Unit 2: Lessons 1 - 8

Lesson 1

Today was one of those days we just didn’t get through it all. We were catching up on our weekend and had a fire drill.

We observed animals (I used videos linked in my slides, not the webcam listed in the TG), and I made sure to spend time on non-fiction text features as that’s a large focus of this unit.

After the reader, I chose to ask only a couple of questions - comparing, contrasting, and text features. This is one way to shorten your lessons!

For spelling, we talked about the RULE rather than memorizing the spelling of these words. I wrote them out in a chart (in my slides) and provided visuals for them to see the rule.

We did not do the writing and will not make that part up.

Lesson 2

Not many pictures today! We had dental screenings today, so we didn’t get to the “discussing the read aloud” posters. We’ll do that tomorrow before listening as a way to wake up the brain.  

The kids used their text features reference sheet from yesterday to help them complete a matching activity. The TG says to do riddles, but I thought they still needed the visual. Instead of the features hunt workbook page, they found each TF in their reader and we talked about how each one helps them understand the text.

Language: we did not do the workbook page. Instead, we used Pear Deck Learning to identify parts of speech in a sentence. Pictured is a student screen and the big screen of student work I shared.

As always, Classroomscroom.com for the win for management! Timers and directions are always on my board.

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

We couldn’t get it all done today!

Reading: we went through each page and found the text features, then talked about how each one helps us understand the text better. They did the text features match with a partner, but it was still hard for many! We ended up doing this together. (The definitions were taken from Lesson 2 in the TG.) Next year, I’ll save this for the very end of the unit.

Listening: I recorded on our fish poster while they took notes in their workbook (web organizer). They did the folding square (pictured) instead of the foldable. They were able to use the notes they took to quickly jot down this information.

Language: I didn’t feel like we spent any time on the spelling words so I used it as a teaching opportunity instead of giving a test. We talked again about the rule for doubling a consonant, then completed the page - some worked ahead (then read a book) and some stayed with me.

Language (parts of speech): didn’t get to this. When this happen, I start the next day with what we didn’t get done. I always keep in mind that we have pausing point days, so I move things to the next day knowing we can get caught up on PP days.

Lesson 6

Listening: Kids filled out the organizer (6.2) while listening. They indicated when they heard a sequencing word, and I stopped the video (Kurt Nillson) so they could write and draw.

Reading: We listened on the hub and stopped at the end of each page to add a detail to their web (6.3). I emphasized main idea and supporting details for this page. After, they used their notes to complete the amphibians foldable for their interactive notebook.

Language: New spelling words..learned the rule of dropping the e before adding a suffix. Wrote out the words and glued the sheet into their interactive notebook.

2.5 Language: We didn’t do this the day before, so I squeezed in a quick parts of speech lesson using Pear Deck.

Lesson 7

Frog Scavenger Hunt: Instead of the cards, I used the slides I shared here. The kids were so engaged!

We rushed through reading chapter 8 and chapter 9 (together using the hub) so we could get to the Venn diagram. We did a couple of questions from the slides first.

Venn diagram: We did one similarity and difference together, they did one by themselves, one with a partner, then we shared out whole group. We repeated individual/partner/share twice more. (Tip: when using the interactive notebook foldable, have them write first, then cut and glue!)

Pausing Point

We got caught up on the compound sentences lesson that I skipped (didn’t have time for) earlier in the week. My unit 2 slides already have all the sentences from the TG marked up. We did the worksheet together-ish. Kids got the hang of it, so I had them go on their own and we checked answers.

We did the thumbs up/down activity from the guide, but sorted in our notebooks. The kids referred to the anchor charts we made.

Text features hunt - I posted about this earlier last week on my Facebook Page and Instagram.

I started progress monitoring tier 2 and tier 3 kids while the rest of the class either read animal classification books on Epic or watched videos about vertebrates (both are slides in my unit 2 slides!)

Lesson 8

Got a very late start on CKLA this day due to an all school celebration so I squeezed it all in as best I could.

Listening: we used the pictured slide to keep track of unknown words, clues from the text, and a prediction of what it means. I picked the words from the text, and we worked through the rest together. This took us the bulk of our time!

Writing: I used sentence stems/frames again to ensure they are learning to include a topic sentence, 3 Supporting details, and a concluding sentence. Kids gave examples for the TS and CS, and shared out their reasons. After, they wrote in their mini journals. This gives me a good idea of what kind of independent writer they are, and it only takes 10 minutes of our day!

Language: we just watched the 2 videos about each suffix from my slides, then shared out examples of words with pre- and re-. We did the Blank Busters together since this was their first time having to change the suffix for a worksheet like this.