At the beginning of school, I do a lesson on the origin of their names. Eventually it all goes on sort of an IAN notebook title page thingy. I ask them to find what their name means, the country of origin, to use symbols for their name, to draw it ... a map of it... to describe location (lat/long/ hemisphere.)...to list three good qualities about themselves... to tell who gave them the name...and so on. Some of my kids have names that parents blended...Jaishawn ... is one I recall. We take it apart and look up Jay=Jacob=Israel... and Shawn=seas=john=son....Ireland and have at it from there. The kids color them and we give the name center stage on the paper... very fancy shamcy. It is a good way to integrate both my English and this year social studies... makes a great wall display, gets the kids talking to their parents. I just put a post on my blog re: this activity with links to name origin sites and to maps. http:///www.bovarules.typepad.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "A list for improving literacy with focus on middle grades." <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 8:32 PM Subject: Re: [LIT] Lessons to share...
> Tena Linsbeck-Perron wrote: >> Come on guys, I want to hear more. Just think we can have a collection of >> "Best Ever" lessons and activities. What did you and your students "do" >> that >> stands out to you. Is there anything that you look forward to doing with >> the >> kids? Are there lessons that you love so much you make sure to visit them >> every school year? >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 >> >> > I did a series of lessons using the voter's guide. > 1. what is a voter's guide and what does it contain > 2. reading what the propositions are ( I just focused on 1) > 3. reading the arguments on either side > 4. figuring out who the supporters of each side are and what they > represent > > Then I did some direct instruction on proposition and support patterns > and use of persuasion and looked at the websites for both pro and con on > the prop I was covering. Each had video so it was very interesting. We > looked at things like target audience, color scheme, pundits, racial > stereotyping on each site. > > Finally we held a debate where the class chose which side of the issue > they were on and had to present their own arguments to support it based > on their experiences/beliefs. I gave points to the team that could > persuade a member of the other team to join them. > > I teach in a 100% title 1, 90% hispanic community in Los Angeles and > chose Prop 185 (parental notification of abortion) as my prop. The kids > found it SUPER engaging. > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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
