Lesson Title: Wonder Project: Vocabulary Poster
Created and Submitted by: Amy Gomez and Stephanie Santos
School Name: Trautmann Middle 6th Grade Campus
District: United ISD
Roles: Library Media Specialist and 6th-grade Reading Teacher
Grade Level: 6th
Lesson Plan Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Use context clues to help determine the meaning of a word when reading.
2. Use a dictionary in order to locate the correct definition for a given vocabulary word.
3. Use a Web 2.0 tool Big Huge Labs to create a motivational poster. (This tool can be used for any subject.)
ELA-R TEKS:
§110.18.b (13) Reading/Media Literacy
Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning.
Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Indicators:
1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning.
2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
Classroom Teacher – School Librarian Collaboration:
• The librarian orders a class set of Wonder by R. J. Palacio.
• The librarian sets up online classroom on www. Edmodo.com for discussion questions and ongoing dialogue between the teacher, librarian, and students.
• The librarian designs a timeline/syllabus for project.
• Classroom teachers and the librarian collaborate to choose a project to assign to students based on the district’s scope and sequence.
• Classroom teacher and the librarian select a graphic organizer that students can use for organizing their vocabulary words from the story.
• Both educators model the use of the vocabulary graphic organizer.
• Educators demonstrate how to use context clues and dictionary skills.
• Educators monitor students when creating their final product using Big Huge Labs.
• Educators grade students’ final products and online discussions.
Measurable Outcome or Final Product: Students will each create 5 posters with www.bighugelabs.com. The posters will include the vocabulary word, the definition of the word, and a copyright-free image or a student created original image that represents the vocabulary word. The image can be downloaded through the Internet. Students will print out each poster and present their posters to the rest of the class. The classroom teacher will collect all posters and display on her “Word Wall.” Throughout this project students will be introduced to a variety of vocabulary words, learn to use context clues, and understand how to properly locate a definition using a dictionary. For this lesson, all of these words are selected from the novel Wonder.
Assessment Tool: Vocabulary Poster Rubric
Resources:
• Book: Wonder by RJ Palacio (Knopf 2012)
• Access to www.Edmodo.com
• Sample Vocabulary Poster
• Vocabulary Poster Rubric
• Laptops, projector, and computers
• Graphic Organizer from ReadWriteThink.org: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/printouts/30699_concept_map.pdf
• Access to www.bighugelabs.com
• Access to student print dictionaries or an online dictionary source
Estimated Lesson Time: 2 days
Instructional Plan Outline:
Preparation
• Educators review with students the concept of using context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word in a text.
• Educators review dictionary skills with students.
Motivation
1. Introduce students to Big Huge Labs, www.bighugelabs.com, a Web 2.0 tool that students will use to create their final product to display their vocabulary words that they mastered through the lesson. Students will be using the “Motivator” tool/utility on this site.
2. Educators provide a sample poster to demonstrate what the final product should look like.
Day One
Presentation
3. Educators use think-alouds to demonstrate how to complete the graphic organizer to help students find meaning to unfamiliar words from the book Wonder.
4. Educators use think-alouds to guide students to define an unfamiliar word using the surrounding text or context clues, to help understand the meaning of a word.
5. Educators use think-alouds to teach dictionary skills by demonstrating how to properly locate the correct definition of a word when a word has several different meanings.
Guided Practice
6. Educators monitor and students choose five words to complete the graphic organizer and understand that the definition chosen from the dictionary to represent the word must correlate with the clues from the graphic organizer.
Day Two
Presentation
7. Educators model how to use the online tool Big Huge Labs in order for them to create their final product.
8. Educators explain the content of each poster: vocabulary word, the correct definition from the dictionary, and a copyright-free image that represents the vocabulary word.
Guided Practice
9. Educators monitor students’ vocabulary poster creation.
Closure
10. The classroom teacher displays all posters on the classroom “word wall.”
11. Student volunteers share their posters.
Assessment
12. Educators grade the final products using the rubric.
Extension
13. Students provide feedback using Edmodo to discuss their project and what they learned from this experience.
Lesson Plan Resources
Peppers, Anita. Windowlight. Digital Image. Morguefile.com. Web. 3 Apr 2014. http://mrg.bz/teciCp.
ELAR_6_13_Gomez_Santos_TEKS_Alignment_Lesson_Plan
