LOGAN CANCIENNE AND KATIE JONES Shadow Day Sharing

Integrated Lesson ELA Logan taught the ELA part of the lesson on reality versus fantasy using the story Cinderella by Stoneway Books. Math Katie incorporated the story in a math lesson on area.

ELA Lesson: Reality versus Fantasy CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3 Objective  TSWBAT: Identify the characteristics of a fantasy story (Remembering).  TSWBAT: Compare and contrast fantasy characteristics with realistic characteristics (Evaluating).  TSWBAT: Use knowledge of fantasy and reality to construct a realistic ending to the story of Cinderella (Creating).

Bellringer and Anticipatory Set  The students created index cards labeled as “Reality” and “Fantasy” that they later used for a formative check.  The students took their cards to the floor and sat in a circle. I read Cinderella, stopping along the way to ask the students if the events could occur in reality and for their predictions.

Input I asked the students “How do you know that a story is a fairytale?” and they described characteristics of fantasy stories. Then, I played the trailer for the movie A Cinderella Story. I asked the students to think about what makes this version of the story realistic instead of fantasy while they watched the clip. We created a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the two versions of the story. The students stated that the movie version had real people, a girl who went to school and worked, no magic fairy godmother, and no glass slipper. The story version had magic, animals turning into humans, and royalty. They both had an evil stepmother and stepsisters, a ball, and a girl who has to be home before midnight.

Formative Check and Guided Practice To check for understanding, I read different scenarios to the students. They used their index cards to tell if it would happen in reality or fantasy. Then, we divided the students into two teams to play a bean bag toss game. Each student pulled a piece of paper from a bag with a characteristic of either reality or fantasy written on it. The teams took turns reading their characteristic to the class and tossing a bean bag into a box labeled “Reality” or “Fantasy.” In order to score a point, the student had to make the beanbag into the correct box. We discussed why each answer was correct.

Independent Practice and Closure The students worked with a partner or independently to create a realistic alternate ending to Cinderella. The students shared their writings and illustrations. The class discussed each writing and how they changed the story.

What I Learned From this experience, I learned about the students and classroom that I will be working with during Block Week. Our students were pretty rowdy on Shadow Day and we lost their attention towards the end of the lesson. We learned that we need to work our way up to activities that involve a lot of moving around, rather than jumping right into them. Katie and I realized that we need to create a motivation system in order to help keep the students focused on the lesson. This experience was beneficial for me because now I know what to expect for Block Week and how I can prepare.

Math Lesson: Area CCSS. 3. MD.C.7 Relate area to operations of multiplication and addition. Objectives:  TSWBAT calculate the area of a rectangle using multiplication. (applying)  TSWBAT calculate the area of a rectilinear figure using multiplication and division. (applying)

Bell ringer and Anticipatory Set I did a transition from ELA to math by asking questions about castles. I also asked HOT thinking questions such as “Do you think we could find the area of a castle?” “How could we find the area of a castle?” The students and I created a KNL chart about area.

Input I drew squares, rectangles, and rectilinear figures on the promethean board to represent rooms in a castle. I took suggestions on what to name the rooms in my castle from the students and how big I should make the length and width of each room. Together, we found the area of each individual room; then I asked the students, “What do I need to do to find the area of all of the rooms combined?” They concluded to find the area of the entire castle, I would need to add the area of each room together.

Formative Check For the formative check, I held up a regular rectangle with dimensions on it, and each student had to calculate the area on a dry erase board and show me their answer. Next, I held up a rectilinear figure and asked the students to find the area. However, most students had difficulty with a rectilinear figure that was not a regular square or rectangle. This showed me that I needed to differentiate my guided practice.

Guided Practice I divided the students into four groups based on where they were sitting. Each group was given a “room” of the castle (a piece of bulletin board paper). Most groups received a room in the shape of a regular rectangle or square. Only one group received a rectilinear figure. The students had to measure the “rooms” with a ruler and calculate the area for their assigned room. After all of the groups found the area of their room, we brought the rooms to the floor to calculate the area of the entire room together.

Independent Practice and Closure During independent practice, students had the choice to either work in pairs or alone to make their very own “floor plan” for a castle. They had the freedom to choose the rooms they wanted to include in their floor plan and the size of the room. Their task was to find the area of each room then add the areas together to find the area of their entire castle. For my closure, we went back to the KNL chart to fill in what the students learned from the lesson.

What I Learned I learned that activities that get the kids moving around the classroom does not work well with the class we are working with because of their personalities. Instead, having fun and engaging activities that can be done in groups at the table works much better. I learned that when assigning group activities, it is important to give each person in the group a specific job. Otherwise, the students will not know what to do, and three people in the same group will try to do the same job. Now that Logan and I know the personalities of the students we are going to be working with, I believe it will make block week much easier.