Interactive Writing | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA GK:S4:C25:L128

Interactive Writing

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Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can say the beginning, middle, and end phonemes (sounds) in a CVC word with an r-controlled vowel. (RF.K.2)
    • I can listen to a single-syllable word and pronounce the initial phoneme (sound) in the word.
    • I can listen to a single-syllable word and pronounce the middle vowel (phoneme) sound in the word.
    • I can listen to a single-syllable word and pronounce the final phoneme (sound) in the word.
  • Work Time A: I can use what I know about letters and their sounds to spell simple words with r-controlled vowels. (L.K.2)
    • I can use what I know about the letters and their sounds to spell single-syllable words.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A. Determine whether they can isolate initial, middle, and final sounds in each CVC word.
  • Observe students during Opening A and Work Time A. Determine whether they can recall the correct letter based on its sound.
  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can spell words correctly using knowledge of high-frequency words and/or letter-sound correspondence.
  • Record students' progress on the Snapshot Assessment.

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (5 minutes)

A. Poem: Articulatory Gestures

2. Work Time (10-15 minutes)

A. Interactive Writing

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

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

In Advance

  • Prepare the Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student).
  • Enlarge the picture of a bird in the dirt of a yard (one for teacher use; see supporting materials).
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

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

  • r-controlled (bossy "r"), phonemes (sounds), interactive (L)

Materials

  • Enlarged poem: "Carly" (or handwritten on chart paper to display; from Lesson 127)
  • Large pointer (optional)
  • Articulatory Gestures Chart
  • Hand mirrors (optional; one per student)
  • Enlarged picture of a bird in the dirt of a yard (one for teacher use; see supporting materials)
  • Whiteboards (optional; one per student)
  • Whiteboard markers (optional; one per student)
  • Whiteboard erasers (optional; one per student)
  • Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student)

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Poem: Articulatory Gestures

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”):

“Now let’s say the letters that we know. Think of the sounds and go, go, go. Open up your mouth big and wide. Sometimes your breath comes from deep inside. As we say the letters we will know. Our letter sound skills will grow, grow, grow!”

  • Begin the Poem: Articulatory Gestures instructional practice:

1. Teacher facilitates the Poem: Articulatory Gestures instructional practice, focusing on the articulatory gestures for /ər/ sound of r-controlled vowels (“ir”) in the words “dirt,” “skirt,” “first,” and “twirl.”

2. Teacher reads the enlarged poem: “Carly” once or twice, pointing to each word as he or she reads it (with a finger or pointer).

3. Teacher circles “skirt” and “dirt” and invites students to listen as he or she says each word while segmenting the sounds using the thumb-tapping technique.

4. Teacher asks:

“What sound do you hear in the middle?” (/ər/)

5. Teacher points to each letter while slowly segmenting the sounds (/s/ /k/ /ir/ /t/ and /d/ /ir/ /t/) and asks:

“What letters make this sound?” (“i” and “r”)

6. Teacher says: “I see the vowel ‘i’ in both of these words, but I don’t hear either the /i/ or the /ī/ sound that it makes.”

7. Teacher asks:

“What is the important thing that ‘r’ does when it follows a vowel?” (It “bosses” the vowel around to change the sound.)

8. Teacher says: “That’s right! The ‘r’ bosses the vowels around. We call this a bossy ‘r’ because it doesn’t let the vowel say its sound. It is controlling the vowel.”

9. Teacher underlines the “ir” in “skirt,” “dirt,” “first,” and “twirl.”

10. Teacher invites students to read the words “skirt,” “dirt,” “first,” and “twirl.”

11. Teacher asks:

“What sound to you hear in the middle of these words?” (/ər/)

“What do we call this?” (bossy “r”)

12. Teacher says: “That’s right! All of these words are r-controlled words. The ‘r’ changes the vowel sound.”

13. Teacher invites students to identify the /r/ sound, referring to the Articulatory Gestures chart as needed.

14. Teacher invites students to watch his or her mouth as he or she slowly pronounces /ər/.

15. Teacher invites students to pronounce /ər/, noticing how it feels in their mouths (and how it looks in hand mirrors, if using).

16. Student volunteers share with their elbow partners or whisper into their hands what they noticed when they pronounced that part of the word (/ir/). (My cheeks and lips pucker together. My tongue fits between the top and bottom of my mouth, and I push the sound out from my belly.)

  • Remind students of the thumb-tapping technique each time they "tap out" sounds of words. The mouth and fingers change together as each sound is said aloud.
  • When tapping out sounds in words, r-controlled vowels only get one tap.
  • Remind students of the sounds for each letter and refer to Articulatory Gestures chart as needed, particularly when distinguishing between the sounds of the vowels.
  • Consider using the term "bossy 'r'" when an "r" follows a vowel. It is "polite" because it lets the vowel go first but is "bossy" because it doesn't let it say its sound.
  • The consonant blends "sk" and "st" and "tw" can be challenging for early readers. Support students by slowly pointing to each letter and clearly articulating each sound separately.

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Interactive Writing

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

“Now let’s all be writers, be writers, be writers. Now let’s all be writers like the authors we love. Listen to the sentence, the sentence, the sentence. Listen to the sentence, we will write as a group.”

  • Optional: Teacher distributes whiteboards, whiteboard markers, and whiteboard erasers (or have students follow along by skywriting).
  • Begin the Interactive Writing instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: “Today we will write a sentence like the sentences in our books! In our books, the sentences match the pictures. Today we will write a new sentence to match the picture we see.”

2. Teacher shows students the enlarged picture of a bird in the dirt of a yard.

3. Teacher asks:

“What do you see?” (a bird in the dirt of a yard)

4. Teacher says: “Yes! This is a picture of a bird looking for a worm in the dirt of a yard. It looks like the bird wants the worm for dinner. Our sentence can be: ‘The bird can see a worm in the dirt of the yard.’”

5. Teacher asks:

“How many words are in this sentence?”

6. Teacher and students repeat the sentence together and use their fingers to count each time a new word is said.

7. Teacher says: “That’s right! There are 12 words in this sentence.” Teacher draws 12 lines, one for each word in the sentence.

8. Teacher and students repeat the sentence and point to the lines on the board, moving from left to right as they say each word.

9. Teacher chooses a “spacer” (a student volunteer) to sit below the board.

10. Teacher points to the first line on the board and says: “Our first word is ‘The,’ which is a high-frequency word we learned. We read this word in many books, and know that authors use high-frequency words often in their writing.”

11. Teacher asks:

“What kind of letter will start our sentence in the word ‘The’?” (capital)

12. Teacher says: “Right! We begin every sentence with a capital letter.”

13. Teacher asks:

“Who would like to start our sentence with the first word, ‘The’?”

14. Teacher invites a student volunteer to the board to write the word. Remaining students follow along with whiteboards or skywriting.

15. Teacher says: “Great job! I see we spelled ‘the’ with the letters ‘t,’ ‘h,’ and ‘e.’”

16. Teacher asks:

“What do you notice about the letters ‘th’ in this word?” (They make one sound.)

17. Teacher says: “That’s right! The ‘t’ and ‘h’ in this word make one sound, /th/. Remembering this will help us to spell ‘the.’”

18 .Teacher asks:

“What comes after ‘the’?” (a space)

19. Teacher says: “Yes! We remember that we put a space between each word in our sentence.” The “spacer” makes a space with his or her index and middle fingers.

20. Teacher continues to choose students to write the words “bird,” “can,” and “see.”

21. Teacher says: “Now the next word in our sentence is ‘bird.’ I’m going to ask you to help me write this word.”

22. Teacher asks:

“What is the first sound we hear in ‘bird’?” (/b/)

“And what letter makes the sound /b/?” (“b”)

23. Teacher writes “b.”

24. Teacher asks:

“What is the next sound you hear in bird?” (/ər/)

“And what letters will I write for that sound?” (“i” and “r”)

25. Teacher writes “ir.”

26. Teacher asks:

“What is the sound after /ər/?” (/d/)

“And what letter will I write for that sound?” (“d”)

27. Teacher says: “This is an r-controlled word! The ‘r’ bosses the ‘i’ around and changes the sound.”

28. Teacher continues to choose students to write the word “in.”

29. Repeat steps 21-27 with “worm,” “dirt,” and “yard,” highlighting the r-controlled vowel sounds /ər/ and /ar/.

30. When sentence is completed, teacher and students read it aloud, pointing at each word as they read.

31. Teacher says: “Great job!”

32. Teacher asks:

“And what do we need at the end of our sentence to show readers that we are finished with it?” (a period)

33. Teacher says: “Right!

34. Teacher asks:

“Who would like to add the period to our sentence?”

35. Teacher says: “In our sentence, we wrote four words in which we heard the bossy ‘r.’"

36. Teacher asks:

“Who remembers those words?” (“bird,” “yard,” “worm,” “dirt”)

37. Teacher says: “Wow! We are just like authors because we wrote a sentence to match the picture. When you read your writing or another author’s writing, remember to point to each word as you read.”

  • Consider using a sentence about a topic or text from the Integrated Literacy Block.
  • Individual students can act as a “spacer” by putting their index and middle fingers together to show the “space” between words.
  • Consider providing students with a list of words they know next to the interactive sentence lines and asking students if their word matches the word on the list.
  • Encourage students to use the thumb-tapping technique when saying each sound.
  • Remind students of the correct letter formation of each letter using Letter Formation chart.
  • Invite students to notice that both “ir” in “bird” and “or" in “worm” make the same sound (/ər/ ) even though they are spelled differently.
  • Invite students to notice that the sound of the r-controlled word “yard” is different from the r-controlled words “bird” and “dirt.” It makes the /ar/ sound instead of the /ər/ sound.
  • Consider shortening the sentence to “The bird can see a worm in the dirt” if necessary.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners think about what they’ve learned and why it’s important. Consider using a metaphor, such as a baseball player learning to keep his or her eye on the ball to know exactly when to hit it.
  • Ask:

“What sound do the letters ‘ir’ and ‘or’ make in the words ‘bird’ and ‘worm’?” (/ər/)

“What sound do the letters ‘ar’ make in the word ‘yard’?” (/ar/)

“How might knowing this help us with reading or writing?” (Responses will vary.)

  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Example:
    • "When I wrote _____, I thought of the sounds _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with the Pre-Alphabetic and Partial Alphabetic groups. At this point in the year, the teacher may be ready to meet with three rather than just two groups per day. If so, the teacher should work with students in the Full and Consolidated Alphabetic phases at least once per week. The teacher may choose to guide students through the suggested independent activity or refer to the possible practice activities.

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 (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual) for more details.

Pre-Alphabetic:

  • Practice activity: Teacher guides students in writing the initial, middle, and final sounds of pictures using their knowledge of r-controlled vowels.
    • Teacher guides students in writing the initial and final graphemes (letters) that match the initial and final phonemes (sounds) of CVC words using Picture Cards.
    • Students read the words aloud when they are finished writing them.
  • Consider also using a dictated sentence to practice writing letters to match the letter sounds.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Picture Cards (in the same word family; one set per student)
    • Letter writing paper and writing utensil (one per student)

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Practice activity: Students write the initial, middle, and final sounds of pictures using their knowledge of r-controlled vowels.
    • Students write the initial, middle, and final graphemes (letters) that match the initial, middle, and final phonemes (sounds) of CVC words using Picture Cards.
    • Students read words aloud when they are finished writing them.
  • Consider also using a dictated sentence to practice writing letters to match the letter sounds.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Picture Cards (one set per student)
    • Letter writing paper and writing utensil (one per student)

Full and Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Independent Practice activity: Students write sentences using r-controlled words with the familiar characters Chip and Josh from their decodable books.
    • Students read their decodable books.
    • Students write their own sentences by either finishing a decodable book or writing a new story with the same characters in them.
  • Conference with students about Accountable Independent Reading.
  • Choose a lesson from the K-2 Differentiation Packets to extend the students' learning. (Refer to the students' assessment data and the Assessment Conversion chart to determine an appropriate lesson or group of lessons.)
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Past decodable books
    • Letter writing paper and writing utensil (one per student)

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