Eled 436 Blog

During today's lesson, the students engaged with the books "You Are (Not) Small" By: Anna Kang and "Freckleface Strawberry and the Really Big Voice" By: Julianne Moore. The student's got to explore how people feel when being called names and acting out during class. Miss. Julia and I read the books aloud to them and had each of them raise a quiet hand when they found the answer to some of the example sentences we made. We provided three anchor charts for them as well. One was the example sentences, another was vocabulary words, and lastly, was a who, what, when, where, and why chart. The students filled out their sentence expansion sheets using the anchor charts we provided for them, and the one we made together.  The students then were given colored pencils and got to draw a scene from one of the books and write what they found interesting about that specific scene. Once the students finished their drawings, we went around and shared what scene we decided t...

 During todays lesson, the students engaged with the book "Juana & Lucas" and explored Juana's experience growing up in Bogotá, Colombia. Miss Julia and I read the book aloud to them and had each of them write down on a whiteboard anything they found important or interesting. We provided two anchor charts for them. One was based on feelings Juana felt throughout the story and where in the book it could be found, while the other was an example of a Frayer Model. The students filled out their worksheet based on the Frayer Model, adding their own examples they found from the book or were seen in their personal lives. The students were then given a color by number paper that Miss. Julia created and colored in certain images that have to do with Colombia. We then asked them if they noticed any of these pictures being talked about in the book.  Miss. Julia then had them write in their journals based on the prompt "What emotions would you feel learning a new language...

 During today's lesson, students engaged with the books "Rolling Along: The story of Taylor and his Wheelchair", and "All About Adoption: How Families Are Made & How Kids Feel About It", exploring themes of family, inclusion, identity, resilience, and empathy. Miss Julia and I read the book aloud to the students, and then had them each fill out a Question, Answer, Relationship sheet (QAR). We then had the students draw their own families on a colored piece of paper.  The students were encouraged to connect personally to themes around family, belonging, and overcoming challenges, while also participating in meaningful conversation that demonstrated understanding and compassion. The read-aloud and guided discussion engaged students, and many were eager to share personal connections. The QAR activity supported comprehension by helping students recognize different ways to find answers, and students responded positively to having sentence starters and visual supp...