Course Profile
Beginning Literacy, ELD Level 1, open, Public
Activity 1 | Activity
2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity 5 | Activity 6
Time: 20 hours
Unit Developers: Jane Campbell, Hazel Excell, Denise Gordon, Jane
Hill, Elaine Iannuzziello, Paula Markus, Eleanor Minuk, Jane Sims, Ero Siouga,
Betty Ann Taylor.
Development Date: April , 1999
Unit Description
Students will begin to
familiarize themselves with the community outside the classroom. They will
learn the language needed to interact in stores and shops. They will begin to
read simple written materials and to produce short, structured pieces of
writing. The focus will be on the writing and spelling of numbers, the reading
of local advertising, the manipulation of currency, and the writing and solving
of mathematical problems.
Strands and Expectations:
Strand: Oral and Visual Communication
Overall Expectations: AORV.01L, AORV.02L, AORV.03L
Specific Expectations: AOR1.01L, AOR1.02L, AOR3.02L, AOR3.04L, AOR3.05L
Strand: Reading
Overall Expectations:
AREV.01L, AREV.02L, AREV.03L
Specific Expectations: ARE1.01L, ARE1.02L, ARE1.04L, ARE2.03L, ARE2.04L,
ARE2.05L, ARE2.07L, ARE3.02L, ARE3.04L
Strand: Writing
Overall Expectations:
AWRV.01L, AWRV.02L
Specific Expectations:
AWR1.02L, AWR2.01L, AWR2.02L
Strand: Social and
Cultural Competence
Overall Expectations:
ASCV.01L, ASCV.02L
Specific Expectations: ASC1.01L, ASC1.02L, ASC1.03L, ASC1.04L, ASC2.05L,
ASC2.06L, ASC2.07L
Activity Titles (Time and Sequence)
|
Activity 1 |
Money, Money, Money |
2 hours |
|
Activity 2 |
A Loonie, A Quarter or a
Dime...? |
3 hours |
|
Activity 3 |
To Market, to Market |
3 hours |
|
Activity 4 |
How Much Did They Spend? |
4 hours |
|
Activity 5 |
Can I Afford It? |
4 hours |
|
Activity 6 |
Earning Money |
4 hours |
Unit Planning Notes
Numeracy can be an area in
which preliterate students have some confidence. “Students who have bought,
sold and bartered goods and services have a great deal of practical knowledge
about economics and may have considerable math skills in handling money.” (O’Malley
and Chamot, 1995, p. 174) Although their understanding of mathematics may not
have been formalized, concepts of adding, estimating, and evaluating may be
well-developed. Many students may already have part-time jobs or be seeking
employment. These strengths can be the foundation for lesson planning. Shopping
provides opportunities to understand and use written language in students’
personal worlds.
Check the mathematics
assessments done for each student on arrival. If students have been placed in
math classes consult with their teachers about how they are progressing. If
math is not your strength, don’t despair. Chapter 10 in The CALLA Handbook:
Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach provides a
thorough discussion of how language is used in mathematics.
Authentic materials from the
local community such as catalogues, flyers, posters, and brochures are required
for much of this unit. Sets of Canadian paper bills and plastic coins can be
bought at teachers’ stores or through a supplier of mathematics material such
as Spectrum (905-841-0600) or The Scholastic Book Club (1-800-268-3860). A
class set of simple calculators is needed; international currency and snapshots
of world markets borrowed from staff and students will enrich the activities.
This unit is community-based
and field trips are an integral part of the work. The school location,
transportation and the receptivity of the local community will influence how
much work outside the school is possible. Creating Successful Field Trips
is a practical resource. Consult your school’s excursion policy and make
arrangements well ahead of time.
Throughout this unit,
students will need to practice manipulating currency and figures. Many of the
texts for teaching literacy have appropriate reproducible materials to use as
exercises. Others are useful as models.
Classroom routines and
projects such as word lists and picture dictionaries should be continued
throughout this unit. An on-going practice introduced in Activity #1 is journal
writing. In this unit a journal is modelled by the teacher in co-operation with
the class writing a log of the class events each day to post and re-read. This
is a preparation for more personal writing in Unit 3.
Emergent readers need to
spend time on recognizing and writing the alphabet, memorizing words and
learning decoding skills. Word frequency lists such as those found in A
Handbook for ESL Literacy and Reading in North York Schools are
useful for teacher reference. As the unit develops, the classroom walls should
become “the sea of print” required for literacy. As the school year goes on,
take advantage of opportunities to consolidate learning by having the class use
money in real ways: fund-raising by selling pizza, organizing field trips and class
parties.
Assessment and evaluation
should be a joint activity in which learners are actively involved in
recognizing what they have learned. Teachers need to choose times to evaluate
when students are likely to experience a level of success that will build
confidence that they will continue to learn. A Cumulative Checklist for the
Reader at the Emergent Stage (Appendix A) identifies the steps in a reader’s
growth.
Prior Knowledge Required
• matches number symbols and words to at least twenty
• understands the format of a book (front, back, title)
• understands school and class rules
• understands the importance of keeping an organized notebook
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Brainstorming, Categorizing,
Cloze (written), Co-operative Journal Writing, Copying, Writing Patterned
Sentences, Directed Reading, Role-playing, Experience Charts, Excursions,
Games, Key Word Lists, Labelled Collages, Paired Reading, Reading Aloud to
Students, Read-along tapes, Reading Collections, Role-playing, Shared Reading,
Semantic Mapping, Skimming/Scanning, Sketching, Think-alouds.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Activity Type Tool Category
|
Activity 1 |
Diagnostic Summative Formative |
Teacher Observation Daily
Quizzes Tracking Sheets |
Knowledge Knowledge Application, Knowledge |
|
Activity 2 |
Summative Formative |
Matching Quiz Accuracy of Floor Plan |
Knowledge Application |
|
Activity 3 |
Diagnostic Formative Summative |
Cumulative Checklist Tracking Sheets Dictated Story |
Communication Knowledge, Communication Communication |
|
Activity 4 |
Summative Summative |
Collage Rubric Problem Solving Test |
Know, Think, Comm,
Application Thinking |
|
Activity 5 |
Formative Summative |
Teacher Observation Dream Room Poster |
Communication Application, Knowledge |
|
Activity 6 |
Formative Summative |
Teacher Observation Tracking Sheet |
Communication Communication |
Expectations which are assessed
through the assessment tools for each activity are denoted by the iconic symbol
< in each activity expectation list.
Resources
Bell, Jill, and Burnaby,
Barbara. A Handbook for ESL Literacy. Toronto: OISE Press, 1984.
Chamot, Ana. O’Malley, Michael.
The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the Cognitive Academic Language Learning
Approach. Reading, MA. Addison-Wesley, 1994
English, Barbara, and
Lipton-Doidge, Karen. Creating Successful Field Trips. Toronto: Irwin
Publishing, 1997.
Reading in North York
Schools: A Guideline for Teachers. Curriculum and Instructional Services. The North
York Board of Education, 1995. (now
Toronto District School Board)
Texts, CD ROMs and videos
are available for loan across the province from the Alpha Plus Centre, 21 Park
Road, Toronto, Ontario M4W 2N1. Tel: 416 975 1351, 1-800-788-11120. This
library provides resources for adult learning. Teachers of students over
fourteen years of age may use the resources. Alpha Plus will ship resources all over Ontario.
Activity #1: Money, Money, Money
Time: 120 minutes
Description
Students will share
information about international currency and familiarize themselves with
Canadian money. They will practise writing about money.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual Communication:
AORV.01L, AOR1.01L
Reading: AREV.01L,
ARE2.03L, ARE2.04L
Writing: AWRV.02L*, AWR1.02L*
Social and Cultural
Competence: ASCV.02L*, ASC2.07L*
Planning Notes
• A relay game explained in this activity as a review can be repeated
many times within the unit using increasingly complex amounts of money,
mathematical signs and written numbers.
• Materials Needed : Classroom money sets, foreign
currency, multiple copies of descriptions of currency, copies of worksheets on
mathematical signs, and on popular terms for currency, chart paper, markers
Prior Knowledge Required
• recognizes numbers from 1-100
• writes the numbers from 1-20 in both words and symbols
• keeps a notebook
Teaching / Learning Strategies
1. Introduce the unit by explaining that for the next few weeks the
class will be studying money. Use a relay game to establish how much number
recognition the group has. On one section of the chalkboard write the figures
from 1˘ to 99˘ helter skelter. On another section of the chalkboard write the
same figures in a different but equally random order. Divide the class into two
teams. The team’s task is to erase numbers as they are called out. The first
team to erase each number gets a point. This game may be played throughout the
unit as a warm up exercise.
2. Review the names of numbers taught in Unit 1, Activity #1. Then
using a variety of work sheets (word cloze, matching, scrambled letters), have students
practise the names of numbers. To assess learning, dictate numbers for students
to write both in words and symbols. When most students can write words and
numbers with some accuracy, begin a series of daily quizzes.
3. Discuss money used in other countries. Make a chart using headings
such as: Country, Names of Money, Drawings of Coins and Bills. From the chart
write sentences together such as: In
Canada we use dollars. In Sri Lanka
we use rupees. A dollar has a bird on.
. .Have students copy these sentences into their notebooks.
Introduce Canadian currency,
using classroom money. Discuss the popular terms for currency, (penny, nickel,
dime, quarter, loonie, buck, toonie). Develop a listening exercise in which
pairs of students exchange various coins and bills. Give instructions such as: Give your partner a
quarter . . . Now, give your partner a
twenty dollar bill. . . To reinforce this learning use worksheets and the
listening activities found in Before Book One.
4. Introduce journal writing by beginning a classroom diary. Spend
the last few minutes of the class preparing a model journal entry,
recapitulating the day’s work in past tense sentences. Monday, October ___,
_______. Today we looked at money. We
wrote about money from around the world. For homework, we have worksheets.
Use chart paper and post the entries on the walls to reread regularly. Repeat
this daily throughout the unit.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
1. Teacher observation of level of number recognition, noting that
confusions between numbers such as 7, 17, 70 may be a pronunciation difficulty
rather than failure to understand mathematical concepts. (Diagnostic)
2. Daily quizzes of dictated numbers, words and symbols. (Summative)
3. Tracking sheets to record when students achieve mastery in number
writing from dictation, the names of currency and maintaining a notebook
(Formative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
If students have repeated
difficulty counting to 100 in English, more practice will be required. Mathematics
consultants can be helpful in suggesting strategies and providing concrete
material. Games such as bingo, dominoes, and playing cards can provide
practice. Some students may not be allowed to play cards; these activities
should, therefore, be optional.
Resources
Boyd, John and Mary Ann and
Kezwer, Paula. Before Book One, Canadian Edition. Toronto: Prentice-
Hall, 1993.
Activity # 2: A Loonie, A Quarter
or A Dime . . . ?
Time: 180
minutes
Description
Students will continue to
practise the use of Canadian currency, estimate costs, use calculators, write
sentences about prices, role-play supermarket exchanges, and make a floor plan
of a local store.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual
Communication: AORV.03L, AOR2.05L, AOR3.05L
Reading: AREV.02L,
ARE2.05L, ARE3.04L
Writing: AWRV.02L*,
AWR2.01L*
Social and Cultural
Competence: ASCV.02L, ASC1.04L
Planning Notes
• Be aware that very efficient language learners often continue to
use their first language for counting and calculation. Students should not be
discouraged from using first language as a thinking tool.
• The work with currency requires some preparation. Use readings
describing currency and exercises using signs such as =, d. Listening exercises
using Canadian currency can be found in Before Book One. Be aware
of how difficult it is to use Canadian and American money because of the
quarter and nickel varying from base 10.
• Materials Needed: classroom money, class set of
calculators, grocery store flyers, copies of a floor plan of local grocery
store
Prior Knowledge Required
• familiarity with names and values of Canadian currency
Teaching and Learning Strategies
1. Begin class with a replay of the number recognition relay game introduced
in Activity #1. Provide students with opportunities to manipulate money such as
counting out classroom money for matching exercises to reinforce the names and
values of Canadian currency. Then help them write the amounts in words: 3 dimes
= 30 cents, 12 loonies = 12 dollars, 2 dimes and a nickel = 25 cents. When
students have mastered the use of coins, mix coins and bills for amounts such
as $1.25, $13.76. Make sure students are familiar with equals and not equals
signs.
2. Distribute grocery store flyers to the class. In small groups, ask
students to make a list of at least five items they could purchase with a
twenty dollar bill. Teach one group how to add with a calculator. Regroup the
class to allow students to coach other students in the use of the calculator.
Have them check their lists and add or remove items to meet the twenty dollar
limit. Help students develop patterned sentences from their lists. Write
sentences they produce such as: 3 lemons
cost 89 cents. A loaf of bread costs $1.19. A bag of rice... Have the
students copy these sentences in their notebooks. Ask each student to add two
sentences using the flyers and the group sentences as models.
3. Role-play a situation in a supermarket. Take the role of a cashier
and ask each of your customers to give you exact change in classroom money.
Give them a written bill in advance in the first rounds; as they become more
proficient increase the pace and announce the amounts: That will be $7.55, sir. When the amount is correct, give a
receipt. Later, change roles with students. When students have mastered this
task, give a matching quiz on currency.
4. Devise shopping games based on information gap activities such as
those found in Elementary Communication Games. The context of the
book is British: but the games are useful. An example is “Shopping Around”. The
purpose is for students to read lists of items and prices and decide where each
item can be obtained most economically. Prepare two lists of prices from
different sporting goods stores. Divide the class into pairs and give each pair
a hand-written shopping list of equipment for an activity of interest such as
soccer or track and field. Each student in the pair needs a different price
list from the other. Students decide which store offers the best price for each
item. They should then calculate the amount the equipment would cost.
5. Arrange an excursion to a local grocery store. Prepare a floor
plan for students to label with the location of dairy products, vegetables,
fruit, meat, frozen food, soft drinks, cashier, etc. (This could be adapted for
a school store or a convenience store.)
Assessment and Evaluation Techniques
1. Matching quiz on currency
(Summative)
2. Accuracy check of grocery store floor plans (Formative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
Additional work sheets and
exercises involving numeracy are listed in the course resource list. Groups
should be organized to include weaker students who may be having difficulty
copying.
Resources
Hadfield, Jill. Elementary
Communication Games. England: Nelson, 1984 (Distributed by Addison Wesley
Longman)
Activity # 3: To Market, to
Market
Time: 180 minutes
Description
Students will participate in
prewriting activities which include understanding and discussing illustrated
texts told or read aloud by the teacher. Students will sketch shops and markets
that they remember and will dictate descriptions of their shopping experiences
in their home countries. An excursion to a near-by market or pick-your-own farm
is included.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual
Communication: AORV.01L, AOR1.01L_
Reading: AREV.02L*,
ARE1.021. ARE2.03L*, ARE2.05L, ARE2.07L
Writing: AWRV.01L*,
AW2.01L*
Social and Cultural
Competence: ASCV.02L, ASC1.01L
Planning Notes
• The three books about markets describe a wide range of shopping
experiences from supermarkets in Kuwait, to American fish markets and Hong Kong
street markets. They validate the variety of shopping experiences students in
this course may have had.
• Consider how much of the text students will understand if you
read aloud. Looking at the illustrations and talking about the photographs and
images that interest the class are also very valuable teaching strategies
either as a preparation or a substitution. If the reading is just beyond the
students’ full comprehension, your modelling of phrasing, intonation, and
pronunciation will help.
• Madhur Jaffrey in Market Days: From Market to Market Around the
World. includes four international vegetarian recipes that can be assembled
rather than cooked. If this book is not available, simplify such recipes from
cookbooks.
• The culminating task is the student-dictated story. It may take
several days to find time to work individually with each student. You may
choose to overlap this activity with some of the work such as the collage in
Activity #4 which the students can work at independently.
• The most efficient way to publish a classroom reader is to type the
information students relate directly into a computer word-processing program.
Use a large font so that students can see their words transformed into print on
the screen. If a computer is not available in the classroom, the work may be
entered later.
• Two more on-going strategies are introduced in this activity: a
reading collection from which students rehearse familiar readings and a reading
log.
• Materials Needed: pictures of shops and markets, a copy
of the three books on markets in the resource list, current grocery store
flyers, chart paper, markers, computer access, a modified cloze exercise based
on a recipe for serving papaya, book pockets from the school resource centre,
file cards, bristol board for making a reading log.
Prior Knowledge Required
• an understanding of the format of a book (front, back, title)
• experience with shops and markets
Teaching /Learning Strategies
1. Most students have had experience with shopping for household
goods and necessary items. Use snapshots and pictures from cookbooks or
magazines to begin a discussion about markets. Use a few of the photographs in Shops
and Markets around the World as a way of previewing the text. Read the book
aloud to the class or to small groups . Follow on other days with Lewin’s Market!
and Jaffrey’s Market Days: From Market to Market Around the World. Have students use the recipes in Market
Days for practice in scanning. Ask them to make a shopping list for the
ingredients. Use flyers from local grocery stores to decide whether the
ingredients are available in the community and if so, how expensive they are.
If students are interested, shop for ingredients and have the class follow some
of the recipes.
2. Read Jaffrey’s recipe for serving fresh papaya to the students. In
pairs have students reread the recipe. Provide a modified cloze exercise of
Jaffrey’s recipe. Use the recipe as a skeleton for a controlled composition on
how to serve another fruit such as pineapple.
3. Introduce sketching by modelling a quick drawing of a market where
you have shopped.
Distribute chart paper and
markers to students and have them sketch a shop or market from their country.
Encourage as much detail as possible.
Then model a paragraph on the
chalkboard describing your own sketch. As you write, use a think aloud
approach. I need to begin this way. This
is the market my family and I go to on weekends. In my picture I’ve got the
people I buy my apples and cheese from. I’ll put it down this way: Every
Saturday morning my family and I get up at 6 o’clock so we can go to the market
early... Read your composition aloud to the students and explain that you
are going to write a book together about their stories.
4. Plan some quiet work time. Have students individually dictate
stories about their market scenes. Some may describe; others may introduce
narrative. Question for more detail as they speak. Choose a title together and
publish the book as a classroom reader. Give each student a copy and launch the
masterpiece by reading aloud while the class follows. Have the students keep
this work in their reading collection as one of their practice reading pieces.
Over the next few weeks, students practise and demonstrate reading their own
and their classmates’ stories aloud to reading partners and to the teacher.
5. Begin individual reading logs with students. Make a classroom chart
using library book pockets. On each pocket print a student’s name. Give each
student a file card with these labels at the top of columns: Author, Title,
Date Finished, No. of Pages and a Comment. Make sure they include all the books
read aloud to the class and their own reader on shopping around the world.
Students will be responsible for updating their file cards as books are read
aloud or as they finish their own independent reading.
6. Plan an excursion to a near-by outdoor market or pick-your-own
farm. Local farms and orchards often provide videos explaining what students
can expect to see. Activities involving weighing produce, writing language
experience stories, and creating photo essays are useful ways of consolidating
and extending the skills begun in the classroom.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
1. Cumulative checklist for the reader at the emergent stage (Diagnostic)
(Appendix 1)
2. Assess the dictated story using categories such as the amount of
detail of the sketch, the amount of printing attempted, and the length and
interest of the final description told. (Summative)
3. Tracking sheets noting which students have read stories from the
classroom reader aloud, and the numbers of attempts required for completeness
and accuracy in list-making and patterned writing. (Formative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
Students who are beginning to
be interested in independent reading could be introduced to other books of
photographs with limited amounts of reading. Shops and Markets around the
World is part of a series called Around the World which explores topics such as
clothes, festivals, food, houses, musical instruments, toys and games. Another
set of books with photographs and very simple readings on interesting topics is
a series called New True Books. This reading should be available either
in a classroom library or a school resource centre.
Less orally proficient ESL
learners may only be able to show a sketch of a market. The teacher should
provide a few sentences that describe the drawing and incorporate words the
student recognizes so that all students can make a contribution to the class
reader. Other students may be able to label or begin to write. They should be
encouraged to do so.
Resources
Hall, Godfrey. Shops and
Markets around the World. Hove, East Sussex, England: Wayland, 1995.
Jaffrey, Madhur. Market
Days: From Market to Market Around the World. BridgeWater Books,
1995
Lewin, Ted. Market!
New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1996.
New True Books (series title). Chicago:
Children’s Press.
Activity # 4: How Much Did They Spend?
Time: 240
minutes
Description
Students will begin to learn
the spelling of key nouns and the forms for writing prices by making and
labelling a collage. They will use graphic organizers to progress from planning
to drafting mathematical word problems.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual Communication:
AORV.02L, AORV.03L*, A0R3.04L*
Reading: AREV.01L,
AREV.02L, AREV.03L*, ARE3.02*
Writing: AWRV.02L*,
AWR2.01L, AWR2.02L*
Social and Cultural
Competence: ASCV.02L*, ASC1.04L*, ASC2.06L
Planning Notes
• The collage is a time-consuming undertaking. Once students
understand what is required in their collage, they should be able to work
independently to classify, categorize and label a variety of items. When
independent work is under way, teachers will then have time to give individual
help to students who are likely to be very disparate in their familiarity with
money and with problem solving. A cultural difficulty in collage making is that
North American advertising uses models in sexist and racist ways. You cannot
edit every magazine that comes into your classroom but you can set firm
guidelines for student work as outlined in the first section of the activity.
• Colleagues from Art, Family Studies, and Science may have
samples of collages that will help students understand that such assignments
are valued in secondary schools.
• In problem-solving, pay particular attention to words that occur
on high frequency word lists. Make sure that these are part of each student’s
sight word vocabulary.
• Materials Needed: construction paper, magazines and
catalogues, scissors, glue, computer access or stencils, chart paper, flyers
from local stores, markers, multiple copies of worksheets for teaching
strategies 3 and 4.
Prior Knowledge Required
• Mastery of numbers to 100 in both words and symbols
• Identifies the value of Canadian coins and bills.
• Matches classroom money to money values expressed in written
terms such as 25˘, $21.25, a dollar and a quarter.
Teaching /Learning Strategies
1. The student’s assignment in this activity is to make and label a
collage with names and approximate prices from the supply of magazines and
catalogues in the classroom. Display examples of collages other students have
completed. Have students choose a topic for their own collage such as clothing,
fruit, vegetables, sports equipment. Do not use flyers this time. Make clear
that certain images are not acceptable in our schools. Veto inappropriate
material with an emphasis on not hurting the feelings of male and female peers.
There are several ways to
make labels. Teach the steps of using a word-processing program with decorative
fonts and varied type sizes. If you have a class-room computer, list the steps
on a wall poster as a reminder. Another way of making labels is to use stencils.
This reinforces the shapes of the letters and is an excellent homework
assignment. Yet another way is to teach lettering in upper case letters as is
done in drafting. Titles can be lettered by joining two pencils with elastic
bands and drawing double lines.
Have students research
prices by looking through catalogues and flyers or by visiting a mall. Attach
prices to pictures in collage. Return to the personal picture dictionaries and
word lists from Unit 1, Activity #6. Have students continue to add words they
are learning. Use these as a source of words for spelling quizzes.
2. Reinforce money-handling skills. Role-play giving exact change and
calculating which bill or coin is required to cover a total cost. Practice
rounding up from prices given such as $3.99.
Make up a version of “The
Price is Right”. Set out trays of real
items and have students estimate how much they would pay for each. Label the
items. Have students record the names of the items in their word banks. Create
worksheets using the names of some of the items and the students’ estimates.
Using flyers and catalogues students then research accurate prices and judge
how close their guesses were.
3. Discuss ways of reading. Review the ways students have already
read in this course: browsing through school year books, skimming flyers from
stores, listening for the main ideas and observing the pictures in illustrated
texts. Explain that problems in mathematics involve a kind of close reading and
sorting out of facts that is very different from the reading of other material.
Show students some examples of addition problems in math, e.g. On the
way home from school Sharif and William bought a bag of potato chips and a
large bottle of pop. The chips cost $2.59 and the pop cost 99˘. How much money
did they spend?
Demonstrate how to fill in a
chart with the following titles: Story (situation), Numbers (data), ?
(Question) from the problems. As you demonstrate, use a think aloud technique: Now, these two fellows are going home from
school...I guess that’s the story. I’ll just draw their pictures here and put
the names under them. I don’t think it matters where they’re going...so I’ll
leave that out...Now do they each buy a bag of chips and a pop?....or are they
going to share?...It must be just one big bag of chips if it costs almost
$3.00. ...I’ll just draw it here, etc.
Distribute flyers from a
hardware store. Ask students to imagine people who might buy certain items.
Fill in the chart used in the last exercise by drawing stick figures with names
in the story (Who?, Where?, When?) column. Then ask what they would buy from
the flyers. Cut out two or three items and glue them to the chart. Add the
prices. Repeat until you have five or six situations. Go back and ask what math
question could be asked. Demonstrate how each of the chart entries could be
made into a math problem. Use these sentences as examples of the use of capital
letters, periods and question marks. Have them copy the problems into their
notebooks and find answers.
4. Distribute chart paper,
scissors, markers, and flyers to pairs of students. Help them repeat the
exercise of making up situations, i.e. Story:
On Saturday afternoon there was a no tax sale at the mall. Numbers: Rosa bought
batteries for $4.00 and a flashlight for $14. Question: How much did Rosa
spend? Test the clarity and completeness of the problems by solving them
together. Make up a test by choosing problems from the students’ work.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
1. Test of student-written problems (Summative)
2. Rubric for the collage (See Appendix 2) (Summative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
• Maintain a class penny jar to provide concrete material for
students who need counting practice.
• Consult with a math consultant for suggestions on obtaining and
using mathematical manipulative material.
Resources
Chamot, A. and O’Malley, M. Mathematics
Book A: Learning Strategies for Problem Solving. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley, 1988.
Activity #5: Can I Afford It?
Time: 240 minutes
Description
Students will develop
literacy skills by discussing spending money and learning to budget. Activities
involve deciding on essential and optional expenses and looking at ways to plan
spending realistically.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual Communication:
AORV.01L*,
AOR1.01L*
Reading: AREV.02L, ARE1.02L
Writing: AWRV.02L, AWR2.01L, AWR2.02L
Social and Cultural Competence:
ASCV.02L*,
ASC2.06L*
Planning Notes
• Students need to be aware that planning how to spend and save
money is a highly subjective concept. There are essential expenses and expenses
that are optional. Relate this topic to the everyday needs and resources of the
students. It is not intended that these activities will intrude into the
spending habits or personal finances of the class. Rather the intent is to
consider the concept of spending and saving money as reflecting one’s own
personal needs and resources.
• Prepare a simple reading on how one fictional student spent
money during a week and a second reading in which a decision about how to spend
money must be made.
• Have a plentiful supply of home furnishing catalogues and flyers
for students to create dream rooms on a budget and with unlimited funds.
• Materials Needed: home furnishing catalogues, chart paper and
markers, bristol board.
Prior Knowledge Required
• reads simple stories with previously learned vocabulary and
sentence structures
• works cooperatively in pairs or small groups
• uses computer for making labels
• writes guided stories using previously learned vocabulary and
sentence structures
Teaching/Learning Strategies
1. Brainstorm how high school students generally spend their money.
On the chalkboard categorize the items as essential and optional. Model a budget
which begins with essential items but includes some optional spending.
2. Provide the class with a simple story on how one fictional student
spent money during a week. Review the spellings of the days of the week. Read
the story together and identify new vocabulary. In pairs have students make a
chart of the items in the story considered essential and optional. Assist
students with spelling and vocabulary. As a class discuss perceived
differences.
3. Present a second story involving a dilemma in spending money. For
instance: Kumar’s parents gave him $15.00
for his field trip. On the way to school he met two friends and they stopped at
the convenience store. Kumar bought chocolate bars and chips for his friends.
Now he doesn’t have enough money for the field trip. What should he do?
Have students identify realistic solutions to the story problem. Write these
solutions on the board.
4. In small groups have students compose simple stories about
budgeting problems. Use these details as starters for language experience
stories. Encourage groups to explore options for resolving each others’
problems.
5. To practise budgeting, have students create two posters on dream
rooms. One dream room poster is with a budget set by the teacher containing
essential things. The second dream room poster is with unlimited funds
containing essential and optional items. Encourage the use of the computer for
labelling the poster. Have the students present the two posters to the class
with an explanation of the choices made.
Assessment/Evaluation
1. Teacher observation of the level of participation in the group
budgeting task (Formative)
2. Assessment of posters and class presentations of dream rooms
(Summative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
• Have fluent students make tapes of stories to be transcribed
later. Other students may wish to sketch the situations they will describe.
Activity # 6: Earning Money
Time: 240 minutes
Description
Using an illustrated text students
will explore the skills they bring with them to this class and consider how
roles of children and adolescents vary around the world. Students will list
skills, retell a story and record it from a chart. They will create a photo
essay with captions and re-write the captions as a composition on jobs using
the simple present tense.
Strands & Expectations
Oral and Visual
Communication: AORV.01L, AOR1.01L
Reading: AREV.01L*,
ARE1.01L*, ARE1.02L, ARE2.03L, ARE2.04L
Writing: AWRV.02L*,
AWR1.02L*, AWR2.02L*
Social and Cultural
Competence: ASCV.01L*, ASCV.02L, ASC1.03L*, ASC2.07L
Planning Notes
The complex ideas to be
discussed in the work with The Day of Ahmed’s Secret will help to
establish that illustrated texts can be sophisticated. Be prepared for a
discussion of child labour laws, compulsory school attendance, safety when
transporting chemicals, licensing of vendors, and drivers, the importance of
literacy, variations in script for different languages. The grammatical forms
which are a natural outgrowth of this discussion include modals such as can, can’t, to be able to.
Prior Knowledge Required
• exposure to present continuous tense and simple present tense
• familiarity with brainstorming and language experience stories
Teaching/Learning Strategies
1. Brainstorm household chores and part-time jobs that students did
before coming to Canada. On another section of the chalkboard list the chores
and jobs they do now.
2. Introduce the picture book, The Day of Ahmed’s Secret by
explaining how books written for children have layers of meaning and messages
that are beyond the comprehension of young children. Tell or read Ahmed’s
story. Then return to the book focusing only on the illustrations. Elicit from
the students what skills Ahmed already has. Record these on chart paper
highlighting his entrepreneurial skills in a list entitled: Ahmed Can. Then discuss the students’ work experience and list the skills
they have acquired in a list entitled: We
Can. Have students copy the lists into their notebooks.
3. Re-read the book. This time have students re-examine Ahmed’s daily
routine predicting which activities he would not be allowed to do in Canada and
what he would need to learn.
4. Have students retell the story, using the pictures as prompts.
Record their story as a language experience story on chart paper. Make a
printed copy to add to their reading collection. Return to this reading for a
variety of directed reading activities.
5. With the students plan an excursion to a local store or mall. A
tour behind the scenes at a mall would introduce students to careers. Have
students take photographs of people working. Use the photographs for a
photo-essay to share with beginning ESL students. Help each student write
captions answering the question: What are they doing? He is cooking hamburgers. She is cutting hair. He is arranging flowers.
Draw students’ attention to
the -ing form of the verb. Some may
know the terminology present continuous. Others may be more
comfortable with helping verb plus ing word. It is important for them
to know that verbs are time words and that is
cooking, is cutting refer to what a person is doing now. Show them that to
show what people do often, sometimes,
always, never or every day is shown with the s form of the verb with he and
she and with no endings with other pronouns. Students may know the terminology simple present.
6. Extend this activity by teaching the names of jobs and having
students write their first compositions: Jobs in the community: The florist arranges flowers. The
hairdresser cuts hair.
Assessment/Evaluation
1. Teacher observation of level of participation and understanding of
adolescent roles and responsibilities during discussing of The Day of
Ahmed’s Secret (Formative)
2. Tracking sheet for completion of lists, experience chart stories
and captions. (Summative)
Accommodations/Special Needs
• Telling the story rather than reading is a way to simplify the
narrative for students who have less fluency in English.
Resources
Heide, Florence and
Gilliland, Judith. The Day of Ahmed’s Secret. New York: Lothrop, Lee
& Shepard Books, 1995.
Appendix 1: A
Cumulative Checklist for the Reader at the Emergent Stage
(Page can be set-up with 3 columns for dates and descriptors at left
side of page)
This checklist is meant to
be used at various times throughout the course. The columns have space for
dates close to the beginning of the course, mid-course and at the end. Use the
descriptors None, Limited, Considerable, Thorough
Student_________________ Age______Home Form_____ School
Year_______
Beginning Mid-course End of Course
1. Reads for
Enjoyment
• enjoys being read to
• shows an interest in print, flips through magazines
• enjoys seeing own ideas in print
2. Reads for
information and demonstrates understanding
• knows that books are sources of information
• recognizes that the print and the illustrations tell the story
• begins to develop an awareness that readers read for a variety of
purposes
3. Reads aloud with
meaning and expression
• rote reads own dictated stories from memory
4. Finds and uses
information for personal research
• knows that books have a front and a back
• demonstrates book-handling knowledge (right-side up, understands
that flyers and newspapers are expendable and that text books and library books
are not)
• signs out material from school resource centre or classroom
library
• recognizes that a book has a title
• understands that personally useful information is found in
print: school timetable, TV schedules, sales at stores, the driver’s manual
5. Reads with skill
and understanding
• reads some environmental print, e.g. signs, labels
• recognizes and prints own name
• recalls, retells a story simply, including some events and
characters
• shows an emotional response to material read aloud
• connects stories with experiences
• makes predictions about material being read
• begins to develop letter/sound correspondence
6. Reads with
discrimination
• has an expectation of success in learning to read
• asks questions about material read to him/her
• has favourite reading material
Adapted from Reading in North York Schools: A Guideline
for Teachers. Curriculum and Instructional Services. The North York Board of Education. 1995 (now Toronto
District School Board), p.267. (Permission to use has been requested)
Appendix 2: SAMPLE RUBRIC FOR ASSESSING A COLLAGE
|
RUBRIC FOR ASSESSING COLLAGE (UNIT 2 ACTIVITY 4) |
||||
|
Categories |
50-59% Level 1 |
60-69% Level 2 |
70-79% Level 3 |
80-100% Level 4 |
|
Knowledge/ Understanding -understands and uses
relevant images |
The student demonstrates limited relationship of
pictures to topic |
some relationship of pictures
to topic |
considerable relationship
of pictures to topic |
thorough relationship of
pictures to topic |
|
Thinking/ Inquiry -uses a variety of
pictures -classifies items into
relevant categories |
The student demonstrates limited variety of
pictures limited competence in
classifying |
some variety of pictures some competence in
classifying |
considerable variety of
pictures considerable competence in
classifying |
thorough variety of
pictures thorough competence in
classifying |
|
Communication -copies accurately (e.g.,
spelling) -uses bank of sight words -labels pictures
accurately |
The student demonstrates limited accuracy in
copying limited use of bank of
sight words limited competence in
labelling pictures |
some accuracy in copying some use of bank of sight
words some competence in
labelling pictures |
considerable accuracy in
copying considerable use of bank
of sight words considerable competence in
labelling pictures |
thorough accuracy in
copying thorough use of bank of
sight words thorough competence in
labelling pictures |
|
Application -matches appropriate
prices to items |
The student demonstrates limited competence in matching
prices to items |
some competence in
matching prices to items |
considerable competence in
matching prices to items |
thorough competence in
matching prices to items |