Language+Arts+Focus

Language Arts  Reading
 * **Objective:** Students will respond to discussion questions for a variety of different novels using a discussion board.
 * **Materials:** wikispace webpage, wikispace accounts for each student, novels
 * **Websites:**
 * Into the Book - online interactive comprehension strategies
 * Storyline Online - actors and actresses read aloud from a variety of different books
 * Online books - more online books that can be read aloud
 * Internet4classrooms - this site has lots of online reading strategy websites
 * Presler's Wikispace - My class wikispace (underconstruction)
 * **Summary/Overview:** Students will be split into guided reading groups and then choose from a variety of different novel at their level. After each daily reading assignment students will need to go online to answer the discussion question or questions that go along with that day's reading. Students will also have to respond to their group members answers on a daily basis. Hopefully students will engage in an online discussion of the different books.
 * **21st Century Skill Addressed:**
 * Productivity & Accountability
 * Self-Direction
 * Responsibility
 * Communication & Collaboration
 * Media Literacy
 * Critical Thinking
 * Information Literacy

Writing
 * **Objective:** Students use music to help with word
 * **Materials:** itunes or music player, songs that promote word choice and ideas writer's notebooks
 * Songs
 * media type="file" key="05 Blueberry Hill.m4p" width="300" height="50"Blueberry Hill
 * media type="file" key="05 How Many Words.m4p" width="300" height="50"Blake Lewis
 * media type="file" key="06 The First Battle.m4a" width="300" height="50"First Battle
 * media type="file" key="07 Ant Dance.m4a" width="300" height="50"Ant Dance
 * **Websites:**
 * **Free Play Music -** free music available for download
 * **Music in the Classroom -** ideas for using music in the classroom
 * **Songs for Teaching -** list of songs for transition times in the classroom
 * **Summary/Overview:** Students will listen to a variety of different songs and come up with ways to describe what they heard. They will listen to a instrumental piece, a bboxing artist, a Louis Armstrong song, and an Australian piece. At the end of the lesson students will pick a song and write a story that goes with the music.
 * **21st Century Skills:**
 * Productivity & Accountability
 * Self-Direction
 * Responsibility
 * Critical Thinking