Tinya McClure

  Activating Prior Knowledge is important in students understanding, because it allows them and helps them make connections to the new information. By using what students already know, it helps the teacher assist students with the learning process. It gives the teacher an idea of what students know and what they still need to learn. It is simply to use background knowledge to make understanding of what the text mean. According to the schema theory, as students learn about the world, they develop a schema and are allowed to make connections to many other things. Below is a video demonstrating how to activate student's prior knowledge before the lesson. This helps them figure out what the text might be about.  Word Study in Action: Activating Prior Knowledge - YouTube

  In my class this week we talked about having a list of books to incorporate into the unit plan that we have to create. Since I am already a 6th grade science teacher, my unit is in science for 6th grade. My unit is over the dynamic Earth. The books that I have chosen are books over the Earth's history and structure. There are so many hands-on activities when learning about the Earth.  Unit Plan Book List Rocks Tell Stories – Sidney Horenstein Summary- A n illustrated examination of rocks looks at how the several types of rocks are formed, discusses plate tectonics and fossils, shows how volcanoes are created, and provides tips on rock collecting as a hobby. Rocks – Ann Squire Summary- This book is about how rocks are formed, why some are so different from others, and how people have used them throughout history. Earthquakes – Allison Lassieur Summary- This book is about why earthquakes happen, the power of earthquakes, and names of famous earthquakes. ...

 In class this week we talked about the strategy, sketch to stretch. This was a new strategy for me. I had never heard of it until then. I like how it is a way to have students visualize a passage of text and then interpret it through drawing a picture. The book I chose to do a sketch to stretch on is Dear Mrs. LaRue. If you have never read the book, here is the link to a read aloud,  Dear Mrs. LaRue by Mark Teague | Great example of persuasive letters - YouTube . I would start off with reading the book to the class and then I would have students take a turn to read aloud to the class. The sketch to stretch that the students would do is determine Ike's point of view with 4 details from the text to support the point of view. Below is an example of the sketch to stretch. It is hard to read but the first box is, students determine the point of view of Ike LaRue. The next four boxes will be a detail from the text that supports the point of view. Then to the right of each box the s...

  Creating lesson plans can be very challenging, especially not knowing your students.  I felt that everyone's lesson plan was great. We would be in trouble if crayons really did quit, lol. The Day the Crayons Quit seems like a great book. Maybe you could pull the book up on the smartboard and read aloud to the class, stop and highlight important events. Jot the events on an anchor chart to go back to and sequence them. I think this would be a great way to model to the students what is expected from them.  Jackie Ann I really like the literacy stations that you had with your lesson plan. What a great way to cover the five steps. You really explained your lesson plan with great detail, it's hard for me to find something to add to yours. I have included a link to a song for the "st",  ST Song - YouTube . Enjoy! I can remember doing all different types of poems in school. That was something I enjoyed doing. It allows the kids to use their own imagination and ideas. I en...

  Even though my class has a lot of discussions as a class, I can say that I have never heard it called a grand conversation. Not that I know a grand conversation is when the students are leading the conversation around a specific topic, I can say my class does this quite frequently. Grand conversations are great for student participation and a way for students to build off of one another. I like how they are student driven, with the teacher only participating as needed to scaffold and facilitate the conversation. I feel like the older kids tend to have more grand conversations because they like to be a leader, which is a great thing. It makes the teacher happy. I like how grand conversations allow the teacher to sit back and take in what their students are discussing and what they know.  I am teaching sixth grade science. The unit I chose is, the changing of Earth. I find this to be a great topic to have a grand conversation. The students will discuss several different things...

  Having the opportunity to substitute teach for six plus years has allowed me to see several different word walls. They are great resources for all age groups. They can be used for all content you teach. Word walls are a great way to introduce a lesson. I like to put the vocabulary words in the lesson with a definition on the word wall. I also like to put pictures on them so the students can have a visual and not just a meaning in words. Having pictures helps English language learners be able to learn what the meaning is of a word. Word walls are great for teachers to use as something to refer to while teaching. They are also good for students to make vocabulary and content connections. I teach sixth grade science so my word walls would be about whatever I was teaching at the time. For instance, if I was teaching about the solar system, I would have words such as- asteroid, astronomy, axis, Earth, crater constellation, galaxy, gravity, mass, meteor, moon, nebula, orbit, satellit...