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3-5: Shared reading and writing with La Casa Adormecida

This lesson focuses on adjective placement and agreement in Spanish as found in the story La casa adormecida by Audrey Wood using shared reading and writing strategies.

A lesson plan for Grades 3–5 Second Languages

Students will:

• use correct adjective and noun placement orally and in writing
• use correct adjective and noun agreement orally and in writing
• use known vocabulary and the pattern of the book to create and original story

Time required for lesson: 2 days

Materials/resources

• La casa adormecida (The Napping House) by Audrey Wood, published by Harcourt Brace and Company, ISBN 0-15-200053-4. The book can be found through any major book store, such as Borders, or through the Amazon website.
• Word labels for visuals of vocabulary words.
• Sentence strips with vocabulary words from the book cut up into syllables.
• Visuals from the book (can by two paperback versions and cut out pictures, photocopy pages or draw your own).
• Visuals for adjectives and verbs.
• Flipchart for creating class book with first page completed.
• Markers.
• Paper for student books, already stapled together (one per student).
• Crayons or colored pencils.
• Rubrics to score presentations (one per student).

Pre-activities

The students should already know vocabulary found in the book, such as la pulga, el niño, la abuela, el gato, el perro, la cama, la casa, cae, salta, dormido, soñando, amodorrado. Other known animals, adjectives, and action verbs will be useful for the shared and individual writing parts of the lesson. The known vocabulary can be quickly reviewed by having the students chorally identify visuals. Then, they can create sentences on the board with the visuals, focusing on word order and agreement. For example, El niño rendido salta. The student would put the three pictures on the board and say the corresponding sentence.

Activities

Shared Reading

1. The teacher reads the book as the class looks on, pointing out known vocabulary while reading, but without stopping.

2. The teacher reads the book again, encouraging the students to chorally read the nouns (animals and humans) that are sleeping. This would be vocabulary already known and reviewed in the pre-activities.

3. The teacher reads the book again. The students chorally read along as much as they can, especially the parts in which the person and animals are sleeping and their descriptions. (known vocabulary)

Alphabet, phoneme or phonemic awareness

4. Place the visuals for vocabulary from the story and labels on the board.

5. Have individual students come to the board and match written words to the visuals and say what they have matched. Have the class chorally read the words when all have been matched, asking them to repeat after the teacher any words that were not read well.

6. Place syllables for vocabulary words on the board in incorrect order. Present the groups of syllables one word at a time in order to help the students separate the words and prevent confusion. Have individual students come to the board, unscramble the syllables, and say the word that is formed. Model and assist with correct pronunciation and accented syllables as needed.

7. Use the previously labeled visuals to have students form word pairs. Model that they are to place two visuals together (a noun and an adjective) in the correct order and say the combination they created. For example, casa adormecida is in the correct order but adormecida casa is not. The teacher can emphasize the word order and adjective agreement by modeling that adormecida casa would be incorrect and asking if it should say adormecida or adormecido. Point out by underlining that both words end in “a.”

8. Have the class chorally read all of the noun and adjective combinations that were created.

Shared writing

9. Remind students of the book that was read at the beginning of class. Show and read a few pages to remind them of the order of events and language patterns.

10. Explain that the class will write a new version of the story entitled La escuela adormecida. Have the students brainstorm possible nouns and adjectives that would be used in the story, such as el maestro, el estudiante, la directora, la clase, etc. Write the words they say on chart paper so the students can use the list as a reference. If the technology is available, Kidspiration or Inspiration could be used to create a bubble map or outline list of the words the students wish to use.

11. Create a new book as a class. The teacher should have the first page completed as a model for the students. Use a flipchart or some type of large paper so that the model can easily be seen. Have the class read the first page chorally. Then ask the class what should happen on the second page. Help them arrive at a complete and correct sentence, following the desired pattern as presented in the book. Write what they say and draw a simple illustration so the students will understand they are to illustrate their own books when the time comes. Continue with subsequent pages and help the class create the conclusion page. When completed, have the class chorally read the new book. If the technology is available, the book could be created as a PowerPoint instead of a written product.

12. (Probably on Day 2) Have the students create their own mini-books. Using La casa adormecida and the class book as examples, the students will write their own versions of La escuela adormecida. Provide the students with pre-assembled mini-books and any crayons, colored pencils, or other materials they might need. Assist them in beginning by asking several students what their first page will say. Display the book and the class-created book as examples, along with the words the class brainstormed for reference. Circulate as the students work, helping them to edit and correct as they go. Focus on correct word order and gender agreement, pointing out the examples as needed. Again, if the technology is available, students could create PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentations instead of traditional written and illustrated books.

13. Have students read their completed mini-books (or present their Powerpoint/HyperStudio) to the class.

Note: The amount of time for this entire lesson may vary, depending on how often the teacher sees the students and for how much time. If the students are creating their own books on Day 2, the teachers will need to do some review activities to remind the students of the story, the patterns, and possible vocabulary to use before having the students create their books. It may take the students more than one class period to create their mini-books.

Communities

In order to address the Communities standard of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, have some students present their books (or Powerpoint/Hyperstudio presentations) at a PTA meeting or other parent event.

Assessment

As the students read their books to the class, evaluate their presentation with the attached rubric. The rubric rates their flow of speech, word order, gender agreement, and originality.

Supplemental information

Shared Reading – For additional information on this methodology, see the Shared Reading: An Effective Instructional Model chapter in a document called “Literacy Development” written by John J. Pikulski and J. David Cooper.

Also see On the Same Page: Shared Reading Beyond the Primary Grades by Janet Allen and published by Stenhouse Publishers. This book includes information for using Shared Reading at all levels.

Comments

This lesson plan was created as a result of the June, 2004 Foreign Language Literacy Institute hosted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The lesson reflects certain reading methods introduced at this institute, specifically those that deal with Alphabet, Phoneme or Phonics Awareness, Shared Reading and Shared Writing.

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