 Students must have opportunities to relate and make connections to the learning in order to be successful.  When the instruction is designed to go from “whole” to “part” and back to “whole” the students will grasp the learning.

It is important to frontload the lesson with information by first giving the students an over view of the entire concept being taught.

 Movies/video clips  Field trips/life experiences  Pictures/Charts  Books/Read Aloud  Vocabulary/word walls

Provide rich visual imagery through video, with the sound on or off, to help students understand concepts from a text before they read. Establish a focus for viewing so students look for key points. Pause often to clarify, or have students turn to a partner and discuss what they just saw. en-kids/plants-kids/

Why wait until the end of a unit or reading to take a field trip? You can frontload key concepts and vocabulary by going on a field trip prior to embarking on your study. Take photographs, then discuss and write about the experience when you return to the classroom. The information in a related text will be much more meaningful when it can be connected to shared real-life experiences.

Prior to having students read a selection independently, read aloud a book with related content and use a think aloud strategy to discuss the concepts and vocabulary that are common to both texts. This helps the learners pull background knowledge forward and activate content vocabulary that is likely to appear in their own reading.

Don’t overwhelm students with too many words or concepts. Pick what is absolutely essential in each chapter. Pronounce each word for students, and have them repeat after you. Introduce the vocabulary in a familiar and meaningful context and then again in a content-specific setting.

 water  soil  space  light  air  seed  cotyledon  embryo  cross pollination  seed leaf  true leaf  stem  roots  flower  stigma  pistol  photosynthesis  plant life cycle

Standard/Benchmark to be addressed in lesson: _________________________________________________________________________________________ Learning Target for the lesson: (What do I want my students to know and be able to do?) _________________________________________________________________________________________ Essential/Guiding Question for lesson: __________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ Language and literacy goal: ___________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ Background knowledge necessary to make connections: _________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Visual tools: _______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Learning materials and resources: ______________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ Vocabulary emphasis: _______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _

Modifications needed: _______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ For the lesson in general: ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ For specific students:_________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Grouping format to be used: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Lesson Activities: ___________________________________________________________________________ Instruction: ________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ ________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Processing activities: ________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ ____________________________________________________________ Application: ________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Closure: __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

“Seeing the Big Picture.” Copyright©2008 Brechtel, M Bringing It All Together: Language and Literacy in the Multilingual Classroom. Dominie Press, Inc. Echevarria, J., Vogt. M., and Short. D., Making Content Comprehensible For English Language Learners: The SIOP Model. Pearson.