalen Who Likes the Cold?/Twig/Wright Group A Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton How’s the Weather?/Creative Tchg. Press B All Ready for Winter by Leon Adelson Clouds/Voyages/McGraw-Hill B Down Come the Leaves by Henrietta Bancroft Out in the Weather/PM Starters/Rigby B Follow the Fall by Maxine Kumin Rain/Reading Corners/Dominic B Now It’s Fall by Lois Lenski The Storm/Sunshine/Wright Group B A Day of Autumn by Betty Miles The Storm/Storybox/Wright Group C The Four Seasons by Melvin Berger Rain/Beginning Literacy/Scholastic C It’s Time Now by Alvin Tresselt On a Cold, Cold Day/Tadpoles/Rigby C On Monday When It Rained by Cheryl Kachenmeister When It Rains/Foundations/Wright Group C All Falling Down by Grace Zion I Have a Song for You Acitvity Book, About What Will the Weather Be Like Today? by Paul Rogers People and Nature by Janeen Brady *Creating Sacred Places Curriculum, NISBA, K-3 Vol. I Unit on Sun, Moon and Stars contains weather and seasons activities Other appropriate books and poems *Keepers of the Earth, Native American Stories and Activities for Children on the theme by Joseph Bruchac, also story cards, audiocassettes and teacher’s guide *Seasons Unit in The Learning Circle, First Nations at www.inac.gc.ca *Indian books

Be sure to read books before including them in a unit to ensure that they include the concepts intended by the teacher. Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

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Approx. Four Week Unit ANIMALS K – Reading and Science

Science Standards Suggested Literature Activities Assessment Identify the basic needs of animals How Food Was Given in We Are Research-based content Observations, work samples and prepare a suitable habitat for the People by the Okanagan inquiry strategies and self-assessment. a mouse and/or rabbit Rabbit Dance in Keepers of the See the Assessment Guide Animals by Caduto and Bruchac Research-based literacy and section on assessment in Identify and describe characteristics How Rabbit Lost His Tail by Ann strategies for word study this unit. of some common animals including Tompert their physical characteristics, where Mouse’s Bragging Song/The Earth Research-based literacy they live and how they move Under Sky Bear’s Feet/J. Bruchac strategies for comprehension Heetunka’s Harvest/Jennifer Jones Identify and discuss similarities and Field Mouse Goes to War by E. Research-based writing differences among animals and Kennard activities other living things Grass Mountain Mouse/Ann Clark How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Workshops and Activity Recognize that living things change Joseph and James Bruchac Centers – See Reading and as they grow and that offspring of Animal Lives: The Rabbit by Sally Writing Guides animals are similar but not identical Tagholm to their parents Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter Town Mouse, Country Mouse by Recognize that animals live and die Jane Brett (or other version) The Lion and the Mouse, Aesop House Mouse by Barrie Watts The Mouse Bride: A Mayan Folk Tale by Judith Dupre Squirrels and Chipmunks by Allan Those in bold highly recommended. Fowler

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Introduction to the Theme and Unit

American Indians have a highly sophisticated understanding of nature and the interconnectedness of all living things. They believe that humans need to respect and learn from other living things that have knowledge and special skills for living in nature. For example, Indian people watched animal behavior to predict weather changes.

Indian stories emphasize the virtues of animals including useful personality traits as well as technical skills. These skills include the ability to live in a balanced way with plants and other animals and in relation to the geography and climate of particular places on Mother Earth. In the Indian view, the lines between people and animals are not so clearly drawn as in European science traditions. Indian people view animals as relatives and respect and care for them. Animals are the main characters in many Indian stories.

Concepts to be learned from the Indian stories and activities included in this theme are the importance of learning through careful observation and sensory awareness (Indians were the first scientists on this continent); understanding the interconnectedness of humans, plants, animals, and environment; understanding humans’ responsibilities toward animals; and understanding a proper relationship with animals that is one of respect rather than control.

In kindergarten, the study of animals focuses on small animals (mammals) such as mice, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels. Science standards addressed in the theme include understanding of the basic needs of animals, similarities and differences among animals and other living beings, common characteristics of the animals studied, and the stages of animal life.

Literacy strategies include the following in both English and the native language whenever possible: Storytelling Read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, and individual reading in reading workshop Retelling through drama, art, and writing Comprehension strategies including especially making connections, using prior experience, finding important ideas, predicting, questioning, visualizing, using graphic organizers Instructional conversations

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Developing vocabulary including both sight words and content words and words in native language whenever possible Applying growing understandings of cueing system to read simple texts and labels Reading language experience stories and individual writing Shared writing, guided writing, and individual writing in writing workshop Writing including journals, dialogue journals, informational writing (observation notes, directions, lists), personal narratives and response to literature Supporting children’s emergent grapho/phonic knowledge through writing; poetry, songs and chants; and through ongoing mini lessons in various reading contexts (shared, guided and individual reading)

Content inquiry strategies include the following: Finding content information in narrative and non narrative texts Observations in classroom, through video, computer and in natural habitats Developing sensory awareness Interviews with and hearing from knowledgeable others and through collaboration Cultural activities developed by school staff and community based on the theme

Suggestions for Implementing the Unit Start the unit with an Indian story, such as How Food Was Given or Rabbit Dance or both, that communicates the larger concept that animals and human beings are interdependent and sets the stage for children to learn from particular animals and develop their sense of stewardship toward animals. Then explore one or more of the small animals in approximately the following sequence:

• Begin the study of each animal with an Indian story. • Inquire into local stories known by families and the community. Respect local traditions in regard to time for telling traditional stories. It is most often in the winter time. • Compare stories with stories from other cultures. • Develop knowledge through both narrative and informational nonfiction texts, through observations and hands-on experiences.

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INTRODUCTION TO ONE WAY TO IMPLEMENT THIS UNIT

How Food Was Given in We Are the People by the Okanagan (Indian Author), available from Oyate at www.oyate.org Note that the strategies highlighted in bold font are explained in more detail in the Reading Guide. 1. Use storytelling strategies. 2. First reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) Start with open-ended response in which children respond with feelings, favorite parts, questions, connections and so on. 3. Second reading: Retelling Use objects from a storyteller’s bag to model using mnemonic devices to support retelling. Here the teacher will choose objects to stand for the four chiefs, the fly, and song. 4. Let the children take turns retelling using the objects. 5. Use an informal readers theater to have children “read” the story with the teacher as Narrator. Children take the parts of the four chiefs and the fly. 6. Instructional Conversation (IC) What lesson did we learn from this story about our relationship to other living things? 7. Teacher models her response to story in dialogue journal. 8. Children draw and write in their own dialogue journals. 9. Children illustrate teacher made little books of the story. 10. Children practice reading the story with the teacher in small groups. 11. Children take the books home to “read” to families.

Rabbit Dance from Keepers of the Animals by Caduto and Bruchac (IA), from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com Note that you may choose this story in place of or in addition to How Food Was Given, depending on time and availability of stories. 1. Ask the children to predict what the story will be about from the title and picture. Write what each child says and include the child’s name in order to return to particular contributions later. 2. Use storytelling strategies for first read 3. First reading: IC – Let children make open-ended responses, questions, connections, feelings, favorite parts, etc. 4. Second reading Ask the children to retell orally. 5. Dramatize the story informally having fun with sound effects, dance, etc.

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6. Third reading: Instructional Conversation (IC) - What lesson is this story teaching us? - What connections do the rabbits in this story have with our own experiences of rabbits? - Return to the predictions and talk about what experiences each child had (with experience of nature or other stories) to make the prediction he/she made. (ETR – Relationship experience to text) 7. Language experience Begin a list of the gifts animals give people. Each child chooses one gift to illustrate and write about. Return to this chart at the end of the unit.

At this point the teacher needs to decide how many animals to include in this theme study. The class may want to do several animals in less depth, one animal in more depth. The choice of animals may depend on what animals are in the local area.

RABBITS

How Rabbit Lost His Tail by Ann Tompert available from www.amazon.com 1. Follow the strategies above for storytelling and response. IC: How did the animals help the rabbit? What lesson did the rabbit learn? What lesson might we learn from this story? (Want to get at the idea that every living thing has special skills or attributes and contributions to make to the welfare of all.) 2. Begin inquiry into rabbits with a KWL chart. What do we know about rabbits? What do we want to know? What did we learn will be filled in as the unit unfolds. 3. You may want to organize the questions in the following clusters and/or have the children help you organize them. What do rabbits need to live? What do they eat? Where do they live? Who are their enemies? Also add: What do rabbits give humans? What do rabbits give other animals? How do rabbits contribute to their environments?

Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter available from www.amazon.com Peter has to learn to live carefully and safely in his world. This tale will add concrete information to the KWL chart. Animal Lives: The Rabbit (and/or other informational text on rabbits) by Sally Tagholm from CM store at 909 982-9695 Chunk the text depending on the attention span of the students, stopping after each reading to add to the KWL chart.

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Content Inquiry/Observations

1. If the classroom has a pet rabbit, the children will need to figure out the living accommodations for it (and how they are the same or different than the natural habitat). Have the children make a same and different list. 2. The teacher should model making a “how to” list for caring for the rabbit. The children should participate in making the list. 3. The children should use the list to ensure that they are taking responsibility for their part in caring for the rabbit. 4. The teacher should model several examples of observation of the rabbit in a mini lesson. Talk with the children about observations and how to use drawings, symbols, and emerging knowledge of print to take observations. 5. Children should begin rabbit observations and keep them in learning logs or journals. Children share daily. 6. Children may engage in a more extended art project drawing rabbits based on observations and sketches collected over time. 7. Children may have the opportunity to observe rabbits in their natural habitat, perhaps with their families. They should report what they observed to the class. 8. Children should interview family members and other members of the community with regard to what they know about rabbits. This may include general information or stories about rabbits. Learn and respect the traditions of the community regarding storytelling time and conditions. 9. Children may find information about rabbits through other media.

Review and Final Activities with Rabbits

1. Return to KWL chart checking to see if what the children thought they knew proved to be true, checking to see if questions were answered, and filling in the “what we learned.” 2. Develop a language experience story with the children based on “what we learned.” A class book can be created with the children invited to illustrate their own copies. The book can be used with children in small groups to practice reading with teacher support. Books are to be taken home to “read” to families.

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ANIMALS – K MICE Mouse’s Bragging Song in The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet by J. Bruchac (Indian Author) from Indian book distributors 1. Read the poem several times as children listen. 2. Invite children to make open-ended responses – favorite parts, connections 3. The teacher models a dialogue journal – something about the poem she/he liked using drawing, symbols, and writing 4. Children do dialogue journals. 5. Continue reading the poem throughout the week. 6. Choral reading with small groups of children memorizing and contributing particular lines. 7. KWL What do we know about mice? What do we want to know? What did we learn? Again we might arrange by clustering the questions such as: How can we describe mice? How do they act? Where do they live? What do they eat? What are their life cycles? What do they contribute to the world? The chart will be added to throughout the study of mice.

Heetunka’s Harvest by Jennifer Jones available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com 1. Ask children to predict what the story might be about from the title and pictures. Write predictions and note each child’s name by his/her prediction for later discussion. 2. First reading Use storytelling techniques. IC – children’s first response is open-ended. 3. Second reading Read slowly with lots of opportunities for children to ask questions. This book is filled with vocabulary and information that they need to understand. 4. Children collaboratively retell the story. Teacher uses language experience techniques to write one or two sentences for each main event. These are put on large paper that the children later illustrate in small groups. These large pages become a wall story. Children can use these at other times to support their reading/retelling of the story. 5. Third reading IC – What lessons did we learn from this story? - About greed? - About sharing? - About the contributions of even the smallest animals? - Other information about mice and their needs? 6. Finally return to the predictions and help children in their growing ability to articulate the prior experiences they brought to the story and how those experiences shaped their understanding of the story. (ETR-Relationship experience to text) 7. Add to the KWL chart.

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ANIMALS – K Content Inquiry/Observations If possible the class should keep mice as pets for awhile. Children can explore the needs of mice in terms of habitat, food, etc. Children will develop a list of responsibilities for caring for the mice and use posted lists and charts to keep track of their own contributions to the care of the mice. After the teacher models observations using drawings, symbols, and words, children will begin observations in their own learning logs/journals. See this process explained under Rabbits above.

Children should observe mice and other animals in their natural habitats, preferably with their families. Children can interview family members and other members of the community to gather information and stories about mice. Learn and respect the community’s traditions about traditional storytelling in regard to time and conditions for telling them. Family and community members can be invited to the class to provide such information, also.

Information from observations and other inquiries should be shared each day.

House Mouse by Barrie Watts and/or other information books. Add information to KWL chart.

Use of Other Mouse Stories Continue to add activities as described in response to other books that might be used in the unit AS TIME AND INTEREST ALLOW. It is probably best to go in depth with a few books and then simply read as many stories as is reasonable for the rest. Stop when children become restless with the unit.

Field Mouse Goes to War by Edward Kennard available from Oyate at www.oyate.org Based on the idea that even the smallest animals can outwit larger animals through courage and intelligence. Can be compared to The Lion and the Mouse, an Aesop’s fable. (Many versions of this story are available.)

The Mouse Bride by Judith Dupre available from www.amazon.com A number of other culture versions of this story are available. This Mayan story enlarges on the theme that every animal makes contributions to the world.

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ANIMALS – K Grass Mountain Mouse by Ann Nolan Clark available from Prairie Edge at www.prairieedge.com In this story a mouse doesn’t follow the normal behaviors that help her live in her environment. In this case she goes off to a rodeo in Pine Ridge instead of gathering food for the winter. Other cultures have similar stories revolving often around the grasshopper that can be compared. This is an excellent Lakota bilingual text that many children could actually read for themselves if approached in small chunks and with sufficient support. Teachers could approach with shared reading using an enlarged text on the overhead or chart paper. He/she could then meet with small groups and go through a series of readings: unison, echo, and individual. This text is much too long to do the entire story this way and it may not be worth doing if the class is already using other approaches to guided reading. Children might choose a favorite part to illustrate and practice reading or retelling to their families.

Town Mouse, Country Mouse by Jan Brett available from www.amazon.com There are numerous versions of this story in which each mouse family changes living environments and finds they prefer their own place in the world. Can lead to discussions about how animals find ways to survive and live in balance in the particular habitats. Humans can learn much from animals in this way.

Review and final activities for mouse study can be the same as for rabbits. Return to the KWL chart to see what’s been learned and if it answered questions of particular students. A language experience story can be done. See review and final activities for rabbits.

SQUIRRELS AND CHIPMUNKS Remember that once children learn a strategy, it can be repeated with far less support. It is probable that if you have already done the rabbits and mice activities, those same activities with squirrels and chipmunks can be carried out without as much teacher modeling, etc. On the other hand, if you are starting the unit with squirrels and chipmunks, you will have to provide the support for implementing the strategies outlined for rabbits and mice with squirrels and chipmunks materials. See above activities.

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes by Joseph Bruchac (Indian Author) available from Indian book distributors or www.amazon.com Read the story in ways already suggested. This story emphasizes again that bigger is not necessarily better or wiser. It also emphasizes living in balance with the rhythms of nature. The chipmunk expects and welcomes the sun each day. Children might share other “why” stories that explain why animals have particular attributes such as How Rabbit Lost His Tail. The class will probably also connect this story to other stories in which smaller animals prevail over larger.

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Squirrels and Chipmunks by Allan Fowler available from www.amazon.com See above activities for KWL, Content Inquiry and Observation Strategies and review and final activities.

Other Books Useful to this Unit

Whose Baby Is This? by Wayne Lynch available form www.amazon.com Introduces characteristics of baby animals and matches them with their mothers.

Mice Squeak, We Speak by Arnold Shapiro and Tomie de Paola available from www.amazon.com Matches animals and their sounds.

Books on porcupines, beavers, possums, raccoons if they live in your area.

See Further Resources list for books that may be substituted or used in addition to those already listed.

CONCLUSION OF THE UNIT 1. Compare and contrast animals studied in this theme using a Venn diagram or matrix. (Note that squirrels, chipmunks and mice are rodents. Rabbits come from another category of mammals. See Bruchac Keepers of the Animals for more information. 2. Return to the larger concepts of the unit: interconnectedness among animals, humans and the environment; our responsibilities toward animals; lessons we can learn from animals. May want to revisit chart from beginning of unit where children started a list of what gifts animals give us. 3. Optional projects: - Original animal stories – group and/or individual - ABC book of the animals – each child chooses and illustrates a word representing a letter of the alphabet with accompanying information about the animal words - Poetry – list poems – group and/or individual

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More Content Inquiry Strategies

1. The class should adopt a pet (mouse or rabbit or both) for the classroom. Before an animal arrives in the classroom, a “home” must be prepared for it. If possible, prepare the animal home in a location where all the children can see and participate. Allow the children to help make decisions about what the animal home should contain. Discussion should focus on the animal’s needs for food, water, air, space, companionship, and a hiding place. Read some of the suggested literature about mice and/or rabbits. Ask the following questions:

- What does this animal need to live? - What will this animal do with water? - What other things should we include? - How do you think we should behave when we are near this animal? Why?

2. Whenever a live animal is present either in the classroom or outdoors, children should move slowly and talk quietly as they observe and listen to find out about its behavior. Have the children observe in small groups or pairs to encourage dialogue. Invite children to compare and summarize what they have seen. Use questions to focus the children’s attention on specific characteristics or behaviors of an animal. Read more of the suggested literature about mice and/or rabbits. Ask:

- What did you find out about the animal? How did you learn that? - What kinds of things does the animal do? - Is the animal like us (humans) in any way? - What are some of the most interesting things you have seen the animal do? - Does the animal make sounds? Can you mimic them? - What do you think these sounds mean?

3. Have a discussion about how Indian people view animals and the animals being studied, in particular. Have an elder or cultural instructor explain this to the children. Have them tell stories about the animals, if appropriate.

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4. Arrange a trip to a zoo.

5. Encourage the children to record their knowledge of animals through any of the following ways: • After observing and/or discussing the characteristics of animals, have children draw or paint about topics such as their favorite animal, animal homes, animal families, or baby animals. Encourage the children to write about their drawings or paintings. • After discussing the characteristics of animals, let children create make-believe or real animals from plasticene, ceramic clay, or clay dough. Model the techniques of making balls and coils and attaching pieces of clay together. • After observing an animal, help the class write a collaborative story about the animal.

The above projects can be shared in conferences, with other grade level students, or in newsletters to parents.

6. Have the children take turns role playing animals by dramatizing their movements or sounds, or by giving characteristic clues. From the dramatizations or clues given, the rest of the children should try to identify the animal portrayed.

7. Have the children learn about different kinds of rabbits, different kinds of mice.

8. After discussing characteristics of animals, clip an animal picture on the back of one child. The child shows the picture to the group, but he or she does not know what it is. The child then asks the group characteristic questions that will help him or her identify the animal. Some questions might be: What color is it? Where does it live? How does it move?

9. After a discussion of animal families, have children match pictures of animal babies with their parents.

10. Have the children begin to identify the similarities and differences among living things. They can make comparisons among themselves, an animal and other animals. The comparisons can involve names, sizes, body structures, senses, nutritional needs, behaviors, changes, or other characteristics the children notice. Discuss How the Chipmunk Got His Stripes about a specific characteristic

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ANIMALS – K WORD STUDY Vocabulary study includes many strategies. The thematic units in this curriculum assume that teachers will be teaching the grapho/phonic and sight word aspects of vocabulary development in other parts of their regular reading program. Thematic units on the other hand help children develop vocabulary largely through large clusters of words related thematically to the unit, with categories based on meaning rather than grapho/phonics. Develop wall chart collections of vocabulary words as you move through the unit encouraging the children to spot words that can be added to each category. Some children may even be ready to develop the categories themselves. It is not necessary to include all these words and the class may choose others. These are examples.

Wall charts – Words should be collected by categories on wall charts. Children might be asked to take turns illustrating each word. Children could share illustrations and/or act out an action word for the class. Charts can be copied in smaller versions or made into big books for each theme. Children can use these materials later for writing and reading references throughout the year. Word cards - Word cards can be created for word sorts by children in small groups or individually. Adding suffixes – A few children may be ready to learn that suffixes are added to certain categories of words, e.g. –ed. or –ing added to action words or –s and –es added to naming words.

Names Parts Actions Places Plants/food Personality traits Sounds animals tail listen prairie beans greedy honk bears fur eat nest roots generous squeak rabbits coats dig burrow seeds selfish squeal salmon whisker thump trails squash brave thump mouse – mice ears dance lake corn tricky buffalo paws leap plains fish wise geese eyes jump trees meat patient squirrels nose grow ocean lazy chipmunks horns sing air beaver thank chickens share sheep dive Remember to also include words from the native language.

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ANIMALS - K ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES Teachers should refer to the Assessment Guide for descriptions of the patterns of development in reading, writing, talking and listening to be expected at this age level. These descriptions will provide some initial guidance in what to look for. Teachers, however, should never limit themselves to short descriptions or even extended checklists. They should notice what the children do and seem to understand. They should constantly query the children as to what they are doing and why. Assessment data is collected over time and reflected on regularly with regard to its implications. The Assessment Guide also shares ideas for when and how to collect and organize the various kinds of evidence of learning. Observations: • Oral responses to stories. Try to capture the children’s exact words when possible. With this data teachers will begin to see children’s growing comprehension strategies. • Growing use of the various cueing systems • How children approach writing and carry out various aspects of the writing process • Children’s own observation skills and their ability to share orally what they’ve seen and learned • Children’s listening skills as they work collaboratively with other children • Child’s interests and engagement in reading during reading workshop • General oral vocabulary • Growing understanding of the science concepts in the unit • Carrying out level of responsibility with regard to classroom pets and observations • Teacher notes from reading and writing conferences Work Samples: • Dialogue journals, journals, observations, and various “finished” texts such as response to stories or information writing • Ways the child draws on drawing, symbols, and print to communicate • Child’s ability to communicate a message that is rhetorically effective, expressed in complete ideas, coherent, and focused • Child’s growing knowledge of the grapho/phonics system • Child’s growing strategies for using environmental print in support of writing • Reading Log – books child has “read” with varying amounts of support at home and at school • Child’s growing understanding of the science concepts of the unit.

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Further Resources for Animals Unit Mouse Mess by Linnea A. Riley Be sure to review books before adding them to Read to Your Bunny by Rosemary Wells a unit to make sure they promote the concepts I Can Read About Baby Animals by Elizabeth Warren intended by the teacher. Little Friends by Mike Logan Pets/PM Starters/Rigby A Peggy Porcupine, Roy Raccoon and Billy Beaver At the Zoo by Carol Kloes, Kaeden A all by Dave Sargent Miss Popple’s Pets/Literacy 2000/Rigby A The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco At the Wildlife Part/Little Red Readers/Sundance B Possum and the Peeper by Anne Hunter At the Zoo/PM Starters/Rigby B Squirrels All Year Long by Melvin Berger Baby Animals/Reading Corner/Dominic B Mouse’s Birthday by Jane Yolen At the Zoo/Little Readers/Houghton-Mifflin C Poems such as Hickory Dickory Dock Baby Lamb’s First Drink/PM Books/Rigby C Jackrabbit by Jonathan London *Keepers of the Animals, Native American Stories and *The Slim Butte Raccoon by Ann Nolan Clark, Prairie Edge Wildlife Activities for Children by Joseph Bruchac, *Pine Ridge Porcupine by Ann Nolan Clark, Prairie Edge also story cards, audiocassettes and teacher’s guide *I Can’t Have Bannock But the Beaver Has a Dam by *The Indian Reading Series, Educational Systems, Inc. Bernelda Wheeler, Oyate Beavertson, OR *How Jackrabbit Got Very Long Ears by Heather Irbinskas *American Indian Curriculum – Animals Unit, United *The Mouse Raid by M. Ward, J. Ahler and J. Burr Tribes, Bismarck, ND *Run Away by Gerald McDermott, www.amazon.com FOSS Kits - Animals *Iktomi and th Buffalo Skull by Paul Goble, Prairie Edge *Creating Sacred Places Curriculum K-3, Vol. I and II, *Rabbit by Don Birchfield, www.amazon.com units on animals, NISBA 406 883-3603 *How the Mouse Got Brown Teeth by Ray Smith, Pemmican *Just a Walk by Jordan Wheeler *How Chipmunk Got Tiny Feet by Gerald Hausman, www.amazon.com Other suitable books and poems about little animals *Amikoonse (Little Beaver) by Ferguson Plain, Pemmican *Wabesog: An Ojibwa Story About Rabbit’s Ears by Lois Beardslee (I A), Oyate *Indian books Leveled books from Guided Reading by Fountas and Pinnell.

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INDIAN ABC BOOKS

Many Nations: An Alphabet Book of Native America by Joseph Bruchac, Troll.

Cherokee ABC Coloring Book by Daniel Pennington, Book Pub., Co.

ABC’s of Our Spiritual Connection by Kim Soo Goodtrack, Theytus.

ABC’s, The American Indian Way by Richard Red Hawk, SCB Distributors.

The Path of the Quiet Elk, A Native American Alphabet Book by Virginia Stroud, Dial.

Navajo ABC, A Dine Alphabet Book by Luci Tapahonso, Aladdin.

The Aboriginal AlphaBet for Children by Evelyn Ballantyne, Pemmican

WHERE TO GET INDIAN BOOKS

North American Native Authors Catalog, Greenfield Review Press, PO Box 308, Greenfield Center, NY 12833 518 583-1440

Medicine Root Inc., PO Box 353, Louisville, CO 80027 303 661-9819

Indian Books Catalog, Four Winds Indian Books, PO Box 544, York, NE 68467 402 362-5654 www.fourwindsindianbooks.com

Oyate Catalog, 2702 Mathews St., Berkeley, CA 94702 510 848-6700 www.oyate.org

Prairie Edge Book and Music List, Prairie Edge, 6th & Main, Rapid City, SD 57701 800 541-2388 www.prairieedge.com

Native American Catalog, Book Publishing Co., PO Box 99, Summertown, TN 38483 931 964-3571 [email protected]

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Pemmican Pub., 150 Henry Ave., Winnipeg, MB R3B OJ7 204 589-6346 [email protected]

San Juan School District Media Center, Blanding, Utah www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/media/mediaweb.htm

Clear Light Books, Santa Fe www.clearlightbooks.com

Salina Bookshelf, Flagstaff www.salinabookshelf.com

Native Voices, Summertown, TN 1-800-695-2241 www.nativevoices.com

Talking Leaves Book Store, Cherokee, NC www.talkingleavesbooks.com

Tipi Press, Chamberlain, SD 1-800-229-5684

www.Amazon.com Books Search or Kids Books 4-8 American Indians

Written Heritage, Folsom, LA www.writtenheritage.com

REFERENCES FOR TEACHING BOOKS, POETRY BOOKS AND OTHER RESOURCES

Keepers of the Animals by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto

Keepers of Life by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto

Keepers of the Night by Joseph Bruchac and Michael Caduto

Keepers of the Earth and Michael Caduto

The Earth Under Sky Bear’s Feet by Joseph Bruchac

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Circle of Thanks: Native American Poems and Songs of Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac

Dancing Teepees by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

A Chorus of Cultures, Multicultural Poetry Book by Alma Flor Ada and others

I Have a Song for You Activity Books by Janeen Brady

Naturescope magazine

Ed.helper.com

Where Fish Go in Winter and Other Great Mysteries by Amy Koss

Writing, Art & Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study by Joni Chaucer and Gina Rester-Zodrow

Keepsakes: Using Family Stories in Elementary Classrooms by Linda Winston

Skipping Stones Magazine, “In Praise of Our Elders: Keepers of Tradition” vol. 9 # 1

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