Early

Lesson Outcome: After completing this sequence, you will have expanded the initial lesson “At the Farm” provided for the student. Furthermore, you will have learned how to differentiate a lesson for children of different abilities. Also, you will have noticed that there are many levels within the activity: there will be some students who are able to tell a personal narrative readily. At the same time, there will be students who are at the stage of assembling the animals in order and putting them into the “barn.” Both children are learning the “personal narrative sequence” and will progress at their own pace...

To broaden this lesson about settings and our conversation about a farm, we are providing other setting references: Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown is the selection for today’s mini-lesson reading. Other suggestions are provided in the handout...

The “Who Would Win…” books are interesting in themselves since they present lots of information on the two animals presented when competing with each other. The outcome is an evaluation of evidence—some descriptive, some cause/effect, some problem/solution—that helps the reader to form an opinion as to: Who would win, it the two were opposing each other in the wild. Even though the information could be presented in a science text book, the presentation of facts is consolidated by pictures, embedded boxes such as Fun Facts and Did You Know? Structurally, the pages referring to contrasts between the animals are opposite each other, allowing the reader, or listener, to view both animals as descriptive...

Today I want to show how authors always include information in their stories. We should look for it as we read. For instance, the information for the setting is a time and a place…BUT…what is happening at that time in that place is the important part for a story! The timing of a kick-off and how characters in the setting respond to the kick-off through feelings, thoughts, words and actions is finalized when the character makes a plan. How things turn out as a consequence depends on the actions (attempts) to carry out the plan and whether the plan is realized. I used the book, Are You Ready To Play Outside? by Mo Willems. This book is part of a series starring Gerald the Elephant and Piggy, the pig! I noted in my mini-lesson that you might want to look at this book for the concept that kick-offs (the rain) often occur gradually in many situations...

Facebook Live with Maryellen

In our daily mini-lessons during these uncertain times, we, at MindWing Concepts, Inc., are providing book titles, many available online, to read to children about the not-so-huge situations that make us feel “not so great,” as well as those that contribute to feelings of well-being. We have provided “feeling bookmarks” for talking about the names of feelings to help us talk about some of these big and smaller situations that we call “kick-offs.” There are many ideas in the handouts provided during these mini-lessons that will help to show relationships of characters’ feelings to kick-offs and the thinking and planning necessary to deal with them. Using the icons to bolster listening comprehension will spur and organize our discussions. Everyone needs to talk! We just have to think about how to do it during these times!...