1. Olga Volnycheva 9-10 Language Art Seasons Teacher: Olga Volnycheva Date: 02.10.2009 Grade Level: 9-10 Subject: Language Art Theme: Seasons “The Gift of Months” Calendar Lesson Title: “The Gift of Months” Calendar

2. Student Objectives ELL students are from all over the world. Some experienced severe cold and lots of snow, the others had heat and humidity all year long. It would be interesting for the kids to share their thoughts about the weather & nature of the places they are from. During this unit students will: write vivid descriptions of seasons & nature be able to edit their own/others' work learn what sidebars are & do their own ones be able to work in PowerPoint cooperate, be tolerant and understand the differences enjoy the studying in a multicultural community as a great benefit of new knowledge listen to “The Four Seasons” by Vivaldi and “The Seasons” by Tchaikovsky.

3. Introduction I wonder why we often spend Our gifts of days complaining, when We should be thankful to our Earth For little things like rain and sun, The birds and trees, The air we breathe, The carpet of grass; If only we would realize How precious is our gift of months.

4. We all are from different places under the same sky. Jasiel is from Cuba where the sun is bright, the ocean is gentle and the sand is as white as the snow in Ukraine where Anna is from. Marcel is from France, the country of van Gogh’s soft golden sunflowers. Don’t know who Vincent van Gogh is? We’ll learn about him and other impressionists later, and visit Portland Art Museum as well; it’s free for the students now. Ye Lin is from Burma with rainy monsoon seasons; Alex Huang is from China where the winters are extremely cold and the summer are very hot. So everyone can share something special about their countries. Working together we will create a unique project: 2010 year calendar with the months representing your native countries’ nature.

5. Procedure I like to use an old maxim that applies to teachers: If you want to be sure your audience gets the point, first tell them what are you going to tell them; then tell them; then tell them what you’ve told them. It works. I will ask the students to think of calendar’s title sharing my own idea “The Gift of Months.” I will bring several colorful calendars to show them that the result of our collective creativity would be something like that (even better!) The students would have a choice to find a quote to represent the idea of the calendar like, “Imagine all the people Sharing all the world…” Sharing all the world…” /John Lennon/

6. Some activities  Brainstorm12 months of the year & the words you already know to fit the months.  Learn to create sidebars. A sidebar is a related, separate piece of writing. Often appears in a box. Vibrant colors & eye-catching graphics accompany the text. It could be a photograph or illustration, interesting facts, attention-grabbing quotes, a poem or a song.  Make your sidebar in PP February. Get ink, shed tears. Write of it, sob your heart out, sing, While torrential slush that roars Burns in the blackness of the spring. /B. Pasternak/

7. * Dig in the Wordle Box and write down the words that fit 4 seasons of the year * Make 4 sentences using these words

8. - Write down the words you don’t know and learn their meaning using the Cueing System’s Strategies. - Take a petal form a daisy and describe the nature and weather during this month in the country you are from. How to figure out unknown words Cueing System’s Strategies LOOK Look at the picture Look at the word (it could be similar to your native language) Look at the familiar word part Look into the dictionary SOUND Sound out the word Try the beginning sound READ Read the explanation, examples, or synonyms Read on and come back to the word Put in a word that makes sense ASK Ask a neighbor Ask somebody in your group Ask the teacher You can use the structures from the board: If you visited…you would discover that … If you traveled to…you would enjoy… The nature in my country is… Although the winters are …, it’s really nice in the … If I were you, I’d better wear…in the (season) in my place, because… Even though I live in America now, I ….

9. Closure My unit is based on a time frame of 6 lessons. It prevents boredom and allows students time to edit and rethink ideas. When rough copies have been edited by students or teacher then final copies are made to install them in PowerPoint. When all 12 pages and the cover are complete, the calendar is developed and printed. It's done & it is fun!