Part Three: Try It Out! Team member’s name: Lisa MurphyName of strategy implemented: Hearts Activity With whom the strategy was implemented (grade-level/content area, other teachers, etc.): 2 nd grade, language arts, whole group literacy instruction with a certified regular classroom teacher Student/participant examples and pictures (if available) to document the outcome of the strategy attached. Sociocultural Benefits The Hearts Activity provides many sociocultural benefits by addressing the students’ memories of their own culture and the world by reading a book and making connections to their life and culture through written expression on the hearts chart. Classroom Tips: The book that was used had many words that the students had little background knowledge of so they had a visual in order to help them understand the meanings of the words and make those connections socially and culturally. Linguistic Benefits The Hearts activity allowed students to use their language in an informal way because it allowed them to express feelings and memories from their own experiences. Classroom Tips: The graphic organizer helped the students be able to express themselves privately and in an organized way. They were allowed to share orally but were not forced to do so. Academic Benefits The students were able to make self to text to world connections by reading a book and then they were about to think about the content as it related to their own lives personally which added to their background knowledge of the content. Classroom Tips: This activity can be used across the curriculum and subject areas, which include social studies, science, reading skills and strategies, writing that deals with fiction and nonfiction. It also correlates with our current second grade animal projects. Cognitive Benefits The cognitive benefits of this activity are that the students are allowed to see the information presented in an organized way by use of a graphic organizer. The students also practiced organizing information by using their own graphic organizer. This taps into differing learning styles. Classroom Tips: Incorporating different learning styles is important and teachers should be aware of the different ways their students learn. Questions for the team regarding implementation of the strategy (e.g., length of time, supplementary materials, recommendations for implementing/adapting the strategy) written as a bulleted list by the team member who implemented the strategy. I would complete this activity over 2 days for minutes each day: Day 1: I would complete a KWL chart to build on background knowledge of the rainforest. Read the book “The Great Kapok Tree” aloud to the class. Discuss how the animals felt about losing their habitat or home? Discuss how they would feel if they lost their home. Discuss any connections they may make to their culture or other cultures or other life experiences. Students can make a connection to text and world. Day 2: Review what happened in the story “The Great Kapok Tree”. How did the animals feel? Introduce the heart graphic organizer. Explain what each part means to the class. On the outer part of the hear discuss, when are times people could lose their home. In my class, this lead to a discussion of what happened in Haiti and Chile. In the middle part of the heart, discuss how people would feel if they lost their home. In the inner part of the heart discuss, a memory of a time they had to move to a new home or new country. Students could share their responses if they chose to. Materials: Colorful pictures to correlate with the vocabulary words which have been copied onto paper and laminated, “The Great Kapok” book, tape, copies of the heart graphic organizer for each child, the heart graphic organizer on chart paper, pencils, marker Recommendations for implementing/adapting the strategy: - This activity can be used during whole group instruction or in small group - Children can work together with partners or in cooperative groups. -The push in teacher can also use this activity to help newcomers overcome anxiety of coming to a new country.