To showcase my understanding and effort for this stand I have include a unit plan outline below. The unit, English for grade 1, was created by myself and two of my fellow classmates, Maddie Web and Melia Olson.
English Language Arts Grade 1 – Tiny the MouseExplores Terrace & the World
| Unit Topic: Tiny the Mouse Explores Terrace and the World Primarily focused on English Language Arts and Arts Education for Grade 1 Guiding Question: How does where we are going and what we are doing affect what we wear? Where would you take Tiny the Mouse if you could take him somewhere? | |||||||
| Rationale: This unit will help students learn about and explore significant places in their home community. The main goals of this unit are to expose students to information about how to dress for a variety of situations, practice their reading comprehension and written communication skills, and engage with a related art project. This unit connects to English Language Arts, Social Studies, Physical and Health Education, and Arts Education curricula at the grade 1 level. The storybook, The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear by Melia Olson, is a repetitive story incorporating music through an interactive sing-along that students can enjoy. The teacher will read the book aloud so all students can access the story through words and illustrations. Students will engage in a Tiny the Mouse-themed sentence writing activity to develop their writing skills. Students also will have the opportunity to create their own Tiny the Mouse character during a visual arts lesson. The Tiny the Mouse characters that students create will be used in classroom community activity. Students will be encouraged to take their own Tiny the Mouse out into the community and snap a photo which will then be displayed on a bulletin board in the classroom showcasing the many adventures of Tiny the Mouse. | |||||||
| STAGE 1: Desired Results | |||||||
| UNDERSTAND | Big Ideas | Essential Questions | |||||
| ELA → Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy. ELA → Stories and other texts can be shared through pictures and words. ELA →Through listening and speaking, we connect with others and share our world. ELA → Curiosity and wonder lead us to new discoveries about ourselves and the world around us. Arts Education → Dance, drama, music, and visual arts express meaning in unique ways. Arts Education → People connect to others and share ideas through the arts. ADST → Designs grow out of natural curiosity. Social Studies → We shape the local environment, and the local environment shapes who we are and how we live. Physical and Health Education → Knowing about our bodies and making healthy choices helps us look after ourselves. | How does the weather affect what you wear? What would you wear to school in the winter? What would you wear to school in the spring when it is warmer? How does where you are going affect what you wear? What would you wear to the skating rink? What would you wear to play outside today? How can we make healthy choices for ourselves about what to wear? What is important to think about when you are getting dressed for the day or a specific activity? Where would you take Tiny the Mouse if you could take him anywhere in Terrace? Where would you take Tiny the Mouse if you could take him anywhere in the world? | ||||||
| DO | Core Competencies: | ||||||
| Communication | Thinking | Personal & Social | |||||
| Communicating Profile 2: In familiar settings, I communicate with peers and adults. Students will listen to a read-aloud, answer questions about the story, and write their own sentences with some scaffolds in place. Students will practice written, verbal, and artistic expression. Collaborating Profile 2: In familiar situations, I cooperate with others for specific purposes. Students will listen respectfully to the read-aloud and the related discussion. Students will need to listen respectfully to the teacher’s instructions during the art lesson to be successful. | Creative Thinking Profile 2: I can get new ideas or build on or combine other people’s ideas to create new things within the constraints of a form, a problem, or materials. Students will decide where they would like to take their Tiny the Mouse. Students will need to pay attention to where Tiny has already been in the story and develop a novel idea along the same line of thinking. Students will also make small decisions about how they would like to decorate their Tiny the Mouse during the art lesson. Critical & Reflective Thinking | Personal Awareness & Responsibility Profile 2: I can initiate actions that bring me joy and satisfaction and recognize that I play a role in my well-being. Students will explain their role in their learning activities to their families and hopefully have the opportunity to find joy in taking their Tiny the Mouse into the community. Students will give evidence of their learning by showing their families the artifacts of their learning. Positive Personal & Cultural Identity Profile 2: I am aware of different aspects of myself. I can identify people, places, and things that are important to me. Students will identify areas and activities within their home community and the world they would like to take or send Tiny the Mouse. Students will write about the places they would like to take or send Tiny the Mouse. They may also have the chance to take Tiny to the areas in their home community they would like to explore. Social Awareness & Responsibility Profile 2: In familiar settings, I can interact with others and my surroundings respectfully. Students will need to use materials respectfully to be successful in their writing and art activities. Students will need to ask for help, listen to others’ ideas, and solve problems in a respectful manner as they work through their art and writing tasks. | |||||
| Learning Standards – Curricular Competencies: English Language Arts Comprehend and Connect (reading, listening, viewing) Use sources of information and prior knowledge to make meaning Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community Recognize the importance of story in personal, family, and community identity Use personal experience and knowledge to connect to stories and other texts to make meaning Create and Communicate (writing, speaking, representing) Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding Communicate using letters and words and applying some conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation Arts Education Exploring and Creating Explore elements, processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques of the arts Explore artistic expressions of themselves and community through creative processes Communicating and Documenting Express feelings, ideas, stories, observations, and experiences through the arts Experience, document, and share creative works in a variety of ways Applied Design, Skills, & Technology Making Make a product using known procedures or through modelling of others Applied Skills Use materials, tools, and technologies in a safe manner in both physical and digital environments Social Studies Explain the significance of personal or local events, objects, people, or places (significance) Physical & Health Education Healthy and Active Living Identify opportunities to make choices that contribute to health and well-being | |||||||
| KNOW | Learning Standards – Content: English Language Arts Story/textElements of storyVocabulary to talk about texts Strategies and processesReading strategies Oral language strategiesLanguage features, structures, and conventionsConcepts of print Print awareness Letter formation Sentence structure Conventions Arts Education Elements in the arts, including but not limited to:Music – beat/pulse, rhythm, tempo, pitch, dynamics (music), form (music)Visual arts – elements of design: line, shape, texture, colour Principles of design: pattern, repetition Processes, materials, movements, technologies, tools, and techniques to support arts activitiesPersonal and collective responsibility associated with creating, experiencing, or sharing in a safe learning environment Social Studies Relationships between a community and its environment Physical & Health Education Practices that promote health and well-being | ||||||
| First Peoples Principles of Learning | Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one’s actions. Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities. Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.Learning involves patience and time. Learning requires exploration of one’s identity.Learning involves recognizing that some knowledge is sacred and only shared with permission and/or in certain situations. | Comments on how you will address the FPPL: Multiple aspects of this unit support the well-being of the self, the family, the community, and the land. Students will learn and think about different locations and activities within their home community throughout this unit. This will help students strengthen their connection to their home community and the land. Learning how to dress appropriately will help students support their own well-being. Students will also have the opportunity to take Tiny out in the community with their families. This unit takes a holistic approach to learning. Many subject areas are featured in this unit to create a theme within the classroom. Reading, writing, and completing an art project centred around the same theme regarding places Tiny could go in Terrace will help students nurture their sense of place. Students will connect with one another as they participate in classroom discussions. Students and families will be encouraged to make their learning experiential by taking Tiny into the community and snapping a photo to share. Students will have the opportunity to recognize the consequences of their actions throughout this unit. During the read-aloud and writing lessons, students will grow to learn that how you dress for an activity or a location can lead to a variety of different consequences. During the art lesson, if students choose to treat their materials and tools respectfully and listen respectfully, they will experience positive outcomes. Conversely, if students choose not to treat their materials and tools respectfully they will encounter negative consequences. This unit is based on a storybook which demonstrates that learning can be embedded in story. The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear is a story that will help students explore their home community and understand how to dress appropriately. Students will see that learning takes patience and time as we work through the steps of creating Tiny the Mouse. We will move as a class through the steps, so some students will have to wait patiently as others continue to work and finish the step we are on. Some students will need to work diligently to keep pace and have patience with themselves as they work toward mastering cutting with scissors. Students will have to practice patience as they work to write their sentences and spell the words they choose correctly. Students will explore themselves and consider places and activities that they enjoy. | |||||
| STAGE 2: Assessment Plan | |||||||
| Formative Assessment (Assessment as Learning and Assessment for Learning): | |||||||
| Formative assessments will be used during all three lessons in this unit. During the read-aloud, the teacher will use observational assessments to assess students’ responses to discussion questions, gauge their knowledge and understanding of the story, the locations in Terrace, and what items of clothing are required for different activities. During the art lesson, observational assessments will serve as the main form of the assessment as students work to create their own Tiny the Mouse. The teacher will monitor all students by circulating and ensuring that all students are progressing appropriately. The teacher will offer targeted assistance where necessary. “Thumbs Up” or “Give Me Five” assessments will also be used to gauge students’ understanding. The feedback students communicate through these assessments will help the teacher adjust the pace of the art lesson appropriately. During the writing lesson, the teacher will use observational assessments to gauge students’ responses and contributions to the brainstorming prompts. The teacher will monitor all students by circulating and ensuring students are progressing appropriately through their writing activity. The teacher will offer spelling corrections and/or samples to students as needed. | |||||||
| Summative Assessment (Assessment of Learning): | |||||||
| Summative Assessments will be completed after the art lesson and the writing lesson. The Tiny the Mouse creations that students produce during the art lesson will be assessed for completion, aesthetics, and evidence that directions were followed. A rubric describing what success looks like will be used to assess their work. The rubric will be submitted in our final project submission. As students complete the writing activity sheets, students will approach the teacher and have their writing assessed for completion and 5-star writing (finger spaces, capital letter to start, punctuation at the end, neatness, spelling, sentence makes sense). If students have corrections, they will be given the opportunity to correct them. Students who finish early will be given Tiny the Mouse colouring sheets to work on until the lesson is finished. | |||||||
| Stage 3: Learning Plan | |||||||
| Date/ Lesson | Learning Intentions | Instructional Activities (brief description here – lesson plans will be used to flesh out each lesson) | |||||
| Lesson #1 | Read Aloud and Vocabulary Lesson In this lesson, students will be introduced to the story of Tiny the Mouse. They will learn about the various activities Tiny participates in throughout the story and the corresponding vocabulary. Students will engage in discussions about the different locations Tiny visits and what appropriate clothing Tiny should wear in those settings. This discussion will enhance the students’ understanding of their home community and improve their knowledge of how to dress appropriately for different locations and activities. | The teacher will read aloud The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear. During the story: Students will be explicitly taught the vocabulary for activities they may not be familiar with, such as skiing, riding bikes, and flying kites. Students will have the opportunity to look at the images of different locations in the story and guess what and where they are. Students will be encouraged to sing along with Tiny the Mouse’s “What to Wear” song and then discuss what clothes Tiny should wear for each activity, location, and weather condition. As a class, students will choose felt clothing items to place on the felt Tiny the Mouse. | |||||
| Lesson #2 | Visual Arts Lesson → Making Tiny the Mouse This lesson will give students the opportunity to create their own little Tiny the Mouse character from simple craft supplies. Participating in this art activity will allow students to deepen their learning, further their connection to the story, and develop their fine motor skills. This lesson is designed to take place on a Friday so that students can take their Tiny the Mouse home and out into the community over the weekend. | Students will create their own Tiny the Mouse character from a paper plate, tissue paper, googly eyes, and cardstock. Students will follow step-by-step instructions communicated and modelled by the teacher to complete this project. Students will use scissors to cut the pieces of their mouse out from a template created in Canva. Then, they will glue the tissue paper squares, ears, tail, nose, and eyes onto their mouse. A rubric will be used to evaluate students’ creations. The rubric will be included in our final project submission. This activity will bridge into a larger classroom community activity. Students will take their Tiny the Mouse creations home with them at the end of the day. Students will be encouraged to take their Tiny the Mouse out with them and their families over the weekend. They may choose to take their Tiny the Mouse to a location in the community that is important to them, a place they enjoy, or just somewhere they are going with their family during the weekend (eg. grocery store, soccer field, Howe Creek Trail, restaurant, church, etc.) and snap a photo. They may bring the photo into school and it will be displayed in the classroom on a bulletin board.Some templates for the bulletin board will be included in our final project submission. A sample note that could be sent home with students explaining this project will be included in our final project submission. These photos will be an extension of The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse – students will be taking Tiny on their own adventures. These adventures will also give students some inspiration for their upcoming writing activity. The paper plate mouse activity is inspired by a picture seen on Pinterest: https://www.gluedtomycraftsblog.com/2015/02/paper-plate-mouse-kid-craft.html However, all templates and instructions included in this lesson of the unit project were created by Madison Webb. | |||||
| Lesson #3 | Sentence Writing About Tiny the Mouse Lesson This lesson is intended to have students write simple sentences starting with a sentence stem about Tiny the Mouse going on two different adventures. Students will think about what Tiny should wear on these adventures. | Anticipatory Set: Together the class will gather on the carpet and brainstorm places Tiny the Mouse could go. Where Tiny went over the weekend will also be discussed. Additionally, we will discuss where Tiny could go if he could go anywhere in the world. The teacher may offer ideas about different places Tiny could go if the class is struggling. The teacher will write the students’ ideas on the whiteboard for reference. Guided Practice: Direct students to return to their desks and hand out Tiny the Mouse activity sheets. Explain the directions and expectations for the activity sheet. Remind the class of 5-star writing skills. Model how to complete the sentence, “Tiny and I went to…”, “Tiny and I wore….” and “If I could take Tiny anywhere in the world it would be…” under the document camera. Independent Practice: Release the class to work independently to finish their sentences and draw their pictures. Conclusion: Wrap up the class by announcing that their writing sheets will be hung outside the classroom for everyone to see the many adventures Tiny is enjoying. Praise the class for all their hard work and effort today and throughout the unit. | |||||
| Resources needed: | |||||||
| Materials & Supplies Needed for Lesson #1: A copy of The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear Tiny the Mouse felt set (includes Tiny and his clothing items)Sticky notes for discussion questions Materials & Supplies Needed for Lesson #2: A copy of The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear Access to document camera Class set of Tiny the Mouse cut-out templates copied onto cardstockClass set of the Tiny the Mouse Newsletter for parents and families Brown, gray, and black tissue paperGoogly eyes Glue sticks Thin paper plates Brown, gray, and black markers Materials & Supplies Needed for Lesson #3: A copy of The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear Access to document camera Pencils & erasers for all students Pencil crayonsClass set of Tiny the Mouse activity sheet #1 Class set of Tiny the Mouse activity sheet #2 Class set of Tiny the Mouse colouring sheets for early finishers Sticky notes for spelling | |||||||
| Interdisciplinary connections: (e.g. How did you weave ELA, Social Studies, Science, Math, Fine Arts, and/or ADST together in this instructional sequence?) | |||||||
| The main two subject areas that this unit addresses are English Language Arts and Arts Education. However, certain aspects of Social Studies, ADST, and Physical and Health Education are addressed. Social Studies is lightly woven into this unit. Students will think about where they would like to take or send Tiny the Mouse in the Terrace community and where they would like to take or send Tiny the Mouse if they could choose to send him anywhere in the world. This will help students to think about the locations in their home community that are significant to them. Students who choose to bring in a photo of themselves out in the community with Tiny the Mouse will have the opportunity to share why they selected their location with the class. This explanation will help students identify and communicate the significance of the people, places, objects, or events represented in their photos. ADST is woven into this unit. During the art lesson, each student will produce their own paper plate Tiny the Mouse. Students will make this product by following a procedure that is modelled by the teacher. Students will have the opportunity to practice using materials (eg. cardstock, paper plate, tissue paper, etc.) and tools (eg. scissors) safely in the classroom. Physical and Health Education is also woven into this unit. Studying The Adventures of Tiny the Mouse: What to Wear will help students strengthen their understanding of how to dress for the weather and different types of activities. Students will be prompted to think about what they need to consider as they get dressed – (What is the weather like today? What might the weather be like later today? Where am I going? What types of activities will I be participating in today? etc.) Understanding how to dress appropriately will help students to make healthy choices for themselves. | |||||||
| Reflection | |||||||
| How did the unit go? How do I know? | |||||||
| Where to next? | |||||||