Wesley Heights, Year One
Jolivette/ Bridges – Austin Sargent
Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:
- Students will display understanding of categories by writing words that fit.
- Students will be able to identify words that do not belong in a certain category.
Integration Area/Subject:
Reading/Writing
State Standards:
ELAGSE2RF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
- Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.
ELAGSE2RF4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
ELAGSE2L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
Materials/Playing Space:
- Scrap Paper for Snowballs
- Posters Labeled with Different Categories
- A bucket to collect all the snowballs in
Description:
The PAIR specialist introduced the activity by asking students if they had ever seen snow/ built a snowman/ had a snowball fight. Students were then told they were going to be making their own snowballs in their own class.
PAIR Facilitator would announce one category and have students write their answer on one of the snowballs. Once answers were checked for spelling/complete sentences by the teacher, students could crumple their snowballs and put them in a bucket. Repeat again for the next few categories. (Categories could be things like; Superheros, Places to Eat, Color, etc. but I also encourage a specific content area such as; Words that End in a Sneaky E, Words that are uncommon nouns, Words that are active verbs, etc.
After all the Snowballs are created, the Teacher then mixes the snowballs up. Posters are set around the room with one category on each. Teacher then calls students one at a time to pull 3-4 snowballs, and they set out, individually, to place the snowballs at the posters where they match. Students are encouraged not to check each others’ work, but to focus on their own snowballs.
Teacher would then visit each category and check for accuracy in a whole group method. For snowballs that aren’t correct, you could select a student to “fix it” and add it to the correct category.
Notes:
This strategy works really well with a group goal in mind. If the expectation of “10 out of 12 are correct” or “90% accuracy” is set, students are more likely to be group minded. You could also give a harder challenge of naming categories of things that might overlap. For example; Words that end in “ing”/ Things you do on the weekend… camping, hiking, etc.