Week 6: Disciplinary Literacy

 Lesson Objective: I can use the conjunction because and past tense verbs to describe weather patterns 

Overview: This week, students finished up their unit on the weather. These lessons were taught during our English language Development block and students learned about different weather patterns while developing their english language proficiency skills. In the 1st grade classroom that I am a student teaching in, there are 4 students who are English language learners. Throughout this unit, I saw their ability to use past, present, and future tense verbs in verbal language expand. This lesson was the concluding lesson of the unit where we reviewed some of the weather patterns that we learned about and used past and present tense verbs to describe the weather. 

Due to the fact that this is a 1st grade classroom, students were given broad explanations of weather patterns. Their primary job was to use proper language forms when describing what people were wearing and doing in a particular season. For example, we would show them a picture and they would need to describe what was going on in the picture using the language form that we were talking about that day.

For example, if they were shown the following picture they would be expected to create sentences such as 

• She wore a hood because it was winter 

• They went ice skating because it was winter 

• They rode their bikes in the winter 

• She looked out the window

Lesson: In this particular lesson, we went into the science behind weather a little further. I read students the book “weather” by Kristin Baird Rattini and while we were reading the book we often paused to ask questions and ask students what they would wear in that particular type of weather. 

For example, if it was raining in the picture and I just explained the process of rain, I would ask students to respond to the question, what would you wear if it was raining. Then they would need to respond with the following sentence stem “If it was raining I would wear __________”. This was a formative assessment to see students' knowledge of English language conventions. During read aloud experiences, stopping and asking students questions helps keep them engaged in the content and assess their knowledge thus far of the story that is being read. 

After we read the book, students were asked what was one thing they learned about the weather. They were provided with the sentence stem “One thing I learned about the weather was ______________” then participated in a think, pair, share opportunity. I used this as another formative assessment of students' ability to use past tense verbs while speaking. 

Then, students were prompted to use the conjunction because. They were asked what their favorite type of weather was and why. They were provided with the sentence stem “My favorite type of weather is _________ because __________”. Students then again engaged in a think pair share an opportunity to discuss what their favorite type of weather was and why. Also, before sharing, they were told to think a lot about their answer because they would need to write a sentence about it and then draw a picture to represent their writing. After the think, pair, share opportunity, students were given a worksheet and needed to fill in what their favorite type of weather was, why it was their favorite, and then draw a picture to show what they have written. 

Reflection: Overall, this lesson contained many aspects of sheltered literacy instruction. Students had the opportunity to verbally share their responses prior to writing about them. This made the input more comprehensible for all students to engage in. Also, students were provided with a written sentence stem and a list of different types of weather on the board. Given, they were only writing the because portion of this assignment independently. Also, pausing during the read aloud allowed students the opportunity to hear the information twice and assess what they were understanding and not understanding. Also, there were multiple turn and talk opportunities that allowed students to hear from others and build their English language development skills. Struggling writers also were allowed to draw a picture before writing their sentence and then were able to verbally say their sentence rather than writing it- to make the experience more equitable for all students (Kopp, 2017; Kopp, 2015; Fulton & Campbell, 2014). 

Fulton & Campbell  (2014). Literacy Connections: Science Notebooks

Kopp, K (2015). Teaching Science Today (2nd Ed.). Shell Edition. 

Kopp, K (2017). Teaching Social Studies Today (2nd Ed.). Shell Edition.