Melissa

= Unit info  = = Time For Kids (TFK) magazine “The Lunch Crunch” … the whole thing! http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/wr/0,27955,081010,00.html  = = Language objective  = = Vocabulary words: ecological, catastrophe, priority, skyrocket, break even, plagued, enable, approach, native, combat  = = Content objective  = Students will discuss school lunch food and discuss whether or not they think that schools are responsible for helping students stay healthy. We will also discuss nutrition in general and look at nutrition labels to compare foods. = MI (//__English__// Language Proficiency) standards that apply  = = L.1 2.1, 3.1, 3.3- Follow simple and complex directions  = = S.4 2.1- Use English to interact in the classroom, provide and obtain information; express and exchange opinions. = = R.1 2.2- Recognize concepts of print literacy,  = = R.3 2.2- Build vocabulary to develop concepts  = = W.2 1.2, 2.2- Use grammatical conventions of English  = = Assessment  = = “Comparing Labels”- students work in groups and compare nutrition labels for several different products. Then the class will discuss their findings and which products were more/less nutritious and why they think so. I will split the students up into four groups and have signs with 1, 2, 3, and 4 around the room. Next to the sign will be the product for them to compare. Each student will have a worksheet with total fat, calories, sodium, sugar, fiber, etc. and they will have to write down how much of each item the products have. When groups are finished with their product, they will switch with another group until each group has looked at all four products. Then we will come together as a class and discuss their findings. = = Comprehension Quiz- students are quizzed on their understanding of the articles from TFK. = = Vocabulary Test- vocabulary words given above. = = Goals for the week and learning activities  = Every day starts with “Good News!” The students share their news with the class, we write the good news in sentences on an overhead and the students write it down too. I will deliberately make mistakes when I write the sentences and the students are responsible for telling me when I mess up. If they miss it, then at the end we re-read the sentence and I ask what’s wrong with it. We also use __word boxes__- students will write the vocabulary word in the middle of the box. Around it, there is space for them to draw a picture of the word, write the definition, use it in a sentence, and write a few synonyms and antonyms. Also, I started the TFK last week, so this week is just finishing up and testing them on what we’ve talked about. Students exams will be the next week (before Thanksgiving) and will consist of two parts. The first part will be thirty-five vocabulary words that we have been studying and reviewing all trimester. The second part will be reading comprehension, they will have to read a story and answer questions about it. They will have three short stories to read.

Monday- Good News, Word boxes (finish vocabulary words in TFK), finish reading the articles. Begin Quiz review. Tuesday- Good News, Reading the Label worksheet (this is similar to the comparing the labels, but we will go through slowly and complete it as a class to help prepare them for the next activity), Comparing Labels activity, Vocabulary Review with Pictionary (students will the picture that they had to represent a vocabulary word, everyone else will guess the word), brief quiz review. Wednesday- Good News, Comprehension Quiz, Crossword puzzle review (students will receive a crossword puzzle, the clues will be the definitions of the words), Vocabulary Relay Review game. For the review game I will have the words on the vocabulary test written up on the board in two columns. I will split the class up into two teams and one student from each team will run up to the board and write the definition of one of the words. The rest of their teammates will be able to help with spelling and word order. When the student is done then another teammate will come up and write the definition to the next word. The team that finishes all of their words (with completely correct spelling) will win. For the end of class, I will pass out the study guides and have students work on them for the rest of the hour (their exam is one week from this day!) Thursday- Good News, Vocabulary Test. Test Preparation. I will give students a sample of the reading comprehension exam and we will work through it together. Friday- Good News, Fake out test. I will tell the students that their vocabulary test is “today” (Friday). They will probably all freak out. When they finish I will tell them that it was a practice test to see what they still need to study. They will be able to use the fake test as a study guide. =  = =  Questions/concerns  = These students always seem bored. Does it seem like there are enough activities? This class is an elective for language support, so we try to build up their vocabulary using words that they need to know for other core classes like Biology, History, English, Math classes etc. Because of this, I ALWAYS need good ideas for vocabulary practice so anything would be appreciated. We go through one magazine in about a week and a half and we tear them apart. We read every article and analyze it, go through all of the words that they students need help with, we use word boxes, we discuss content, and we are very SLOW and THOROUGH. I am constantly trying to think of ways to get away from the text, just short, five to ten minute activities that would be fun and beneficial. Any ideas are welcome! = Feedback  = I like the activity where the kids read and evaluate the labels -- it involves moving around the classroom, critical thinking, collaboration, and language practice. Great idea! Re: your questions - a) Number of activities - In general, for middle school I would try to change up the activity every 10-15 minutes -- much longer than this and the kids will not stay attentive. (There are exceptions, of course and you don't need to move to an entirely different task, but there should be some kind of change up (e.g. now try it in pairs, or now we'll work silently for a few minutes, etc.). Sometimes, you could just take a two-minute break that involves movement. You can confine it to a short time by playing a song -- when the song ends, the activity ends. Some ideas: You can have students line up in two lines facing each other and toss a ball or bean bag back and forth down the line, play "Simon Says," play "musical desks" - when the music stops you have to find a new desk - last one down has to answer a question, announce a category or question with multiple answers - students compete in rows racing to the board to add an answer -- whichever team gets the most answers wins.

b) It might be helpful to think of a bigger, more engaging purpose for reading than getting through the magazine (which is likely what the kids are thinking). How could you contextualize this issue? Perhaps you could present a scenario where the school was debating whether or not to allow candy and pop machines in schools and officials wanted the students' opinion. You could make a couple big posters for pro and con reasons -- as you're reading, the class could add to the list. You could also have a debate, make posters, design a campaign, etc.

c) A few other ideas to engage students: giving them choices as to what they read and in what order, using the text to answer //real// questions the kids have (you'll have to discover what they want to know), creating projects based on the readings that they share with real audiences.

Hope this helps - user:Anny1

It seems like you have a good number of activities most days. I think it's hard for kids to stay engaged with the same material for such a long time, even when they really need that much time to practice, so I can see where you would need activities to "get out of the text," to almost trick the students into thinking you're doing something different. I think that your comparing labels activity is a good way to do that, while still staying focused on their key theme. You could also have them bring in labels from home, and talk about those. Since we often end up teaching life skills to some degree anyway, it could be a way to personalize the activity.

As for vocabulary practice, I have done around the world (the elementary school game- I remember learning multiplication tables this way). The students seemed to like it, and it's easy to vary how long you play it for. You could do tic-tac-toe where you need to answer the question correctly to earn your square. One that we just did in my World History class was like the get to know you game where you have to get signatures (someone who has traveled to Europe, someone who had a job this summer, etc.), but the prompts were questions and vocabulary words, and they had to get the answers from other students. The rules from the normal game applied, so the students had to use a different person for each question, forcing them to get out of their cliques. It was a good way to let them learn from each other, and at the end they had a full sheet to study from. It was also a good opportunity to talk about when it's okay to get answers from other students (i.e. when the teacher tells you to) and when it's not (regular homework, quizzes, etc.).

user:hether12