Showing posts with label anchor chart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anchor chart. Show all posts

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Cause and Effect with Camilla Cream

Below is pretty much the script I used which corresponds to my lesson plan.

Today, we are going to read, A Bad Case of Stripes. Based on the title and cover of the book, raise your hand and tell me what you think the book will be about.



1.  Why do you think Camilla Cream was afraid to have people find out that she liked Lima Beans? Was she right?

2.  Do you think the students in the story were bullying Camilla? Why or why not?

3.  What do you think the author is trying to say to the reader? Maybe David Shannon is trying to tell us to be ourselves. Camilla tried very hard to be like everyone else and she wasn’t being true to herself. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all the same.



This is a Cause and Effect Anchor chart. Cause is the reason or why something happened. Effect is the result or what happened. For example, it rained and I had to use an umbrella. It rained is the cause. I had to use an umbrella is the effect. As you read you can be a detective. You can look for key or signal words such as if, then, because, since, so, this is why, consequently, and therefore. Often cause and effect relationships are signaled by these words and phrases.

Everything in life has a cause and an effect. You study for a test you get a good grade. You forget your umbrella when it rains, you get wet. You break a rule you have a consequence.

We are going to take a minute to recall parts of our story. Raise your hand if you can tell me the name of the main character our story? That’s right, her name is Camilla Cream. The problem is something that a character in the story wants to change, fix or figure out. Raise your hand if you can tell me, what is the problem? Good! Solution is the way a problem is solved or fixed. We said the problem was a bad case of stripes. Raise your hand if you can tell me the solution to the problem. Give me a thumbs up if you agree.



I have some cards of events from the story. One card is the cause and one card is the effect. It is your job to raise your hand and tell me which card is which. Cause is the reason or why something happened. Effect is the result of what happened. For example, She is covered in stripes. Camilla screams. She is covered in stripes is the cause. Camilla screams is the effect. (Go through cards)

Cause and effect is a hard concept but 3rd graders, you did a great job!

For our activity, we are going to write a summary. A summary is a short description of the most important events in a story. A summary tells what happens. A summary answers the questions who what, where, when, why, and how. You are going to write a summary of the book A Bad Case of Stripes. Your summary needs to be a minimum of 3 sentences and you need to use at least two signal/key words. If, then, because, since, so, this is why, consequently, and therefore are key or signal words. Can you write more than 3 sentences? Yes and I hope that you do! Can you use more than 2 signal/key words? Yes! Are there any questions about the summary?



When you are done writing, I want you to raise your hand so I can check it. I want this to be your best work. Once I have looked at your writing, you will come to the front of the classroom and pick up three pieces of paper- label, Camilla’s face, hair and bow. I want you to color Camilla. You can have fun and be creative with this. Camilla can be striped, covered in stars, or in camouflage. It’s up to you but it needs to be school appropriate- no blood, no weapons. When you are done coloring, cut all your pieces out. You will need to get a bigger piece of construction paper. You will glue Camilla and your summary onto the construction paper. Are there any questions about our activity?



I need two volunteers to pass out writing paper. Remember, I want you to do your writing first and I want to see what you wrote before you move on to coloring Camilla.


Below are student artifacts, my anchor chart, and matching cards.


This has probably been my favorite anchor chart so far.
Cause and Effect cards.
My example. Thank you, Step Into 2nd Grade for the wonderful templates!
I have a student who is blind in my class and although I cannot read what she typed she told me and I trust her. :-)

We have been practicing our cursive!

We were running short on time so not all kids had the opportunity to color Camilla Cream. I am learning cutting, coloring, and gluing ALWAYS takes at least twice as long as I plan for.
So proud of this kiddo!

Camilla is a Lion- LOVE the creativity!

If I teach this lesson again I am going to have every student circle their two key/signal words. That was incredibly helpful when I was doing assessments.

Her handwriting looks like it could be straight from a handwriting workbook!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Main Ideas and Details

I taught reading last week with a mini lesson on Main Ideas and Details. I write lesson plans and then I write a "script" so I have a better idea of what to say. Below is my script: 

We will open our reading textbooks in a few minutes, but for now, I want you to sit on your book. They story we are going to read today is called, At Home Around the World. This is a non-fiction text. Nonfiction is a type of writing that shares facts and information. Nonfiction is real and it is written to inform us. Nonfiction has photographs and text features like an index, glossary, and table of contents. 

At Home Around the World is written by Lucy Floyd. Our author wrote a little bit about herself and our story, which I would like to read to you. 

Stay sitting on your books. I am going to page through our story. I want you to start thinking what our story might be about. 

Raise your hand. What do you think the story will be about based on the title, key words, and pictures throughout the story?

These are all great ideas! Please open your textbooks to page 68. I am going to read but I want you to follow along. 

I have a few questions I would like us to discuss as a class:

1. What was one fact you learned from reading the story?
2. How do the words and pictures work together to give information?
3. Why is a tepee a good home for people who moved around a lot?
4. Why is it a good idea for people to build houses from things around them, such as clay or rocks?
5. Which house in the text would you like to live in? Why?

(Show Anchor Chart) Today, we are going to practice main idea and details. The main idea is what the text is all about. To find the main idea, we look at the title, pictures, and repeated words. 

As you can see on my paper, I drew a hamburger. The main idea is the whole hamburger. The details are the smaller parts like the lettuce, tomato, and meat. Details are the information that backs up or explains the main idea. Details tell us more. 

Take a minute or two to page through the text we just read. I want you to look at the title page, pictures, and repeated words. See if you can find the main idea. 

Raise your hand if you think you know what the main idea of our text might be? I agree, our main idea is Homes Around the World. 

Details tell us more. So, think about what we know about houses around the world. Take a minute to page through the text but this time, look for details. Tell me something specific about houses around the world. Think about the materials people have made houses from. Think about the different types of houses, theses are details we can put on our hamburger (Write 3 details). 

1st graders, you are going to make your own Main Ideas and Details Hamburger just like we did here.


Main Idea/Details Anchor Chart
 Student work was awesome but hard to read if they did it in pencil and so I only have 2 examples to share with you.




The lesson went incredibly well. My mentor teacher said she liked how I introduced the author first. She never thought of that. She loved my text to self connection. Our text was about homes around the world. I said I saw a pink house shaped like an egg when I was in South Carolina. The kids thought that was pretty cool. I talked about main ideas and details after reading the text. If I were to do the lesson over, I would do that before reading and go into more details after the read aloud. Oh well, there's always next time. My mentor teacher told me each time I teach my direction become more clear and more direct. My mentor teacher said I had an excellent explanation of main idea and she thought my poster and hamburger analogy was very helpful.

The lesson went great but I am totally kicking myself for not recording the second part of my lesson. We needed to split it up and when we came back from gym, my plan was to re-read the chart and explain the activity. That's not how it went. I spent at least twenty more minutes on the lesson. I had planned for none of that so it was activities off the top of my head and I was able to get each child to fully understand main ideas and details which is a hard topic for 1st graders. I had them use their thumbs to indicate their understanding. This lesson would have been great in my teaching portfolio but because I missed the application part on tape I don't think I can use it and that really bums me out.