Thematic Unit Description Paper I. Unit Context

Thematic Unit Description Paper

Name Aspen Cushing Course-Section Teach 259-7

I. Unit Context 1. Write a description of the unit theme detailing what the students will be learning. First grade students will be learning about themselves, other students in the classroom, and students from other schools while also learning the importance of upper/lower case letters, writing a letter, and proper strokes and points. There will be fun activities that go with each lesson and ways of incorporating technology to help make it more exciting. 2. What is the target subject area/class? The target area for this lesson is first grade students. It will involve English, building relationships with those around you, and the importance it is to make sure that you know these three concepts. 3. How does this unit fit into the whole learning experience of the students? During this lesson, first grade students will learn more about strategies they need to know to write properly in their daily lives. Learning the differences in messy and nice printing, how you start every sentence with an upper case letter and how there are some words that you do capitalize and some most you do not, writing a proper letter, and making sure that write from left to right. They will practice all these skills in the classroom with other students in their classroom by creating a classroom book, write to pen pals, and get to share more about themselves through sentences that they will get to share. 4. What is the setting or situation? Describe the classroom as you see it. Include information on what computers and other equipment are available to the students. There will be many technology settings used in these units. When we are learning about upper and lower case letters they will see an example as stated above of messy handwriting and will get to use the Smartboard to show their nice handwriting. With their proper strokes and point we will be using computers and the elmo to show pictures of what we typed up about our families. Lastly, they will write a letter out to their pen pals and once it is a approved they will type it out and get to mail it to their pen pals. My vision is to make this English lesson something fun for the students and in a way that they will not forget it. Computers are available to students to be able to type up their sentences. There are two computers in each classroom for some students to get started, when everyone is finished we are allowed two times a week in the computer lab and we will go their to finish things up. Teachers are given a laptop for their classrooms. II. Audience 1. General characteristics: Describe the learners, including the size of the group, their age, interests, experiences, and aptitudes.

In my classroom I have 22 first grades students, the demographics of my classroom are: • 11 White students • 7 Black students • 5 Latino students Other characteristics of the students in my classroom: • 10 visual learners • 2 our of my 22 have an minimal English • 3 students have behavioral problems • 4 students live in divorce families 2. Entry competencies: What specific knowledge and assumptions can you make about them? Remember to describe their computer competence. Most of my students are just learning the basics of computers and have a household computer in their homes or have access to a computer. They have computer lab once a week with a teacher and we have assigned time twice week if needed. They are fairly familiar with what the screen, keyboard, and mouse is. In computer lab they are using Mavis Beacon to learn how to type. They are familiar with the Internet and how to find games. We let them know that it is still important to make sure that they have an adult near by to make sure they are getting to child appropriate sites. III. State Objectives 1. State Goal The goal of this English unit is to make sure students learn the importance of handwriting and how much it is used in our everyday lives. Learning the differences in upper and lower cases lettering, the structure of a letter, and proper stroke/points in writing. They will become familiar with some new technology including typing up sentences, writing to pen pals, and sharing in front of the class. 2. State Objective 1 (a) First grade students (b) will write out two sentences about themselves and draw a picture to contribute to a class book (c) using paper, pencil, crayons, Elmo, and computers (d) with neat print and accurate strokes from left to right in an hour. 3. State Objective 2 (c) Using paper, pencil, dashed letter dry erase boards, and computers (a) first grade students (b) will write friendly letters (c) using paper, pencil, dashed letter dry erase boards, and computers (d) containing date, salutation, and closing.

4. State Objective 3 (a) First grade students (b) will write sentences about themselves (d) demonstrating correct formation of upper and lower case letters (c) using paper, pencil, crayons, and Smartboard IV. State Methods 1. Instructional Strategy: Identify the instructional strategies you might use to deliver this unit with. These are as follow: a. Method(s) for objective 1 The methods for objective 1 will be Discussion and Cooperative Learning. I will show them a sentence on the Smartboard with messy handwriting and ask them what they think about it. We will come up and practice what we think good handwriting should look like. We will discussion the importance of upper and lower case letters. Each student will write two sentences with correct lettering to contribute to a classroom booklet. b. Method(s) for objective 2 The methods for objective 2 will be Drill and Practice and Simulation. They will learn how to write friendly letters to pen pals. We will go through each of the steps you need to use to form a proper letter. Making sure you have the date, salutation, and closing. I will assist each of them on the their letters and once they have them done they will get to mail them out to other student. c. Method(s) for objective 3 The methods for objective 3 will be Demonstration, Simulation, and Cooperative Learning. They will be bringing a picture of their family that they will get to put on the Elmo and share with the other students. In order to share they have to demonstrate that they are able to use proper strokes and points. This Simulation is something that they will be using for as long as they are writing and the importance that it is to know this. Websites being used: http://www.primarygames.com/arcade/upbeat/index.htm http://www.meddybemps.com/letterary/guide_and_archives.html http://readwritethink.org/materials/letter_generator/