Context: The reading and writing assessments were done with 4th graders at Blue Ridge Elementary School during my internship. My professor for Reading - Literacy for Learning - RE4030 is Lynne Bercaw. Under the same professor and same class, I did a 5th grade multi text study with literature from several different genres.
Impact: The reading and writing assessments are a great tool. they benefit the teacher by telling her at what level the child does best for instructional and independent work. They are beneficial to the children because they also need to know at what level to read so that they don't get frustrated. The multi text study is a great tool for learning about different types of literature and ways to explore and learn about that literature. The Multi text study is also a great tool for safely teaching children how to use technology in learning and how fun it can be. It helps to really teach about the content of a book by providing activities and links to resources and further reading. It was alot of fun and will be a great tool in the classroom.
Alignment:These artifacts all cover Standard 1. The reading assessments cover indicators 1 and 2. The multi text study covers Indicator 3,4,and 5. The Social studies unit of instruction in the Social studies content section in the presentation portfolio covers Indicator 6 and the sotry pictures in the technology section covers indicator 7.
The following standards and objectives are also covered in this content section: Grade 5
Technology - Objectives:
3.01 Select and use search strategies with two or more criteria in prepared databases to locate, organize, and present information for content area assignments. (2)
3.02 Use content area databases to analyze, evaluate, organize, and compare information for assignments. (2)
Language Arts - Objectives
1.04 Use word reference materials (e.g., glossary, dictionary, thesaurus, online reference tools) to identify and comprehend unknown words.
1.05 Read independently daily from self-selected materials (consistent with the student's independent reading level) to:
2.02 Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
2.03 Read a variety of texts, such as:
2.04 Identify elements of fiction and nonfiction and support by referencing the text to determine the:
Welcome to the adventures of a boy and his dog Sounder. This book tells a story about an African American boy growing up during the Great depression and all of the things he must face. I chose this book because it is a great representation of courage and love during a time in history that children know little about. This book tells it in a way that children can understand. It is also a great story of the strength of women in a very rough time in history. The companion text is a biography Growing Up Russell Baker and is also about a boy during the great depression with a strong group of women behind him, the difference is he is white and the tell unfolds a little differently. One of the things we will focus on is the the Great Depression and the similarities and differences of the boys lives during this time. The activities will focus mainly on the book Sounder, with the use of the companion text for research and for comparison activities. There will be several activites that will use websites for research about the book and about the history behind it - The Great Depression and racial differences. The character activities will include mainly information about children and women and different races during the Great Depression.
Main Text: Sounder by William Armstrong, copyright 1969, New York, NY. fiction, Reading level - Grade 5 (reading levels vary and this book could be read by grades 4-9, the text is organized and easy to read and understand)
Companion text: Growing Up by Russell Baker, copyright 1982, New York, NY. nonfiction, Reading level - Grade 8 (reading levels vary for this book. It is easy to undersand and could be used by grades 6-9).
Exploring the Great Depression
Internet researcher_____________________ Date_________
This internet workshop will help you discover information about the time period in which our multi texts (Sounder and Growing Up) take place. You will be exploring information on the internet about this time period and writing it in a journal to share with others at the internet workshop.
Children of the Great Depression
1. Go to the web link Yahooligans and type in the search section: Great Depression. Several sites will come up chose - Riding the Rails(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/). It is about lives of teen hobos who travelled around the country by hopping freight trains during the Depression. You could also chose - Magpie Sings the Great Depression (http://newdeal.feri.org/magpie/). This site is about inside thoughts of students in the '30s during the Depression in New York. The writing selections come from a school in the Bronx. Write down information you find about children of the Depression and some of their thoughts on growing up during this time. Include some thoughts on how it might feel to be in their shoes._____________________________________
__________________________________________________
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Depression News
2. Go to the site titled Depression News using the same link. Find as many interesting facts about the depression as you can by reading articles about current events of the time from people who were actually their. One of the sites is - Depression News in the 1930's.(http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/explore/museums/hismus/1900-75/depressn/labnews2.html</A>). __________________________________
________________________________________________________
Special Discoveries
3. Using all 17 sites on Yahooligans about the Depression and some information about the book from the Easy Fun School site find out interesting information about the Depression to share at the internet workshop. _________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Evaluation:
10 points each question - You have written down important and logical information for each item.
5 points - you effectively shared information about the Depression from each section and helped to promote learning on the topic.
Total possible points - 35
Easy Fun School
Yahooligans
Literature Packet
Sounder
by William Armstrong
A story of love, strength and courage through the hard times and the family that never let it break them!
Growing Up
By Russell Baker
Before you read
Activity 1
Introduce both books Sounder is to read by students and Growing Up will be read daily by the teacher. Teacher reads Chapter 1 and 2 of Growing Up and Hands out copies of Sounder.
Focus: A picture is worth a thousand words! Talk about how many times you can see something and know what it about. Like the cover of a movie or book. Hold up several books and have the students guess what they are about. Discuss why some may be better guesses that others because of prior knowledge of the book or movie and things that relate to t it.
Activity: Begin by looking at the cover of the novel. Using a Whats It All About graphic organizer write down 4 things that the cover tells you about the book. Later you will fill in the remaining section of the worksheet with main ideas about the story and compare the two.
Prompting Questions: Who do you think the book is named after, the boy or the dog? Where do you think they are? Can you tell the time period by the boys clothing?
Do this activity with a partner:Think-Pair-Share
Purpose: To come up with ideas about a story by just a small bit of given information (the cover) and your opinion and prior knowledge.
Materials - Printable organizer attached below.
Chapter 1
Activity 2
Teacher reads Chapters 3 and 4 in Growing Up and students should have Chapter 1 read in Sounder.
Focus: Discuss the 5 W's (Who, What, When, Where and Why) and how they are usually found in the first chapter of a story. Talk about why it is important to know these things when reading.
Activity: . In most stories the first chapter tells the setting, characters and other important details that lead you into the story. Now you will fill out the second section of the graphic organizer - What's Its All About. This section will be facts you have read in the story.
After completing this part with your partner make a venn diagram that shows the similarities and differences in your inital predictions about the story and the things that actually are stated in chapter
Prompting Questions: Who is sounder? Who are other characters in the book? What is the setting?
Do this activity:Think-Pair-Share
Vocabulary Words:
Purpose: To learn parts of a story and why they are important.
Materials - Printable Graphic Organizer- Whats It All About and Venn Diagram link below and link to Language Arts information link about 5 W's. It contains a do it yourself printable 5 W's chart
Concept Web of 5W's
Venn Diagram
Activity 3
During Reading
Chapters 2 and 3
Students should have Chapter 2 and 3 in Sounder read. The teacher should have read up through Chapter 6 in Growing Up.
Focus: The topic for this section is DAD. What happens to the Dads. Have the students to think about what the role of a Dad is many households and discuss it. You may also talk about different kids of families in this diverse world and how they are similar and different.
Activity: This activity will focus on comparing and contrasting certian events in two similar pieces of literature. You amy want to use some information gained from the internet workshop on Depression wokred on before reading these books.
compare - to examine (two or more objects, ideas, people, etc.) in order to note similarities and differences; to compare two pieces of literary work (Webster's. p 416):
contrast - to compare in order to show unlikeness or differences; note the opposite natures, purposes. (Webster's. p 442).
Using the Compare and Contrast Web (link to Printable version below) Compare the roles of the Dads in the stories . Also compare and contrast what happens to both Dads and the immediate affects of these events on the boys and the rest of their families. Compare up to this point what changes occur in both homes as a result of what happens to the Dads.
Prompting Questions: 1 What is the role of the Dads in this story. Do the Dads seem to have different lives? Do you think this is because of their color and why? What happens to the Dads? What effect do you think this willl have on the boys in the future? Do you think the time period in which the stories occurred had anything to do with the things that happened to both Dads, explain?
Purpose - For the students to learn about comparing and contrasting literature. To talk about the diversity in families and how different events can affect lives in similar ways.
This activity to be done individually with group discussion
Vocabulary:
Materials: Compare and Contrast Web link for printable version is below. Language arts link with information about the 5 W's below as well.
Activity 4
During Reading
Chapters 4, 5 and 6
Students should have read Sounder up to Chapter 6. In class reading of Growing Up should be at Chapter 10.
Focus: This activity will focus on the Women in the books; mainly Sounder. Begin by having the students write a paragrph about an amazing women in their lives. It can be mother grandmother, aunt. Someone who has made a great impact on them.
Activity: Discuss as a class how the mothers took on the roles of provider, guide, confidant and disciplinarian; while still being the loving. caring and patient mother. Talk about how many times even today women take on all the roles of a household and how this is different or the same as it was back then; make sure to talk about the time period and those obstacles when discussing these issues. After discussion the students are to use one of hte following books and/or websites and write a research paper about other amazing women fromt this time period. They need to include things like the obstacles they had to overcome such as poverty and race. They also need to include a few comparisions to the literature being studied Sounder and Growing Up. These papers will be shared by the class and will folllow with a discussion like the one at the beginning, but with more insight and proabably some different opinions than before the research.
Site or books to use are :
The Great Depression: America in the 1930s
by T. H. Watkins
Freeman, Charles, Portrait of A Decade , Batsford LTD London 1990
Hard Times 1930-1940 , Time Life books, Alexandra, Virginia
1991
Hills, Ken. Take Ten Years. Raintree Steck-Vaughn Co. 1992
Our Glorious Century, Readers Digest, 1994
1930's A Time of Depression http://www.kidsnewsroom.org/elmer/infoCentral/frameset/decade/1930.htm
Mary Mcleod Bethune http://www.nahc.org/NAHC/Val/Columns/SC10-6.html
"America in the Great War," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).
You may also use one of the Childrens books from the book list in the reference section of this packet.
Purpose: To learn how and why to write a research paper. To use the reseach in class discussion and to realte it to the literature being studied; as well as understand the importance of researching other aspects of a time period and its relation to literature and point of view.
Individual research papers - (no voc. or questioning this activity).
Group Discussion - Prompted by students, their research and book knowledge.
Materials: Books and Sites listed to be available, as well as access to computer and books in reference section.
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Compare and Contrast Web
Activity 5
After Reading
Chapter 7 and 8
Students should be finished with Sounder and the teacher should be finished reading Growing Up to the class.
Focus: Change is inevitable. What are some of the major changes in the boys? What things that had changed when the Dad finally returned in Sounder? How did the importance of education and work change after the Dads were gone? Did this change pay off for either boy? Where they able to overcome some major obstacles?
Activity: The importance of Education and a good job are major topics in both books and both boys are pushed or encouraged to pursue either one or both. Why is this the case? Use the information gained from the internet workshop on the Great Depression and information from the following sites to make a before and after chart. The chart will consist of availability, wages, conditions etc. of work and education before the Great Depression and After. Write a descriptive paragraph about the effect these things had on the boys in the books. Also write a descriptive paragraph about how things may have been different if their lives had taken place before the Great Depression.
Readers Choice - Individual or pairs
Sites to Use for Before and After Chart:
Education during the Great Depression
http://kclibrary.nhmccd.edu/decade30.html#education
The Economic History of the 20th Century
http://econ161.berkeley.edu/TCEH/Slouch_Climb16.html
A Case of Unemployment
http://ingrimayne.saintjoe.edu/econ/EconomicCatastrophe/GreatDepression.html
Good Reference book - Public Schools in Hard Times
The Great Depression and Recent Years
David Tyack, Robert Lowe, Elisabeth Hansot
Vocabulary:
conjured - To call or bring to mind; evoke
drought - A long period of abnormally low rainfall, especially one that adversely affects growing or living conditions.
askew - To one side
Materials: Before and After Chart attached
Conclusion Activity
Focus: The book is named after the family dog Sounder. He is symbolic in a way. Sounder represents the closeness of family by being the boys best friend. He represents work ethics of sharecroppers by his eagerness to work and hunt. He represents surviving against all odds , by literally surving after being shot ad beat. He represent loyalty to family by waiting and living for the fathers return. The entire family ensues these qualities, but Sounder is the symbol the book uses to represent them all. This activity will involve symbolism and wrapping up the books.
Activity: Divide the class into groups of 4 and have them to write a haiku and make a triorama that symbolizes the book or books. Directions for both and an example are attached. Have them present and discuss them to wrap up the study.
Assessment - Grading Rubrics attached below
NCSCOS Chart - Attached below
Reference List
* * * Stewart, Sarah The Gardener Illustrated by David Small
Farrar Straus, copyright 1997, Grades 2 - 8
This thoroughly delightful and touching book brings us a series of letters between young Lydia and her family. This is one of those books where the pictures add immeasurably to the plot and must be examined carefully to get the most out of the book. They begin with the end-papers, continue on through the title pages and then on to the text. Don't skip over any of them. The one spread that shows Lydia dwarfed by the interior of Penn Station is a story in itself. It's the time of the Great Depression and Lydia is sent away from the farm where she lives with her grandmother and parents to her uncle in New York City. She's to help him in the bakery. It's a hard time for all. Lydia misses her family and the gardens terribly. The city is bleak and her uncle even bleaker. Lydia is determined to get him to smile.
Her letters home reveal a bit of her plans and there are other hints along the way but the surprise she creates will bring a smile to the readers as well as to her uncle.
* * * MacLachlan, Patricia What You Know First Illustrated by Barry Moser, Harper Collins, copyright 1995 Grades 3 - 5
A little girl vows that she is not moving away even though her family is. She swears she'll stay on the prairie and live in the attic with the new folks or with her uncle who sings cowboy songs. Let them take the baby who won't know the difference and go. The spare, nearly poetic text evokes the feelings of loss and fear familiar to anybody who has had to move while staying within the context of a child's perspective. Moser's pictures are dark and powerful and it is through them alone that you realize the era in which the book is set.
* Turner, Ann Dust for Dinner Illustrated by Robert Barrett, HarperCollins, copyright 1995, Grades 3 - 6
This is a book with a limited vocabulary in which a family falls victim to the Dust Bowl. After losing their farm, they set out for California. The plot is sparse but the book makes a good one for less skillful readers.
* * Booth, David The Dust Bowl Illustrated by Karen Reczuch
Kids Can Press, copyright 1997,
Grades 2 - 6
It seems as if the drought has gone on forever and the boy's father is angry and discouraged. Grandfather, however, remembers a time when the drought and the dust were worse than this. He tells them about the Dust Bowl and the way many neighbors abandoned their farms then. His family decided to stick it out and they did -- through the drought, the cold and the grasshopper plague. The story makes the father decide that he'll stick these hard times out as well.
* Adler, David A. The Babe and I Illustrated by Terry Widener
Gulliver, copyright 1999 Grades 2 - 4
Set in the Bronx in 1932, this book gives us a young narrator who learns that his father is not going off to work each morning as he has pretended to do but instead is selling apples on the street. The boy then learns how to help out by selling newspapers near Yankee Stadium, yelling out the exploits of Babe Ruth in order to attract buyers. When the Babe himself buys a paper, our newspaper boy gets to watch a game.
* * Peck, Robert Newton Arly's Run
Walker, copyright 1991, Grades 4 - 8
Arly is saved from a sinking boat crossing Lake Okeechobbe during a storm by clinging to an oar. He makes it to shore only to be forced into migrant labor work. A drunk named Coo Coo becomes Arly's only human contact and the two look out for each other.
* * * Taylor, Mildred Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Fogelman, copyright 2001, Grades 5 - 9
This Newbery Winner was the first book written in a series about the Logan family. In this volume, we focus on Cassie, one of four children living in Mississippi during the Depression. The Logan family owns some land and is respected by others in the African American community but the violence that surrounds them is an ever-present threat and Cassie's innocence is shattered when she makes her first visit to town.
* * * Koller, Jackie French Nothing to Fear
Gulliver, copyright 1991, Grades 4 - 7
The effects of the Great Depression on two families is the center of this novel. The Garveys and Rileys are Irish immigrants living in the same apartment building in NYC. Like many children of that era, Daniel Garvey must take on adult responsibilities, bringing in money for the family and caring for his sister, even begging for money as the Depression grows. His father leaves the family to find work. The Riley family is in even worse shape as their father turns to alcoholism.
* * * Hesse, Karen Out of the Dust
Scholastic, copyright 1997, Grades 5 - 9
This spare novel, a Newbery Award winner told in a sort of blank verse, tells of Billie Jo and her family on the plains of Oklahoma in 1934. Many of their neighbors have already left as the dust covers everything. When a fire kills her mother and wounds Billie Jo extensively, her father becomes unreachable. Billie Jo leaves at last only to be pulled back home.
* * * Curtis, Christopher Paul Bud, Not Buddy
Delacorte,copyright 1999 Grades 4 - 8
Bud holds all the remnants of his once loving home in a cardboard suitcase as he walks from Flint to Grand Rapids, Michigan in search of a man he believes to be his father. Many people lend a hand especially a labor union leader who finds Bud hiding at the side of the road. Bud's irrepressible good nature and innocence make him a breath of fresh air in the grim times of the Great Depression.
* * * Peck, Richard Year Down Yonder, Dial, copyright 2000, Grades 4 - 8
This sequel to Long Way from Chicago brings us back to Grandma Dowdel who rules the town in southern Illinois where she lives. Set in the late 1930s, hard times still prevail here. Joey, the older grandchild, is working in a CCC camp but Mary Alice has come to stay with her grandmother for a year while her parents give up their home. This is a hilarious Newbery Award winner.
Reference list comes from: http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/ushistory/depression.html
Part 1 - WRI - Word Recognition in Isolation
Average Student work in a below average classroom. Assessment given up to frustration point. The copy shown is the 3rd and 4th WRI Assessments given and are at the students Instructioanl level.
Part 2 - WRC - The student I tested was able to do the WRC - the Word Recognitionn Context and could read it up to level 4. This student did sturggle with comprehension though. The one assessment shown is at her Instructional level a 2nd grade 2nd half of hte year level.
Part 3 Interpretation
The student I chose was a girl that is in a group of struggling readers. She is considered an average reader in comparison to the other classmates. Most students in this class read at or close to level 3; with the exception of a few at level 1 and 2 and a few at levels 4 and 5. There is even one student at a level 9. With the word recognition assessment I started her out at a preprimer and a primer and she did great. We then moved on to level 1 and 2 where she missed a few, but basically knew the words. I concluded with the percentage score that level 2 is her independent level. The next level we tested was level 3. Where she scored a 70% on sight words and a 90% on decoding and word attack ability. This level,3 is her instructional level. From level 4 on she missed alot and stayed frustrated,so we stopped the assessments. The information was basically the same on the Word Recognition in Context. She did a great on the first three stories up to the 2nd part of level 2. This level in both assessments has shown to be independent level. She scored marginal on level 3 with a 93%, but the comprehension was low. I think the story just didn't make sense to her. The second part of level 3 proved to be very frustrating, so with that I concluded that on his section level 3 is her instructional level. Shes struggles so hard trying to get the words correct at higher levels that she fails to comprehend the story. This student is at the same level as a majority of the students in her class, yet there text is at a 4th grade level. To accommodate these students I would break the lessons up so that reading requirements for each day are manageable. I would try to find books that go with the lessons on this level and read with them or to them when using material that may be difficult. I would certainly put alot of time and effort into integrating decoding skills, comprehension activities and other reading activities into most of the subjects worked on throughout the day.
This is one of four assessments I did after giving the class a writing prompt. The one shown here is one of the lower scoring papers and some evaluations I made when grading. Using Holistic Scoring this student scored a 1 on content and a 0 on conventions.
This paper is one of the higher schoring papers in the class. This student scored a 4 on Content and a 2 on Conventions.
Writing - Interpretation Part 3
The student who did the first story is a struggling reader as well and had a really hard time writing and thinking of a story to go with the prompt and given words. As far as conventions, her entire story was one long run on sentence. She misspelled several words and punctuation was almost nonexistent. Becuase of these things she scored a 0 in the conventions section. For the content she scored a 1 because she did have a topic it was just not very clear in description. The details in the story were very sparse. and she alot of trouble with sentence fluency. This studetn needs alot of one on one help with writing and reading. I woudl recommend her for a tutor and try to do a writing prompt everyday with her to work on specific things each day. Things like story structure, descriptive words, parts of a story and a sentence, etc.
The student on the second paper shown did a well organized and well thought out paper. She used several describing words in her paper and elaborated on every detail. The paper had a beginning a middle and an end. She did struggle a little with the end but not enough to adjust the score. The details were developed throughout the story and the topic was never lost. She includes where the event took place, what happened and who was involved. If there was a 3.5 I may have given it, because she did stray from the topic one or two times in an attempt to add more details to the story. In the conventions section she scored a two. There were a couple of errors in spelling and punctuation, but overall she did well.
Reflection
Doing these assessments has really helped me to grasp the many different levels children in the same grade level can be at. I had the opportunity to assess more than one child and the differences between the four students I assessed were amazing. As a teacher you have to be able to do a lesson and make children from several different levels of comprehension,etc. understand it and that can and will be a great challenge. There are some subjects were modifications and extra help are a bit easier to include and some were it is near impossible. It has to be done though. Some things you can do without bringing attention to the student struggling are things like modifying their spelling list and giving them less homework, but more in class assessments. Having volunteers come into class and help so that the student needing help gets one on one time. Praise every little step that a student makes because better self esteem in many cases promotes better learning. These things and many more are very important for teacher. The assessments give teachers a guide for each and every student and a goal for both the teacher and the student to strive for. If these assessments were not done it would be harder to determine the reading and writing level of the students and more difficult for both in preparing for EOG. I did discover that the writing assessements are hard to grade. A person tends to think the longer and neater the paper the better the content and conventions will be and that is not the case, so you have to be careful. I think these assessments are and will be very beneficial in teaching.
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