Sentence Fluency "I Was Walking Down the Road."

Walking Down the Road Preview http://www.vidyaonline.org/dl/walkingnew.pdf

A Lesson on Sentence Fluency Using “I Was Walking Down the Road” Sarah E. Barchas and Jack Kent.

The story: Guided Reading Level H, Ages 5-7 year olds

The spirited little girl in this story has a knack for collecting pets. While walking down a road, she catches a toad. While looking for a mitten, she finds a kitten. When she pushes a wheelbarrow, she ends up with a little sparrow. The little girl puts every animal she catches in a cage. At home she sits in her chair and stares at a stack of cages. In each cage, the animals — her pets — stare back. She looks at them, they look at her, and they look at her, and she thinks things over for a while. And then she lets the animals free.

Lesson Focus: Sentence Fluency

Focus Grade Level: K-2

Time Frame: Several Days-Interactive

Focus Text/Author: I Was Walking Down the Road/Sarah E. Barchas and Jack Kent

Other Text: Janie and the giant 
by Sarah Barchas ; illustrated by Jack Kent.

•               1978 Piggy Bank Gonzales

•               1976 There's No Such Thing as a Dragon

•               1975 The Christmas Pinata

•               1974 Bremen Town Musicians

Materials: Chart paper, black marker, scissors, glue, blank pages for class big book, pictures of the chosen insects, self-portraits from students (to be characters in the story), and any clip art or pictures drawn by students depicting other key vocabulary Technology: Use Smart-Board Technology to incorporate authentic student pics/photos of themselves. Students can interact with the text by selecting it and moving it around the screen. This is done using Notebook Software. Ohio Academic Content Standards Lesson Focus: Writing Applications/Writing Process Standard Benchmarks: Writing Applications A. Compose writings that convey a clear message and include well-chosen details. Writing Process G. Publish writing samples for display or sharing with others, using techniques such as electronic resources and graphics. K-2 Benchmark: Indicators: 1st grade indicators Writing Applications Dictate or write simple stories, using letters, words or pictures. Writing Process Rewrite and illustrate writing samples for display and for sharing with others. Lesson: Sentence Fluency/Class Book 1.    We begin by reading “I Was Walking Down the Road,” enjoying the predictable language pattern and rhythm in the short repetitive sentences. On the second reading the children can easily jump in with the rhymes and with… “I caught it. I picked it up. I put it in a cage.” 2. We discuss and clap the rhythm of the words in the story, at first focusing only on the predictable sentences… “I caught it. I picked it up. I put it in a cage.” 3. Later we focus on the rhythm of the rhyming sentences (i.e., I was walking down the road. Then I saw a little toad.) We practice reciting the sentences choppy in order to easily hear & feel the beats. We make this fun by adding marching around the room while tapping the rhythm. Then we say the sentences smoothly, as we would normally speak them, to practice sentence fluency, but continue to tap the beat. We identify words with one and two syllables. 4. We decide to make our own class book using this same language pattern with its engaging rhythm. We count the beats in the rhyming sentences and notice each line has seven beats. We must follow this pattern. 5. We brainstorm a list of insects and then try our best to come up with rhymes for a few. The rule is we must use different insects than the author uses in her story. Extension Activities: PHYSICAL EDUCATION Play a game of Giant Steps with the class on the playground or in the gym. Beforehand, teach children various steps including a giant step, a baby step, a ballet dancer step in which you twirl around, a hopping step, a sliding step, and any others you wish to add. Have children line up on one side of the playground. Explain that you will call out a name and specific instructions. For example: “Sara, you may take three baby steps.” Sara must remember to say “May I?” before she takes her steps. If she forgets, she can't move or must return to the starting line. The object of the game is to reach you first. Play several practice rounds until children get the idea. Then allow them opportunities to give instructions. Resources: http://writingfix.com/6_Traits/Primary/I_caught_it.htm About the Authors:  http://www.scholastic.com Sarah Barchas is a published author and an editor of children's books. Some of the published credits of Sarah Barchas include I Was Walking Down the Road, Bridges Across the World: A Multicultural Songfest, Pinata! and More!: Bilingual Songs for Children. Jack Kent: Born in Burlington, Iowa, Kent dropped out of high school at the age of fifteen and began a career as a freelance commercial artist until he joined the U.S. Army in 1941. His first nationally recognized work was the King Aroo comic strip which was syndicated and distributed internationally from 1950 to 1965. He began writing and illustrating children's books in 1968. He continued to write and illustrate children's books until his death in 1985 from leukemia.