Animals All Around
NDCLP. For grade(s)
K
.This unit unit has been designed to coincide with formal instructional materials provided with the McGraw Hill Treasures reading series for kindergarten. The unit encompasses a learning theme about animals. Students will be introduced to content knowledge about animals, how to identify differences and similarities between pets and wild animals and their needs, how animals grow and change over time, and about homes (habitats) of various living creatures. During the course of the unit we will use our reading materials and strategies linked to Mosaic of Thought in order to develop specific reading and comprehension behaviors, develop phonemic awareness/letter sound correspondence, and learn skills needed to decode and read high frequency words.
Subject & Standards
1. Students engage in the research process.: 2. Students engage in the reading process.: 2. Developing Products Using Media/Technology: 4. Life Science:Needs Assessment/Rational
1. Running Records/Observation Records
2. Unit Assessment/Content
 Comprehension strategies used/verbal/running records
 Story-telling/Sequencing Rubric
 Story Element Rubric
 Content Rubric
3. Skills Assessment
 Letter/Sound Identification- running records
 High frequency word list-running records
Equipment/Materials Needed
Big Books
Mama Cat Has Three Kittens, Animal Babies, ABC’s, Trade books- Mole and Baby Bird
Retelling Cards for each story above
Informational text & poetry- “Big Book of Explorations†and “Lets Go to the Vetâ€
Time for Kids- The Pond is Our Home
Poetry: If and Tadpole, Tadpole,
Oral Vocabulary Cards/Retelling Cards: Mama Mouse and El Gato, The Ugly Duckling, Hidden Homes,
Leveled Readers & Decodable Readers: Where is it? Animals in Nature, Good Pets, Animals, Baby Animals, Animals and their Babies, Animal Babies, Animals Play, Time to Play, We Can Play, Nature Park, Can We Play? Sit on it, A Cat, Nat, Good Pets, Can Tam Play, and Can it fit.
Sing, Talk, Rhyme, Chart: Oh Where, Oh Where has My Little Dog Gone? The Ostrich is Talking, The Cat, Rhino Babies, Hey Diddle, Diddle, Funny Fish Play, Higgletly, Pigglety, Pop, habitat, Hickory, Hickory Dock, Come Have Fun, Tap, Tap, Tap.
Read Aloud Anthologies: The Three Little Kittens, The Little Red Hen, The Three Bears, The Singing Wagon, (puppets, masks, felt, finger puppets, props)
Photo Cards: cat, horse, rabbit, deer, ox, fish etc…
Letter Cards: /o/ and /f/
Chart paper/Transparencies/Projector/Wipe-off Charts/Interactive Media/CDs
United Streaming Videos- Animal ABC’s, Animal Habitats
Computers/Weblinks
Reading Support: http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/students/k/book1/unit5
Meet the author/Illustrator:
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/teachers/authors
Teaching Resources:
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/teachers
SmartBoard Software & Tools Only-computer & projector only for Diagramming/Charting/Saving Evidence.
Vocabulary Routines/Lessons : http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/teachers/building-reading-writing-skills/sample-florida-read-alouds-for-developing-oral-vocabulary/vocabulary-routines.pdf
Running Records-McGraw Hill (book)
Assistive Site: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/guided_reading.html#RunningRecords
Unit & Benchmark Assessments-McGraw Hill (book)
Diagnosing/Re-teaching Skills/Interventions/Leveling Students: additional lessons pp T4-T-5 of each lesson- McGraw Hill (Teachers Ed.)
Assessment Calculator:
http://pt.liverpool.k12.ny.us/reading/rcalculator/assessmentcalc.htm
Dibels Link/Daily Intervention/Progress Monitoring Suggestions (Teachers Ed.)
https://dibels.uoregon.edu/data/data
https://dibels.uoregon.edu/swm/index.php
TPRI Link/Interventions/Informed Instruction/Additional Lessons
http://www.tpriassessment.com
Pre-Assessments, Standards Bench Mark & Assessments, Rubrics/Quick Rubrics- provided in McGraw curriculum.
Student materials, practice books, activity books- McGraw Hill
Additional Online student/technology rubrics
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/students/k/book1/unit5/mama-cat-has-three-kittens/big-cat-colors/rubric
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/students/k/book1/unit5/mole-and-the-baby-bird/where-does-it-live/rubric
Diagnostic Assessments Book
Teacher Lesson Links
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/teachers/resources/k/oral-language-resources/resource/animals-we-know
Additional Student Research Project Support: http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/zooanim.html
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals
http://www.phoenixzoo.org/learn/animals
Student Reading Resources:
http://treasures.macmillanmh.com/florida/students/k/book1/unit5/mama-cat-has-three-kittens
Additional stories for story times and Tumblebooks:
At The Farm, Who Hops?, Kitten’s First Full Moon, What Do you Do With a Tail Like This?, Little Loon and Papa, Is your Mama, a Llama, Tree Frogs, Whose House is This?, Animal Mothers, Castles, Caves, and Honeycombs, Silly Little Goose, Polar Bear Night, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What do you See?, A Huge Hog is a Big Pig…
TumbleBooks selections http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/book_index.asp
One Stuck Duck, The Clever Boy and the Terrible, Dangerous Animal, Tops and Bottoms, Three Silly Billies, When Turtle Grew Feathers, and When Pigasso met Mootisse.
Understandings & Goals
Understand and present information about various animals.
• Identify commonalities and differences
• Describe how animals grow and change.
• Understand where animals live, why they live there, and how they adapt to their surroundings to meet their needs.
Reading Comprehension:
• Students will verbally synthesize information presented in both audio and written formats.
• Students will develop comprehension strategies and skills.
• Students will develop and practice reading comprehension strategies using “think aloud†and “schema “strategies.
 Students will recognize and identify various story structures and story elements.
 Students will make and confirm story predictions.
 Students will compare story patterns.
 Students will retell and sequence story events.
 Students will identify character and plot in a story
 Students will identify rhyme schemes and patterns using various materials audio/visual aids.
Other:
• Students will identify and use position words in a sentence. On, in, down, under, up, down, beside, next to, etc… (The block is on the table. The blanket is under the bed.)
• Students will identify high frequency words: is, play
• Students will blend words using short /o/, /f/
Questions Answered
• What do I want to learn about Animals?
• How do animals grow and change?
• Where do some animals live?
• How can I share what I have learned with others?
• How can I tell the difference between story genres fictional and informational texts?
• What is the purpose of character and plot in a story?
• How can I follow and predict a story using story patterns?
• How can I better understand vocabulary words I do not know the meaning of?
• How can I decode and read words using phoneme blending and high frequency words?
Assessment
At the start of the animal unit, I will pre-assess student’s knowledge of story elements, retelling, story structure /story structure & patterning, making and confirming predictions with the big book, Mama Cat Has Three Kittens. After reading the book as a whole group, I will assess students individually- students will be asked questions about the pattern of the story (What do you think the next page will say? Where do I start to read on this page etc…) We most often re-read the story the next day to practice identifying story elements and review comprehension strategies. Stories later in the unit that provide the same elements will be used to assess skills at the end of the unit in addition to some skills assessed in the performance assessment.
I will pre-assess letter/sound correspondence and high frequency word through simple recognition and naming tasks.
I will read another story titled, Mama Cat and El Gato to assess vocabulary strategies, comprehension strategies, and re-telling/sequencing skills using a rubric. Example: Does the student use context clues to understand meaning of unknown vocabulary words? Can the student retell a story using elements of beginning, middle, and end of story? Can the student identify the characters, plot, and setting of the story?
I will assess student’s knowledge of position words by asking students to complete individual tasks such as find the bear under the magazine, bring me the toy next to the pencil, etc…
Daily morning message activities will be used to keep running records of sentence structure knowledge, high frequency words, punctuation, and beginning sounds. Example: find the word “farm†in the sentence (would be the only word that starts with an /f/ in the sentence.
The morning message is will be in the form of a question. Students will respond by either charting/graphing their responses or making a statement which can be written as a sentence. The questions are used to provoke discussion related to the animal theme… What animals make good pets? What are some ways animals play? Each day there will be a new question that relates to the content knowledge- and activates prior knowledge.
At the end of the unit students will be assessed on content knowledge gained from our stories, informational texts, projects, charting activities, web searches, and discussions about animals. These results will be compared to observations made at the introduction of each unit topic.
Other Assessments- Summative & Formative
Students will choose 1, 2, 3, 4 in response to sequencing events in a story using picture cues from the story.
Students will isolate beginning sounds /o/, /f/
Students will complete a sentence frame using story patterns.
Unit Reading Assessment/ Tested Skills & Strategies
Comprehension
• Recognize story and sentence structure (In-class activities & story/sentence structure rubric)
• Make & confirm predictions (in class tasks /performance assessment/running records)
• Identify character & plot (in class tasks/performance assessment)
• Classify and categorize animals (verbal assessment/content rubric)
Concepts
Position Words
Other
Phoneme isolation /o/, /f/
Phoneme blending “
Phoneme segmentation “
Phonograms –an, -at
• Retelling story events both shared in group setting and one-on-one with teacher (retelling rubric)
• Individual reading conferences (high-frequency word, phoneme, and phonogram rubrics)
• Gather vocabulary meaning from context using “think aloud†strategies. Read paragraph with new
vocabulary words- ask students to implement the “think aloud†and “schema†strategies to infer
meaning.
Instructional Strategies
•I will introduce and model retelling strategies, think aloud strategies, and strategies used to activate prior knowledge, make connections, and build upon existing schemata.
•I will purposely retell the story wrong to see if student catch my errors. We will listen to others retell the story and allow others to provide positive corrections to their stories.
•We will guide one another in finding objects around the room using a sort of “I Spy†game using position words. We will reinforce our concept of position words by providing directional tasks to our peers… asking questions like: “What other words can we tell him besides “under†to find the bear?†Below, down, or by the floor.
•I will use the Read Aloud Anthologies, big books, retelling cards, and oral vocabulary cards to model comprehension strategies listed above. “Hmmm. I have never heard the word “bushel†before… Let’s see the boy in the story was feeding his horse… what could a bushel be…?†“Abbie can you tell me what you think it might be?†Or “It looks like the boy might be getting into some kind of trouble… I wonder what kind of trouble he might get into…?†“Does anyone have any thoughts to share?†(Making predictions). In repetitive types of stories such as “The Three Little Kittens or the “Little Red Hen†I will ask students, “What you think the next line of the dog will be after reading the first pattern?†“Not I,†said the dog. “Which animal do you think will talk next in the story?â€
•I will engage students through the use of puppets and retelling cards to assist us in acting out and retelling stories.
•I will use animated literacy to reinforce letter/sound correspondence activities.
•I will use regular descriptive feedback and positive corrections to provide positive reinforcement and guide misconceptions encountered throughout the unit: pointing out- “I like how Tucker remembered that the cat sat on the wall after he stretched…†or “Did we miss any part of the story that was important?â€
•I will Guide questioning, ask leading questions, and allow adequate wait time to maximize student reponse before making any positive corrections.
•Modeling is one of the main formats I will use to provide feedback. I will model or ask other students to model a strategy or skill. I will make comments like “Notice how he ....†I wonder if it would change if we….? “How can we fix that problem together?†or “Where could we find out more?â€
•Students will be encouraged and praised when seeking help on their own and begin to understand that seeking help when needed is a desirable behavior.
•Students will be congratulated when they have initiated problem solving skills on their own whether they have been successful at their attempts or not.
•At the beginning of the unit we will use a KWL chart to introduce and discuss each unit theme topic.
•Demonstrate how webbing strategies can be used to activate prior knowledge.
•Teach how VENN Diagrams can be used to compare and identify similarities and differences.
•Complete comparison charts to demonstrate relationships between topics/content/ideas/concepts.
•Charts used in discussions and lessons will also be saved and reflected at the start of a new lesson to review, at the culmination of each unit topic, and again at the end of the unit before any summative/formal assessments.
• Design lessons that focus on one element at a time. Example: Morning message- is a daily structured routine which students are accustomed to learning about sentence structure, beginning sounds, sight words etc…
•Use a structured format in which students are familiarized with learning targets and goals ahead of time.
•When reading from the Read Aloud Anthologies, big books, and oral vocabulary cards, I will focus on modeling, teaching, and providing practice. This will allow focused instruction for each of the reading comprehensions learning targets/goals.
•The 3 Star rubrics be used to teach students focused revision- comparing pre-assessment rubrics with middle and end of unit assessment rubrics.
•I will provide positive correction during individual conferences with students. Students will have opportunities to meet once a week during assigned center time (students are assigned to centers that engage them in activities supportive of the curriculum- I usually assign students to these learning centers based on observations and evidence of areas of struggle. During this time I am able to individually conference with students, rotate from center to center to make additional observations, or pull students for on-on one sharing/conference. I will conduct short individual assessments at this time as well.
•Take advantage of in-class opportunities that reflect the need for whole class focused revision.
•I will assess often through observation and running records. I will make revisions to future lessons in the unit based upon the outcomes of these assessments and students learning styles/needs.
Procedures
Introducing the unit:
Students will be introduced to the animals unit by charting (KWL) what we know about animals, what we want to learn about animals, and at the end of the unit we will discuss what we have learned about animals.
Students will be taught the words “schema†and “Thinking Aloud.†Students will know that these are reading strategies we will be focusing on during this unit.
Students will be told that we will be using our knowledge of patterning and sequencing like we have learned in math and apply them to reading and stories that we read.
Students will be introduced to the two new letters we will be studying during the course of the unit.
Digging into the big ideas (e.g., through inquiry, research, problem-solving, experimentation)?
Through the KWL chart students will each choose and animal they want to learn more about. We will be making clay animals, designing an animal habitat, and culminate the activity with a video report about their animals.
During lessons we will discuss our individual experiences with animals and make comparisons between them.
We will chart our discoveries and define new questions based upon informational texts and reading materials provided within the reading unit.
We will be visiting a local farm in the process of hatching chicks and calving- we will witness first hand how animals live, grow, and change.
Opportunities to explore and experience Big Ideas and receive instruction to equip them for the required performances?
Activities using puppets, objects, and retelling cards, allows time for practice and engages students in the “Big Ideas†of this unit.
Classroom routines such as the morning message, daily reading procedures, practice books, and activity book provides a format that is conducive to discovering and exploring new ideas.
Practice using reading comprehension strategies will be implemented in both whole group instruction and individual conferencing with students.
Opportunities to rethink, rehearse, revise, and refine their work based upon timely feedback
Review procedures at the beginning of each lesson and cloze procedures at the end of the lessons will allow the students to rethink, revise, and refine. I will provide positive corrections during both the review and cloze procedures.
Re-reading stories and reflecting on what we have learned through making comparisons and providing evidence of learning will help students to revise, rethink, and refine their work.
Providing opportunities for all students to model and share what they have learned and share work with their peers will channel the students need to revise, rethink, and refine skills.
Opportunities to evaluate their work and set future goals
Students will have opportunities to share their work with the class and individually with the teacher.
The rubrics will guide through the process and assist students in setting future goals.
Tailored and flexible to address the interests and learning styles of all students.
The students will be given choices within the unit such as: what animal they want to study, what character they want to portray in an “acting out†activity, which puppet they would like to use to retell a story, and what object they want others to find in the classroom (position words).
Our studies will be flexible in that we will use charts to display what we have learned from day-to-day and use those foundations to build upon and explore new ideas (depending on the responses and requests of the students).
Each day the animal unit reading schedule provides for the following activities…
1. Reviewing what we talked about and learned about in the last lesson will always lead us into our lesson.
2. Warm-up song/rhyme- coincides with the animal theme the song and subsequent activities focus on patterning, sequencing, and often involve kinesthetic movement.
3. Morning Message: each day a morning message will be written on the board. The message usually in the form of a question will be used for students to independently practice dismantling sentence structure, identify high frequency words and oral vocabulary words, and practice finding words with beginning sounds /o/ and /f/. The message is always related to the content of the animal unit and provides a catalyst for the discussion that follows.
4. Oral vocabulary Cards- Reading a short story each week that is sequenced and contains vocabulary words specific to the unit are read to students, student then model the strategies and retell the stories to their peers in either small or whole group contexts.
5. Vocabulary routines- We define our vocabulary words, read them within the context of a story or sentence, students are asked to give examples of other ways we can use the word, and then students are asked to use the word in a sentence (verbally). I will then ask a question that contains the vocabulary word within and ask students to answer the question.
Example: Vocabulary word “compareâ€
1. I ask students to first tell me what they think the word compare means?
2. I will then define the word compare- to see how two or more things are the same or different-
3. Say the word together “compare.†“What are some ways we can use the word compare in a sentence?â€
4. Example oral sentence- “I compared the two pictures in the books and decided to read the one with photographs.â€
5. Ask students to answer a question using the vocabulary word: “What do you look for when you compare two books you might like to read?â€
6. Big Books- Each week we will read and focus on a big book or trade book. The books are designed to focus on pattering, sequencing, story elements, and the development of reading comprehension strategies related to the learning targets.
7. Fictional/non-fictional texts- will both be used within the unit and provides opportunities to make comparisons, predictions, and recognizing story/text elements.
8. Read Aloud Anthologies: Each week we will read a story from the book of anthologies- stories relate to the unit- during this time we listen and attend to the story while the teacher discusses and models comprehension strategies. Students are asked questions before, during, and after the story that focus on the learning target such as making predictions, recognizing story elements, or sequencing events in the story. The students then participate in an activity that allows them to practice these strategies: retelling, acting out, changing the story, finding alternate endings, etc..
9. Sound boxes/sound cards/photo cards- each day students complete whole group and individualized activities that focus on phonemic awareness. These also focus on individual letter/sounds for /o/ and /f/ and distinguishing the /o/f/ sounds and differentiating these from previously learned sounds.
10. Charts/diagrams/webs- will be made almost daily- such as “What actions do each of the cats do in the story “Mama Cat Has Three Kittens?†We will compare the actions of each cat compared to a lazy cat in the story (Boris).
11. Writing activity- students will always be given a writing activity- usually containing a high frequency word and an illustration that coincides with the topic for that day such as, “Kittens can ______.†(this can be used as evidence of learning) We will share our works with others in small and whole group settings.
12. Practice reading- everyday we will read sentences and words that help us in blending phonemes we are using in our letter studies and in identifying high frequency words.
13. Review- each day we will review and cloze lessons by filling or reviewing previous charts.
14. Independent Practice- Students will complete practice books/activity book pages and tasks designed for each lesson. Provide positive corrections and feedback/further instruction during this time as needed.
15. Small Groups/Individualized Instruction- Students will then be directed to small groups for learning centers- one is always a reading group- sight word readers and decodable reader books are stationed here. The teacher will use this time to work individually with students or groups and individual conferences and assessments are conducted at this time.
16. Project focus- each week we will focus on an element of the final project. Opportunities to discuss, plan, and implement our ideas for our final habitat projects will take the place of small groups once per week. Adequate time will be given to research, construct, and practice for the video project at various times throughout the day (during science and computers).
17. Connections Across the Curriculum- In addition to our reading unit- our schedule allows for additional time for letter studies! (not included in the time frame of this unit)
The following are ongoing procedures that support the reading unit and are part of our language arts instruction.
Students are already familiar and have taken pride in the wall chart “Buzzing through the Alphabet†in which they are given a sticker of a “bee†for the following assignments for each letter of study-
 My ABC Reader (a book the student authors for each letter of the alphabet) /o/, /f/ reinforces beginning sounds, rhyme, repetition/patterning, and some fine motor skills.
 Alpha pal Activity book- a book of “fun†sheets that provide practice with letter identification/letter sound correspondence, and other age-appropriate skills /o/, /f/
 Alphabet Journals- a whole group animated literacy activity /o/, /f/
 Alphabet Craft /o/, /f/
 Phonics (Continental Press) & handwriting (D’Nealean) /o/, /f/
 Letter Homework- On Fridays, before a new letter is to be studied, students are sent home a paper and asked to cut out pictures/draw objects/items for that letter with their family members. The first initial contact with the letter… is at home with their parents. Each homework paper is reviewed on Monday morning as a whole group activity. (/o/ /f/ will be sent home during this unit)
 Individual conference/performance assessment with the teacher that demonstrates student mastery of upper/lower case letter recognition and letter sound. Review all previously studied letters & assess new letters /o/, f/.
These practices are continued throughout the year and will be part of our /o/ and /f/ letter studies for this particular unit. These activities provide opportunities for extra practice and remediation. All books/assignments are corrected and pages/work needing correction are given back with feedback for immediate correction. Every Friday morning students are encouraged to bring show & share items that correspond with the letter of study. This process helps students speak in front of their peers, initiates discussions about the letters, The completion of all the letters (sticker charts) by all students is rewarded with the annual end of the year party! They love to complete all of the tasks for the letter being studied.
Science/Technology Connections- science lessons presented later in the afternoon, coincide with the animal theme of this reading unit. Computer/Technology activities/tasks will be organized and directed to assist in the research project portion of the unit.
Lesson Created By
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