Simply Speech: common core

Learning to Compare and Contrast... with CCSS In Mind, of course!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Happy Thursday ya'll :) So with this new Common Core stuff coming down the pipes, I have been thinking about it non-stop. Every time I have an IEP meeting, I am now making sure my goals align with the CCSS standards (thank you Nicole Allison for your fabulous cheat sheet!). I downloaded a free common core app (there is a tab link on the right side of the blog) that I use religiously. While searching through the standards, I noticed 2 little words frequently making appearances in the standards: Compare & Contrast! That can be a tricky thing to teach so I wanted to introduce this to my students in a way that they would really understand it. Kids love talking about themselves, so I figured I would do an activity all about them!

After really emphasizing the purpose of a venn diagram and that the outside circles mean "different" and the inside means "same," I paired up my students in the group. First they were instructed to do self portraits (which as an interesting task in itself! I don't know how many times I had to tell one student, "You are not The Hulk, you do not have a green face!":) Then I prompted them with questions to help guide them through the activity.

The kids had a blast with this activity and really got the concept of a venn diagram. I was also able to address other goals such as asking and answering WH questions, pragmatics, conversational speech, articulation, turn taking, etc.

How do you like to teach Compare & Contrast?

Grammar Boot Camp!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

I have noticed a big change in my language impaired students over the year. Their expressive language has greatly improved but their written language skills are severely suffering. I am proud that my kiddos can correctly answer questions verbally, but when they go to write out their answer, it does not transfer. I have been studying the new common core skills and L.2 was a red flag for most of my kiddos. So I created a 43 page packet, Common Core Grammar Boot Camp, as a way to work on these skills.

I went through each L.2 standard for kindergarten-5th grade and pulled out target skills to work on in this pack. Below are some examples of what is included.

Kindergarten:

-capitalization of the first word in a sentence

-capitalizing the pronoun I

-recognizing and naming end punctuation

First Grade:

-capitalizing dates and names

-using end punctuation

-using commas in dates

Second Grade:

-capitalizing holidays, product names, and geographic names

-using apostrophes to form contractions and possessions

Third Grade:

-capitalizing appropriate words in titles

-commas in quotation marks in dialogue

-form and use possessions

Fourth Grade:

-correct capitalization

-correct usage of commas

Fifth Grade:

-commas to separate items in a series

-use underlining, quotation marks, or italicize

The first thing included in this packet is a list of 50 sentences for your use. I call these 2 pages my "Teacher List." This list can be used however you would like. The way that I use this is that I put a sentence or 2 on the board at the beginning of each session. I let the students take turns finding the errors and correcting them. Below is an example. I wrote out the sentence with some errors and she made the corrections in a different color.

The next type of activity I have included in the packet is Say It. Fix It. Draw It. This is an interactive activity for the students to complete together as a class or complete independently. They should read the sentence out loud, find the errors, write the sentences correctly in the "Fix It" section, then illustrate the sentence.