Setting Purpose: From Engagement Text to Decodables | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA G2:S2:C6:L27

Setting Purpose: From Engagement Text to Decodables

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Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can retell the events from the current edition of Sunnyside Gazette: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park."
  • Opening B (optional): Using evidence from the text, I can answer questions about the current edition of the Sunnyside Gazette: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park."
  • Work Time A: I can read high-frequency words and words that "don't play fair": "orange," "colors," "great," "yellow." (RF.2.3f)
    • I can read second-grade words that "don't play fair" (irregularly spelled words).
  • Work Time B: I can read the decodable text: "Fall Fest at the Park." (RF.2.3)
    • I can decode (regularly spelled) two-syllable words with long vowels.
    • I can decode words with r-controlled vowel patterns.
    • I can decode words with common prefixes (part of the word at the beginning) and suffixes (part of the word at the end).
    • I can read second-grade words that "don't play fair" (irregularly spelled words).

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can read irregularly spelled high-frequency words and determine why they are irregular.
  • Observe students during Work Time B.
    • Determine whether they can independently find a given word.
    • Also determine whether they can decode two-syllable words, words containing vowel teams (one- or two-syllable), words containing r-controlled vowels, and irregularly spelled high-frequency words.
  • Exit ticket (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Engagement Text Read-aloud: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park"

B. Comprehension Conversation (optional)

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Snap or Trap: "yellow," "orange," "colors," "great"

B. Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read: "Fall Fest at the Park"

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

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

In Advance

  • Prepare:
    • Snap or Trap T-chart
    • Snap or Trap Word Cards (write the following words on index cards: "orange," "colors," "yellow," "great," "turns," "sing," "that," "start")
    • Interactive Word Wall (one to display)
    • Comprehension Conversation questions (if different from suggested questions)
  • Pre-determine partnerships for retelling during Opening A and Work Time B.
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)

  • schwa, comprehension, grapple, responsibility, retelling (L)
  • residents, variety, farmer's market, Harvest Festival (T)

Materials

  • Enlarged Engagement Text: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park" (one to display)
  • Snap or Trap Word Cards (see Teaching Notes, "In Advance" above; one of each)
  • Snap or Trap T-chart (on white board or chart paper; Snap on one side and Trap on the other; see supporting materials for example)
  • Enlarged Decodable Reader: "Fall Fest at the Park" (one to display)
  • Interactive Word Wall (one to display)
  • Decodable Reader: "Fall Fest at the Park" (one per student)
  • Highlighters (one per student and one for teacher)
  • Highlighting tape (for the teacher to use to highlight the Decodable Reader; optional)
  • Tape, magnet, or other material to fasten Snap or Trap Word Cards to the Snap or Trap T-chart

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Engagement Text Read-aloud: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park"

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Gather round together, together, together. It's time to hear a story, a story, a story. It's time to hear a story and say what you've learned."

  • Display Enlarged Engagement Text: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park."
  • Begin a read-aloud of the Engagement Text: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park":

1. Teacher says: "Listen carefully as I read today's edition of the Sunnyside Gazette: 'Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park.' After I am finished reading, you will retell the story to a partner and answer some questions about it."

2. Teacher reads text without interruption, pointing out the accompanying illustrations.

3. Students turn to a partner and retell the events in the Sunnyside Gazette article: "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park."

  • For students who need extra support, including ELLs: Consider providing picture cards of nouns in "Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park" to support comprehension.

B. Comprehension Conversation (optional)

  • Teacher asks the following suggested comprehension questions:
    • Recall:

"What will be in Sunnyside City Park this weekend?" (the Harvest Festival)

"What will be in the 'Fields of Fall Fun' section?" (tractor for climbing, play barn, small petting zoo, and free apple cider)

    • Vocabulary and Language:

"What does 'residents' mean?" (people who live in Sunnyside)

"If there will be a 'variety' of flowers and plants, what does variety mean?" (many types of flowers and plants)

    • Digging Deeper: Extension Questions:
      • The text says: "The Harvest Fest will include a farmer's market full of fresh farm foods to buy, such as apples and pumpkins."

"Why are those foods sold at the 'Harvest Festival' in the fall?"

"How might the foods change in the spring or summer?" (Answers will vary. Example: "Farmers grow different foods depending on the season. Typical foods grown in the fall are apples and pumpkins.")

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Snap or Trap: “yellow,” “orange,” “colors,” “great”

  • Begin the Snap or Trap instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: “We know some words can be hard to read and spell because they don’t look and sound like they should. We call those words ‘words that don’t play fair.’ Today we’re going to look at some words like this and figure out what makes them hard to read and spell.”

2. Teacher shows students a list of Snap or Trap Word Cards (“turns,” “orange,” “sing,” “yellow,” “colors,” “great,” “that,” “start”) and a Snap or Trap T-chart.

3. Teacher says: “All of these words are high-frequency words, which means we see them a lot when we read and use them a lot when we spell. Some of them are regularly spelled; they ‘play fair.’ Some of them are irregularly spelled or include spelling patterns that we don’t see a lot, so they don’t ‘play fair.’ We will figure out which ones should go in the Snap column (words that do play fair) and which ones go in the Trap column (words that don’t play fair).”

4. Teacher reads all the words aloud.

5. Teacher reads: “colors.”

6. Teacher says: “I notice we hear two different vowel sounds in the word. The vowel sound in the first syllable is kind of hard to hear. When I say it, I hear /u/, but I see an ‘o.’ I would have expected this word to say /k//ō//l/ in the first syllable, but instead the vowel makes a /u/ sound. This is called a ‘schwa’ sound. The vowel sound in the second syllable is r-controlled or a bossy ‘r.’ So this word has some spelling patterns that don’t play fair. The word ‘color’ goes in the Trap category.”

7. Teacher puts the “color” card in the Trap column.

8. Teacher asks:

“Can anyone see any other trap words? This is a difficult job because we need to use all that we know about letters and sounds to figure out if the word is snap or trap. You might be unsure about the answer. That’s okay! We will help each other as a class think about the words and back up our ideas with evidence.”

9. Student volunteer selects a trap word (“orange,” “great,” “yellow”).

10. Teacher asks:

“Why do you think it’s a trap word?” (Answers will vary based on word selected.)

11. Teacher says: “Right! _____ is a trap word because it doesn’t sound like it is spelled. It belongs in the Trap column.”

12. Teacher adds the selected trap word to the T-chart.

13. Students and teacher complete steps 9–12 until all trap words are found.

14. Students and teacher chorally read list of trap words together.

  • Encourage students to grapple with their knowledge of letter sounds to decide if a high-frequency word is a snap or a trap word.
  • Encourage students to read a high-frequency word as a whole word. Analyze the word after reading it.
  • A "schwa" is a reduced vowel sound in an unstressed syllable. It usually has the /u/ sound, which can be represented by a vowel and some diphthongs. The "schwa" sound (as in the first syllable of "color") is the most common sound in English words, accounting for approximately 20 percent of all vowel sounds. Because of its frequency, consider suggesting to students to try out the /u/ sound for vowels when decoding unfamiliar words. This approximation will most likely help them to identify the word if it is in their speaking and listening vocabulary.

B. Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read: "Fall Fest at the Park"

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

"Now you will read a story, a story, a story. Now you will read a story with words that you know."

  • Begin the Decodable Reader: Partner Search and Read instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays the Enlarged Decodable Reader: "Fall Fest at the Park."

2. Teacher says: "First we read an article from the Sunnyside Gazette: 'Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park.' Now we will read a story about characters from 'Fall Fest at the Park.' This story is filled with words that YOU can read! There are decodable words, and there are some words that don't play fair, like 'orange' and 'colors.'"

3. Teacher draws students' attention to the words on the Interactive Word Wall.

4. Teacher distributes the Decodable Reader: "Fall Fest at the Park" and highlighters to each student.

5. Teacher says: "Before you read the book with your partner, we are going to be detectives. We are going to look for some of the high-frequency words. Remember, some of these words 'don't play fair,' which means they are not easily decodable. All of the words we sorted, except the word 'sing,' are in this story."

6. Teacher models, thinking aloud as he or she notices one of the high-frequency words. Teacher highlights it with a highlighter or highlighter tape in the book. Model again as needed.

7. Partners search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Reader: "Fall Fest at the Park" together and highlight in their own book.

8. Teacher circulates to help partners find words as needed, focusing especially on those words that "don't play fair."

9. Teacher says: "Now you are ready to read the Decodable Reader with your partner. Some of the words in the story will be familiar because you have learned them in previous lessons. And some of the words you will see for the first time, but don't worry: Each of the words that you will see for the first time includes only spelling patterns that you have learned. So, you just need to say the sound that goes with each of the patterns you see in the word, then blend them together to read the word. You may need to be syllable sleuths to read some of these words!"

10. Students read "Fall Fest at the Park" with a partner. Partners may take turns (by page or whole text), read in unison, or both.

  • If readers in the Pre-Alphabetic or Partial Alphabetic phase need additional support to find the high-frequency words, consider allowing a reader in the Full or Consolidated Alphabetic phase to help them. Or consider asking them to find the beginning letter of the word instead of the whole word.
  • If readers have trouble with words that "don't play fair," direct them to the Interactive Word Wall. Or have them read the rest of the sentence and think about which high-frequency word would make sense in the blank.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners take responsibility for their own learning. Invite students to reflect on ways they took responsibility for their learning during whole group or how they plan to take responsibility during differentiated small group instruction. Example:
    • "I'm going to reread this text and work on grouping words together to make it sound more fluent. I'll ask a friend to listen to me and give me feedback."
  • 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 instruction, 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

Either today or another day this week after the Decodable Student Reader has been introduced, follow the Decodable Student Reader routine with each group. Differentiate the routine as needed based on students’ microphase. See Lesson 7 or Independent and Small Group Work document for full routine. See Supporting Materials for Decodable Student Reader Planning and Recording Template.

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students read the Decodable Reader: “Fall Fest at the Park.”
    • Students highlight each word that contains the sound patterns for the current cycle: /ar/, /or/, and /ər/. Or students highlight words with spelling patterns they are working on (examples: “ir,” “er,” “ur”).
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.
  • 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 read the Decodable Reader: “Fall Fest at the Park.”
    • Students highlight each word that contains the sound patterns from the current cycle: /ar/, /or/, and /ər/.

OR:

    • Students work with teacher to write a new page in the Decodable Reader: “Fall Fest at the Park,” using words with spelling patterns from the current cycle: /ar/, /or/, and /ər/.

OR:

    • Students work with teacher or a partner to provide a written response to the prompt:

How do you think Pat and James felt after they went to the Fall Fest?

    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.

Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students read the Engagement Text: “Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park.” Students provide a written response to the prompt:

What is an activity that you would add to the Fall Fest in Sunnyside Park?

    • Students should try to use words with the sound patterns: /or/, /ar/, and /ər/.
    • Students should use a Writing Checklist (example found in supporting materials) to self-check or partner-check writing conventions.
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.

Additional Supporting Materials:

    • Writing Checklist (one per student)

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