♪[theme music]
[students singing] On this day, on this day
Fighting for our freedom, fighting for our freedom,
We thank you, we thank you
>>teacher: Now in our song, there's a couple of words that
tells us what veterans are.
Veterans are...
brave
Can you see another word in there that tells what veterans are?
Allison?
>>Allison: Strong.
>>teacher: Veterans are strong. Very good. Now remember yesterday we were learning
about the different...
The theme of the week was learning about veterans but um
our social studies standard is actually how heroes influence American culture.
So because it's near Veterans Day I chose that...type of hero to focus on for the
week. And then because I chose veterans then I could use a lot of specific
vocabulary to help with the ELD students and improve their writing.
Um I use the front-loading of the text and chants
and stories to help them get a context for
the vocabulary so that they have a place to start when they start building the
vocabularies we start with what they know, and then add..what they are learning
so that then the rest of the week they can practice with that vocabulary
over and over again.
Another way that we can describe veterans is on our chart up here too.
Veterans are...brave.
Now can you think of some other words that we
can use to describe veterans? Kaylani?
>>Kaylani: Veterans are um...they're kind to animals.
>>teacher: Can we just say they are kind?
Can we think of another word that describes veterans?
Native? >>Native: They save people.
>>teacher: They can save people. So how do they do that?
Um the first day. Um after we read about heroes, then um
the students made a list of things that heroes do in general. And then I narrowed
that into veterans and I asked them to describe um veterans and so I was
teaching them that an adjective is a describing word. It tells how big or how
small or what size and what color. So then in order to keep everybody engaged
I gave them a post-it and they were able to write one of the adjectives maybe
they had heard when we talked about heroes or maybe they had...you know in their
experience so they were all able to write an adjective and then put it on
the chart then I took those adjectives and condensed them into our list on our sentence
pattern chart of the adjective that I really wanted them to focus on
throughout the week. So first we're going to describe the veterans with some of
the words that you wrote on the adjective chart. So we're going to use the red
remember the red words when we make our sentence pattern chart are for the
adjectives. Remember that adjectives describe. They tell what color, how tall
small, how big, what shape. So some of the words that you wrote on the adjective
chart you wrote: brave
You wrote: strong.
You wrote: powerful.
You wrote: kind.
What's another word for kind?
>>students: Good.
>>teacher: Good.
>>student: And caring.
>>teacher: Caring. I like that because it goes with our IB profile. Doesn't it?
The sentence pattern chart, to me is the
foundation of teaching an ELD student how English sentence structure works. So I'm
forcing them to use adjectives first. So we start with the adjective and then I
give them them the noun. Then we go on to what does that person or group of things do.
So then we go on to the verb. I think the colors and having a pattern a
predictable pattern helps the ELD students with just another um indicator
when they see a word that they know that that's going to be a describing word-especially
when the adjective is coming before the noun they see that it's red and they need
to put a describing word there.
Remember that adjectives are the red ones they're describing words.
Brave, strong, powerful, kind, good, caring. >>Jose: Powerful.
>>teacher: I...Jose picked powerful. Alright. And...Isaac, can you choose a different
adjective? Remember that adjectives are the
describing words, they tell about the veterans.
>>Isaac: Strong.
>>teacher: Alright so powerful, strong veterans.
And Kiana can you tell us what they do? Remember the green
ones are the...verbs. They're the action. Carry, workout, protect, help, fight, defend.
>>Kiana: Um...defend.
>>teacher: Defend. Alright. We'll stick that right here.
Mohammad, can you pick a place for us?
Around the world, in cities, from the ground, or over the clouds.
Three, two... >>Mohammad: From the ground.
>>teacher: From the ground. Alright. Ready, set, go.
[choral reading]: Strong, powerful veterans.
Strong, powerful veterans.
Strong, powerful...
After we create the chart with the different columns then I let the students choose a
couple of adjectives and then we we say the sentences in a song form just to
make it a little bit more engaging for them. And I can show them that no matter
how we manipulate the adjectives they're still describing that noun. And we can
change the verb and it will still make sense. And then after we've practiced it a
little bit they go to their seats and start writing and I have given them a
template because I found that when I ask them to go to their seat and write
without that template, they still went to their comfort zone which is: I like, I see
They're my favorite instead of using adjectives in the verbs that we just
charted.
So today we're going to cooperate. Remember cooperate means work together.
We're going to cooperate to write a paragraph about veterans. So let's start
by singing our veterans song so we can remember some of the facts about
veterans. ready?
The second day-or actually in my normal routine it's the
third day, um we review the input chart, the vocabulary, the chants and the songs
just to have them practice with that vocabulary again. And then they go
back and start collaborating with their table on how to write a sentence. So I
tell them you have to discuss with your group. You have to listen to your group
and contribute. And then every person in the group has to write part of the
sentence. And so I give them a different color marker for each person so I can
make sure that each person got to write part of the sentence. That prevents the
leader from taking over and allows the ELD student to know what their job is
gonna be and have safety that they're not gonna be...um struggling.
Red table, let's read red table. Ready? Soldiers are powerful and strong.
Let's see if that will fit right here? Yes. Alright now before we do anything else...
I need you to look for two things; I need to
look at every sentence and make sure that each
sentence begins with an uppercase letter and ends with a period.
When they come back to the carpet then they all put their sentence strips in the pocket
chart. Um at this point it's early relatively early in the year. The
sentences are very basic. Um so the first thing we edit for is beginning with a
capital and ending with a period.
Today you're going to write your own story about veterans. Remember when we
we're-when we made our plan, yesterday afternoon? We put facts that we've learned.
We put some of the adjectives that we learned about veterans. We put some of
the verbs that we've learned about veterans. We're gonna use those today to
write a paragraph about veterans. So what I need you to do right now is walk...
The last day of the series of lessons is always independent writing so first we
review again the charts and all of the vocabulary. Then um I model how I would
write about the topic. So in this case I modeled how I would write about the veterans:
What they look like, what they do, why it's important because this genre was
a description. Then I let them write independently and so then I just walk
around and make sure that they're focusing on that vocabulary and I
sometimes have to redirect them to go away from their safety zone which is
I like the veterans. I see the veterans. The veterans are cool.
Yes ma'am?
>>student: Um...uh...
>>teacher: Veterans
>>student: Veterans are brave. They are strong and they fight for our freedom.
They save us too.
>>teacher: Nice. Nice. Give me five.
♪[theme music]