“Cool Ali”
authored and
illustrated by Nancy Poydar
Date:
7/22/04
Time
needed: 2-5 hours, more than likely done throughout the week
Grade:
2nd
Student
population: special ed. level 2 Mongolian girl and a level 3 Indian girl
Materials:
map or globe, sidewalk chalk, winter scene picture, newspaper, sandals, leaf,
long paper, crayons and markers, shoeboxes, thermometer, plastic cups, plastic
wrap
Standards
of Learning:
2.1 The student will demonstrate an understanding of oral
language structure.
b) Create
and participate in oral dramatic activities.
2.2
The student will continue to expand listening and speaking vocabularies.
a) Use
words that reflect a growing range of interests and knowledge.
2.5
The student will use meaning clues and language structure when reading.
a) Use
information in the story to read words.
2.8 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of
fiction and nonfiction.
c) Relate previous
experiences to the topic.
d) Ask
and answer questions about what is read.
Strategies: This is another lesson that uses contextualization of a story. It also heavily emphasizes the use of
pictures and visual charts. The children
will also act out what is going on in the lesson. A very helpful ESL strategy I learned this
year is frontloading vocabulary definitions before the English Language learner
see it in the text.
Presentation:
·
“You are walking in a hot, dry dessert (show one on a map or
globe.) The sun (draw a picture of a sun)
is high overhead (point up.) The sand stretches for miles (bring some sand if
you have any.) How do you feel?”
Responses may include hot, thirsty, sunburned, or tired.
·
“You are hiking to the North Pole (point to this on a map or
globe.) You see snow and ice everywhere
you turn (show a picture of a winter scene.)
How do you feel?” Responses may include freezing, shivery or cold.
·
Now ask, “How do our imaginations affect the way we feel?”
Attention:
The vocabulary words that are included in this story are notice, mimicked,
fussed, pale, and admired. Read the
Vocabulary Power text in their reader.
If you don’t have this book, here it is:
We went to the art museum
yesterday. My mom said it was a good
place to escape the dusty haze and heat of summer. First we admired some statues. We thought they were beautiful. Then we looked at paintings. My dad liked the one of a man on a
mountaintop. He mimicked the face
of the man in the cold wind. Mom’s
favorite painting was of the sun setting over the beach. She liked the pale colors of the
clouds more than the bright orange sun.
A baby in a stroller next to us must have liked the painting, too. He fussed when he had to leave. My favorite painting was so small I almost
didn’t notice it. It showed a
little turtle swimming in a pond. I
wished I could splash with it in the cool water!
There are good illustrations with this
text portraying the action of the text.
Next, have student make vocabulary
webs. They will make five circles on
paper with the vocabulary words written inside them. Then the children will write words that
describe the meaning of the vocabulary.
Some student may give the following responses: notice-to see or be aware
of, fussed-complain or cry, mimicked-copy or repeated, pale-light in color or
not bright, and admired-to see something and like
it. Now add these five words to your
class word wall.
Finally,
use chart paper to make a list. Divide
the paper into two parts. On one side,
write the things that students like to do when it is hot outside. ON the other side, write a list of things
that students like to do when it is rainy.
Co-construct:
Begin by explaining to students that this story is realistic fiction, a story
that is not real but could happen. Let
the students flip through the pictures and predict what time of the year it is.
Get out a thermometer and test the temperature of the room. Ask students what the temperature might be on
a hot day. Then ask students to make
guesses about what temperature water freezes.
Check it with a dictionary or encyclopedia. The teacher will read through the story once,
using guided comprehension questions as he or she reads. Here they are. Why does Ali go outside to draw? Why is Ali
drawing these objects? Why does Ali draw a lake around Mr. Frye and a beach
umbrella over Ira’s head? What do the
people think of Ali’s pictures and how do you know? What do you think Ali may do when Mr. Boyle
complains there is no breeze? Why are Mr. Boyle’s teeth chattering? Has it really suddenly gotten colder
outside? Do you think you could actually
feel cooler by looking at a drawing? How
can you tell the rain is about to begin? and What
descriptive words help you imagine the sound of the rain?
Now
take your class outside on a sidewalk if possible. The class may act out the
story. English Language Learners can be
assigned parts with limited dialogue such as that of the babies or the polar
bear. Give chalk to several students so
they can draw the things that Ali draws as you read. First she draws grass and flowers on the
sidewalk. Then she draws a lake. Wear sandals to school, and point these out
as it comes into the story. Then students
will draw, like Ali in the story, an umbrella, a Polar bear, the North Wind,
snowflakes, paw prints, icicles, rain, and a mailbox. Point to the sky and
pantomime dancing a jig and opening your mouth to catch the rain as it is
mentioned.
Take
your class back inside and have them all draw a picture of a cool scene, maybe of a
neighborhood. Assemble the pictures
together into a classroom book.
Extension:
Science
Connection: Explain that human and animals cool off through the process of
evaporation. When we sweat, the moisture
leaves our skin through our pores. Have
them fill two clear plastic cups with water.
Label them with a permanent marker.
Cover one cup tightly with plastic wrap.
Have students predict which one will lose water more quickly. Have cups checked at intervals throughout the
day and week. Discuss and record your
results.
Challenge-Choral
Nursery Rhyme:
Rain,
rain go away!
Come
again on another day.
Little
Johnny wants to come out and play.
So
rain, rain go away
Once
the children know the rhyme well (which I think is used on the PAL’s test) have the students sing it as a round with four
parts, each chiming in one line later than the other.
Follow-up
Activities:
Phonics
connection #1: Tell students that you are going to the class will be creating a
list of words that contains the /oo/ sound using the
letters oo and ue. Model a few for the class to start the list,
such as Tuesday, blue, and choose. Then
as the day continue, tell the class that each child needs to add at least one
word during the day.
Phonics
connection #2: Explain to students that
sometimes when a single object is changed to a plural word in print the last
letters in the word can change. Today
you will be discussing words that end in –f and will be changes to –ves. These words are
included in their spelling list for the week.
Write the word leaf and show students a leaf you have brought in to the
classroom. Show students that by taking
away the –f and adding –ves, the new word spells
leaves. Have the students copy the
following words onto a piece of folded paper: elf, shelf, wife, life, self,
calf, wolf, and knife. Then have
students write on the other side the correct plural spellings of the
words. Let students switch papers and
check.
Weather
project: Use the forecast in the
newspaper. If you wanted to incorporate
technology, have students find a weather forecast online. Then have the students divide a long piece of
paper into five parts. In each part,
label the blocks Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Students can make their own art projects
forecasting the weekly weather. They may
even want to pretend they are weathermen, forecasting on a TV show in small
groups.
Students
may want to create a neighborhood diorama or their own comic strip using the
characters from the story Cool Ali.
Additionally, students may write a paragraph about the reverse of this
story: What might someone do on a cold
day to feel warm?
Other
books that you can direct your students to read are Rainy Day Pictures
by Dana Catherine, Very Cool Rain by Jean Parr, and (especially for ELL’s) Water and Weather by Lisa Trumbauer.
Assessment
tools:
1. Rabbits a.) take cold showers.
b.) eat lots of lettuce.
c.) let air cool blood through their
ears.
2. Bees a.)drink
ice tea.
b.)produce less honey.
c.) collect water and pour it
over their honeycombs.
3. Dogs a.) bark a lot.
b.) shed their top coats.
c.) pant.
4. Prairie Dogs
a.)curl up in underground burrows.
b.) stand under large mammals for shade.
c.) wear grass hats.
5. Birds a.)open
their beaks and flutter their throats.
b.) flap their wings wildly.
c.) fly above the clouds.
6. Roadrunners a.)go
to a spa.
b.)sit
still.
c. )hang out on
cactus branches.
7. Ground Squirrels
a.)sleep in the daytime.
b.)shade their bodies with their tails.
c.)fan themselves with oak leaves.
8. Pigs a.)eat
ice cream.
b.)roll in the mud.
c.)lose weight
Answers:
1.C
2.C
Water prevents the beeswax from melting.
3. C Panting for dogs is like
sweating for humans.
4. A It
is cooler underground!
5. A
6.
C Roadrunners hang out on cactus branches when the ground is hot.
7. B
8. B Rolling in the mud adds
moisture to the pigs skin.
There
is an end of text test available for the story.
Also you can use cloze procedure to check if the students understood the
meaning of the vocabulary words. If the
teacher needs to direct students to a book that is appropriate to their level,
then use this strategy. Have the child
read aloud the first few pages of a book.
If he or she misses more than five words, move to a lower level book.