Unit Design: a Comprehensive Course - 'Ubd 101'

Unit Design: A Comprehensive Course - 'UbD 101'

Your Unit Title: MODEL The Wonder of Words

designer(s):

Vicki DeRue

subject area:

Language Arts K-5

Long-term Goals: Goal: Increase students fluency with and appreciation

for the power of the right words. NYS ELA2

Summary: This unit is a study of the wonder and power of words for

primary students. Through immersion in various experiences of listening

to others' poems, reading of others' poems, reading poems aloud,

reacting to others' poems through drawing and writing, and writing and

reading own poems, students will play with words and sounds. They will

then experience and possess some of the power and wonder of written and

spoken words.

Essential Questions:

* What makes words wonderful?

* Which words are wonderful, when? Why?

Understandings:

* Words have power and meaning.

* Words create pictures in the mind.

* People use words to share ideas and feelings.

* The more words I know, the better I can share my and others' ideas

and feelings.

* Words are meant to be read and heard.

* Poems are a way people express themselves, and they may or may not

rhyme.

Knowledge and Skill: K -How to select best word to convey intended

meaning.

Using resources to discover meaning of words and expand my vocabulary.

Using word walls, dictionaries, thesauruses

Using listening skills to identify wonderful words.

S- How to share my ideas in writing

Writing neatly

Participating in writer's workshop

Revising and editing

Using and substituting words to fit the purpose of the writer

Changing the order of words in a sentence or line of text in order to

change the meaning

Using specific poetry formats, according to classroom specifications to

convey my ideas

Performance Tasks: Assessment Summary:

During this unit, the students self-assess the poems they read and

perform, as well as their summative assessment, the Poetry Collection.

Students use post-its for self-reflections, a self-reflection journal,

checklists and rubrics to evaluate what they have learned.

Performance Task

<http://www.authenticeducationonline.org/mod/glossary/showentry.php?courseid=14&concept=Performance+Task>

You are going to edit a collection of poetry for an audience at a poetry

festival. The purpose of the festival is to share and celebrate the

wonderful words you have written in your poems. Your audience will be

your parents and/or other students in your school.

A. Your job as a poetry editor is to:

-Reread both the poems you wrote and the poems the class has read that

other people wrote, and pick some of each (the ones with the most

wonderful words) to be placed in your personal collection.

- Add pictures and drawings to each poem to show the reader what the

wonderful words mean to you.

-Reread your journal and pick some responses that show how you felt

about the wonderful words you wrote and read.

-Write an opening to your collection telling the reader why you selected

these wonderful poems with these wonderful words.

-Pick one poem you wrote to add to a class collection of poems that will

be kept in the classroom for you to read. Pick the poem with the

wonderful words you liked the best.

B. Your job as a poetry performer is to:

-Pick one poem that you wrote to read before the audience at the Poetry

Festival. Pick a poem that has the wonderful words you like best.

-Practice reading your poem aloud so that you can say all the words

clearly, and read the poem in an interesting way. You may use an object

or person to help make the reading of your poem interesting, if you wish.

-Practice explaining why the words in this poems are wonderful.

Teacher Directions:

A. The teacher guides the students through compiling their individual

poetry collections. Students make their selections based on the

wonderful words they read and then draw pictures to illustrate each poem

in the collections. They also choose from the responses in their

journals to add reflections on their poetry experience to their

collections. The teacher will want to help students select their most

reflective responses. The students should use the collection checklist

to assist their choices. They should also use the collection rubric to

assess how much they have learned.

B. The teacher assists students in preparing for the performances in the

poetry festival. Students will select an original poem that they can

read and practice reading the poem aloud. Students will aim for fluency,

expression, and listener interest. The students will also practice

explaining why the words in this poem are so wonderful. The teacher will

facilitate the student practice in pairs or trios so students do receive

some audience reaction practice. Students should use the performance

rubric to self-assess their preparation.

C. The teacher facilitates the classroom poetry collection. Each student

selects a poem he/she has written to be added to this permanent

classroom book. The teacher will assist with editing so the collection

is as readable as possible.

Other Evidence: Students will keep a poetry journal during the reading

and writing of their poems. The journal will include items on this

checklist:

-Poetry responses - drawing, post-its, answers to writing prompts:

- What is my favorite line or word from this poem?

-What did the sounds of those wonderful words make me feel?

-I like best...

- My favorite wonderful word today is _____ because ______.

- I chose those words about me because _____.

- What I know today about words ...

-My favorite made-up word is _____. This my my favorite because _____.

-photographs of two oversize poems - "Body Poem" and "I am Wonderful"

-checklists for three poem formats: shape poem, lune, hink pink.

All these pieces of evidence document student understandings and

progress during the word play unit. The students stop to think about

what they have learned and what they think now. A number of these

self-assessments will be moved to the students final assessment - the

poetry collection.

Checklist for Shape poem

1. My poem has words and drawings.

2. The words and drawing match.

3. My ideas tell about my shape.

4. I have checked any spelling and corrected it.

Checklist for Lune poem:

1. My poem's topic is

2. My poem has three lines.

3. All the lines are about my topic.

4. The first line has three words.

5. The second line has five words.

6. The third line has three words.

7. My most wonderful words are...

Hink Pink Checklist:

1. My hink pink is two words long.

2. The two words in my hink pink rhyme.

3. I can tell you what my hink pink means.

4. I can read my hink pink by myself.

5. My hink pink answers the riddle question.

Checklist for Poetry Collection:

1. My collection has an introduction where I tell why I chose these poems.

2. My collection has poems I wrote.

3. I drew pictures that match my poems.

4. My collection has poems that my class read.

5. My collection has words and pictures I wrote about poems I read.

6. I drew a picture on the cover of my collection.

7. I can read my poems aloud by myself.

Pretest, Midtest and Posttest on chart paper in room for entire class to

respond on Days 1, 7 and 15:

What I Know Day 1 What I Know Now Day 7 What I Know Now Day 15

At conclusion of unit and poetry festival, students complete final

survey (best if done in writing on chart paper.) Each student adds

his/her response to:

How are these wonderful words going to help me?

Rubrics/Criteria: The poetry collection rubric

<http://www.authenticeducationonline.org/mod/glossary/showentry.php?courseid=14&concept=Rubric>

helps the students and teacher evaluate the understanding of identifying

and using the wonderful words for self-empowerment as a writer.

Level 1: Word Beginner

Level 2: Word Worker

Level 3: Word Apprentice

Level 4: Word Wizard

Trait: I can use wonderful words to share my ideas and feelings.

I used words in the poems I have started.

I put completed poems with words that I wrote in my collection.

I collected poems that I wrote and I can show you the wonderful words.

I wrote different types of poems and I can tell you why the wonderful

words and shapes show what I am feeling.

Trait: I can show I understand poems written by others.

I put at least one response or picture in my collection.

I put written responses or pictures in my collection.

I put written responses and pictures in my collection which show what I

liked about the wonderful words.

The responses I put in my collection show that I think I know why the

writer used those words.

Trait: I can share with the reader of my collection the reasons why I

included the pieces I did.

I can identify the pieces I have included in my collection.

I can explain why I chose the content of my collection.

I can explain why the words in the poems I have chosen are wonderful.

I can share with my reader my thoughts and feelings about the wonderful

words I have written and collected.

Rubric: Rubric for Poetry Festival Reading Presentation

Trait: I can read/recite my original poem fluently and effectively

before an audience.

Level 1: Beginning Presenter

Level 2: Learning Presenter

Level 3: Competent Presenter

Level 4: Accomplished Presenter

I can read my poem aloud with some teacher help.

I can read my poem aloud with little teacher help.

I can read my poem independently and with some expression, such as how

loudly or softly I say the words.

I can read my poem aloud fluently, using expression to keep my

audience's interest. I use loudness, softness and stressing certain

words to share the wonderful words.

Trait: I can explain why I chose this poem and its wonderful words to share.

I can tell the audience I liked this poem.

I can share with the audience some of my poem's wonderful words.

I can explain to my audience why I selected these wonderful words for

this poem.

I can share with my audience the wonder and power both of the words in

my poem and of the poem itself.

Learning Plan:

Day 1. Teacher reads a poem with vivid and creative words that will

sound inviting to small children (ex. "Weather" by Eve Merriam.)

Students and teacher talk about and identify wonderful words (vivid,

powerful, ear pleasing) in the poem. They discuss what words allow "big

people" to do when they can read and write. They discuss how the

students can gain this power and why they will want to.

The teacher reads various other poems to the students, using puppets and

audio tapes as voices for some of the poems. Again, the teacher uses

poems with "wonderful" sounds and creative words - words that invite

play, rhyme and make children laugh. (Ex. "Song of the Train" by David

McCord, "Shapes" by Shel Silverstein, and "Catching" by Shel

Silverstein. Students listen, react and participate in reading/speaking

some words from the poems. Students have the opportunity to react orally

and discuss each poem. Small children want to learn and read and write.

Allowing them to play with the words of the poems invites them to play

and become readers and writers.

Assessment: Students identify favorite poems or lines or words from

today's poems, labeling favorites with happy face post-its and

individually placing the post-it on the poetry line on chart paper.

Pretest: The class also completes first column on what will become a

three column T chart - What I Know on Day 1/ What I Know on Day7/What I

Know on Day 15 -(the last two columns to be completed later.) Each child

contributes own line to the first column.

Day 2 - Teacher and class read poem which plays with sound, repetition,

and rhyme (ex. "Fishes Evening Song" by Dahlov Ipcar.) The teacher has

placed the poem on chart paper so everyone can see. Teacher uses puppet

to read the words. Class again identifies wonderful words (ear pleasing,

repeated or rhymed) in the poem. It may be necessary to review the

concept of rhyme with the children.

Class rehearses choral reading - groups of students in pairs or triads

will practice repeating one line of words. They will experiment with

loudness, softness, pitch, and inflection to bring the words alive and

catch a listener's attention. The students will read their lines in a

round fashion.

The teacher will audio tape the students' class reading. The students

will then listen to the wonderful words on tape, allowing them to

experience the total effect of all the sounds at once, something they

might miss while concentrating on saying just their own line.

Assessment: Students listen to choral reading tape and then react in

poetry journal to prompt -"What did the sounds of those wonderful words

make me feel?" Teacher gives students a copy of the poem to place in

their journals. The journal will be kept in a folder that the students