Being Afraid: Something Is There
Plan Author: Mathew Needleman Date Created: 4/5/2003 9:16:24 AM PST
School: Saturn Street
Grade Level: 1
Students: 16 students. 8 boys and 8 girls. 8 English only or IFEP, 8 ELLs. One student is receiving resource services.
Subject Area(s): Language Arts (English)
Goal(s): Students will read and record themselves reading a poem fluently.
Concept(s): To read fluently, students must: Not pause in the middle of reading. Use proper inflection and change their tone of voice appropriately. Read each word on the page and not make up words.
Standards: CA- CCTC: Aligned CSTP's and TPE's • Standard : CSTP: Standard for Assessing Student Learning TPE: B. Assessing Student Learning CSTP Description: Teachers establish and clearly communicate learning goals for all students. Teachers collect information about student performance from a variety of sources. Teachers involve all students in assessing their own learning. Teachers use information from a variety of ongoing assessments to plan and adjust learning opportunities that promote academic achievement and personal growth for all students. Teachers exchange information about student learning with students, families, and support personnel in ways that improve understanding and encourage further academic progress. • CSTP Key Element : Involving and guiding all students in assessing their own learning.  Question : help all students to understand and monitor their own learning goals? CA- California K-12 Academic Content Standards • Subject : English Language Arts • Grade : Grade One • Area : Reading • Sub-Strand 1.0: Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development Students understand the basic features of reading. They select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts. They apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading. • Concept : Phonemic Awareness  Standard 1.8: Blend two to four phonemes into recognizable words (e.g., /c/a/t/ = cat; /f/l/a/t/ = flat).
Objective(s): After much practice reading with a partner, students will record themselves reading the poem, "Something Is There" with no word omissions or additions, and no more than one pause in the middle of their reading.
Prerequisite Background Skills/Knowledge: Children must understand that good reading cannot sound like robotic but must convey the ideas of the text through correct inflection and tone.
Vocabulary / Language Skills: The vocabulary of the poem is fairly straight-forward except for the word "slinkety-sly" which can be related to sound it is supposed to convey and also by linking it to the movements of a snake. Students can be asked to move slinkety-sly as they line up or move around a circle during P.E.
Materials: Student anthologies Tape recorder Blank tape
Classroom Management: Students will need assistance using the tape recorder. While students are recording, others will need to be quiet.
Procedure: Open Introduce students to the poem, "Something Is There." Have students listen as the teacher reads the poem spookily. Ask students what pictures they visualized as you read. Repeat the poem again for those who did not see anything and ask the question again, what did you see? Remind students that good readers cannot sound like a robot. A scary poem demands a scary voice or else it's not scary. Body On the first day, have students practice reading the poem with partners as fluently as possible. Encourage students who read it just one time and stop to keep going to improve their fluency and eliminate long pauses in between words that break the flow of the poem. Have students read the poem for the class in partners (one partner reads the first half, the other the second half). Then have the audience discuss how they did (stars and wishes). On subsequent days, have students continue to practice the poem until they feel they are ready to record. Have students read the poem again for the class and discuss how they did. Finally, set up a time and station for recording the poem and have students record themselves reading the poem. Close Listen to the tape as whole class. Appreciate everyone's efforts. In private conference, discuss with students what they did well and what they might like to work on in terms of their fluency now that they have listened to themselves reading on a tape recorder. Invite other classes to listen to our class tape.
Assessment: In reviewing the tape, listen to hear that students are reading the poem smoothly, that is with no pauses which break the flow of the text. There should be no more than one of these pauses in each child's reading and no word omissions or additions.