Category: Mini Units

Teks: Kindergarten English, Language Arts, & Reading
(6) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Theme and Genre. Students analyze, make
inferences and draw conclusions about theme and genre in different cultural, historical,
and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to:
(A) identify elements of a story including setting, character, and key events;

Here is the link to the video:
http://youtu.be/c6I24S72Jps

Title:Flocabulary- Five Things (Elements of a Short Story)
Author: Uploaded by Flocabulary Videos
Summary: This video is a fun song that teaches the elements of a short story. It is based on a rap form, which is a reason I was drawn to it at first. Most of the videos or songs that kids learn these days are catchy silly songs that most of the time you only hear whenever your in school. This song is based in a rap form, which might connect more to the kids and have them become more interested in the song and what they are learning. This video is based on 5 elements of a short story which include: Plot, Character, Conflict, Theme, and Setting. As this song goes on, it also gives examples of the types of things that can be included in each of these catergories. It also shows many pictures so the children can connect between the words and the pictures that are appearing in the video.
Instructional Strategy: I think I would use this video in first introducing elements to a story. I would show this video for a few days, but then I would encourage students to try and memorize parts of the rhyme so that when they are trying to remember all the parts and what they mean, they can sing the song in their heads to help them. After viewing this video, students will write in their own words what they think each of these elements mean to them, and for an extension activity possibly use what they learned on an actual story we read in class to recognize the elements in the story.

Summary: This BrainPOP video talks about the concept of finding the main idea in a writing piece. It explains that the main idea is the main point that’s being stated in a paragraph, essay, article or other passage. The video also explains the difference between the topic of a passage and the main idea. Similarly, it talks about how the details in a passage support what the author is trying to say and explains that it is a form of evidence as to why the main idea is true.

This video would be great resource to use in a first grade classroom to reinforce the TEKS §110.13 (14)(A) Students are expected to identify the main idea in a text and distinguish it from the topic. As part of an ELA lesson, this video could be used to introduce the concept of finding the main idea in a passage. After showing this video, the teacher could read-aloud a picture book like Chrysanthemum by Kevin Hanes and then have students do a T-chart on their writing journals labeled as “topic” and “main idea” to practice distinguishing the difference between these concepts. Then, as a fun activity for students to practice supporting the main idea of a passage with evidence, the teacher could have the students trace their hand on construction paper and cut it out. The students would then be expected to write the main idea of the story on the center of the hand and write details that support the main idea on each of the “fingers.”

Here is the website address where you can access this fun video!

http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/mainidea/

 

Moon Globe is an iPad application by Midnight Martian that allows students to explore the moon in a three dimensional, interactive way that incorporates both text and visuals. Student’s can choose to view the moon from either a globe or telescope perspective and have the ability to zoom in and closely observe the surface of the moon. This app also includes the option to label spacecraft landing sites or craters for further extension.

Moon Globe would serve as an excellent text to introduce the moon, specifically it’s physical appearance, to second grade students.  The application addresses TEKS 112.13.8D, which state “Earth and Space. The student knows that there are recognizable patterns in the natural world and among objects in the sky. The student is expected to: Observe, describe and record patterns of objects in the sky, including the appearance of the moon.”

I would use a KWL chart to support learning through this application. A KWL chart would allow students to reflect on what they already know about the moon and what they would like to learn about the moon before using the app. Students would then explore the app with a partner for a set time limit and write down what they learned afterwards. The chart as a whole would help me to asses student knowledge before moving into the rest of the unit, while the “What I Learned” section of the chart will help me to better understand whether Moon Globe is an effective teaching tool.

This activity can be used during a unit on the Civil Rights movement, in teaching about protests and civil disobedience, or when focusing on Rosa Parks individually. Grades 5-8.

TEKS: 5th Social Studies.
113.16.b.5.C. The student understands important issues, events, and individuals in the US during the 20th and 21st centuries. The student is expected to identify accomplishments of individuals and groups such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr…who have made contributions to society in the areas of Civil Rights, women’s rights, military actions, and politics.
Title-Diagram of the Bus Showing Where Rosa Parks Was Seated

Author– National Archives Experience/Docs Teach. http://docsteach.org/activities/3616/detail
Summary
This diagram shows where Rosa Parks was seated on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus on December 1, 1955. At that time, the front 10 seats of the Montgomery city buses were permanently reserved for white passengers. Parks was seated in the first row behind those 10 seats. When the bus became crowded, the bus driver instructed Parks and the other three passengers seated in that row, all African Americans, to vacate their seats for the white passengers boarding. Eventually, three of the passengers moved, while Parks remained seated. When Parks disobeyed the bus driver’s request to move, he called the police.
Her arrest became a rallying point around which the African American community organized a bus boycott in protest of the discrimination they had endured for years. Martin Luther King, Jr., the 26-year-old minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, emerged as a leader during the well-coordinated, peaceful boycott that lasted 381 days and captured the world’s attention. It was during the boycott that Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., first achieved national fame as the public became acquainted with his powerful oratory.
This diagram shows where Rosa Parks was sitting when she refused to give up her seat. It was an exhibit in the Browder v. Gayle court case which challenged Montgomery and Alabama laws requiring segregated seating on buses. On June 5, 1956, a Federal three-judge panel ruled that such laws violated the 14th Amendment. Later that year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision.
Synopsis of Lesson & Strategies

In this activity, students will examine a diagram of the bus in which Rosa Parks took a seat. Ms. Parks’ name has been blacked out. Students will analyze and evaluate the document, then apply prior knowledge to discern what this document is and why it is important.
The instructional strategy of Turn & Talk with a partner could be used to decipher the image, based on student’s prior knowledge about the civil rights movement. I chose this strategy because it would be great way to make connections and infer meaning from text. The teacher could ask students to: “Look carefully at this document. Its part of a famous story, but an important clue has been blacked out. Use every bit of information contained here to describe what you see. Then, apply your knowledge of history to figure out what this document is and whom the story is about.”
As an extension of this lesson, students could use a WTL activity by inferring or imagining themselves as Rosa Parks and write about what they might have been thinking during the conflict and how they might have felt.
Companion Book
Parks, Rosa. Dear Mrs. Parks: A Dialogue with Today’s Youth.
In this collection of children’s letters and her responses, Rosa Parks shares her legacy of courage and wisdom, reminding young readers that their actions will determine the future. Dear Mrs. Parks is a moving commentary on our times, full of hope for the future.

http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/temperature/

Title: Temperature

Author: Brain POP

Summary: The video explains molecular movement creating heat energy and relates this to temperature. A thermometer is described thoroughly and touches on Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin scales. Atoms and molecules are discussed relating to heat energy. When something heats up, molecular motion is increased. Boiling points and freezing points are also explained. This video can keep students interested while also learning about temperature changes.

Instructional Strategy: This would be great for a fourth grade class learning about temperature. The video touches on many aspects of temperature and to promote understanding I want the students to do his/her own writing. This writing activity has students write three key terms from what they have just learned and two ideas that he/she would like to learn more about. After each student is done, he/she turns to a partner and discusses the words and concepts written down.For example, atoms and molecules could be two key terms that were just learned, and an example of an idea the student would like to learn more about could be the stopping of molecular motion.

TEK: 112.15b(5)(A)

(A)  measure, compare, and contrast physical properties of matter, including temperature.