Monday, June 24, 2013

Lesson 3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar


Lesson #3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
1st grade
Story Elements/Make your own story

Homework:
Students will bring assigned pictures to the classroom to complete an activity following the digital story activity.

Directions: The teacher will play a video of a digital story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar
  1. Students will watch the teacher as she passes the pages while the video is being played and the students listen. The teacher will write on the board information from the story as it is being read (egg, caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly).
  2. The teacher will divide the group in groups of 4 to 5 students. Students will then proceed to fill the Story Elements worksheet.
  3. After completing the worksheet, students will create their own Hungry Caterpillar Story. The story will be playing in the background as the students do their “story books”
  4. After completing their books each group will go in front of the class to read their book to the class. It is not expected of students to create long or complex stories since this is a grade 1 activity.

Review:
1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?
This story is great for first grade students, they use it in the second semester of first grade at the school where I work when students are already “comfortable” with reading. Since they will be doing some reading, getting students to explain in their own words or to talk about what they got/understood from the story is a great way to kick start reading comprehension which they will be using for the rest of their lives. They will also be working on their creative abilities.

2. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and adapt this resource for your instructional goals?
I will provide students with an elements of the story worksheet to verify reading comprehension and to get the familiarized with this important activity. Students will also be using their own pictures to complete their story book after finishing the worksheet.

3. Are the format, organization, design and language level of this resource appropriate for your instructional goals?
The format of the activity is very basic and I believe it helps learners with understanding and comprehension, the design is simple and the language level is pretty basic and it expands vocabulary. Kids love this story, it is fun and interesting; it also teaches children the life cycle of the butterfly.

4. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?
I don’t think I will be experiencing any technical problems because I will have saved the file on my computer. I could encounter problems with students applying the reading comprehension which could slow the activity down a bit.

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Glorimar,

    What a great story to use for your lesson! I really like how you took advantage of the benefit of repetition that digital stories have to offer, and combined that with a kinesthetic activity. I also like the idea of tying in reading comprehension questions into the activity. One question though: will the students have seen an elements of the story worksheet before in previous lessons? I know that my lower level students would probably need some guidance the first time around when using a worksheet like that, I would probably have to review the chronology vocabulary with them first.

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  3. Well this is supposed to be one of the last stories read in first grade so I am sure they have already seen an elements of the story worksheet and introduction before. I am trying this lesson out to see if I can use it this year in school. It is my first year teaching first grade English.

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  4. This looks like a fun lesson to integrate language/content objectives (vocab. in context, main ideas in sequence, life science) with the visual arts. Your students will be building upon these basic skills throughout their academic careers. It would be interesting to know how you will scaffold or differentiate instruction for kids at that age, as some progress so quickly while others still struggle with oral language development in L1. Have you read or used the book La Oruga? Even my 5th graders enjoyed it as we reviewed for their science test. :) I would probably include a short video so they can watch the process as it occurs in nature. You are going to have so much fun, Gloria! Saludos!

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  5. Ay, perdon! Glorimar...not Gloria. Your name reminds me of being on your gorgeous island. Que estes muy bien!

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