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Mini Lessons
I have been
trying to get a 10 minute reading mini lesson in at the beginning of
reading. It has been a fun challenge to figure out where I am
going with each mini lesson and how much I can teach in 10 minutes!
I have been trying to incorporate our anthology (basal) into the
mini lessons. I use the anthology to assess the skill I am
teaching in the mini lesson. I am currently reading
Mosaic of Thought by Keen and Zimmerman. I am sure this
will change my view of teaching skills during mini lessons!
But for now, it is working.
Where Do You Have Mini
Lessons?
Book Lists
Mini
Lessons
Reading Mini Lessons Links
Writing Mini Lessons Links
Where Do You Have Mini
Lessons?
I usually have mine in front of the room
or in front of my easel on the carpet; it depends on what I am
teaching! I really like to have my lessons on the carpet for
two reasons: 1.) Students have to stand up and move and get some of
the restlessness out and 2.) It builds a sense of community with all
of us
sitting close together learning about the same things.
My second year of teaching I pulled an
easel (literally) out of the trash. I took the legs apart and
tried to make it balance and repainted it. I did all of
this at school- and was quite proud of myself. I used it for
two years. This summer I asked my handy father to fix it up for
me and it is BEAUTIFUL!
Here is a front view. My dad
added cups on hooks to store pens and markers and such. |
Here is a side view. You can
see the two shelves my dad added for extra storage.
|
Here is a back view. The long
silver bar will be where I drape all my loose leaf chart
paper. |
I love it! I
am going to get a bucket and store charts on the bottom shelf
along with my tub of magnetic letters for making words. |
Book
Lists
Book List by Deb Smith from the
Reading
Lady website
Huge list of books to use with MOT strategies-
Click on the first link at the top
List of Books For Writing Crafts and Reading Skills
Another
Book List For Reading and Writing
Back to the Top
Mini Lessons
***Here is a great
link
to picture of anchor charts created during mini lessons by
Holly Nowalk****
Reading Mini Lessons
Making Connections-
This page is JUST getting started. I have the primary unit up
for the most part and the secondary unit will be coming soon!
Questioning Mini Lessons- printable lessons, resources and book
lists! Big page!
Inferencing Mini Lessons- HUGE unit with tons of graphic
organizers and printables!
Cause and Effect Mini Lessons
Cause and Effect Index Cards for Matching
Cause and Effect signs
Author's Purpose Mini Lessons
Time for Kids Link (Authors Purpose- to persuade)
Fact and Opinion Mini Lessons
Fact and Opinion
Game (see lessons above for directions)
Fact and Opinion
Game Answer Key
Fact and Opinion Sorting
Activity (see lessons above for directions)
Plot Mini Lessons
Plot index cards for labeling
chart- Print these out on card stock and
laminate for durability
Plot chart
Thank You, Mr.
Falkner cards-(see
lesson above for directions). Double check these- I wrote them
off the top of my head!
Third Grade- Week Long Units
I am currently in the process of writing several of my reading units
for the beginning of the year. I am basing these on what my
past students need, my grade level curriculum map and past lessons.
Of course I will "tweak" these lessons as needed to meet my current
student's needs! Some of the lessons may look very familiar
and are shortened units of the ones above. We "recycle' these
units several times throughout the school year. Please note not all
of the ideas are completely original and may be adapted from other
sites (I just wish I could remember from where! : (. If you
see something and recognize the "owner" please let me know!).
Retelling
Unit- I wrote these lessons for the beginning of the school year
in third grade. It has been my experience that many readers
forget basic story grammar when retelling a story. Hopefully
these lessons will cement it and also give a s visual cue to help
them.
retelling graphic organizer from summer school
retelling story frame poster
retelling hand graphic organizer
Questioning
Unit- This is slightly longer than a week. The documents
needed for these units are listed below.
Petite Rouge By Artell power point
Questioning Chart, Questioning Coding Chart, Questioning Flip Flap
books
Making Connections- This is also a shortened unit form above.
Text toText Bridge Worksheet
connections summary frame worksheet
Making
Predictions- I have noticed some of my more younger readers tend
to make predictions that are not based on the text. hopefully
these lessons will take care of that!
Inference- Shorter unit that includes poetry. This is a
topic that is hit OFTEN!!!!!!!!!!
Categories Power
Point Game
Poetry Inference Books (these are leveled- I made these to
match my students but they are NOT technically leveled- I just "eye
balled" them!). I DID NOT write the poems. I found
them from various places online, like
here, and compiled them.
below grade level
mostly on grade level
slightly above grade level
Inference Game board
template from
JC Schools
Inference Task Cards
from
Proteacher
Reading Strategy
Posters shared by Tiffany Edelen (These are great- I just
printed them for my own classroom!)
Writing Mini Lessons
Encouraging Students to be Descriptive in Writing Using Similes-
This is a
writing unit that a very talented first grade teacher at my school
created. I simply adapted some of the ideas and many I borrowed
EXACTLY as she created them. These lessons are to encourage
students to become more descriptive in their writing by using
similes and noticing how authors use similes to paint a picture in
the readers mind.
Here is a picture of the
end result:
Writing a Response to Literature- I wrote this for a staff
development I did at school on writing with a colleague. It is a
little different than many response to reading units since I focused
on a character analysis paragraph rather than writing text
connections. Most the teachers at my school were comfortable
with this already, so I tried a different direction. You will
need the character
inference graphic organizer for this unit.
Back to the Top
Mini Lesson Links for Reading
http://www.teacherweb.com/fl/mcdonaldelementary/mrscervone/
Great
fourth grade reading mini lessons for fourth grade written by Mrs.
Cervone. I will definitely be looking at these when I teach
determining importance- too bad I had already completed the
units on connections and questioning because these look great too!
http://www.sandi.net/dingeman/teachers/rw_lessons.htm
Great list of books to support MANY
different skills and strategies taught during mini lessons
http://www.mayer.cps.k12.il.us/Strategies_that_Work/STW.htm
Excellent resource with many
links and ideas!
http://www.u46teachers.org/mosaic/tools/tools.htm
This website has tons of information.
It has reporting and assessment forms as well as lesson plan ideas.
http://www.tooter4kids.com/Classroom/guided_reading_mini_lessons.htm
What to do lessons on...
http://home.midwest.net/~cazueck/readlessons.htm
For third grade.
http://www.learner.org/channel/libraries/makingmeaning/makingmeaning/support/workshop.pdf
Ideas for WHAT to teach in a mini lesson.
http://www.effectiveteachingsolutions.com/writingworkshop.htm
This wonderful site lists books to use in
different writers workshop mini lessons. Not only will you get ideas
for mini lessons, but a text to match!!!
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Mini Lesson Links for
Writing
As far as writing, I get almost ALL of my
writing lessons from the Ralph Fletcher book Craft Lessons.
I love this book. I usually get the idea for my mini lessons
there and then stretch them out with other ideas.
http://www.fargo.k12.nd.us/education/components/docmgr/default.php?sectiondetailid=6013
Holy Moly! This site is awesome! it has lessons
specifically geared to each of the six traits! Very user
friendly and detailed! This is a must see!
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Workshop/8405/minilessonmenu.html
For older students, but can be adapted to
other ages.
http://www.youth.net/cec/ceclang/ceclang-elem.html
Ideas for writing.
http://www.springfield.k12.il.us/resources/languagearts/readingwriting/minilessons.htm
http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/writing_workshop%20Structure.htm
Here is a list of mini lessons that are
appropriate for third grade and can easily be adapted for upper
grades.
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Graphics are from
and
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