Interactive Writing | EL Education Curriculum

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Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can identify word parts as prefix, suffix, or base word. (RF.2.3)
    • I can identify a prefix in a word.
    • I can identify a suffix in a word.
  • Work Time A: I can write a sentence using words with the spelling patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" and high-frequency words. (L.2.2d)
    • I can identify spelling patterns for common vowel teams.
    • I can form common contractions correctly.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A. Determine whether they can identify word parts correctly.
  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can correctly identify familiar sound-spelling patterns in spoken words: "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" and high-frequency words from this cycle.
  • Exit ticket (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Introducing Word Parts

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Interactive Writing: Writing a Silly Sentence with Words Spelled with Vowel Patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" and Contractions with "will"

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

4. Differentiated Small Group Instruction and Rotations (40-45 minutes)

In Advance

  • Prepare possible silly sentence examples (students may also generate their own; optional): "We'll go through the park to rescue a few blue newts from the zoo." "I guess it'll be cool to have soup or stew with fruit juice around noon."
  • Create Word Parts T-chart: three-column chart with headings Prefix, Base Word, and Suffix.
  • Cut out Word Parts Word Cards and have tape or magnets ready to affix to cards the Word Parts T-chart.
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T)

  • base word, interact, interactive, pattern, prefix, proficient, suffix (L)

Materials

  • Word Part Cards: "pack," "un," "ing," "re," "pre" (one set)
  • Word Parts T-chart: three-column chart with headings Prefix, Base Word, and Suffix (one for teacher display)
  • White boards (one per student)
  • White board markers (one per student)
  • White board erasers (or tissues, socks, etc.; one per student)
  • Vowel Pattern Cards ("oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew")
  • Clipboards if not sitting at a desk (optional; one per student)

Materials from Previous Lessons

New Materials

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Introducing Word Parts

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The Muffin Man"):

Teacher: "Do you know the parts of words? The parts of words, the parts of words? Do you know the parts of words that make the meaning change?"

Students: "Yes we know the parts of words, the parts of words, the parts of words. Yes we know the parts of words that make the meaning change."

  • Introduce the Word Parts instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "For a while now, you have been reading and writing base words with suffixes. Turn and talk with a partner about some words you know how to read and write with the suffix '-ing.'" (Responses will vary. Examples: walking, working, looking, etc.)

2. Teacher says: "You came up with some great examples of words that end in 'ing.'"

3. Teacher asks:

"If a suffix is a word part that is added to the end of a base word, what do you think a prefix might be?" (a word part that is added to the beginning of a base word)

4. Teacher says: "Right, a prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word. Just like a suffix, it changes the meaning of the word. Prefixes and suffixes make the base word longer, which can make it a little trickier to read. But if you look really closely and identify all the word parts in a long word, and they are all word parts that you know how to spell and read, it will make that long word much easier for you to read. And when you know how the different suffixes and prefixes change the meaning of a word, it will help you to understand what the word means, too."

5. Teacher puts the Word Parts Card "pack" on the board and reads the word aloud: "pack."

6. Teacher places the following two Word Parts Cards on the board above "pack": "un" and "ing."

7. Teacher asks:

"What do you notice about these two word parts? How are they different from the word 'pack'?" (Responses will vary. Examples: "ing" and  "un" don't mean anything when they are on their own/not attached to a base word; "pack" means to put stuff into a bag or a box, so it has meaning without being added to another word.)

8. Teacher picks up the "un" Word Parts Card and thinks aloud: "'un'... If I put 'un' at the end of 'pack,' it spells 'packun.'"

9. Teacher asks:

"Does that make sense?" (no)

10. Teacher says: "Okay, then I know this is a prefix and it goes at the beginning of the word."

11. Teacher places card at the beginning of the word to spell "unpack."

12. Teacher reads the word aloud: "unpack."

13. Teacher says: "Now I will add the 'ing,' the suffix, to the word."

14. Teacher places the "ing" Word Parts Card at the end of the word to spell: "unpacking."

15. Teacher invites a student volunteer to read the whole word: "unpacking."

16. Teacher says: "Now we know that 'un' is a prefix and 'ing' is a suffix. I am going to put them in the correct column of this Word Parts T-chart."

17. Teacher places the "un" Word Parts Card in the Prefix column and the "ing" in the Suffix column of the Word Parts T-chart.

18. Teacher says: "Let's look at a few more using the same base word."

19. Teacher repeats steps 11-15 with: "s," "ed," "re," and "pre."

20. Teacher shows the students the Word Parts Card: "tell" and reads it aloud.

21. Teacher asks:

"Do you think this is a prefix or a suffix?" (neither)

"How do you know?" (Responses will vary. Examples: "Because it would not make sense to add it to the beginning or the end of the word 'pack'"; "Because it is an action word and it has a meaning, but prefixes and suffixes do not mean something unless they are connected to a base word.")

22. Teacher says: "Right, this is a base word. So I will put 'pack' and 'tell' in the Base Word column of the Word Parts T-chart."

23. Teacher says: "Now, if you come to word that you do not know how to read or you are not sure of the meaning, look really closely to see if you recognize the base word, the suffix, or the prefix. If you do, it may help you read the word or understand what it means."

  • Although the term "base word" is often used interchangeably with "root word," the former is used here to support future deeper learning in morphology with Greek and Latin word study.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Interactive Writing: Writing a Silly Sentence with Words Spelled with Vowel Patterns “oo,” “ou,” “ui,” “ue,” and “ew” and Contractions with “will”

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “The Muffin Man”):

Teacher: “Do you know the words we’ll write, the words we’ll write, the words we’ll write? Do you know the words we’ll write on our boards today?”

Students: “Yes, we know the words we’ll write, the words we’ll write, the words we’ll write. Yes, we know the words we’ll write on our boards today!”

  • Optional: Distribute white boards, white board markers, and white board erasers (or have students follow along by skywriting).
  • Begin the Interactive Writing instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays Vowel Pattern Cards (“oo,” “ou,” “ui,” “ue,” and “ew”).

2. Teacher says: “Today we will use the words we know to make a silly sentence. We will use the words that have the /ū/ and /ōō/ sounds we have been learning. The vowel patterns we have been learning are these: ‘oo,’ ‘ou,’ ‘ui,’ ‘ue,’ and ‘ew.’ Let’s think of words we can use!”

3. Teacher asks:

“Who can think of a word with one of these vowel patterns?”

4. Teacher records word under the appropriate vowel pattern and repeats the word.

5. Teacher says: “Yes, (suggested word) has the (/ū/ or /ōō/) sound spelled with (pattern). Now it’s time to use your white boards to record the words with me.”

6. Teacher says: “After we make our list, we will be writing a silly sentence together. The sentence has to have as many words with these vowel patterns as we can add. If we want our sentence to be really silly, we want to have lots of words to choose from. So, we are going to work together to think of as many words as we can. You can now think of as many of these words as you can and write them on your white board.”

7. Students write words individually or with partners for 1–2 minutes.

8. Volunteers share out words from their list. If a student identifies a word that does not contain one of the vowel patterns of focus, teacher guides student to correct the mistake.

9. Teacher adds the students’ words to the Word List.

10. Repeat steps 8–9 with more words if necessary (enough from which to create a silly sentence). Students follow along by circling words shared by others on their white boards.

11. Teacher says: “Wow! Look at all the words we’ve listed that have these vowel patterns! Now we are ready to write a silly sentence. We need a few high-frequency words to write our sentence, too. I will use the word wall to find some more words for our sentence. And we’ll need to use some contractions with ‘will.’”

12. Teacher says: “A silly sentence makes us laugh because we use words that don’t usually go together, it gives us a funny picture in our head, or sounds really silly.”

13. Teacher says silly sentence. For example (use student-generated words): “We’ll go through the park to rescue a few blue newts from the zoo.”

14. Teacher asks:

“How many words are in the sentence?” (14)

15. Teacher says: “Yes! We will write this sentence with 14 words together. Let’s start with the first word, which is a high-frequency word that we know.”

16. Teacher asks:

“Who remembers what this kind of word is called?” (contraction)

17. Teacher says: “Right. A contraction is a shortened form of two words, marked with an apostrophe.”

18. Teacher asks:

“What two words are in this contraction?” (“we,” “will”)

19. Teacher says: “Yes, this is a contraction for ‘we will.’”

20. Teacher asks:

“Who would like to write our first word, ‘We’ll’?”

21. Teacher repeats the sentence, tapping out each word on the chart paper or white board.

22. Teacher and students share the pen to take turns interactively writing sentence (see Interactive Writing lessons in First Grade, Modules 1–2 for more details). Teacher stops to review punctuation rules as needed.

23. When sentence is finished, teacher says: “Let’s read our silly sentence we wrote from the words we know.”

24. Students and teacher read sentence together.

  • Because the spelling patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" are not easily generalizable, consider having students simply brainstorm the list with you while you record the spellings of the words.
  • Observe students as they write. Encourage them to fix the spelling of their sentences as they review what the teacher has written.
  • Consider providing students with pre-determined partners to work with.
  • Depending on students' needs, allow them to air-write words instead of write on their white boards.
  • Consider providing students who need support with a sentence frame to help them generate a silly sentence.
  • Consider creating a structure for celebrating the silly sentences. As the classroom generates more silly sentences, consider making them into a silly poem.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners take responsibility for their learning by setting goals for themselves. Invite students to reflect on something concrete they can work on during whole group or differentiated small group instruction. This may be based on their assessment goal-setting conferences, on feedback during differentiated small group work, or on their own self-identified needs. Example:
    • "My goal is to identify vowel sounds in words. I am going to work toward that goal in small group time."
  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Examples:
    • "My goal is to _____."
    • "When I work toward my goal during small group time, I will _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with students in the Partial Alphabetic and Full Alphabetic groups. If possible, teacher should also meet with the Consolidated Alphabetic group at least once per week.

Note: Groups not working with the teacher at a given time should be engaged in purposeful independent rotation work. Refer to the Independent and Small Group Work guidance document for more details (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual).

All Groups

The Reader's Toolbox routine should be used with every group today or another day this week. Teacher may also choose to use a flex day to teach the routine in whole group. See Lesson 28 or Independent and Small Group Work document for full routine and see Supporting Materials for Reader's Toolbox Planning and Recording Template.

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students work with teacher to interactively create a new silly (or normal) sentence, possibly using CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words or other patterns from a previous cycle that could use practice and review.
  • Use the Assessment Conversion chart to determine appropriate Grade 1 lessons and Activity Bank ideas to use in daily small group instruction.

Full Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students work with teacher or with partners to interactively create new silly (or normal) sentences, with words containing vowel patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" or patterns from a previous cycle that could use practice and review. Teacher provides immediate feedback and support.
    • Consider using a Writing Checklist (see Lesson 52 supporting materials), modified for the needs of this group. Encourage students to peer or self-edit their sentences based on the Checklist criteria.

Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students write their own silly (or normal) with words containing vowel patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew." Students use the Writing Checklist (see Lesson 52) to peer or self-edit their writing.
    • Consider keeping these sentences to be used for fluency practice with the Full and Partial Alphabetic students during differentiated small groups for the Fluency lesson (Lesson 54).
  • Use leveled readers for fluency practice. (Refer to Independent and Small Group Work guidance document for guidance; see K-2 Skills Resource Manual.)
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • If silly sentences are being used for fluency practice in Lesson 54, have students write the sentences on chart paper or sentence strips.

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