Next week will be my first solo day. I'm not only in charge of the class for the day (something I've done many times as a sub), but now I'm also in charge of actually educating them!
I've been working hard on lesson plans. Due to the nature of our class rotations I only have to plan a morning meeting time, one writing lesson (to be repeated with several different classes), a science experiment, and a reading group lesson. When I write it all out somehow my "only" from above seems less appropriate! That is four separate blocks of time to plan well to ensure a quality education for my students.
I found a cool site called Writing Fix with a wide variety of writing lesson ideas. They have fully developed lessons based around picture books, called "mentor texts." I love picture books. They make me feel at home. I think my writing lesson will involve Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. A cute story (that I happen to have in my own personal collection) and a good lesson on chronological story telling. The lesson on the website is long and involved and could easily span several days, so I'll be tailoring it to just one lesson period. We will read the book, discuss chronological storytelling and why an author might chose to write that way. Then maybe I'll use a graphic organizer to have them write a brief chronological narrative. I think the students will enjoy it.
I'm trying to find a balance of teaching fun, interesting, grade level (something I'm learning fast!) activities that will engage them and hopefully they might learn something along the way. My mentor teacher is really fun and the kids all like him, so I want to make sure my plan for the day isn't too dull. Fun, and interesting, and educational, of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment