What Makes Me Special?

Adapting the Grade One Sample Unit All About Me

While parameters for units and lessons can be established by the teacher who is aware of the students' collective and individual needs, students are a critical part of the planning process.

Review the sample unit.

The foundational objectives for grades K-5 are found on pages 18-20 of the ELA curriculum guide. The objectives have been laid out as the content continuum upon which learning is established and evaluated. While the means to accomplishing these objectives may vary through use of the adaptive dimension, the foundational objectives themselves remain unchanged.

Because we are adapting the All About Me unit, the foundational objectives remain the same as listed on page 203 of the ELA:

Students will demonstrate emerging:

• use of oral language to bring meaning to what they observe, feel, hear and read
  

• interest in participating in the exploration of the patterns, sounds and rhymes of the English language during listening, speaking, and shared reading and writing activities.

Students will demonstrate increasing:

• ability to use their personal communication styles to convey meaning to others in informal settings
  

• curiosity about and interest in print by participating in independent and shared reading and writing activities
  
• interest in interpreting symbols and print in their environment
  
• ability to use language for different audiences and purposes
  
• ability to treat themselves, others and the environment with respect.

Review the students' developmental needs.

Choose specific behaviours to observe and support those which will meet the needs of students in general. These will be adjusted to meet the individual needs of each student.

Oracy (Speaking and Listening) (ELA pp. 22)
Students will demonstrate increasing abilities to:

• use language to develop and clarify thoughts and feelings
  
• participate in class and small group discussions and collaborative tasks
  
• form sensory images while listening
  
• tell and retell personal experiences and story events
  
• dictate phrases, sentences and stories for others to transcribe
  
• recall a short sequence of events
  
• follow oral instructions.

Literacy (Reading) (ELA pp. 24-25)
Students will demonstrate increasing abilities to:

• attempt and practice reading behaviours
  
• retell shared stories in their own words
  
• attend to print
  
• understand directionality of print
  
• understand how illustrations can clarify and extend the text
  
• associate letters and sounds with words in a meaningful context (letter recognition, initial and final consonants and sounds, development of familiar sight words, tracking word for word)
  
• predict: discuss story content based on title and pictures; discuss possible appropriate words for sentences
  
• confirm: use pictures, background knowledge and print to confirm the story.

Response to Literature (ELA pp. 26-27)
Students will demonstrate increasing abilities to:

• share personal feelings, thoughts, and images
  
• relate story events, characters, ideas, and illustrations to previous reading, personal experiences, and surroundings
  
• communicate personal interpretations of various types of literature through dramatization, illustrations, music, action (movement), and written and oral language
  
• state a preference for specific books, authors, and illustrators
  
• recognize and appreciate through interaction with literature:
  • their own cultural identities;
    
  • similarities and differences among cultures, life styles, experiences.

Writing (ELA pp 28-31)
Students will demonstrate increasing abilities to:

• convey ideas using drawings, scribbles, symbols and letterlike shapes
  
• use journal writing to develop self-awareness, and to clarify thoughts, feelings, and experiences
  
• take risks by using invented spellings
  
• write for a variety of audiences
  
• share writing with others
  
• recognize their growth as writers over time
  
• brainstorm, categorize information, and discuss topics
  
• sequence information
  
• select relevant ideas
  
• identify a purpose for writing
  
• contribute to collaborative books
  
• create stories based on the imagination
  
• convey personal accounts of events
  
• report factual information.

Oracy and Literacy (Media) (ELA pp. 32-35)
Students will demonstrate increasing abilities to:

• use various forms of media to convey meaning in stories
  

• collaborate in dramatic activities
  
• use language for different purposes in dramatic activities
  
• use role play or simulation to express knowledge and understanding; to express cultural identity; and to extend understanding and appreciation of cultural identity; to appreciate similarities and differences in cultures, lifestyles, experiences
  
• become familiar with the library and resource centre.

Reflect upon availability of specific resources.

Consider texts, pictures, literature, videos, people from the community, places to visit, and agencies. A unit called All About Me would build upon the students' language and experiences and could rely on information within the community.

Determine the broad concept or theme to be studied.

The elementary Social Studies objectives focus on the uniqueness of individuals and their roles within the classroom and the family. The study could be entitled All About Me or formulated into a question to focus the gathering of information: What Makes Me Special? Topics for individual lessons can also be turned into questions to provide a focus and facilitate authentic learning.

Adjust the webbing.

Because students will be an integral part of the planning process, establish only the headings for the web in order to set parameters and provide guidance.

My Family

Search for possible resources with Indian and Métis content.

Review suggested resources that accompany the curriculum guides. Search through your own materials, personal library, school library, Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment's regional offices, Stewart Resource Centre at the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF), Pahkisimon Nuye-Ah Library System (PNLS), Public Library Services, and Media House Productions for theme-related materials.

From the original sample, determine which activities to maintain, adjust, substitute or omit.

Turning the theme into a question may cause the lessons and activities to take on a different focus from the original unit. It may be feasible to adjust certain lessons and activities in the unit to meet a wide range of student needs, available resources and situations.

Review curriculum guides for the level(s) to be taught.

Become familiar with the philosophy and overview of each curriculum.

When creating a particular unit, look for concepts that tie together and that will support the development of the theme. When adapting a unit, consider the theme already established and seek out objectives that naturally support the thematic concept.

In adapting the unit All About Me (ELA, pp. 202-229) topics of study that complement the theme can be found in other curriculum guides.

Science
Of the five core units and two optional ones for grade one, "Senses" found on p. 118 in the Science curriculum guide is most likely to have information or concepts related to the study of All About Me. Ideas from the unit could possibly be used within the English Language Arts.

Social Studies
In the Social Studies curriculum guide, the grade one focus is The Family, a multicultural unit which relates well to the Language Arts theme, All About Me. Foundational objectives and detailed learning objectives can be used as the content focus for the unit.

Mathematics
Mathematics: A Curriculum Guide for the Elementary Level (1992) includes a complete unit entitled Me (pp. 615-633). General learning objectives for grade one can be found on pages 39-76.

The Arts
Focussing on the Arts strands can be particularly effective for ESL/ESD students. Arts activities provide a means of creative exploration into themes and concepts through a wide variety of expressive modes. Thinking and communication skills are developed through the artistic processes of creating, composing, and reflecting. The opportunities for self-expression presented through the Arts allow both teachers and students to capitalize on individual strengths and learning styles.

Arts Education: A Curriculum Guide for the Elementary Level (1991) lists foundational objectives for each of the four strands: Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Art:

• Dance
  

• Drama
  
• Music
  
• Visual Art

Since all of the Arts Education units involve personal expression, they are all relevant to the theme All About Me. The most obvious connections are:

Unit One	Music: Visual Art: Dance: Drama:	Learning to Hear Learning to See Learning to Perceive Home, School and Community
Unit Three Unit Four	Drama: Music: Visual Art: Dance:	The Arts Life's Music Life's Art Life's Dance

The information provided in these curriculum documents can be used to complement and support the Language Arts program in the various subjects throughout the day.

Present content focus to students for discussion.

Explain to students that they will be learning about how they are special during the next few weeks. Encourage discussion (a Talking Circle would be an appropriate technique).

Map out students' ideas and information.

If the students are in the emerging literacy stage, this may not prove to be very effective. They would likely need some type of visual support such as drawings to `read back' the charted information. An alternative to this would be to record students' comments on strips of paper. These could then be posted along with the students' illustrations of the sentence.

Negotiate specific areas of focus with the students.

Negotiation is a process that students will gradually learn, with support. Teachers who know their students well will be better able to encourage them to focus on areas of study that meet their needs and interests.

For young students and those unfamiliar with the process, the teacher will initially lead in the planning. This can be facilitated by grouping the statements made by the children into general categories or by asking questions such as, "Who is important to you? Where do you spend a lot of your time?"

Create and establish a unit overview.

Plan an overview using the information provided by the students and the foundational objectives, as well as the appropriate available resources.

Two or three weeks might be enough time to begin with, leaving additional time to allow for changes, student input and lesson extensions as student needs and interests dictate.

Activities may be for the whole class, groups or individuals and should allow for student choice.

Grade One Unit Overview
All About Me/What Makes Me Special?

Day 1 Focus 1 Introduction *I Like Me Whose Mouse are You? Mocigitaniwan (strips, illustrate sentences)	Day 2 Focus 2 My Classroom I Like Me Teacher's Helpers The Biggest Cake (attendance chart, birthday graph)	Day 3 Focus 3 My Body, My Self: Physical Characteristics I Like Me Gather Round (C2) (word wall, self portrait, About Me books)	Day 4 Focus 4 My Body, My Self: Feelings I was Just so Mad It Didn't Frighten Me Alexander and the Terrible ... Inuit, Métis, Indian art slides (mime, collages)	Day 5 Focus 5 How is My Family Special? Deep Thinker My mom is so Unusual Family stories Family portraits (collaborative book, stick puppets)
Day 6 Focus 6 My Family Little Critter books Where ... Moccasins Whose Mouse ... (collaborative books, individual posters)	Day 7 Focus 7 My Role in My Family Little Red Hen The Family (C1) Do Things Together (C1) (word wall, charades, sketch to stretch)	Day 8 Focus 8 How Do I Help My Family? Billy's World Together at Camp (C2) Get Together (C2) (mural, make book/tape, bake bannock)	Day 9 Focus 9 What Do We Need? Love Mama, Do You ... On Mother's Lap Love You Forever (collaborative book, captioned drawings)	Day 10 Focus 10 What Do We Need? Food Gather Round (C2) Dad Made Pan ... (C2) Yummy Book (C1) Rosie's Feast (C kg) Let's Eat (C kg)
Day 11 Focus 11 What Do We Need? Food I Can't have Bannock Biggest Cake ... What Would You Like? (model book/illustrate, bake, dramatize)	Day 12 Focus 12 What Do We Need? Clothing Mary Wore a Red Dress Thomas' Snowsuit Tony's Mitten The Mitten (model song, make Big Book)	Day 13 Focus 13 What Do We Need? Shelter All Around Village (C kg) The House that Jack ... A House is a House ... (graph homes, label posters, illustrate homes/write)	Day 14 Focus 14 What is My Neighbourhood Like? Rosie's Walk Emily's Walk (C1) Just a Walk (C1) (role play, walk about, model story)	Day 15 Focus 15 How Can I Be a Good Friend? Frog and Toad Better with Two Hug Me (response book, posters, collaborative book)
Day 16 Focus 16 Unit Review and Wrap Up Invite visitors, dramatize, read to and with children. *Teachers are encouraged to read the books that will be the focus of followup activities to students several times prior to the actual day of use.

Establish how students will be evaluated.

Students must be a part of this process. Portfolios are collections of students' work that provide a picture of progress over time and allow for self-evaluation, goal setting and curriculum planning. They can contain work samples in English as well as in the student's first language. Writing samples of story drafts as well as published stories, audio and video tapes, observation notes, journal entries, story responses, photos and reflections on projects, and lists of books read provide information on the processes and the products the students are developing. Refer to the foundational objectives to determine each student's success.

Assist students as they seek out information and resources.

As students discuss the theme in depth, extend their language and ideas by asking them how they know certain concepts. Encourage them to bring in sources of information they have or know of such as videos, audio tapes, books, photos, pamphlets, papers, flyers, parents, or other persons in the community.

Ask where more information can be found. Keep a list of brainstormed ideas and add to this list as new sources of information are found. Gather information with the students. Demonstrate use of information centres and how to access information required. Practice letter writing, form filling, and telephoning.

If little information exists in a certain area, discuss possible reasons why and then have students suggest alternatives such as revising their unit question or creating an information booklet or video based on the limited resources available.

Adjust lessons, activities, strategies, and resources as needed.

Through ongoing assessment of collective and individual abilities and interests, make adjustments to meet the developmental needs of the students.

This can best be done by expecting that students will become active, interested learners. If their reading and writing abilities do not seem to be developing as expected, seek out and focus on specific activities and strategies that support each child's learning.

Resources that students bring, information they have, and pieces they have written can be presented to the rest of the class along with information from outside resources and teacher-directed lessons.

Interests of students will also influence the types of activities, time spent on lessons and materials used.

Ensure that students use a variety of resources.

Students develop indepth understanding of concepts by using materials and resources for research, projects, and presentations. Students read for a variety of reasons and write for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Review original student mapping with information and questions.

Reflect. Add new information to the chart. Discuss and evaluate.

Reflect upon the learning.

Evaluate the unit.

Suggested Resources for What Makes Me Special?

• For complete information, refer to the list of Resources at the end of this document.
  

• (ELA) indicates resources listed in English Language Arts: A Bibliography for the Elementary Grades.
  
• (Arts Ed.) indicates resources listed in Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Elementary Grades.
  
• (NLSD) refers to resources from the Northern Lights School Division.
  
• (C kg, C1, C2) indicates resources from the Circle Program.
  *indicates out of print but may be in school libraries.

Student Resources

Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Viorst (ELA) (Big Book)
Alfred Reading Series. Darrell W. Pelletier (Alfred's First day At School, Alfred's Summer, The Big Storm, The Pow-Wow, Lisa and Sam)
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing. Judi Barrett (ELA)(Big Book)
A Promise is a Promise. Robert Munsch
Billy's World. Cora Weber Pillwax (ELA)
Bright Eyes, Brown Skin. Hudson and Ford
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin, Jr. (ELA) (Big Book)
Byron Through the Seasons. Children of La Loche and Friends, (ELA)
Circle Program K-3. books and tapes, Fitzhenry and Whiteside
Come Out and Play, Little Mouse. Kraus
Deep Thinker And the Stars. Patricia Murdoch
Feelings. Joanne Brisson Murphy, (ELA)
Frog and Toad are Friends. Arnold Lobel (ELA) (book and audio tape)
Grandma Knows. Lois Dalby
Hello, Amigos! Tricia Brown
Here Are My Hands. Bill Martin, Jr.
A House is a House for Me. Mary Ann Hoberman (ELA) (Big Book)|
The House That Jack Built. Colin and Jaquie Hawkins
Hug Me. Patti Stren (ELA)
I Like Me. Nancy Carlson (audio tape, filmstrip)
I Can't Have Bannock But the Beaver Has a Dam. Bernelda Wheeler (ELA)
I Have Four Names For My Grandfather. Kathryn Lasky
I Love My Dad. Caroline Bell
I Love My Mom. Caroline Bell
Impressions Shared Reading (ELA)
It Didn't Frighten Me. Janet Gloss and Jerome Harste
I Was Just So Mad. Mercer Mayer
Just for You Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer
Lester and Clyde. Reece (ELA) (Big Book)
Love You Forever. Robert Munsch (ELA)
Love Joy Friendship Happy. Series. Joan Belk Moncure
Mama, Do You Love Me? Barbara M. Joose (ELA) (Video, filmstrip, audiotape)
Mary Wore Her Red Dress. Merle Peek (ELA)
Millicent and the Wind. Robert Munsch (ELA)
The Mitten. Alvin Tresselt (ELA)
Me and My Body. Scholastic
Mocigitaninwan. NLSD
My Kokum Called Today. Iris Loewen
My Mom Is So Unusual. Iris Loewen (ELA)
Northern Focus Filmstrips. Sask. Ed.
Now One Foot, Now The Other. Tomie De Paola
Old Enough. Peter Eyvindson (ELA)
On Mothers' Lap. Ann Herbert Scott
Photograph Sets. Pahkisimon Nuye, ah Library System (PNLS)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear? Bill Martin, Jr.
Ready to Read Series. Department of Education, New Zealand (Fantail, What Would You Like?, The Biggest Cake in the World, Greedy Cat, Sam's Mask, T-Shirts)
Rosie's Walk. Pat Hutchins (ELA) (Big Book)
Socks on the Clothesline. Pashagumskum
The Big Orange Splot. Daniel Pinkwater
The Little Red Hen. Paul Galdone (ELA) (filmstrip, audiotape, film, video, Big Book)
Thomas's Snowsuit. Robert Munsch
This is My House. Scholastic
Uncle's New Suit. Lisa Passen 1992
The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Eric Carle (ELA) (Big Book, audio tape)
What's The Time, Mr. Wolf? Colin Hawkins
Where Are You Going, Little Mouse? Robert Kraus
Where did You Get Those Moccasins? Bernelda Wheeler(ELA)
Whose Mouse Are You? Robert Kraus (ELA) (filmstrip, audiotape, Big Book)
Your Family Album series: Gretchen Super, (What Is A Family? What Kind of a Family Do You Have? Sisters and Brothers , Family Traditions)

Suggested Teacher Resources

Come On Everybody Let's Sing. Lois Birkenshaw Fleming
Finger Frolics: Fingerplays for Young Children. Liz Cromwell
Hands Around the World: 365 Creative Ways to Encourage Cultural Awareness and Global Respect. Susan Milord
Music for Fun, Music For Learning. Lois Birkenshaw Fleming (Arts Ed.)
Myself. Marlene and Robert McCracken
One World, One Family: A Multicultural Anti-Racist Curriculum for Northern Saskatchewan. (NLSD)
Project Wild. Canadian Wildlife Federation
Socks on The Clothesline. Susan Pashagumskun
Where Butterflies Go. Ethel Buchanen
The Tipi (poster) Saskatchewan Indian Culture Centre (Arts Ed.)
Northern Food Guide. Saskatchewan Department of Health, La Ronge

Audio tapes

Brian McDonald and the Onion Lake School Children. Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre
Can You Hear My Voice? Kim and Jerry Brodey
One Elephant, Deux Eléphants. Sharon, Lois and Bram.
Smorgasbord. Sharon, Lois and Bram.
10 Carrot Diamond. Charlotte Diamond
What do You have in Your Canoe? Ojibway Cree Culture Centre (Arts Ed.)

Complementing Curriculum

Social Studies
Science, p. 118
Mathematics, pp. 615-633
Arts Education

• Dance, p. 50
  

• Drama, p. 138
  
• Music, p. 214
  
• Visual Art, p. 292 

Focus One: Introduction

Suggested Student Resources

• I Like Me. Carlson (Big Book)
  

• Mocigitaniwan. (NLSD)
  
• Whose Mouse Are You? Kraus

Suggested Teacher Resources

• Myself. theme book McCracken
  

• 10 Carrot Diamond. audiotape
  •  songs, poems, chants about "Me"
• One World, One Family. NLSD

Engaging Activities

• Read I Like Me or another appropriate story. (If possible `read' in the students' first language, then reread or retell it in English. If you cannot speak the students' language, read the story in English. Encourage responses in either English or the child's language. If responses are given in English, extend and elaborate naturally upon them. If given in Cree, Dene or other language, seek to understand by repeating words as you hear them, and asking the students for clarification.

Encourage:

• predicting content, grammatical structure (oral cloze), and predicting words (based on initial, final letters/sounds)
  

• tracking, and talking about the reading process
  
• discussion, and integrating with personal knowledge

Present one or more poems or songs about "me" orally (in the appropriate language as described above). Discuss. Repeat and encourage students to join in.

Exploring Activities

• Talking Circle: Using the structure of the Talking Circle encourage students to share what makes them special.
  

• Have the phrase I am special because.... available on a sentence strip and read it with the students. Explain that you will write their favourite ending to the sentence on a sentence strip and they can illustrate it. As the students' strips are printed, they can take them to their tables and make their pictures on drawing paper.
  
• Share in the large group as appropriate. Post these on the bulletin board. Encourage students to note similar ideas and categorize them accordingly as they are posted.

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• students who may not understand the concept of `special'
  

• which students attempt to reread their sentences or each others'
  
• those who understand about words, and sentences
  
• students' ideas for unit lessons. When drawing, for example, students may focus on a particular concept such as the trapline, or responsibilities they have.

Extensions

• Read Whose Mouse are You? by Robert Kraus. Point left to right as you read. Encourage students to predict and discuss the story. After several rereadings, the story can be "read" in dialogue, with one group asking the questions and the other group responding.

• Share the stories Where are You Going Little Mouse? and Come Out and Play, Little Mouse by Kraus.

Focus Two: My Classroom

Suggested Student Resources:

• I Like Me. Carlson
  

• Mocigitaniwan. NLSD
  
• Teacher's Helpers. Wild Rice Moon (C3)
  
• Whose Mouse are You? Kraus
  
• The Biggest Cake in the World. Ready to Read series

Building on Yesterday

• Encourage students to retell the story, I Like Me, using the pictures as a guide. Allow students to use the language with which they are comfortable: Cree, Dene, English or other. Reread the story again, this time in English, tracking word for word. Encourage responses. Review sentence strips that were posted in the room, encouraging students to use picture cues, track left to right, word for word, and to point out if sentences have the same word in them. Discuss what makes them special, their talents, abilities, and gifts. 

Engaging Activities

• Read Teacher's Helpers with the students. Discuss the fact that this is their classroom. Brainstorm individual responsibilities such as putting things away neatly or respecting each other's space. Together, make a list of additional jobs that could be done on a daily basis. Create a Helpers chart. Students can print their own names and decide what the chart should look like.
  

• Have a calendar and weather chart near the Circle area. Students could help make these. They can be responsible for changing the day and the appropriate labels.
  
• Review name cards in the pocket chart from the day before. Students can make more name cards and tape them to tables or locker areas to establish their own private space.

Exploring Activities

• Point out the various areas or centres and the expectations for each such as the library and reading corner, painting area, listening centre, dress up corner, free play area, message centre. Encourage the students to help establish rules for the classroom as needed. For example, a sign-up sheet might be needed if too many students congregate in a certain area during free play time. Rules for using the listening centre could also be written. Sign-out cards for class-produced books could be made. Students could decide how to card them, and to take turns being the librarian.
  

• Labelled mailboxes (simply made by taping opened milk cartons together) can encourage message-writing, friendly notes, and reminders.

Extensions

• Students' birthdays can be charted or graphed. Discuss how birthdays will be recognized (a crown to wear, perhaps the birthday child could help the teacher make cupcakes on the special day, or students could make individual cards for the birthday child).
  

• A News Bulletin board can be set up. Students can present interesting bits of information that the teacher can print on the chart.
  
• Read The Biggest Cake in the World. Track print left to right. Discuss the pattern. Encourage students to join in on the refrain. Predict, confirm and integrate.
  
• Responses can be whole class, small group or individual. Several suggestions include involving the children in illustrating, dramatizing, or modelling the story pattern to create their own stories.

Focus Three: My Body, My Self: Physical Characteristics

Suggested Student Resources

• I Like Me. Carlson
  

• Bandaids. From Nose to Toes (C1)
  
• Mocigitaniwan. NLSD
  
• Bandaids. (C kg)
  
• Whose Mouse are You? Kraus
  
• Who Am I? From Nose to Toes (C1)
  
• Sam's Mask. Ready to Read series

Suggested Teacher Resources

• songs, poems, chants about "Me"

  • "Head and Shoulders", "This is My Hand"
    
  • "Hokey Pokey", "Open Them/Shut Them"
• Walk Slowly. Gather Round (C2)
  
• I Use My Eyes. Gather Round (C2)
  
• One World, One Family. NLSD

Building on Yesterday

• Read I Like Me, Mocigitaniwan, Whose Mouse are You? Encourage students to participate in the reading. Discuss what the students like about themselves, what they like to do, what their gifts are, and what makes them sad or happy.

Engaging Activities

• Sing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" or other appropriate action song. Have the song printed on chart paper. Also have word cards of the song prepared for the pocket chart. Track the words while singing.
  

• Read "From Nose to Toes" (C1). Students can create charts to hang in the classroom based on the pictures in the book.

Exploring Activities

• Discuss body features. Include a discussion of the senses. Present the sentence strip We have ________. Create a word wall as follows: Students provide a word which is then printed on a sentence strip. Encourage students to help you spell it by listening to the sounds, and naming the letters. You can also comment on the final `s' sound that will be required for most of the words to fit with the sentence frame as well as the need for more than one word to complete the sentence, such as `two eyes'. Keep track of students' word response by adding their initials under it. When all students have responded, cut each word from the strip, ask students to help you read it and hand it to the owner. Students then illustrate their word on half sheets of white paper. The illustrations and the word cards can be posted on the wall under the sentence strip. Review. These can be used to support reading and writing during the unit.
  

• Students can create a self-portrait on butcher paper. This can be done independently or with a partner to help trace. Details can then be added as well as labelling of features.
  
• With an older `buddy' class, students can create individual personal books about themselves. The pages for the books can be prepared ahead of time and can include areas for the recording of information about themselves. Centres can be set around the room, one with a scale for weighing, one with a growth chart or meter stick, one with rulers and yarn for measuring feet, hands, or muscles. Some of these items, such as feet, may be traced around on the pages as well. (The yarn can be used to help measure non-linear features and then cut to the correct length and taped into the book.) Remember to date the entries. Have students discuss and share with others. Keep the books at school. Repeat at the end of the school year and note the differences. (Refer to Mathematics: A Curriculum Guide for the Elementary Level, 1992, Unit Me.)
  
• Listen to students read independently to you, one on one.

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• who uses picture cues
  

• which students track left to right
  
• which students track individual words
  
• who knows the difference between letter, word, and sentence
  
• who can point out individual words on command
  
• who attempts to use the sound-symbol relationship.

Extensions

• Students can create wrapping paper designs or individual creations by using their fingerprints. Discuss the uniqueness of each person.
  

• Consult parents and caregivers to ensure that the community is comfortable with the following activity. Invite an RCMP officer to come and share the official technique of fingerprinting with the class. Students can be involved with drafting an invitation to the RCMP (experience chart), planning the visit, deciding what questions they will ask the officer, how they will show their appreciation. Students can make a card ahead of time and sign it with their fingerprints.
  
• Create a mural of hand prints and/or foot prints to display in the hallway or in the classroom. Create a little verse or song to write on the mural.
  
• Create a collage of body parts by cutting features from magazines and gluing to poster paper. These charts can be labelled.
  
• Make plaster casts of each student's hand at the beginning of the year. Save and compare at the end of school year.
  
• Play action songs like "The Hokey Pokey" using word cards. Students can take turns choosing a card with right hand or left foot on it.
  
• Read Sam's Mask to the students, encouraging them to determine the words based on picture cues and letters. Remind students to use environmental print (from the charts or books) to help determine unknown words.

Focus Four: My Body, My Self: Feelings

Suggested Student Resources

• Series: Love/Joy/Friendship/Happy. Moncure
  

• Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Viorst
  
• I Was Just So Mad. Little Critter series, Mercer Mayer
  
• It Didn't Frighten Me. Harste

Suggested Teacher Resources

• picture files depicting people with various emotions
  

• magazines
  
• Inuit, Métis and Indian Art Kit Human faces slides: F31, H1, H2, H3, H17, H18, H42, H50, I4, I7, I8, I17

Engaging Activities

• Read I Like Me. Encourage students to participate in the reading. Discuss how the character must be feeling in the various pictures. Share other appropriate literature on feelings.

Exploring Activities

• Brainstorm words for various emotions, and list on chart paper. (Add picture cues or a happy face). Encourage students to tell what makes them happy, sad, or angry.
  

• Show the students the pictures from your picture file. Discuss what emotion the people might be feeling. Encourage students to mime various emotions and have the other students guess what they are `feeling'.

Extensions

• Working in small groups, students can search for pictures showing various emotions in magazines. Once cut out, these can be categorized. Collages can be made on poster paper and captioned, then shared with the whole class.
  

• Using the Inuit, Métis and Indian Art Kit, view slides on human faces with students. Discuss features, emotions portrayed, and ideas as to what incident might have lead to each emotion.
  
• Always have a collection of simple, repetitive books available for the students to practice reading. Try to read four or five of these daily to the class or to smaller groups. Encourage students to read in pairs, to you or to themselves. Parents can be invited in on a regular basis to sit with the students and listen to them read, as well as to read stories and share experiences with individuals and groups as they feel comfortable.
  
• The focus on Feelings may give rise to issues of abuse. Before discussing, check with the principal or superintendent regarding appropriate protocol, resources, and what types of support are available.

Focus Five: How is My Family Special?

Suggested Student Resources

• Families Together. Getting Together (C2)
  

• I Like Me. Carlson
  
• The Big Family. Family Stories (C1)
  
• On Mother's Lap. Herbert Scott
  
• My Mom Is So Unusual. Loewen
  
• The Biggest Cake in The World. Ready To Read series
  
• At My House. Getting Together (C2)
  
• Whose Mouse Are You? Kraus
  
• Deep Thinker and the Stars. Murdoch

Suggested Teacher Resources

• May There Always Be Sunshine. 10 Carrot Diamond (audio tape)

Building on Yesterday

• Encourage students to retell I Like Me. Read it together. A tape of the reading could be created to put into the Listening Centre.

Engaging Activities

• Read The Big Family, My Mom is So Unusual, At My House or other appropriate story.

Exploring Activities

• Use a Talking Circle to share stories about families. Stress family outings and various family sizes including the extended family. Talk about the rich range of families we have in today's society. (Some children may feel more comfortable in smaller groups or talking with the teacher or another student. While it is difficult to always arrange for quality time, teachers should try to connect with quiet students on a more personal level to seek out their comments or stories as time permits.)
  

• Draw a picture of your family on the flip chart; label the characters and name them. Students could then draw pictures of their own families on white paper. Help label them as needed.

Reflect on Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• who can use environmental print (word walls and books) to find labels for characters
  

• who can print family members' names as sight words
  
• who can hear particular sounds of letters in various positions (initial, final, medial)
  
• who understands the sound/symbol relation
  
• who knows names of letters.
  
• Share completed pictures. Note the details included. Encourage students to respond and to tell about their families. Extend their language by counting family members, discussing sizes, ages, relationships, roles of members, and the setting of their picture.
  
• Create a book with the students' pictures. Use the book Families to discuss parts of a book: front, back, and cover. Discuss ideas for the cover of students' new collaborative book. The cover can be created by following cues and suggestions from students. Photocopy enough of the completed collaborative books for each student plus one for the class library, one for the school library, and one for afternoon activity. (Do not staple the last copy). Hang the originals in a Family Portrait Gallery. Share the new class book. Students can each receive a copy. They can read these during silent reading time and can take them home after school.
  
• Demonstrate how to create stick puppets of family members on oval pieces of paper. Have students make puppet of themselves first, then label and put the names on the back. Demonstrate making a dad, a mom, and siblings. Assist children with drawing their own figure on the oval, and cutting and gluing it to a popsicle stick. Students can refer to their collaborative books or to the word walls for assistance with labelling. Store in envelopes; students can print or copy their own names onto the envelope. Use puppets to act out action songs such as "Two Little Black Birds" (can be adapted to "Two Little Kids ..."). Extend language concepts by using verbs such as `roll away', `dash away', and `hop away'.

Reflect on Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• oral language development: which language is used most comfortably? If English is spoken, listen for sentence structure, and vocabulary (verbs, tense, prepositions).

Extensions

• Read The New Baby from Family Stories Circle 1. Encourage students to talk about younger siblings, nieces and nephews. If possible, invite a mom and new baby in to visit the students and talk about the baby's care. Extend the experience by creating a big book, collaborative book or experience chart.
  

• Use the students' drawings to encourage visual imaging. Have students close their eyes and listen while you describe a picture of one student's family. Compare their images with the drawing. Discuss differences.
  
• Read Deep Thinker and the Stars to the students along with ongoing discussion to make certain students understand the story as it unfolds. (This book may be difficult for some students to follow because of its length and complex story line complete with plenty of emotions, time sequencing, and characters. It is important that students are exposed to quality literature of increasing length. They should be able to increase the length of time they are involved with stories, from 10 or 15 minutes to half an hour at one sitting. Students will be more involved with the stories if encouraged to wonder, question and discuss and, of course, sit near the book and focus on the pictures.)

Focus Six: My Family

Suggested Student Resources

• My Mom Is So Unusual. My Kokum Called Today. Loewen
  

• Where Did You Get Those Moccasins? Wheeler
  
• Family. (C1)
  
• Just Me and My Dad. Little Critter Series
  
• Whose Mouse Are You? Kraus
  
• Where Are You Going Little Mouse? Kraus
  
• Come Out and Play, Little Mouse? Kraus

Building on Yesterday

• Review or retell or reread and then discuss stories from yesterday. Reread students' collaborative book with them. Review pocket chart labels and posters in the room.

Engaging Activities

• Review the Circle Program book, Family. Read it together, encouraging students to track word for word. Write a sentence strip: This is my mom. Track left to right, and discuss the number of words. Cut up, mix up, and arrange cards to form sentence in the pocket chart. Use other names or labels from pocket chart to form new sentences. Use the student's first language as well as English whenever possible.
  

• Write another sentence strip, This is my mom. (Encourage students to help you write it.) Tape it to poster paper. Using your copy of your family portrait, cut out the picture of your mom. Paste it onto poster board. Repeat the procedure for This is my dad, brother, sister, nokum.

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note students who know the following:

• initial, final and medial consonant sounds
  

• concept of letters, words, and sentences.
  
• Hand out copy of each student's picture. Encourage students to add colour to them before cutting and pasting them onto the appropriate poster. (They can print their own names underneath figures). Summarize with students and count the figures on each chart. You may wish to create a graph. Discuss concepts of more, less, fewer.
  
• Create personal books, This Is My Family. Review sentence strips and pocket chart cards from last activity. Model the following procedure on chart paper or demonstrate by using one of the prepared booklets:

                            _________________________
Page 1 This is my |_________________________|.
            (fill in mom) Illustrate

                            _________________________
Page 2 This is my |_________________________|.
            (fill in dad) Illustrate

You could turn the activity into cloze format by leaving out certain function words in the pattern,

                     ________________
This is _____ |____mom_______|

or leave slashes for letter cues,

                _________________
This is _ _ |____dad________|.

Some students will not use words like mom or dad. Assist them with filling in the names they use for their caregivers. Some students will need more pages than others. Have extra sheets ready. Share with a partner, in small groups or in the Author's Chair (ELA, p. 86) if appropriate.

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note the students:

• who can use environmental print (word walls, books)
  

• who can print family members' names as sight words
  
• who can hear the sounds of letters and understand sound/symbol relationships, consonants: beginning, final, medial; vowels: a, others)
  
• who know names of letters
  
• who track print word for word

Extensions

• Work in groups to create a collage of family members (moms, dads, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandparents) from magazines. These can be captioned as appropriate (Families work together. Families eat together).
  

• Students can use the pocket chart to play with the word cards.
  
• Students might wish to use their stick puppets to recreate a story or scene.
  
• Encourage students to "dialogue read" the books by Kraus: Whose Mouse Are You? Where Are You Going Little Mouse? Come Out and Play, Little Mouse.
  
• Create simple mouse and cat puppets out of socks with button eyes and whiskers. Students can recreate the stories with their puppets.

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• student's use of vocabulary
  

• sentence structure
  
• confidence in speaking
  
• ability to play together, take turns, cooperate (you may wish to videotape students).
  
• Write out the dialogue for the students to take home along with their puppets to share with their families.

Focus Seven and Eight: My Role in My Family: How Do I Help My Family?

Suggested Student Resources

• * Together At Camp. (C1)
  

• The Family. (C1)
  
• *Letters from Wild Rice Camp. (C3)
  
• Little Red Hen. Goble
  
• *Wild Rice Camp. (C3)
  
• Doing Things Together. (C1)
  
• *Camp Stories. (C3) Wild Goose Moon
  
• At My House: Getting Together. (C2)
  
• * Billy's World. Pillwax

(* Starred books focus on the trapline which teachers may wish to extend into a separate focus if this is an area of interest to their students or of relevance to the community).

Suggested Teacher Resources
"This is the Way We Wash the Clothes" ... song

Engaging Activity

• Read Doing Things Together, This Is The Way (Camp Stories) or other appropriate literature. Discuss and then brainstorm various chores. Sing: "This is the Way we Wash the Clothes" with actions. Substitute others chores: `Get the groceries' or `chop the wood'.
  

• Print: This is the way we ________________. on a sentence strip. Cut it apart and place in the pocket chart. Brainstorm more ideas. Create a word wall. Use the word cards in the pocket chart.
  
• Role playing or miming: Students can role play performing various chores while the others guess what they are doing. Discuss rules for those who are performing and those who are the audience. Pictures from the Circle book could be used for ideas to act.
  
• With the students, make little cards with phrases (and picture cues) to create a charades game. Play the game as a whole class, and then in small groups or pairs.

Extensions

• Encourage role-playing of chores or responsibilities based on the stories heard or students' imaginations.
  

• Begin a costume box in the classroom to encourage drama, and role playing. Castoff clothing, old curtains, blankets, purses, hats and masks can lead to creative play.
  
• Demonstrate how the family stick puppets can be used to dramatize the stories about roles and responsibilities.
  
• Photograph or videotape students during their role playing or dramatizations. Photos can be displayed on the wall or made available for sharing in photo albums. Students can help write captions underneath the pictures. Videos can be signed out and taken home for the evening to share with parents, grandparents, siblings and babysitters.
  
• Read Little Red Hen (predict, confirm, integrate). Encourage students to respond to and internalize the story in various ways. (For more information, refer to strategies described in the English Language Arts Curriculum.)
  
• Discuss characters and their behaviour and reactions; story line; beginning, middle, end; and setting.
  
• Do a sketch-to-stretch.
  
• Create a pocket chart activity using parts of the story, Not I, said the dog.
  
• Model the story, changing the characters.
  
• Have students use the book and tape independently.
  
• Tape-record yourself reading with the children chiming in on the repetitive parts.
  
• Have students:
  • Paint a mural.
    
  • Illustrate and caption a favourite part of the story and create a collaborative book.
    
  • Respond in the Story Response booklets.
    
  • Compare several versions of the story.
    
  • View a filmstrip or video and compare various versions.
    
  • Plant some wheat. Record its growth. Note its needs (water, sun, food). Discuss use (bread, bannock, other).
    
  • Bake bread or bannock. Bring in recipes from home. Copy onto chart paper. Invite a parent to come to lead the baking activity. Write up on experience chart. Invite others to come and share it.
    
  • Dramatize, role play. Invite another class. Share the bread from above activity with them or video tape your production. Let kids take the bread home to share with their parents, and other family members.
    
  • Read and respond to I Can't Have Bannock But The Beaver Has a Dam.
• Focus on the trapline: Read Billy's World or other appropriate literature.
  
• Discuss where students' traplines are located (they can be charted on a map; you will need parent's help for this).
  
• Discuss the purpose of traplines, and similarities and differences between trapline life and community life. This can be written up on chart paper.
  
• Take a class visit to a trapline. Let students help plan the visit by telephoning or writing letters (on experience chart) requesting a visit. Write to the bus driver or people providing the transportation. Send permission notes home and request adult helpers. Prepare by predicting what they will see, and brainstorming what they will need (perhaps do some baking and pack a snack). Take along a video or other camera. Discuss the experience at length, extending students' areas of interest. Create an experience chart; write a thank you note.
  
• With the students create a book about the trapline. Send it to penpal students in other centres (rural or urban).
  
• Refer to the grade four adapted unit for further resources and ideas that could be used in this area of focus.

Focus Nine: My Family: What Do We Need? Love

Suggested Student Resources

• Just Me and My Dad. Little Critter series
  

• On Mother's Lap. Scott
  
• Deep Thinker and the Stars. Murdoch
  
• Mama, Do You Love Me? Joose
  
• Grandma's Knee. Signs of Spring (C2)
  
• Love You Forever. Munsch
  
• Hug Me. Stren
  
• Now One Foot, Now The Other. De Paola
  
• A Promise is a Promise. Munsch
  
• My Kokum Called Today. Loewen.

Suggested Teacher Resources

• "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck" and "Skinnamarink" from the audiotape One Elephant.

Engaging Activities

• Sing songs appropriate to the theme.
  

• Brainstorm what we need to stay alive and the need for our families. Create a chart listing love, food, shelter, and clothing.
  
• Read several of the books that relate the warmth and love in families. Encourage students to discuss while (and after) reading to gain insight and relate to personal experiences.
  
• Students can respond by painting their favourite part of a story or personal responses about their relationships with family members. Caption the drawings with their assistance, share and display. (The caption can also be printed on a sentence strip. Students can read it to the teacher. Discuss how many words it has. Students can cut the words apart, mix them up, rearrange them and put them back in order, then check by matching with caption sentences on their drawings. Each student could share with a partner and take the drawing home to share with others.)

Reflect On Students' Abilities
Note the following:

• use of left to right tracking, rotation of words
  

• understanding the concept of words, letters, and sentences
  
• the developing of a collection of sight words
  
• ability to match word for word
  
• use of initial, final, and medial cues (sound/symbol relationship).

Focus Ten and Eleven: My Family: What Do We Need? Food

Suggested Student Resources:

• I Can't Have Bannock ... Wheeler
  

• Dad Made Pancakes. Gather Round (C2)
  
• The Biggest Cake in the World. Ready to Read Series
  
• There's Going to Be A Feast. Gather (C2)
  
• Fantail. Ready to Read Series
  
• Yummy Book. (C1)
  
• Greedy Cat. Ready to Read Series
  
• Rosie's Feast. (C kg)
  
• What Would You Like? Ready to Read Series
  
• Let's Eat. (C kg)
  
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle
  
• What's The Time, Mr. Wolf? Hawkins
  
• Grandma Knows. Dalby

Suggested Teacher Resources:

• Photograph sets: Bannock Making
  

• Where Butterflies Go. Buchanen
  
• Northern Focus Filmstrips: Bannock Making and Making Birch Syrup

Engaging Activities

• Have a basket of fruit at the Circle. Discuss what the various items might be and with which ones the students are familiar. Encourage children to describe them using language that includes size, shape, colour, and texture. (Students can later help prepare the fruit for snack. Discuss taste, texture, and smell.)

Exploring Activities

• Read Grandma Knows. Share stories of berry picking. Discuss how we sometimes are able to gather or plant our own food, but certain food items come from far away and we buy them at the store.
  

• Read several stories to students and encourage responses. Discuss various terms for meals such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, tea, snack, or brunch. While many families eat three meals a day, there is great variation to this. Discuss foods. Textures, tastes, and food groups could be discussed.
  
• Discuss food groups according to The Northern Food Guide, and the need for proper nutrition. Create a word wall of foods. The various food groups could be classified.
  
• Print I like to eat.. /But I don't like to eat (can accent with smiling face or sad face) across the top of the chart paper and draw a line down the centre. Brainstorm with the students what they like to eat and what they do not like. Provide students with their own pieces of paper. They can fold them in half lengthwise and copy the words or the smiling and sad faces across the top. Encourage them to illustrate their best or least favourite foods. They can also label the pictures (use the print in the room for support) or dictate the words to the teacher, who can print them with assistance from each student. Share as a whole group.
  
• Create personal books by providing stapled sheets with I like to eat _________________, or turn them into cloze booklets, I _ _ _ _ to eat ___________. Leave room for illustrations. Be sure to include a cover with room to print the student's (author's) name. The last page can have But I don't like to eat ______________.

Extensions

• Read Making Bannock, p.39, The Yummy Book Circle 1 (Recipe p.48). Bake bannock.
  

• Create a collaborative book after reading The Feast. Assist the students with captioning their drawings.
  
• Invite a health nurse, nutritionist or dental assistant to come and talk to the children about nutrition and food groups. Students can be involved with writing the invitation, brainstorming questions to ask the visitor, writing and sending a thank you card, creating books on foods, and making recipe books.
  
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle can be used as the base for further reading, writing and arts activities including a Readers' Theatre, frame sentences, flannel board activities, modelling cumulative books, discussing illustrations, creating collages and modelling with clay.

Focus Twelve: My Family: What Do We Need? Clothing

Suggested Student Resources

• Thomas' Snowsuit. Munsch
  

• Mary wore Her Red Dress. Peek
  
• Tony's Mittens. (C1)
  
• The Mitten. Tresselt
  
• Where Did You Get Those Moccasins? Wheeler

Suggested Teacher Resources

• Songs, poems about clothing
  

• Socks on the Clothes Line. Pashagumskun
  
•  Myself. theme series, pp. 25-28. McCrackens

Curriculum Complements

• Primary Colours p. 92 Arts Education

Engaging Activities

• Read or sing Mary Wore Her Red Dress with the students. (This book was chosen because of its focus on pronoun words that may be difficult for ESL/ESD students. It also presents the colour words in context, provides a strong oral language pattern, is very predictable due to its repetitive pattern and provides early reading success for students.) Track the words. Encourage use of letter cues in brainstorming names of characters and colours. Point out repetitive pattern. Encourage students to read along with you.
  

• Create a word wall of clothing words and colour words.
  
• In the pocket chart present the pattern:
  _____________ wore (his/her) ______________
                                                     ______________
  _____________ wore (his/her) ______________ all day long.

  Discuss the possessive pronouns his/her. Students can use words from the word wall to make their own sentences.
  

• Provide students with the pattern and room for an illustration on a sheet of paper. Students can create pages about themselves to contribute to a collaborative book.

Exploring Activities

• Read The Mitten to the students. Students can organize a drama based on the story. Teacher can act as facilitator and keep track of who the characters are going to be, and possible props they will need. Students can invite another class, parents or relatives (create invitations and plan for refreshments). Videotape the performance and allow students to sign out the video. Play the video on the local community channel. Place posters in the community for others who may be interested. Send the video to a penpal class. Encourage them to share their responses.

Extensions

• Invite someone from the community to come in and demonstrate the art of making mittens. Extend with literacy experiences that involve reading and writing.
  

• Use the activities described in the package Socks on the Clothesline (counting by ones to 20, counting by twos (pairs), matching, adding, and modelling). 

Focus Thirteen: My Family: What Do We Need? Shelter

Suggested Student Resources

• All Around the Village. (C kg)
  

• A House is a House for Me. Hoberman
  
• The Big Orange Splot. Pinkwater
  
• The House That Jack Built. Hawkins
  
• The New House. (C1) Lots To Do

Suggested Teacher Resources

• Picture file of houses
  

• One World, One Family (NLSD) p. 121
  
• p. 20-25, Myself theme book. McCrackens
  
• Everybody Needs a Home. Project Wild, p. 24
  
• Tipi Poster. Arts Ed.

Engaging Activities

• Share available stories with the students. Discuss types of shelters, purposes, reasons for variations, advantages of each type, materials required, and relation to climate.
  

• Categorize who lives in what type of shelter. Graph this information using a bar graph. Include terms like `hut', `cabin', `cottage', `camper', `trailer', `tent', `tipi', `duplex', `apartment', and `suite'. Talk about how they are the same, how they are different.

Exploring Activities

• Visit a new home that is being built. Plan the outing together. Brainstorm what the students will see. If possible, make plans to meet with one of the workers. Plan what questions to ask. Encourage students to take along paper and pencils to sketch their observations. Once back in the classroom extend the outing by creating a book, discussing, drawing and labelling what they saw and learned, or creating an experience chart story (refer to The Meaning Makers by Wells for suggestions on extending students experiences through language).
  

• Create little books My house has or is ____________ (several pages like this); the last page can say, My house is where my family lives.

Extensions

• Have children in groups:

  • draw various houses. Provide them with word cards labelled roof, window, and door to glue onto picture.
    
  • create shape houses by gluing various sizes of shapes onto a sheet of paper.
    
  • use boxes or cartons to create three-dimensional dwellings. Add `furniture'.
    
  • create a snow house outside.
    
  • create a diorama of a home.
    
  • cut out homes from magazines or use pictures from file. Categorize homes by materials or the environment for which they were built and type of home.
    
  • make gingerbread houses.
    
  • cut furniture out of catalogues. Categorize by room, glue onto charts, and label rooms and furniture.
    
  • draw own homes with detail; describe orally and with writing.
• Discuss animal homes (see Project Wild, p. 24, Everybody Needs a Home).
  
• Community personnel may be available to assist with erecting a tipi in the traditional manner and to provide information regarding the symbolism surrounding tipis.
  
• Students can be encouraged to act out the various stages in the building of houses, or moving into a house.

Focus Fourteen: What is My Neighbourhood Like?

Suggested Student Resources

• Rosie's Walk. Hutchins
  

• Emily's Walk. Together at Camp, (C1) (C kg)
  
• Just a Walk. (C1)
  
• The Short Cut. (C1)

Suggested Teacher Resources

• Myself. McCrackens, pp. 20-25
  

• One World, One Family. pp.123-126

Curriculum Complements

• Arts Education: Drama, Grade One Community Drama Model Unit, pp. 167-172

Engaging Activities

• Read Rosie's Walk in the appropriate language. If read in a language other than English, reread it in English.
  

• Tell or retell the story again in the students' first language. Add the Cree or Dene words to the story by rewriting the story on strips and taping them to the appropriate pages.
  
• Encourage students to retell the story using the book as a prompt. Encourage tracking the print from left to right.

Exploring Activities

• Have students read the story with you, focusing on specific words, their meanings and their sounds. `Which word on this page is pond? What is a pond? How does it compare with a river or lake? Are there any ponds in our community?'
  

• Encourage the students to role play the story but adapt it to fit within the classroom environment (under the desk, over the chair, beside the window).
  
• Create puppets of `Rosie and the fox' and encourage students to reenact the story or create new episodes for it.
  
• Create sentence strips and illustrations for use in the pocket chart. Students can match the pictures with the correct phrase, and can sequence the strips into the original order.

Extensions

• Read Emily's Walk and Just a Walk. Compare differences in environment.
  

• Create a Big Book. Walk around the neighbourhood. Discuss sights, sounds, smells, things to feel (focus on language concepts such as close, far, beside, behind, and next to). When back in the classroom, discuss how the neighbourhood differs from Rosie's farm environment. Brainstorm animals typical to the students' environment and choose two: one that will go for the walk and another who will `chase' it. Consider the various places the walk could take them such as behind the school, under the dock, beside the lake or over the wood pile. Using visuals to accompany the new story text (you can roughly sketch these ideas for the students) prepare a chart story. After reviewing it, have students choose parts to illustrate on poster board. The text can be printed out on strips and glued onto the pictures when completed. Add a cover, title page, copyright, students' names and place the new Big Book in the library.
  
• Create a tape to accompany the new Big Book. Place it in listening centre.
  
• Share the new Big Book with other classrooms. Let them borrow the book and the tape.
  
• Share the book with other students during Assembly.
  
• Provide students with a copy of the pattern, (leave room for illustrations) discuss and invite them to create their own stories.
  Example:
  (Vennessa's) Walk.
  (student's name)
  Adapted by: (Vennessa)
  Vennessa the princess got up one morning and went outside for a walk
  over the frog
  across the road
  over the lion
  and got home in time to do my math.

  

• Have other books on animals available for students to `read' on their own.
  

• Discuss buildings found in the neighbourhood: residences, businesses, services and the people who work inside them. Invite the people in to talk about their jobs. Share your new book with them.
  
• Create a map of the neighbourhood. Add labels to homes, buildings, and landmarks. Let students use the map for driving little cars and trucks along the roads.
  
• Assist students with creating a `centre' of one of the businesses such as a store or hospital. Brainstorm ideas and materials. You can facilitate by recording information and ideas on chart paper and helping to organize students into groups responsible for setting up the centre. Add paper, pencils, and markers to the centre in order to support reading and writing experiences. For example, a store could use grocery lists, flyers, labels of items, environmental print of food items brought in, and advertized sales.
  
• Read The Gingerbread Man to the students. Help them to rewrite the story (perhaps `The Bannock Boy') choosing locally suitable animals and characters running past various landmarks in their community.

Focus Fifteen: How Can I Be a Good Friend?

Suggested Student Resources

• Frog and Toad are Friends. Lobel
  

• Anna's Secret Friend. Tsutsui
  
• Better with Two. Joose
  
• The Doorbell Rang. Hutchins
  
• We Are Best Friends. Aliki
  
• Hug Me. Stren
  
• Lester and Clyde. Reece

Engaging Activities

• Read several stories from Frog and Toad are Friends. Discuss characters and story line with the students. Relate to personal experiences.

Exploring Activities

• Talking Circle: How can I be a good friend? List the characteristics of a good friend on chart paper (may need to use simple drawings to assist as visual supports).
  

• Make posters of students helping each other, in class or outside. Caption these. Share and post them. Review with students before they go to play outside.
  
• Review Frog and Toad. Encourage students to respond to the story in response booklets.
  
• Support the students as they dramatize their favourite story or scene. Videotape it. Share it with others.
  
• Review the original list of characteristics of a good friend. Add to or revise the list as students see appropriate.

Reflect on students abilities
Note the following:

• general and individual growth in understanding the concept.
  

• Establish a chart with lists of friends' names on it. Add to the chart as the students request (encourage students to add names to it as well). Use these words as environmental print to support various reading and writing activities.
  
• Make a collaborative Friend book following the pattern:
  _________________ is a good friend. (He/She) ______________________________________.

Extensions

• Read "The Lost Button" from Frog and Toad are Friends. Have a pail of buttons available for students to sort. Encourage them to find buttons that match the descriptions of those found by Toad.
  

• Play `Button, Button' using language concepts to compare buttons. Sort and categorize by various concepts and note those that fit into more than one category. Play `Guess My Rule' by making two piles of buttons, one set that is grouped by a certain rule, another set that does not belong. After some practice, students can play this game in pairs or small groups.
  
• Students can count the buttons and play with them.
  
• Have students make stick puppets of Frog and Toad and use them to retell the stories.
  
• Make large pictures of Frog and Toad. Brainstorm their characteristics, attributes, similarities and differences. Print these on the drawings.
  
• Make a map of the places Frog and Toad go, and where their houses might be. Label and post it, or place it on a table and encourage students to create clay characters and props to add to the map.
  
• Have students make friendship bracelets or beaded rings to share with a friend.
  
• Make a list of all the books students can find related to the theme of friendship. List the characters and how students knew they were good friends. Note differences between friends such as age, characters, (boy and grandfather, girl and dog).
  
• Students can draw a picture of their friends and write or dictate what they like about them and what activities they enjoy doing together.

Focus Sixteen: Unit Review and Wrap Up

Suggested Student Resources

• all literature related to the topic:

  • stories shared to date
    
  • stories that were not presented to date
• Review stories to date. Encourage students to retell stories using pictures as support. Use stick puppets and other projects to review the concept.
  
• Share several `new' stories related to the theme. Discuss. Add information to charts around room (Characteristics of a Good Friend, What Makes Me Special? Things We Need).
  
• Review chants, poems, and songs. Decide where they will be kept for future reference (those on chart paper can be taped onto wire coat hangers as a collection, and hung on the back of a chart stand).
  
• Review collaborative and individual books, videos that were made, letters written, pocket chart cards and other environmental print.
  
• Encourage students to choose samples of completed work (best, worst) and compile into folders, large envelopes, or portfolios. Make lists of books that students can read independently or with minimal support, and lists of strategies they use in reading and writing can be added.
  
• Reflect on their growth in ability to understand the theme. Discuss favourite activities completed, or what students learned most.
  
• Invite parents, siblings, babysitters, neighbours, or grandparents in to complete the celebration by observing and participating in recitations, reading books together, dramatizing favourite stories, watching puppet plays, and listening to songs.
  
• Begin to develop ideas for new unit or theme.