Scaffolding  Literacy  Package  for  Teachers: By Emily Livingston

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Contents: 1. A graphic organisation of the program

2. Text Selection

3. Contextual Understanding

4. Lesson Plans:

a. Text Orientation

b. Language Orientation

c. Transformation

d. Word Study

e. Patterned Writing

5. References

Teacher determines intended literacy learning outcomes: Effective orientations using

concepts such as marked theme. Selects  text:

Leo  the  Littlest  Seahorse   Written  by  Margaret  Wild Illustrated  by  Terry  Denton  

3.  Text  Orientation: An oral retell of the story

using illustrations from

the text and facial and

body language.

4.  Teacher  reads  the  whole  book  to  students.

Teacher selects an

excerpt from the text: “In  the  warm  waters  of  the  coral reef lived two seahorse, Potbelly and Polly.

1. Acknowledging prior learning  and  experiences:  Determined through observations and anecdotal notes taken from brainstorming, concept mapping lessons.  

2.  Building  field  or  contextual  knowledge:  knowledge of Australian geographical landforms such as coral reefs and beaches Knowledge of Fauna (animals) found in Great Barrier Reef including habitats and behaviour of animals such as seahorses and groper fish

6.  Learners  read  the  Language  Orientation  selection  independently

10.  Jointly  constructed  writing  –  including  patterned  writing:

5.  Language  Orientation:  look at the specific language choices of Margaret Wild within the selected sentence and why she has made those specific choices.

8.  Transformations: Make the structure of the selected sentence explicit and the consequences  of  Margaret  Wild’s  choices.

7.  Focus  on  language  choices:   If more explicit teaching is required

11.  Independent  writing: Students independently write their own orientation sentence.

Assessment  of  literacy  learning  outcomes.

A  diagrammatic  overview  of  the  

Scaffolding  Literacy  teaching  sequence  

9.  Word  study: Equip students with several strategies to spell words that are found within the selected sentence  of  Margaret  Wild’s  Text  Leo the Littlest

Seahorse by looking at the etymology, morphology, orthography and/or phonology. Words used:

Lived Warm

Text  selection: Name: Leo the Littlest Seahorse Author: Margaret Wild Illustrator: Terry Denton

Reasons for selection: Rich and complex language: Leo the Littlest Seahorse would be an effective text selection for a scaffolding literacy approach because it contains examples of complex and syntactically rich language which Axford, Harders & Wise (2009) argue is an important criteria when selecting a text. Axford et al (2009) also states that a scaffolding literacy program needs to equip students with the written language as opposed to oral language. Leo the Littlest Seahorse provides an excellent opportunity to teach students written language through the use of marked theme.

The right level of difficulty: Axford et al (2009) argues that a scaffolding literacy approach allows  for  the  use  of  Lee  Vygotsky’s  Zone  of  Proximal  Development that is also outlined within Churchill et al (2010). This allows teachers to facilitate learning through social engagement and dialogue by discussing the language in the text to the appropriate level of individual students within the group. Leo the Littlest Seahorse would most likely be above the existing competency level of kindergarten students, thus making this text ideal for a scaffolding literacy program.

Interesting text: The selection of a text should be based on the level of potential interest of both the learners and the teacher (Axford et al, 2009). As this book is set in Australia, is modern and uses animals as characters, it could be seen as relevant to learners and teachers thus making it interesting. Margaret Wild depicted many interesting themes within the story, such as the benefits of being unique or different, perseverance, and everyone having their own strengths and weaknesses. Another feature that adds to the interesting nature of the book is that is features seahorses and shows that it is the male seahorse who has babies as opposed to the female.

Worthwhile teaching outcomes for the book: Students learning about marked theme Students learning about conjunctions Students learning about prepositions Students learning about verbs

Students learning about nouns and proper nouns Students learning how to write interesting recounts of narratives by using the language features listed above.

Other worthwhile learning outcomes could be teaching about character development and teaching about character relationships. However, because this sequence is aimed at kindergarten children, there will only be one sentence studied. That is the beginning sentence which focuses more on describing the setting as opposed to character development, so therefore these two elements will not be focused on within the sequence.

Links with the national curriculum: ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and

that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts ACELA1438 Know how to use onset and rime to spell words: ACELA1440 Recognise the letters of the alphabet and know there are lower and upper case letters: ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’  own  

experiences ACELT1783 Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts ACELT1578 Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text ACELT1785 Recognise some different types of literary texts and identify some characteristic features of literary texts, for example beginnings and

endings of traditional texts and rhyme in poetry ACELT1580 Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images ACELY1646 Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations ACELY1784 Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and

eye contact ACELY1651 Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge ACELY1653 Produce some lower case and upper case letters using learned letter formations

Contextual  Understanding: Description of knowledge: Activities: Knowledge of Australian geographical features such as beaches and the Great Barrier Reef.

What constitutes a beach? What is the Great Barrier Reef? Where is it located?

Lesson :

Students will watch movie and look at images of beaches. Students will then rotate around groups that show different elements of the beach such as a video on waves

o A station creating sand castles o A station looking at Google Maps to show how far away the Great Barrier Reef is and that it is located in Australia. o A station where students will play with coral o A station where students watch a video showing the Great Barrier Reef.

Students will have a reflection time to share pictures of their family at the beach Students will complete this lesson by lying down and reflecting on what they have learnt whilst listening to an audio file of sounds

relating to underwater and at the beach. Classroom set up:

There will be parent and staff helpers at each station to help the lesson run smoothly Students will be encouraged to bring in photos of their family at the beach to share with their peers during the reflection time

at the end There will be pictures of animal coral featured in the Great Barrier Reef posted around the classroom.

Other Pedagogical Strategies:

Where possible there will be the names and concepts of things related to the Great Barrier Reef in the mother tongue of the students.

Basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) Build  up  students’  confidence  and

knowledge presenting in front of their peers and communicating with them.

Barrier games:

Will include tasks to promote communication skills through splitting students into pairs and giving one student a picture and getting the other student to draw it, so that effective communication is essential. (remind students to be specific with descriptions) (activity outlined within Hertzberg, 2012)

Cognitive Academic language proficiency (CALP) Build  up  students’  knowledge   Knowledge of Fauna (animals) found in Great Barrier Reef including habitats and behaviour:

Knowledge of the coral reef What do seahorses eat? Where do seahorses live? Is it the female or male seahorses that

give birth to the babies? What is a groper fish? Where do groper fish live? What do groper fish eat?

Lesson: Students will watch a movie about the Great Barrier Reef. Students will listen to an information book read to them about seahorses. Students will watch a clip showing a groper fish, with tense and scary music in the background to show that those fish are quite scary to an animal that might be eaten by them As a class create a list of food that seahorses eat and a list of what groper fish eat from information gathered from the clips and books.

Lesson  Plans:

Text  orientation: Title: Leo the Littlest Seahorse

Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to holistically introduce Leo the Littlest Seahorse to the learner. Students should be given the opportunity to understand the storyline, setting and characters.

Learning outcome:

The learning outcome for this lesson is for students to understand the story line of Leo the Littlest Seahorse, including the setting and characters. Another focus of this lesson is for students to understand that Leo the Littlest Seahorse was created by Margaret Wild, who had a real purpose to communicate with the reader.

Links with curriculum:

ACELY1646 Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations ACELY1784 Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and

eye contact ACELT1580 Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images ACELT1783 Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences  that  may  be  similar  or  different  to  students’  own  

experiences ACELT1578 Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text

Assessment: The assessment will occur at the end of the lesson. It will consist of a Hot Seat Activity which will be initially modelled by the teacher pretending to be a character within the story, who answers questions that the students pose to them.

Teaching Strategies: This Text Orientation lesson will be given to the whole class and will consist of an oral retell of the story. There will be no questions posed to the students about illustrations.

I will use scanned in pictures that have been laminated to assist me as I tell the story with my own words. The words that are featured in bold below act as a reminder about the language and concepts to focus on during the orientation.

I will use a variety of performance skills such as physical gestures, tone of voice, use of pauses and silences and physical movements around the classroom.

I will also include features from the text such as: information about the author, when the story was written, and what type of text it is, as Axford et al (2009) argues that it is very important to place emphasis on the author as students need to see that the story has been created by a person with a real purpose to communicate with the reader.

Key: Action: In blue italics

Words from text: In bold

Pauses:  will  be  ……….. And featured in red

The picture you would show features above the set text

Orientation script: “Ok Kindergarten, come and sit on our story mat. Today I have brought in something really special to share with all of you. I am going to share this story called Leo the Littlest Seahorse. It was written by Margaret Wild and Illustrated by Terry Denton.”

Information about the author: “Margaret Wild was born in South Africa and moved to Australia in 1972 when she was 24 years old. She now lives in Sydney and writes lots of books, one of which we are going to read today. This book was published in 2010 which was not very long ago. This means that this book is not very old and it is one of the newest books Margaret  Wild  has  written.”

Type of text: “Leo the Littlest Seahorse is an example of an imaginative text, because what is happening  is  a  story  and  it’s  not  real.  Margaret Wild wrote about Seahorses in  this  story  and  she  gave  them  names  and  wrote  about  them  talking.  But  that’s  not  real  because  seahorses  can’t  talk, so it shows us that Margaret Wild wrote a narrative or an imaginative  text.”

Retell of story:

“Today I am going to do something a little bit different. I am not going to read you Margaret  Wild’s  words, I’m  going  to  tell  you  the  story  of Leo the Littlest

Seahorse in my own words.”

“In the warm and tropical waters of the coral reef off the coast of Queensland lived two married seahorses and their names both started with the same letter (P)otbelly and (P)olly. Now Potbelly and Polly really wanted to have a family and they were both really excited because Potbelly was pregnant and

expecting 100 babies.  Potbelly’s  belly  grew  really,  really  big  and  he  had  to  eat  a  special  diet  and  make  sure  he  did  lots  of  exercise.    Early  one evening the babies were born, all 100 and 1 of them. All of the babies were the right size except for one baby who was really small. He was the littlest seahorse and his name  was  Leo.  Potbelly  and  Polly  were  so  happy.    They  told  their  babies  that  in  3  days’  time  they  would head off on an exciting adventure but there were a few things they must learn first before they  could  head  off  on  their  own.”

“Potbelly told them that firstly you must learn to swivel your eyes around in lots of different directions so that you can look for food. 100 babies swivelled their eyes this way and that (swivel eyes around dramatically as you tell this part). But not the littlest of the seahorses; Leo tried really hard but could not swivel his eyes around.”

“Now my darlings curl your tails tightly around the coral so  that  you  won’t  be  swept  away (Use pointer finger and make a hook shows the students the

curling action). 100 babies curled their tails around the coral reef but  not  poor  Leo  “My  tail  wont  curl”  squeaked  Leo.”

“To swim straight and strong you will need to flutter your dorsal fins very fast (Use hands in a fin position at your sides and move you hand back and forth

quickly). 100 babies fluttered their fins except for poor Leo  whose  fin  would  not  flutter.”

“Potbelly  began  saying  “Now  the most  important  thing  you  must  learn  is………….”

(Gasp, eyes look widely into the distance) oh no! Oh no! Swimming towards them was the biggest, hungriest, groper fish they had ever seen.” (Use hands

getting larger and larger as you are explaining groper fish)

“Quick! Quick! Swim my darlings. All 100 babies quickly fluttered their fins (Move hands like fins description featured above) except for Leo the littlest seahorse.”

“The gropers stomach was rumbling and grumbling (Grab and pat stomach)  “GRRRRRRR  I’m  coming  to  eat  you  up”  but  he  could  not  find  any  seahorses  to  eat. He  mumbled  “Humff”(hands on hips and shrug with a cross or angry look in your eye) crossly  and  swam  away.”(Move body as if you are swimming

away).

“When it was safe for the babies to come out because the groper had swum away Potbelly and Polly counted all seahorses except…(Pause)…  Leo. Oh no cried Potbelly. Quick! We need to look  for  him  everywhere.”

“They searched all throughout the warm waters of the coral reef but could not find him anywhere as if he had disappeared or vanished (Look around class

room with wide eyes and shrug shoulders as if you cannot find him). But then (hand up to ear) can you hear that………….(Pause)…….., the littlest voice said “surprise”. Potbelly and Polly looked over at the part of coral where the noise had come from and to their surprise they saw Leo, who had changed the colour of his skin to match the coral.  He  had  camouflaged  himself.”

“Leo had just learnt the most important lesson of all, to camouflage into the coral to hide from creatures that  are  trying  to  eat  seahorses.”

“Leo’s  brothers  and  sisters  asked  if  Leo  could  teach  them  that  special  trick.  Leo  thought  to  himself  and  said  “Yes, of course, if you also help me by teaching me how to flutter my dorsal fin (action of fluttering featured above), swivel my eyes (action of swivelling featured above) and curl my tail around the coral reef (action of curling featured above)”.  

“All of a sudden three days had passed and all of the babies were ready to leave Potbelly and Polly and go off on an adventure. Leo wanted one more goodbye because he was a little unsure about leaving his mum and dad. But Potbelly and Polly reminded him that he had learnt everything  he  needed  to.  “I  am  ready  to  join  my  brothers  and  sisters  now”  squeaked  Leo  and  off  he  swam  to  join  them.  But  every  now  and  then Potbelly and Polly hear………(pause)……….  “Surprise!” As he visits his mum  and  dad  and  surprises  them.”

Language  Orientation: Lesson purpose: The purpose of a language orientation lesson is to have a narrower focus, which will look at the specific language choices of the author within a selected sentence and why they have made those specific choices.

Learning outcomes: The learning outcome for this lesson is that students will understand the selected sentence from the text Leo the Littlest Seahorse. They will also understand the meaning of each word within the selected sentence.

Links to the curriculum:

ACELT1785 Recognise some different types of literary texts and identify some characteristic features of literary texts, for example beginnings and endings of traditional texts and rhyme in poetry.

ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and  share  experiences  that  may  be  similar  or  different  to  students’  own  experiences

Assessment:

Students understanding of the selected sentence and the meaning of each word through their illustrations of the orientation sentence.

Book title: Leo the Littlest Seahorse

Excerpt from book: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.

Broad language focus for your sequence: The broad language focus for this sequence is an effective orientation.

Specific language focus for this lesson: The specific language focus for this lesson includes topics such as verbs, phrases, proper nouns, adjectives, nouns, noun phrases, simple sentences, adverbial phrases and conjunctions.

Teaching strategies: This lesson will be given to the whole class. There will be several opportunities for student interaction and the use of various multimedia tools. All students will be given an individual sheet on A3 paper with the words printed exactly the same as the ones on my white board. All students will

be given the coloured pens they will need. Students will be seated in a circle on the floor with the teacher included in the circle as well. This will be highly scaffolded as students will be

prepped, assisted with identifying words and then given elaborations on these words.

Script: Preparation Identification Elaboration The first four words in this sentence and in this story are In the warm waters.

“Ok  boys  and  girls  can  you  point  to  the  first  four words in the sentence. We are going to read them aloud. (Class read words aloud as a class). “Let’s  underline  the  first  four  words  in  the  sentence In the warm waters.” “What  we  are  going  to  do  now  is  draw a circle around the word in.

“The  first  four  words  In the warm waters are a phrase. Margaret Wild used these words in this phrase to help describe the setting of the story. They  tell  us  where  the  story  is  happening.” The word we have circled is in, this word is a preposition that tells us where the story is occurring (place hoop on the floor and choose student) Can you show me how you can be in the hoop? Great job! Can you show me how you can be in the bag area? Ok now I want everyone to show me

“Now  I  want  you  to  tap  with  two  fingers  the  second  word  we  underlined  and  let’s  say it together the.” “Now  I  want  you  to  put  a  squiggly  line  under the third word warm, lets count them 1,2,3 underline the word starting with  the  w  sound.” “Now  I  want  you to point to the last word we underlined, Waters.”

how you are in the classroom, in the bag area, in the other classroom and in the hallway. Great job everyone! Can you see how the word in tells us where something is happening. In the sentence Margaret Wild used the word in to tell us that they story is happening in the warm waters. The next word the is an article: the in this sentence is definite, it refers to a particular thing or things. So Margaret Wild used this to talk specifically about the warm waters. Cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). The third word is warm. Warm is a describing word that tells us about the temperature of something. It means that it is not hot and it is not cold but in-between those two temperatures. (Pass around heat pack) I am going to pass around this heat pack, I want you to hold it and feel that it is warm. The final word that we have underlined is waters. Water is a noun because it is a place in this sentence. I have brought in something very special to show you. (Take out fish bowl with warm water inside it) I want you  to  put  your  hand  in  and  tell  me  what  you  notice.  Yes  that’s  right, the water is warm. By having the word warm before the word waters it helps describe the word waters. This could be just like the place where the story is set.

The next four words in this sentence are of the coral reef.

“Ok  everyone  I  want  you  to  point  to  the  next four words. We are going to say them together of the coral reef. Very good. Now I want you to underline them. “I  want  you  to  put  another  circle  around  of

Point to the word of. It is another preposition which shows us where

just  like  you  did  for  in.” “Now  I  want  you  to  tap  with  two  fingers  the  second  word  we  underlined  and  let’s  say it together, the.” Can you point to the last two words we have underlined and say them aloud (class reads coral reef aloud). I want you to underline those words in green.

something is happening. The next word the is an article: the in this sentence is definite, it refers to a particular thing or things. Margaret Wild used the word the here because she is talking specifically about the coral reef. Cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). The two words that you underlined in green are coral reef. Coral reef is a noun because it is a thing or a place. I have brought in some coral for you to feel. (Pass coral around in circle). A coral reef is made up of lots of different colours and shapes of coral like the one that you are holding. Coral reefs are under water at beaches or around islands. We are going to watch this video on coral reefs. I want you to look at the different colours and shapes. The largest coral reef is in Australia and it is called the Great Barrier Reef. It is on the coast of Queensland. The water there is also a lot warmer than the water in beaches near us like Batemans Bay. This tells us that Margaret Wild probably set this story here in Australia in a coral reef off the coast of Queensland.

The next three words in this sentence that we are looking at are (lived two seahorses,).

“I  want  you  to  point  to  the  next  three  words.  Let’s  say  them  together lived two seahorses. Great job. Can you underline those  three  words  for  me?” “I  want  you  to  point  to  the  first  word  we  just underlined then, which was lived. This is one of my favourite kinds of words. Can

The three words we have underlined tell us what is happening in the story. Margaret Wild has told us that in the warm waters of the coral reef there are two seahorses who lived there. The first word we underlined and put a green box around is lived. The word lived is a verb but it tells us more than that, as the (ed) on the end of the word shows that Margaret Wild is telling this story in past tense. Do

you  put  a  green  box  around  it?” “I  want  you to put a green line under the next two words, two seahorses.” I want you to put a triangle around the line down the bottom of the word seahorses (,).

you know what, boys and girls? I have lived in some very exciting places. I have some picture to show you. (Display picture of you featured in houses and  environments.  “This  is  when  I  lived  in…………”  can  we  think  of  some  places where you may have lived? Make a class list. Also show images of animals living in places such as a dog in a kennel, bird in a bird cage, fish in a tank and a giraffe in a zoo. The next two words are two seahorses. The word seahorse in a noun because it is a thing or an animal. This is the type of animal Margaret Wild chose to use as the characters in her story. Do you remember the video we watched earlier on that showed us the seahorses swimming through the ocean? I have actually brought in a seahorse to show you today. Bring out tank. I bought this seahorse from the pet shop on the weekend and it will live in our classroom. Stay where you are and I will bring it around and show you. The word two in front of the word seahorses helps to tell us more about the seahorses, it describes them. The word two tells us that there were two seahorses in this sentence. The symbol that we put a green triangle around is a comma. Margaret Wild used this comma to separate the words and phrases. The words that she  wrote  after  the  comma  don’t  change  the  meaning  of  the  sentence  they just add extra information. As cited by Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007).

The final three words in this sentence are Potbelly and Polly.

I want you to point to the last three words in this sentence. Let’s say them aloud together  “Potbelly and Polly” “I  want  you  to  put  a  red  underline  under  Potbelly.” “I want you to put another red underline underneath  Polly.”  

The last three words that Margaret Wild wrote tell us the name of the characters that are in the story. We know that they are seahorses because she wrote that word in the last part that we underlined. Potbelly is the name of the male seahorse, so  it’s  a  proper  noun.  Because  it is the name of the character, Margaret Wild showed that the word was different by putting a capital letter at the beginning. This is important to do  when  you  write  someone’s name. (Write potbelly on the board without capital) the word potbelly without a capital is a describing word

“The  second  word  we  underlined  was  and I want you to point to that word and we will say  it  aloud  as  a  class.” I want you to put a triangle around the dot that is at the bottom of the word Polly (.).

which talks about your belly sticking out. Because Margaret Wild used a capital letter, it shows that Potbelly is the name of the seahorse. The final word is Polly. It has a capital letter as well and that means it is the name of the other seahorse within the story. The second word we underlined is the word and. It is a conjunction or a joining word. Margaret Wild used this word here because it helps to show the two characters Potbelly as well as Polly. I am going to show you how I can hop and pat my head. Choose a few students in the class to stand up. Can you show me how you jump and spin around? Lastly I want you to listen closely: I want James and David and Sam to stand up. This symbol is called a full stop. It has a very important job to show the end of a sentence. Margaret Wild used a full stop to show that the first sentence of the book is finished.

Transformations  lesson: Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is for the teacher to focus on teaching the selected structure of the selected sentence and the consequences of Margaret Wild’s choices. More specifically, this lesson will focus on teaching students about the use of marked theme and describing the setting.

Learning outcome: Students will understand the structure of the selected sentence  and  the  consequences  of  Margaret  Wild’s choices.

Links to the curriculum:

ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’  own  experiences

ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and

that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts

Assessment: Summative assessment could occur quite naturally within this lesson through the use of anecdotal notes of discussions and observations within the lesson. By watching students rearrange the text and asking for explanations, students would demonstrate their understanding of features of written language such as marked theme.

There are two assessment activities outlined by Axford et al (2009) that would be effective is gauging students’ understanding of the words featured within the transformation sentence. These activities could be undertaken at the completion of at the transformation sentence. These include a prediction game which helps to check if words can be read in context. This game involves students closing their eyes as the teacher or a student turns over words featured within the transformation sentence. The learners then have to state which word is missing. To assist all learners you can get students to whisper the answer into your ear so that they feel less pressure in front of the whole class.

Sentence being used for the lesson: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.

Specific language focus for this lesson: The specific language focus for this lesson is Margaret  Wild’s  use of marked theme.

Teaching Strategies: This lesson will be taught to the whole class. All students will have another A3 sheet of paper in front of them to assist their vision of the text. They

will be seated on the floor in a circle. This lesson involves physical and visual examination of an individual sentence thus allowing for engaging kinesthetic and intrapersonal learners,

which is a theory expressed within Churchill et al (2010). All students will be asked where they will cut before they do, to enable you make sure students understand the concept and to avoid

embarrassment of making a mistake in front of the whole class. The strategy of “think  time”  may  be  used, allowing students several seconds before calling on a student for an answer. Other strategies that could be employed would be to inform students that you will ask them to come up and cut before you give them the prompt

so that they can be thinking about the answer for a longer period of time. There will also be a series of grammatical symbols and upper and lower case letters written on post-it notes so that when sentences are rearranged

students can change the starts and ends of sentences.

Script: Where your cuts will go What will you say to guide the students to make the cut

Cut 1. In the warm waters

Ok boys and girls, the first four words of the sentence tell us where the story is happening. Do you remember how it sets the scene of being on the coast of Australia? (Choose student) Can you come out and point to those words that tell us where the story is happening. Yes! Fantastic! Now point where you are going to make a cut. Great job! (Makes cut) can you move the words to the top line.

The next four words tell us more information about where the story is set. Do you

Cut 2. Of the coral reef

remember how we talked about coral reefs on the coast of Australia? Can someone come out the front and point to the four words that tell us more about where the story is set? (choose student) Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.

Cut 3. Lived

Now this next word, boys and girls, is my favourite kind of word. We talked about it last lesson.  It’s  a  verb  and  it  tells  us  what  is  happening  in  the  story.  (Begin pronouncing the word)    Yes!  That’s  right, it is lived. Can you come up and show me where you will cut? Great job! You can cut it now and place it on the second line but not too close to the other part.

Cut 4. Two seahorses,

The next part we are going to cut off is the part of the sentence that tells us about the characters in the story. Can someone come out to the front and point to the two words that tell us the characters? (choose student) Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.

Cut 5. Potbelly and Polly.

The last three words in this sentence tell us the names of the characters. Their names both start with the same letter. Can somebody tell me what those three words I might be looking for are? (begin  sounding  out  names)  That’s  right  Great  job!  Can  you  show  me  where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.

Show parts in the sentence that contribute to the meaning.

Cut 6: Warm waters

Now we are going to look back at the first cut that we made. The next cut we are going to make is the two words that tell us where  the  story  is  set  and  describe  it.  That’s  right. Great job! Can you show me where you will cut? Fantastic! Go ahead and cut there and then place the words on the next line.

Cut 7: Coral reef

The next cut we are going to make is in the two words that give us more information about where the story happened. These two words are the environment that the seahorses live in. Coral reef. That’s  right.  Can  you  show  me  where  you  will  cut?  Fantastic!  Go  ahead  and  cut there and then place the words on the next line.

Parts of the sentence that can be remove to show the students the importance of each section of the sentence for the story. Take away: Potbelly and Polly

Choose student. Can you come out and point out to me the words that Margaret Wild used to tell us the name of the characters. Great job! Now take those words away. Here, I will give you a full stop post-it note to put at the end on the sentence. Now  let’s  read  this  sentence together. (In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses.) This is still a sentence  that  makes  sense  it  just  doesn’t  give  us  as  much  information  as  it  could  about  the  

characters. Take away: Of the coral reef

Now we are going to put those words back. (choose student) Come out and point to the four words that give us more information about the setting. Good job, can you take those words  away.  Now  let’s  read  the  sentence  together.  (In  the  warm  waters  lived  two  seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.) This is still a perfectly fine sentence; it just gives us less information about the setting. Can you see that by Margaret Wild giving us lots of information at the beginning of the sentence it makes it more interesting?

Rearrange  the  sentence  to  show  how  ‘theme’  works  in  sentences Two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly lived in the warm waters of the coral reef.

Now I am going to rearrange the sentence using all of the same words. Let’s  read  it  aloud  together. (Two Seahorses, Potbelly and Polly lived in the warm waters of the coral reef.) This sentence still makes sense, it is just different to the one Margaret Wild wrote. Close your eyes and I will read both of them to you. Can you see how the one Margaret Wild wrote sets the scene, just like in a movie and then introduces the characters later on in the sentence.

Word  Study:   Lesson purpose: The purpose of the word study lesson is to equip students with several strategies to spell words that are found within the selected sentence found within Margaret  Wild’s  Text  Leo the Littlest Seahorse.

Exert from text: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.

Focus word is: lived

Learning outcome: Students  will  understand  the  morpheme  ‘ed’  can  be  added  to  verbs  to  change  the  tense  of  the  verb,  indicating  the  verb  happened in the past (morphology). Students will also understand that the morpheme  ‘ed’  at  the  end  of  words  make  a  ‘t’  sound  as  opposed  to  an  ‘ed’  sound  (phonology)  

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their understanding of ‘ed’  at  the  end  of  verbs  through their ability to identify the morpheme on the activity cards.

Teaching strategies: Axford et al (2009) argues that developing a spelling folder with all scaffolding literacy programs, using words that students study, can help solidify

their spelling knowledge and give students something to refer to whilst completing other literacy tasks. Therefore at the completion of studying this word students will add it to their personal spelling folder.

Method:

Show  children  the  word  ‘lived’  from  the  transformation  cards. Have children identify the word within the transformation sentence. Show students how to use the word lived and what it means. Hand out white boards and demonstrate how to write on white board. Then students write the word on their own individual whiteboards.

Word Which of these are useful ways to study this word?

Activity

Lived: Can be broken down into live. Live in this context is a verb that means to dwell or reside.

Morphology: Explain to students that other verbs in English can have (ed) at the end which changes the word by indicating that it happened in the past.

Whole class activity: Give all students whiteboards and have then seated in a circle on the floor. Encourage students to write live in one colour on their individual white board. In another colour students should write a d at the end on the word. Then students should put a circle  around  the  ed.  Then  explicitly  say  “live  is  a  verb but when you put a ‘d’ at the end it changes the word into past tense.” Activity 2: Card Game In pairs students are provided with a set of cards that have verbs that they use within their everyday environment. The verbs will have (ed) on the end. Students will have to colour in the verb one colour and then the (ed) another colour.

Phonology: Explain to students that the (ed) at the end of lived makes a (t) sound, so it can be misleading when spelling verbs in the past tense.

Whole class activity: Students are seated in a circle. Go through the book with the class and write all verbs featured that have (ed) at the end including:

Squeaked Curled Fluttered Swivelled

Write up words on the board and ask a few students in the class to read them aloud as you record them into a microphone. Play back these words to students as you point to words on

the board with a pointer. This will help show students that the  ‘ed’  sound  makes  a  ‘t’.  

Focus word: warm

Learning outcomes: Students  will  understand  the  history  of  the  word  ‘warm’  and  understand  that  one  syllable  words  consist  of  an  onset  and  rime  and how to identify them.

Links to curriculum: ACELA1438 Know how to use onset and rime to spell words:

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their ability to identify onset and rimes within words and on their ability to locate the word 'warm' within other words.

Method: Show  children  the  word  ‘warm’  from  the  transformation  cards.  Have  children  identify  the  word  within  the  transformation  sentence. Show students how to use the word warm and what it means. Hand out white boards and demonstrate how to write on white board. Then students write the word on their own individual whiteboards.

Word Which of these are useful ways to study this word?

Activity

Warm: an adjective Having a temperature slightly higher than usual, but still pleasant; a mild temperature.

Etymology: Explain to students that the history of the word warm can be traced back to the following words in their language:

Middle English werm Old English wearm Proto-Germanic warmaz.

Then explain to students that the word warm has been added to other words to create phrases throughout history. A few examples are listed below: as cited in Online Etymology Dictionary

The  phrase  ‘warm  the  bench’  a  sports statement was first recorded 1907.

Warm up “to  exercise  before  an  activity"  is  from  1868.

To warm up a car or oven is from 1947 The noun phrase warm-up "act or practice of

warming up" is recorded from 1915.

Whole class: Students are seated in a circle Give all students an A4 paper each with four random selections of the words listed below. Students will then have to identify the word warm and look at why the word has the word warm in it. Students will then copy the word underneath it.

benchwarmers

Heartwarming

Housewarming

Lukewarm

Overwarming

Prewarmed

Rewarm

Rewarmed

Rewarming

Unwarmed

Warmblooded

Warmer

Warming

Warmish

Warmly

Warmth

Warmup Warmups

(Words collected from more words)

Phonology Explain to students that one syllable words can be split into onset and rime to help with spelling. The word warm can be split into  the  first  ‘w’  sound  of  the  onset  and  the  ‘arm’  sound of the rime. (as cited in Wilson and Scanlon, 2011)

Whole class: Have students seated in a circle each with their own individual whiteboard.  Ask  students  to  write  the  letter  ‘w’  in  green  and  then  the  rest  of  the  word  ‘arm’  in  red.  Explicitly  show  students  that  the  onset  is  the  sound  that  they  hear  first  so  for  ‘warm’  that sound would be w and that the rime is the sound that follows it. Get the class to pronounce this as they re-write it

again using the two different colours. Then ask students to brainstorm other onset and rime words they might know: Words to help assist:

Farm Harm

Now ask students to think of other words that have a strong sound at the beginning which is the onset and then another sound that follows which is the rime. Words that may assist:

Cat Sat Flat Hat Mat Tight Light Pen Men.

Activity 2: Card Game In pairs students are provided with a set of cards that have the words featured in the list above on them. Within their group they need to colour in the onset green and the rime red. Activity 3: onset and rime tiles Within pairs students are given a sheet available at: http://www.senteacher.org/worksheet/88/OnsetAndRime.html Students cut up the sheet and fit the correct onset and rimes together.

Patterned  Writing: Lesson purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to make explicit how the author, Margaret Wild, has constructed the excerpt sentence. Students will then use this understanding as a template or guide to assist them in creating sentences of their own.

Learning outcome: Students will use their understandings of the structure of the sentence and Margaret Wild’s words to construct a sentence, working within a small group.

Links to the curriculum:

ACELY1651 Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge Elaboration:

1. creating short spoken, written and multimodal observations, recounts and descriptions, extending vocabulary and including some content-specific words in spoken and written texts

ACELY1653 Produce some lower case and upper case letters using learned letter formations Elaborations:

1. adopting correct posture and pencil grip 2. learning to construct lower case letters and to combine these into words 3. learning to construct some upper case letters

ACELT1575 Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to  students’  own  experiences

ACELA1431 Understand that some language in written texts is unlike everyday spoken language: ACELA1432 Understand that punctuation is a feature of written text different from letters; recognise how capital letters are used for names, and

that capital letters and full stops signal the beginning and end of sentences ACELA1786 Explore the different contribution of words and images to meaning in stories and informative texts

Assessment: Students’ understanding will be assessed through their ability to write a coherent sentence, using the writing plan provided. Students will then create illustrations to support their sentence to show a deeper understanding.

Sentence being used for the lesson: In the warm waters of the coral reef lived two seahorses, Potbelly and Polly.

Teaching Strategies: This lesson will begin with a whole class activity, where the class brainstorms two orientation sentences. Students then go off to their desks and

with the assistance of an adult helper at each table; students come up with their own orientation sentence. There may be some students in the class who need assistance with the spelling of words that they may want to use and some students may need a

scribe to write their sentence for them.

Margaret Wild wrote

In the warm waters

of the coral reef lived two seahorses Potbelly and Polly.

What her language does Where is the story happening?

Tells you more about where: be more specific.

What is happening in the story?

Introduce the characters Give more information about the characters. What are their names?

Teachers 1st Example of sentence

In the dusty cupboard

of Miss Livingston’s classroom

lived

three monkeys,

Alex, James and Sam.

Teachers 2nd Example of sentence

In the sports shed

under a large pile of skipping ropes

sat

two mice,

Helen and Tom.

Be advised: the above featured sequence is very much based on the workshops provided by Misty Adoniou during Scaffolding Literacy (7150). Specific reference to workshops: Monday 19th August 2013, Monday 2nd September 2013, Monday 9th September 2013, Monday 16th September 2013, Monday 23rd September 2013.The graphic overview, assessment, purpose of lessons and script templates have been taken from the works of Misty Adoniou.

References: ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Agency) (2013). The Australian Curriculum English: Rationale. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/English/Rationale Axford B., Harders P., & Wise F. (2009). Scaffolding Literacy: An integrated and sequential approach to teaching reading, spelling and writing. Victoria, Australia: Australian Council for Educators Research

Churchill, R., Ferguson, P, Godinho, S, Johnson, N, Keddie, A, Letts, W, Mackay, J, McGill, M, Moss, J, Nagel, M, Nicholson, P & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching Making A Difference. Australia: Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.

Hertzberg, M. (2012). Teaching English language Learners In Mainstream Classes. Primary English Teaching Association Australia.

Wild, M. (2010). Leo the Littlest Seahorse. Melbourne, Australia: Penguin Group. Wilson, A., & Scanlon, J. (2011). Language Knowledge For Primary Teachers (3rd ed.). New York, USA: Primary English Teaching Association Australia.

Winch G., & Blaxell G. (2007). Primary Grammar Handbook: Traditional Grammar, Functional Grammar, Punctuation and Usage (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford.

http://www.penguin.com.au/contributors/1927/margaret-wild viewed: 7/10/13

http://www.senteacher.org/worksheet/88/OnsetAndRime.html viewed 7/10/13

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page viewed 1/10/13

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=warm&searchmode=none Viewed 7/10/13

http://www.morewords.com/contains/warm/ Viewed 8/10/13