Organization/Sequence Activity (used in first couple weeks of school) Most of you know the "Zoom" and "ReZoom" picture books by Istvan Banyai. My team teacher and I got these two books and then disassemble the books into separate pages. This gives you essentially a "deck" of cards (I think we laminated pages?). Here's the steps for the activity:
PART ONE *Take out ONE card from each set prior to class and shuffle cards. *Divide class up into two equal groups. *Tell them they have to organize the cards to tell the story *Give each student a card (if possible) *Cut them loose (they'll need a big clear space for both groups so clear furniture to sides or use hallway, etc. You can tell them they have 5 minutes to organize the story. I heard students work well under pressure! *As they work to put the cards in order, monitor progress. *At some key moment stop the activity and tell them that they are missing ONE card and you want them to figure out where the missing card belongs and what the picture on the missing card should look like. *Randomly assign one student from each group to be the "artist" (paper and pencil). I typically chose a student that's a bit too detached from the activity. This student draws the missing card with input from others in group and places card in the place it belongs. *When done with drawing teacher shows the group the missing card and they compare the drawing with the real card. PART TWO *Same as first activity except students from each group remove TWO cards from their deck. Removed cards cannot be consecutive. *Group shuffles deck and then the groups EXCHANGE decks. *Assign two students to draw what the missing cards look like. *When done unhide cards and compare. DEBRIEF/REFLECTION We'd always do a short informal chat about the activity followed by a reflection/exit piece: *What does this activity show to you? *What happens when a key event or piece of information is missing from a story? *What did you learn from doing the activity the first time that made the second activity easier? *How can you apply this activity to reading and writing? The nice part about the activity was that it created a "common experience" that we could come back to and use for illustration throughout the year. Keith Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.literacyworkshop.org _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
