Comments and Replys 1

Okay girls, I am obviously doing something wrong and I still can leave comments so I'll do this instead.

Maddie
Thanks for the compliment, I think I should have waited to make the pictures on actual big paper because I think it would have shown what the project could really look like but too late :P
I am thinking that in my mini-lesson, for the selection of peers to draw, that it would be best for the teacher to select who should be drawing who. I am thinking of writing as a side note that during this project students desks be partnered and that way they can simply use the person beside them as their subject. Or do you think I should have them pull names from a hat? I like that idea but I am worried some children wouldn't like the person they picked and the teacher would be too happy with some of the pairings.

For your fact book, I totally agree with Colleen that I've learned something jsut scanning the list! I agree that it needs to evolve into a kid-friendly version for students too. I want to suggest though that you cut it down to 25 facts or increase it to 50 so that it is a benchmark number. With that, I think mabe it would be more appealing for a title with kids if you were to say something like "The top 25/50 things you NEED to know about Canada!" or something along those lines. Also, I think you should include pictures of some of the facts or as a watermark in the background you could have pictures of the provinces or a Canadian symbol such as our flag, the maple leaf, or our beaver! :)

Colleen
I love that suggestion! I am always trying to think up extensions for the overachievers lol. Do you think that I could get them to draw their peers as aliens to start and then have students who finish early incorporate the descriptors afterwards would still be enough of an extension? Just because I have already drawn the images. I think maybe because each students page will have the writing on it with their descriptors, students should draw the aliens first and then add the pictures of the descriptors that way each page SHOULD have the alien and at least one mention of the descriptors. If that makes sense.

I love your idea to incorporate different writing styles used in the book. Your unit will be very focused on the book and will provide clear connection to the Scaredy Squirrel series. I think that your choices on which forms to focus on are great picks because those are the most real and applicable to students lives and therefore might actually be useful. I think the sports idea is cool as kids are loving hanging out with friends and joining teams, but maybe you could make the topic more general to something like "Scardey Squirrel joins a team" and then have him try out different sports until he finds the one that appeals to him. Or you could stick to basketball and add in content that talks about "how to join a team", "scoping out what kind of team you are interested in", "what to bring for a tournament or game". That idea could be lots of fun. I am excited to hear your story :D.

Final project: Part 1

I am planning on modelling the final project I would hope to recieve from part two of this final project being the mini unit. I hope to make a big book in an anthology format with each page including a written description of a student in a partial formula. The following are two examples:

Brandon is something else with his contagious laughter, strong hugs, and bright smile. He's something else!

Something else is Denise. She dresses like a princess and reads well with her glasses. That's what I call something else!

Furthermore, I plan to accompany each page with a drawing. This part is a little undecided. These are my options, please give my your opinion or comment or suggestion:

a) draw a picture of the student
b) draw a picture of the student with their descriptors
c) draw multiple, comic-like, pictures of the student in various activities or positions
d) drawn the student alienified with some of their descriptors (the big book I plan to model in part 2 is about a alien/monster who looks alot different than the others hence his name)

I am leaning towards b or d but think d could get a little complicated for k-1 grades. Thoughts?

Mini-lesson Outline

My idea for a mini unit is for a class of grade ? students(not sure yet) to create a class big book where each student will create a page for another student on why their peer is something else and unique. Here is my outline:

Lesson 1: Read a big book to model, discuss appropriate ways of describing classmates, and create an intro page collectively (2 days)

Lesson 2: Students work individually or in small groups if preferred to write why their selected peer is something else and draw an illustration to accompany it (2 days)

Lesson 3: Pages will be compiled and shared, a conclusion will be written and a title chosen.

*class anthology will be laminated and binded so that it can be displayed in the classroom.