"Priscilla and the Wimps"and story elements - Brittney, Jamie, Charisma & Amber
(Check this out! You might have to download the Adobe Flashdrive but it's worth it.) http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/course/game/play.phtml?dest=Lit_v52.dcr&width=500&height=300&ini=lesson1.ini&height2=296
Thanks for the cookies!! Our group also did a lesson on fluency (Readers Theatre) it was nice to see another lesson on the same topic. You guys introduced the lesson in a great way. Having a discussion about the ingredients of cookies and them relating it to the elements of a story would really get the attention of students. I have seen I teacher actually make the cookies in class to help the students understand. Thanks for the story cubes and the book report period.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the way you compared the elements of a story to the ingredients of a cookie. Excellent idea! “Priscilla and the Wimps” was a good book choice too, as it was cleverly written and funny. Its crazy how cool you can make a lesson to students when you choose a book that speaks in their language – I liked the way the bully even wore ‘ostrich skin boots.’ Cute! Thank you for giving us copies of the story cube too. I did a story cube with my first practicum class (grade 5) and they really seemed to enjoy it. It’s a nice way to take the parts of a story and create something visual to define their distinction. You also brought up a good point about teaching story elements, which was that it provides guidance for students when creating their own stories too. When they know what the story elements are, they can map out the story elements for their own writing as well. You covered a lot of components in this lesson and the cookies were delicious too!
ReplyDeleteI loved the story cube! I gives students a visual that they create to identify different parts of a story. I like how this activity can be expanded to the whole class where one student can show the students the picture of the cube and they have to identify what the problem is and when it happened in the book. The criteria of the cube is so flexible too! What if I use 5 sides of a die for problems and use another 5 sides of another die for solutions and student have to match it accordingly?
ReplyDeleteI wanted to say that was a great presentation. I really liked how you incorporated life long learning skills into learning how to read. Each part of the story is like the ingredient, if one step is missed the cookies or plate is ruined. I think it is very much like reading, if they miss something the meaning of the story gets missed. Furthermore, I really liked the reading cubes. I think by allowing students to show thier understanding in a non-traditional way lowers the anxiety of learning how to read. Students are less worried about reading and answering questions. Furthermore, there are many ways to adapt the cube.Like you said, students could draw thier out their interpretations or they could do both. I think this would be more fun than answering questions.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, I am going to try and use this strategy in my upcoming practicum,
Helen
I thought your presentation was organised, engaging, and incredible thoughtful. The activity of comparing ingredients of cookie to those of a story will definitely grab the students’ attention. Something to consider/an extension: For each of the story elements you were focusing on you could have students re-write the story 4 times. One from the point of view of a different character, one with a different setting, one with a different conflict, etc. I think this would really show students how important each element is and how if an element is altered, the story become very different. Thanks for the great lesson.
ReplyDeleteHere is some feedback on your presentation!
ReplyDelete• I appreciated how you handed out examples (pyramid & story cube) for us to have for our future reference!
•It was helpful that you used a resource that we already have! We have all of the tools to implement the lesson! Great idea!
•I like your ‘pause’ and ‘play’ concept, very creative!
•It would be fun to actually bake cookies with the students to really emphasis the concept of various ingredients needed, especially for the kinestic/hands-on learners and those who do not bake or cook at home. Then to pretend to make a ‘story recipe’, and use a bowl or a drawing of a bowl and actually place the elements in the bowl! You can even talk about how it takes time to ‘bake’ and develop into a story! Oh, I love the idea! THANKS!
Thanks for the cookies!
I loved that there were handouts for us to take home (ie. Boxes and book pyramid). The idea of handing out cookies was great! People always love treats and the cookie ingredient brainstorming was a nice lead into examining elements of a story. I was happy to be introduced to another story to use in the classroom that has an educational theme or “big idea” associated with it like bullying. Your presentation was also great with good volume, pace and appeals to various learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile etc.) Thank you group 2! It was great to use a story that we already have the resources for!
ReplyDeleteYou all are great presenters! Well done! You can tell you have completed your 405 practicum already. I found your lesson very useful, and like other classmates have said already, I look forward to trying this in my own class.
ReplyDeleteI really found the comparison of “what goes into a cookie” and “what goes into a story” very useful. I think this would really involve the class. However my only suggestion would be don’t make a student wait to eat a cookie. They may get distracted from the lesson and only be thinking about when they can eat their cookie. (Not that I did that or anything) A different way to do that could be, you all eat a cookie as a class and get them to tell the ingredients they think they just tasted. Just a suggestion.
I really liked your method for checking for understanding. You would really be able to tell the students that were listening from the students’ that did not. I liked how you would get the students to think of an alternative ending. For example, “Think of a better way Priscilla could deal with the bully.”
The cube that you created was a great graphic organizer that would be perfect for those kinesthetic learners.
You all did a wonderful job. Well done!
A+ anytime I get cookies I am happy! I thought that was a great way to get the kids interested in the lesson. I thought it was cool how you compared a story to a cookie recipe. Each part does a special thing that brings it all together. you cannot have a story with out a plot as you cannot have a good cookie without flour. Thanks for the handouts, it is great to have resources, and with already having the book, it is something easliy adaptable we can all use! You are smart. Overall I think it was a great presentation, you all seemed to be seasoned vets at teaching. I will aspire to have the same poise in fron of a group of students as you. The only suggestion, when you have cookies, you have to have milk. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all: Thank you for taking the time to have handouts prepared that we could all take home, and using a story that we all have a copy of. There's nothing that teachers like better than to leave a workshop with ready-made copies of something practical they can use in the classroom the very next day!
ReplyDeleteSecondly - Oh, please, don't make us wait so long to eat the cookies! It could be distracting for kids, and some of us were getting very hungry!
Seriously, though, the cookies were great, and the comparison of something kids could easily understand and relate to (cookie ingredients) with elements of a story, made a great hook! Like the first group that presented on Thursday, using a simple analogy to introduce a more complicated subject is an effective way to warm up kids' minds and get them thinking, as well as get them on board and willing to participate. I think when teachers take the time to make cookies and bring them to class, they are giving their students the message that they are valued and worth the effort in the teacher's eyes. It's a good community-building activity.
Some things I noticed that made the lesson flow smoothly included when Charisma circled the story elements being focused on for the lesson – great visual! – and the way you handed over teaching of the lesson from one person to another while reading the book, which made a potentially difficult transition almost seamless.
The story was entertaining, and very appropriate for this age group. Its under-and-over-stated humour and larger-than-life characters helped make a potentially sensitive subject, that of bullying, easier to focus on and discuss. I think it is important to discuss real-life issues in class along with developing understanding of things such as style and story elements that students may use in their own creative writing.
The lesson was very visual with lots of reinforcement of vocabulary and ideas, from the initial writing of the comparisons on the board to the writing of the words: Characters, Stetting, Problem, Solution, in front of the students where all could see as they were filled in. The story cube seemed like a creative, enjoyable alternative activity for writing the story elements, using a variety of learning styles, although I could see a student who was kind of directionally challenged or messy feeling a little intimidated with tying to get their final product to look acceptable.
Great job, all of you! You’re going to make wonderful teachers!
i love that the cookies were a big hit!
ReplyDeleteWonderful job- great way to get our attention hand out cookies and then make the analogy of a cookie recipe to that of a story. I have never heard that before I think I will use it also during a writing lesson. Thanks for the great idea. The story cube was creative and helped to engage many styles of learners in a fun way. Thanks for the templates.
ReplyDeleteGroup 2: Your lesson was very interesting, funny and engaging. Cookies, of course, were the best – thank you. I loved how you used story elements to increase fluency and comprehension. The story you chose was great not only for this, but for extending to future lessons on bullying, social responsibility, etc. With different graphic organizers, cubes and clear writing on the board, you reach a lot of different styles of learning, especially the visual learners. The cube was a great way to show what you learned through fun. Thank you for providing us with a template.
ReplyDeleteI thought that this group’s hook was so interesting and so relevant to the lesson. At first, I was thinking that baking all of those cookies wasn’t necessary (that’s so much extra work…thank you for the yummy cookies, by the way ) but someone had mentioned that it is good for the textile learners and I completely agree. It allows these learners to see that there are different layers and pieces to a cookie; by demonstrating this it makes it easier to see how there are different layers to a story.
ReplyDeleteI also really appreciated the reproducibles this group gave us. The story cube idea was fantastic! It is something fun, clarifies knowledge and is an activity that students can share or exchange. While the pyramid graphic organizer was good as well, I felt that it might be a bit too young for grade sevens, as the questions asked seemed pretty simplistic and geared towards the primary level. However, it would be a good resource to use if you were working with an ESL learner or learner with special needs.
Group 2: The constant parallel to cookies was such a great idea! Being a cookie aficionado, you kept my attention throughout – thanks! The way you compared elements of a story to ingredients is definitely something I will try in the future. This was one of those lessons that made school seem fun. Way to go, group 2!
ReplyDeleteEsanju
Great lesson! It was well organized, engaging and alot of fun. And thank you very much for the cookies! The visuals were great, and I love how you incorporated the magazines we were given.
ReplyDeleteGreat work group!
You girls made a real connection by bringing the cookies in the class, and then asking about the ingredients in the cookies. It was an excellent way to make a real life connection of ingredients (elements) of the story with cookies. It was immense hook to the lesson. The other excellent idea was bringing pyramid, and square to write about characters. Writing about characters of the story on a square was very creative way of presenting the information. I think students get tired of seeing and writing on a paper about characters, plot, and setting of the story. This way a student can hold the square, and read the information all around the square. Again, an excellent ideas, and well organized lesson.
ReplyDeleteHi Group 2,
ReplyDeleteYour presentation was really good. I really liked the idea of a story cube. I have never seen that before, so thank you for the resource. It is a great way to get everyone thinking about what they read, even if they are not strong writers. You definitely took different writing abilities into consideration, excellent job.
I thought this was an excellent and very informative presentation! I really appreciated seeing different strategies being used, such as the story cube and pyramid ideas you implemented, which I think are both completely adaptable from K-7, and even high school. Thanks for providing us with the tools to try these strategies out with students of our own! I think it was a great idea that you chose a story that we can all easily access, as this made your presentation even more relevant and worth-while for us as we are able to use it ourselves. This story would certainly be a great way to lead your class into a discussion on the broader topic of diversity and bullying. I also really liked the cookie idea, as I have only ever seen this done before as a compare and contrast activity where students determine which of two cookies is better based on specific criteria they create and depict in the form of a rubric. I liked your idea of having it represent the elements of a story.
ReplyDeleteYou guys did a great job! You touched on a really important issue facing our youth in the school community-bullying. I think it is essential that educators discuss and analyze social issues within the classroom, even with young children. In addition, the story cube is a great activity, it is an excellent way to test students’ story comprehension while allowing them to be creative! And the cookie analogy was great! It’s an excellent idea to introduce the idea of story elements from students. Thank you for the cookies!
ReplyDeleteI liked your handouts and examples of activities you did for your presentation. This will be good for my literacy folder! I also liked the hook: ingredients of a cookie and transitioning them to the story. You touched on really important issues including bullying, which shows up in all the schools at some point throughout the year.
ReplyDelete