521 - Field Observation #6

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: 2 – Word Analysis

RICA Competency: Syllabic Analysis, Structural Analysis, and Orthographic Knowledge

Grade Level: Third Grade

Ms. X had asked if I could conduct a lesson on compound words. Since she had introduced the concept of compound words to her students a day before my lesson, I started my lesson with an activity to activate prior knowledge from their last lesson. Each student received a part of a compound word. Students were instructed to find their word partner. Once the students found their word partner, they had to walk to the white board and find the picture that matched their word. For example, student A had “rain”, student B had “bow”, and they had to find the picture of a “rainbow”. Finally, they had to glue the two words together with the image glued next to the two combined words. Once everyone was done gluing their words and picture together, I asked if someone could tell me what we just did. I had students say, “We combined two words” and “We combined two words to make one word”.  I had acknowledged their great answers and introduced an extension to Ms. X’s prior compound lesson from the day before.

                After the activity, students were provided a worksheet relating to the activity. Again, the concept of placing two words coming together to make one word is illustrated in the worksheet. For example, straw + berry = strawberry . For differentiation, I provided visuals for the students who I knew would benefit from it. It was great because I noticed a majority of the students were walking to the board to use the visuals I provided. Once the students were done with their worksheet, I had the students tell their elbow partner one new compound word they learned today. Also, I had the students share the definition of a compound word with each other.

Instructional Setting:

                The instructional setting included glue, paper, prepped compound words, and a worksheet.

 

 

  

 

 

521- Field Observation #5

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: 1 – Planning, Organizing, and Managing Reading Instruction Based on Ongoing Assessment

RICA Competency: Planning, Organizing, and Managing Reading Instruction

Grade Level: Third Grade

                In Ms. X’s classroom D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) occurs every day after recess. Before starting D.E.A.R. Ms. X encourages students about reading. She reminds her students that if they need help with the reading, they should raise their hand and she will come by to help. The classroom is silent. Students are spread throughout the classroom, on the floor, under their desk or on a bean bag reading. Ms. X has a wide selection of books available for her students. Students will utilize books from Ms. X’s library if they’ve finished reading their book(s) from the school library. For some students Ms. X provides a graphic organizer to help students take notes. As the students read Ms. X walks around the classroom to ensure that students are on track. D.E.A.R. lasted for 25 minutes.

                Throughout the year students will be presenting book reports. Ms. X’s class just completed their first book presentation for the year. The students selected from the following genre: Animal, Biography, Sports, Mystery, Travel, Fantasy, Non-Fiction, and Adventure. The activities vary for each genre.   For example, student A read Ferdinand the Bull, By: Munro Leaf. Student A’s activity is a “book box”. Student A  illustrated their favorite part of the book, provide ten words in an envelope, and wrote a summary that is glued on the back of the book box. Each student will have their chance to present their project to the class.  This year long Book Share activity is a great reading project because students reflect on important characters, the plot, the theme, the setting, the moral, and the mood.  Also, book share helps acquaint readers with the book.

Instructional Setting:

              The instructional setting includes the student’s book, project supplies such as: crayons, glue, scissors, construction paper, shoebox, and a pencil.

 

 

521 - Field Observation #4

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: 3 – Fluency

RICA Competency: 8 – Fluency: Role in Reading Development and Factors That Affect the Development and Factors That Affect the Development of Fluency

Grade Level: Third Grade

Any Additional Description: Regroup Class – Students reading level are low.

            Last week I observed Ms. X work with a group of students to provide a positive role in developing students’ reading fluency. Before diving into the text and front loading the students with information, Ms. X asked questions to acquire student background knowledge. Questions asked: "What do you think this story is about? What does the front page picture tell us? Who likes candy? If so, have you gotten sick from eating too much candy?" I found her questions helpful for our ELLs and students with learning disabilities. She had asked questions that related students to the text. As a visual support she brought a few images to illustrate the new words that students will be encountering during the reading. By using these images, students are able to connect images with the words they are reading. The images are a great support to the students' reading and vocabulary development.

        Ms. X read first then followed individual reading. Ms. X indicated the appropriate pitch and tone when pointing out new words to students. The students enjoyed Ms. X's tone used for each character's dialogue. It brought the personality of the characters to life for the students. She too illustrated the images that went along with the new words. When she was done reading to the students, she had them read independently. As the students read, some used fluency phones and other whispered quietly.

        Then Ms. X passed out a work sheet for to assess student's understanding of the book. The worksheet was a graphic organizer. The graphic organizer asked for the main facts, supporting details, and illustration in each section of the story. Students were assigned to work in partners and Ms. X walked around helping the students. Ms. X then had the students share their answers with the entire group. As students shared their answers, Ms. X modeled on a big post-it paper. This was very helpful for our girl who is struggling academically.

Instructional Setting:

        The instructional setting included the proper text for students, activity sheet, and images that illustrate new words for your readers.

 

 

521- Field Observation #3

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: 4 – Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge

RICA Competency: 10 –Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Role in Reading Development and Factors That Affect Their Development. Competency: 11 – Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge: Instruction and Assessment

Grade Level: 3^rd

            I observed Ms. X conduct a lesson on expressing vocabulary. Through this lesson I saw students build a correlation between learning the meaning of words and obtaining broader concepts. Ms. X used random words appropriate for third grade. The purpose of this activity was to colorfully find new ways to state words. First, Ms. X demonstrated how to find a word in the Children’s Thesaurus. The first word she used was beautiful. She had asked the students a question, “What letter do I need to look for in the thesaurus? Why? She had the students discuss with their partners. Then she asked for volunteers. She called on a student and the student said, “We should look for the letter ‘B’ because beautiful beings with a ‘B’.” Ms. X modeled by indicating all letters until she found the word beautiful. As she walked her students to finding the word beautiful, students were understanding alphabetical order to the second, third, and fourth or fifth letter.

             After a few guided practices with a couple of words, Ms. X instructed for the students to freely choose a word from the thesaurus.  The students had to write about colorful ways to say the word they found. For example, one student decided to work on the word “sinful”. The words he found for sinful were wicked, evil, and bad. Once every student was done writing their words, they had to share with their elbow partners. Then students shared with their table. As the students were conversing through this activity, Ms. X had asked students to try and use some of the words they found in a sentence. For some it was easy and for others they did not know how to use it in a sentence. Ms. X simply modeled how a word could be used in a sentence. She connected her example sentences to her students. For example, “Dane chuckles at Miguel’s jokes”, was an example sentence she used for the word chuckle.

 Instructional Setting:

              The students needed their thesaurus to look for their new colorful words. Also, Ms. X provided paint sample paper to illustrate that the students can make their writing more colorful by using the words they had found.  
  

 

 

521 Field Observation #2

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: 5: Comprehension

RICA Competencies: 14: Comprehension: Oral Language Activities and Meeting the Needs of all Learners

Grade Level: 3^rd

I observed Ms. X teaching her students the elements of characters, plot, settings, theme, and mood. During this observation, the class was already in the middle of their reading. The story is from their Literature book called, Lost and Found. Before Ms. X began reading to the class, she had the students think about where they had left off in the story. She asked questions like, “Where did we leave off in our story? What was the last thing that happened? Where were our characters when we left the story? What do you think will happen next?” After she had given the students time to think, she had them share with their elbow partners. Once the students were done sharing with their partners, Ms. X asked for participants to share what students and their partners came up with. Through the use of think-pair-share during her introduction of the lesson, recalls student memory. In addition, I found this activity as a great way for students to collaborate with one another.

After they were done reading the story, Ms. X had the students create a story map of their story, Lost and Found. Before they students were to start on their story map, she wanted to recap what the class had read. Again, the think-pair-share technique was used before Ms. X would call on students. Ms. X had asked the following questions:

"Was there a happy ending? If so, what indicates that it was a happy ending?"

"Where do you see the main characters after the story ended?"

"Have you ever in the same situation as the main characters in the story?"

"What was the theme of the story?"

"How many settings did we encounter in the story?"

These were great questions to ask the students because it prompts to their next lesson of writing a summary of the story. However, the summary is being saved for another lesson. Ms. X was going to have the students draw their story map.

Ms. X provided descriptive directions on how to create a story map. She explained what a story map is and what it shows. Also, she molded what a story map will look like once they’ve completed their drawings. Illustrating what a story map was very helpful for our ELs and students who had learning disabilities. She presented story maps that were created by her former students. The kids were excited to see what a story map looks like. Then, Ms. X illustrated what should be included in the story map, e.g. the main points of the story, main characters, plot, and theme. Just as Ms. X was finishing her directions I overheard a student say, “My story map will be colorful and show all the main ideas”. The students began drawing their story maps with crayons, construction paper and their Literature book as a guide. She instructed that the students refer back to their Literature book to ensure that they covered the main ideas, characters, theme, and plots of the story. Although some students did not refer back to their reading, the book was a helpful tool for students who needed to check back to the story.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

The instructional setting of my observation contained the student's Literature book, crayons, construction paper, and a model of Ms. X's story maps completed by her former students. Although she did not use the iPad in this lesson, creating the story map on its own is an engaging activity. Also, the pictures drawn by the students express their individual talents in drawing. In addition, this type of project promotes creativity and content.

521 Field Observation #1

TC NAME: Melisa Finney

RICA Domain: Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Background Knowledge

RICA Competency: Homophones

Grade Level: 3

Any Additional Descriptions: A few students are ELs, two who need special attention, and others who are advanced.

                I observed Ms. X teaching homophones. The teacher presented the definition of the word homophones. She showed two pictures (pear and pair) and asked the students to identify the two images. From these two images she began to illustrate the difference between the image of the fruit pear and the image of a pair of shoes. The images presented visual support for all learners. Then Ms. X had the students write the word pear on one side of a note card, the other side of the note card read pair. She had the students share the meaning of homophones and to provide one example to their elbow buddy.  This provided auditory and community support for all learners; including ELs and students have learning disabilities.

                Using Ms. X’s iPad she reflected the word homophones and asked the class to reflect on the meaning. The students responded with three answers.

1.       Homophones sound the same.

2.       Homophones do not mean the same thing.

3.       Homophones are spelled different.

Then, the teacher had illustrated other images on the iPad for homophones. She illustrates images like hair and hare, male as in man and mail as in the mail received, and etc. After a few images, she had the students focus on the words pair and pear using the note card. She instructed the students to reflect the proper word that correctly matched with the picture. A picture of a pear would appear and students are to respond with the proper meaning of the fruit pear. The teacher also had students interacting with the iPad as they wrote the proper word that matched the picture. While this lesson was occurring, the teacher was recording the lesson. At the end she had a challenge for the students. This provided kinesthetic and visual support for ELs and for students with special needs.

                Then, the teacher took the recorded lesson with the students and had the students listen to their responses. Listening to their recording, students reflected to and practiced the lesson as a class. She had the students share their thoughts of what they had learned through about homophones with their mummy partner. This presented peer interaction, promoting community in a classroom. With the use of the iPad, it made the lesson engaging, especially for our ELs and for students who may have had trouble if the teacher had skipped guided practice.

INSTRUCTIONAL SETTING:

                The instructional setting of my observation contained many interactive tools for teaching and learning homophones: an iPad that illustrated pictures of homophones and recorded the lesson, note cards that involved students in the lesson, and big cards that also illustrated other pictures at the beginning of the lesson.

                             (Above picture: Teacher example. Below picture: Student's example)