Interactive Writing | EL Education Curriculum

You are here:

Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can show possession for nouns and pronouns with an apostrophe. (L.2.2)
    • I can use an apostrophe to show possession with nouns and pronouns.
  • Work Time A: I can write a sentence using words spelled with "-ous" and "-us," possessives, and high-frequency words. (L.2.2d)
    • I can use context to help me decode words that have common sounds with different spelling patterns.
    • I can use context to help me spell words that have common sounds with different spelling patterns.
    • I can use an apostrophe to show possession with nouns and pronouns.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A. Determine whether they can correctly use an apostrophe to show possession with nouns.
  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can correctly spell words with
    "-ous" and "-us," possessives, and high-frequency words from this cycle.
  • Exit ticket (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Word Parts: Using an Apostrophe to Show Possession

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Interactive Writing: Writing a Silly Sentence with Words Spelled with "-ous" and "-us"

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): "Don't be nervous when Kate's enormous hippopotamus takes one of the dog's numerous toys behind the cactus." "It is ridiculous that our city's famous parade is on the same day as my team's marvelous championship game on the college campus."
  • Cut apart Word Parts Cards.
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

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

  • apostrophe, possession (L)

Materials

  • Word Parts Cards: "Pablo," "dog," "city," "team," "Kate," "teacher," "friend," "'s"
  • Whiteboards (one per student)
  • Whiteboard markers (one per student)
  • Whiteboard erasers (or tissues, socks, etc.; one per student)
  • Clipboards if not sitting at a desk (one per student; optional)

Materials from Previous Lessons

New Materials

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Word Parts: Using an Apostrophe to Show Possession

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

Teacher: "Can you build a word from scratch, a word from scratch, a word from scratch? Can you build a word from scratch using many parts?"

Students: "Yes, we'll build a brand new word, a brand new word, a brand new word. Yes, we'll build a brand new word by using many parts."

  • Begin the Word Parts instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays the Word Parts Cards randomly on the board: "Pablo," "dog," "city," "team," "Kate," "teacher," "friend," "'s."

2. Teacher says: "We have base words and one apostrophe 's' displayed here. Look closely at the words and think about what kind of words they are. Turn to an elbow partner and share your thinking." (They are nouns.)

3. Teacher says: "Right. These words are all nouns. Now I'll pull these Word Parts Cards down and then put them together to make a new word. Read the word to yourself and think about what it means."

4. Teacher makes the word "Pablo's" with Word Parts Cards.

5. Teacher says: "Listen as I use this word in a sentence: 'This is Pablo's coat.'"

6. Teacher invites a student to share his or her thinking about the meaning of "Pablo's." (It means something that belongs to Pablo.)

7. Teacher says: "Right! So when I add this apostrophe 's' to a noun, it means that something belongs to that person, place, or thing. When we add the apostrophe 's' to a noun, it is called a 'possessive' because 'possess' means to have something. Let's learn more about how to make possessives."

8. Teacher pulls down the Word Parts Card "dog."

9. Teacher says: "The next word we will use is 'dog.' What would I do to say that something belongs to the dog, like 'the dog's tail is wagging'?" (Add "'s.")

10. Teacher says: "Right, to identify something as belonging to the dog, we would add the apostrophe 's.' Now let's practice with some more possessives."

11. Teacher distributes whiteboards, whiteboard markers, and whiteboard erasers.

12. Teacher says: "The next word we will use is 'city.'"

13. Students write "city" on their whiteboards.

14. Teacher says: "Now change this word to show the possessive, as in 'the city's mayor was reelected.'"

15. Teacher asks:

"What word did you write?" ("city's")

16. Repeat steps 12-15 with remaining words.

17. Teacher leads students in reading all words together.

  • For students who need additional help, including ELLs, provide picture cards of base words. This supports students’ comprehension of the noun before the apostrophe “s” is added to show possession.
  • Consider using different colored papers for nouns, pronouns, and the “’s.”
  • Consider supporting students if they spell a word incorrectly by reminding them to check their word with the Word Parts Card displayed.
  • Some students may confuse the apostrophe “s” in possessives with the apostrophe “s” in contractions. If this happens, remind students that, in a contraction, the apostrophe takes the place of a letter in the second word (“is”).
  • Consider deepening the level of word analysis for students in the Consolidated Alphabetic phase by inviting them to compare “city’s” and “cities.” Explain that the apostrophe “s” spelling of the /ēs/ sound in the word “city’s” shows possession, while the “i-e-s” spelling of the /ēs/ sound in “cities” shows there is more than one city (i.e., plural).

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Interactive Writing: Writing a Silly Sentence with Words Spelled with "-ous" and "-us"

  • (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!"

  • Begin the Interactive Writing instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "Today we will use the words we know to make a silly sentence. We will use the words that are spelled with '-ous' and '-us' at the end. Let's think of words we can use!"

2. Teacher asks:

"Who can remind us how we know to spell these words with '-ous' or '-us' at the end?" (Words that are adjectives are spelled with "-ous"; nouns are spelled with "-us.")

"Great! Who can share a word that has an '-ous' or '-us' ending?"

3. Teacher invites students to offer a few words spelled with "-ous" and "-us," records them on the board, and repeats them.

4. Teacher says: "Great! Now it's time to use your whiteboards to record the words. After we make our list, we will be writing a silly sentence together. The sentence has to have as many words spelled with '-ous' and '-us' 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 whiteboard."

5. Students write words individually or in pairs for 1-2 minutes.

6. Volunteers share out words from their list. If a student spells a word incorrectly, teacher guides student to correct the mistake.

7. Teacher adds the students' words to the word list.

8. Teacher says: "Wow! Look at all the words we've listed! Now we are ready to write a silly sentence. I think we should use a word or two from our work with Word Parts and a few high-frequency words, too. I will use the Interactive Word Wall to find some more words for our sentence."

9. 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 it sounds really silly."

10. Teacher says silly sentence. Example (use student-generated words): "Don't be nervous when Kate's enormous hippopotamus takes one of the dog's numerous toys behind the cactus."

11. Teacher asks:

"How many words are in the sentence?" (17)

12. Teacher says: "Yes! We will write this sentence with 17 words together."

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

14. When sentence is finished, teacher says: "Let's read our silly sentence we wrote from the words we know."

15. Students and teacher read sentence together.

  • Observe students as they write. Encourage them to correct the spellings of words as they review what the teacher has written.
  • Consider providing student predetermined partners for management concerns, if needed.
  • If time is a consideration, shorten the lesson by calling on students to suggest words instead of writing on their individual whiteboards.
  • If students need, allow them to air-write words instead of writing on whiteboards.
  • For students who need support, consider providing a sentence frame to help them generate a silly sentence.
  • Consider drawing a T-chart on the board and labeling one column "-us" (noun) and the other "-ous" (adjective) in step 2. This provides a visual reference for students to use to support their understanding of the generalization of these patterns (i.e., when to use which spelling).
  • 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

  • In the Closing, students reflect on what it means to be an independent reader and how they can become increasingly more independent during whole group instruction and differentiated small group instruction. Consider asking one or more of the following questions to support students' understanding of independence (encourage specificity in responses):

"What does it mean to be independent?" (examples: be able to do something on your own, be able to help myself with something)

"What does it mean to be an independent reader?" (examples: have knowledge and skills to problem solve words, have "stamina" or the ability to stick with reading for an extended period of time, know your strengths and weaknesses)

  • Consider reviewing reflections from Modules 1-3 to remind students that throughout the year they have learned many skills needed to be an independent reader. They took responsibility for their learning, set goals for themselves, and collaborated with their peers throughout the year. Consider asking one or more of the following questions (encourage specificity in responses):

"What knowledge and skills do you have now that you did not have earlier in the year?"

"How did you acquire that knowledge/skill?"

  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Examples:
    • "One thing an independent reader has to be able to do is _____."
    • "As an independent reader, I can _____."
    • "I can show independence by _____."

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 words spelled with "-ous" and "-us."
  • 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 in pairs to interactively create new silly (or normal) sentences with words spelled with "-ous" and "-us." Teacher provides immediate feedback and support.
    • Consider using a Writing Checklist (see Lesson 127 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) sentences with words spelled with "-ous" and "-us."
    • Students use the Writing Checklist (see Lesson 127) 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 group instruction for the Fluency lesson (Lesson 129).
  • Use leveled readers for fluency practice. (Refer to Independent and Small Group Work guidance document; see K-2 Skills Resource Manual.)
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • If silly sentences are being used for fluency practice in Lesson 129, have students write the sentences on chart paper or sentence strips.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up