Grade Level: 3rd the Student

Grade Level: 3rd The student (Luis) will be able to correctly use context clues to help increase his reading comprehension. Anticipatory Set: The teacher will write this sentence on the board: "Billy made a peanut butter and glockum sandwich." The teacher will ask Luis what they do if he is reading an English text and does not understand a specific word. The teacher will ask Luis what 'glockum' means. If Luis doesn't know what a 'glockum' is, the teacher will ask him to guess at what it might actually be.

The teacher will have Luis explain how he arrived at his guesses. What clues did they use? Explain the concept of reading in "chunks" e.g. looking at the text surrounding the unknown word for clues. Instructional Input: The teacher will share the following story with Luis: "The Three Little Pigs" Once upon a time there were three little pigs and the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes.

Before they left, their mother told them " Whatever you do, do it the best that you can because that's the way to get along in the world. The first little pig built his shmalta out of straw because it was the easiest thing to do. The second little pig built his shmalta out of sticks. This was a little bit stronger than a straw shmalta. The third little pig built his shmalta out of bricks.

One night the big bad kvetch, who dearly loved to eat fat little piggies, came along and saw the first little pig in his shmalta of straw. He said "Let me in, Let me in, little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your shmalta in!" Not by the hair of my chinny chin," said the little pig. But of course the kvetch did blow the shmalta in and ate the first little pig. The kvetch then came to the shmalta of sticks.

"Let me in, Let me in little pig or I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your shmalta in" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin," said the little pig. But the kvetch blew that shmalta in too, and ate the second little pig. The kvetch then came to the shmalta of bricks. " Let me in, let me in" cried the kvetch "Or I'll huff and I'll puff till I blow your shmalta in" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin" said the pigs.

Well, the kvetch huffed and puffed but he could not blow down that brick shmalta. But the kvetch was a sly old kvetch and he climbed up on the roof to look for a way into the brick shmalta.The little pig saw the kvetch climb up on the roof and lit a roaring fire in the fireplace and placed on it a large kettle of water.

When the kvetch finally found the hole in the chimney he crawled down and KERSPLASH right into that kettle of water and that was the end of his troubles with the big bad kvetch. The next day the little pig invited his mother over. She said, "You see it is just as I told you. The way to get along in the world is to do things as well as you can." Fortunately for that little pig, he learned that lesson.

And he just lived happily ever after! The teacher will ask the Luis what he thinks a "shmalta" is as well as a "kvetch." Possible questions: How do you know? What clues did you use? The teacher will explain the importance of activating vocabulary by first quickly glancing at the text to be read. This idea is very important, as the brain will begin to focus on related concepts thus preparing the student for what is to be read.

The teacher will point out that by using all of these clues (i.e. "chunking," part of speech, logical deduction, vocabulary activation), students can arrive at a much fuller understanding of difficult texts - even if they do not understand each word.

Reading Clues: Deduction -- What is the sentence about? Which words does the unknown word seem to relate to? Part of Speech - Which part of speech is the unknown word? Is it a verb, noun, adjective, or something else? Chunking - What do the words around the unknown word(s) mean? How could the unknown word(s) relate to those words? - This is basically deduction on a more local level.

Vocabulary Activation - When quickly skimming through the text, what does the text seem to be about? Independent Practice: Luis will read the following short paragraph independently and use context clues to successfully identify the made up words: There once was a boy named Billy who loved to play goigle. Billy loved goigle because he could kick the goigle ball down the field and score a goal. Billy was a good goigle player. In fact, Billy was the best goigle player in the entire rentie.

Billy loved to play goigle, except when it rained. When it rained, the goigle field got really wet and the floozie was hard to kick. Even when it rained, Billy dreamed of being the best goigle player in the xenuu.

Questions: What is "goigle"? How do you know? What clues did you use? What is a "floozie"? How do you know? What clues did you use? What is a "xennu"? How do you know? What clues did you use? Extension: Luis will write his own sentences using "made up words." The teacher will check the sentences. Part Two I had a conversation with Luis, a 3rd grade student. I asked him to tell me about Mother's Day. "My dad and I got some flowers for my mom.

I got a card for her, too. We went to church on Mother's Day. We went home for lunch. My mom liked her flowers and card." Part Three Community, district and school factors: ____ is a suburban community located southeast of the ____Metro Area. According to the 2008 census, most of the population is composed of Caucasians with an overwhelming 93.17% of the population. African-Americans make up another 3.47%, leaving 3.36% to Hispanic, Asian, and other nationalities. The same census listed the average household income at $71,821 and the average income for a family at $82,737.

The census also listed the population in ____ living below poverty line at 3.8%. Noting the statistics it is easy to see that ____ is almost completely comprised of middle to upper middle class white families. However, there are small areas in ____ that hold Section 8 duplexes. Also there are many apartments in the area some luxury others on the lower socio-economic side. According to the state website district profile for the ____ District 80.7% of students are White, 11.5% are African-American, 4.9% are Hispanic, and 2.7% are Asian.

Within the school district 23% of the students are eligible free and reduced lunch. Classroom factors: Mrs. Jones's third grade classroom is located in the first classroom upon entrance to the building. Directly across from her room is the gymnasium and down the hallway is a first grade classroom. The classroom is built out of cinderblocks; the left side of the classroom has five wide windows. The windows look out to a side parking lot and a main highway. The classroom has a very comfortable home feel. Mrs.

Jones decorated the classroom with over ten different size lamps as well as Christmas lights. She very rarely uses the main fluorescent lights in the room because they are so bright. She also has a Smart Board, an overhead projector, and a laptop computer in her classroom, which is wonderful for incorporating technology into every lesson. The classroom also has one dry erase board located behind the smart board, and is rarely used. Student characteristics: The class consists of 17 students; 9 boys and 8 girls.

The students are between the ages of 8 and 9 and are all English speaking. The class breaks down racially into 11 White students, 5 African-American students, and 1 Hispanic student. Most of the students are within the normal range of achievement and development, but there are a handful of students that are below grade level in Reading and Math. The Hispanic student, Luis, receives ESL services, but is included in the classroom almost the entire day. It is clear the ____ district uses a push in model.

Two of the students have shown signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder but have not been put on medication thus far. One student was held back the previous year but has shown tremendous progress this school year. There are also three gifted students that work with another teacher in the building 20 minutes a day. Students' Varied Approaches to Learning This class is full of very active, hands-on learners. They love to sing songs, dance, and participate in science experiments. The students are also very self-reliable.

They take responsibility for their actions and understand the consequences for misbehavior. Although these students are very active learners, they also enjoy reading silently and time for their own thinking. The students enjoy participating in sports, dancing, and singing. Luis Luis (not his real name) is a bright, outgoing 3rd grade boy. After speaking with Mrs. Jones, I learned he has been in the United States since the end of 1st grade.

During the (approximately) two years Luis has lived in the United States, he has gone back to Mexico for extended periods. Luis is verbal and is not shy. He can speak fairly well, but struggles with some English. The push in services Luis receives is from a paraprofessional who has had some ESL training. The Para comes in twice a day to work with Luis. In addition, Mrs. Jones has taken the proactive approach of labeling "everything" in the room as well as partnering Luis with strong students.

Lesson Plan Implementation While Mrs. Jones was working with small reading groups, I pulled Luis to a table off to the side of the room. Using a dry erase board, I wrote the following sentence: "Billy made a peanut butter and glockum sandwich." I then asked Luis to read it aloud. Luis had no problem reading aloud (albeit slowly) until he came to the made up word "glockum." I asked him to sound it out. We worked on saying it phonetically ("gl" -"ock" -"um").

I then asked him to reread the sentence three times (which he did). I asked Luis what a "glockum" was. He responded that he didn't know. I told him to listen to the sentence as I read it and then try to make a guess. Luis guessed it was "jelly" (correct). I asked him to explain HOW he knew it was "jelly." In his own words, Luis suggested that he used context clues to help him infer what "glockum" meant jelly (or it could mean "honey").

We talked about how good readers use other words (chunks of words around the unknown word) to help them figure out what the word means. I asked Luis if he liked to play guessing games. He smiled and said he did. I then proceeded to modify (e.g. improvise) my lesson plan. Rather than dive into "The Three Little Pigs" text, I continued to write sentences on the dry erase board for Luis to read and use context clues to identify the made up words.

I wrote the following sentences: "Patty liked zooni with her French fries." "Max loved to read blustuus at home." "Sam went wudding in the ocean." (I have to confess that it was a challenge coming up with made up words on the spot). Nevertheless, Luis and I followed the same procedure. He read the sentences aloud each time. Obviously, the made up words presented the most challenging part of the activity.

Luis figured out that the made up words didn't really "matter." What mattered was using the context clues to infer the meaning of the words. In each case, Luis was able to identify the "real" word. Luis identified "ketchup" for "zooni," "books" for "blustuss" and "swimming" for "wudding." We were getting short on time, so I.