Where the Wild Things Are - Serena Mahoney

[Pages:4]Serena Mahoney February 7th, 2013

Where the Wild Things Are Read-Aloud and Activity

Grade Level: 1

Subject Areas: Language Arts

Materials Needed: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, ELMO, Wild Things synonyms pack and worksheets

Standards:

Language Arts:

RL.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

RL.1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.

SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

L.1.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

L.4.a Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

*L.4.5 Demonstrate understanding of words by relating them to their opposites (antonyms) and to words with similar but not identical meanings (synonyms).

Objectives:

TLW listen attentively as the book is read aloud. TLW participate in whole and small group discussion about the book. TLW determine word meanings using context clues. TLW identify synonym word-pairs. TLW work collaboratively with a peer.

Learning Activity:

Before Reading 1. Introduce the book to the students. Ask if any students are familiar with the book already. Place the book cover under the ELMO and have students examine the picture on the cover. Use questions to prompt discussion:

 For those who aren't familiar with the book, what do you think the story will be about based on the picture and the title?

What do you notice about the figure featured on the cover? (examples: horns, claws, human feet) What is he doing/feeling?

What are some things you notice about the background? (examples: boat, trees).

What is the setting of the story/Where does the story take place? Is this going to be a real story or an imaginary story? Why do you think

so? 2. Introduce the vocabulary words to students. Have students repeat the words

several times after it is introduced. Ask if they know what the word means and can give an example. If no student provides an accurate definition, inform students that the meaning will be discussed as a group when it is reached in the story. Students can try to use context clues for help. Words to focus on:

Mischief Gnashed Tame Rumpus 3. Begin reading Where the Wild Things Are, using the ELMO to show the pictures.

During Reading: 1. Allow students time to examine the pictures in the book before moving to the next page. 2. Questions during reading: How is Max making mischief (pgs. 1-4)? Looking at the illustration, how do you think Max feels (pgs. 5-6)? Where did the forest come from? Do you think the forest is real? Why or why not? (pgs. 7-12). (When it gets to "...they roared their terrible roars...", have the students role-play the actions along with the book.) After re-reading the part of the sentence that contains the word, ask the students if they can guess what "gnashed" means after reading it in context. (pgs. 17-18). (pages without words 23-28) What is happening in the pictures? Pgs. 29-30: Why do you think Max sent the wild things to bed without supper? Pair-Share: Have you ever felt lonely before? Do you think the wild things love Max? Why do you think Max decided to leave?

After Reading 1. Questions:

 Why did Max get sent to his room with no dinner? What happened to his room that night?

How long did it take Max to get to where the Wild Things were? How did he get there?

How did the Wild Things greet Max when he arrived on the island? What did Max say to them? How did they react?

What was the first thing Max did after he became king? Why did Max leave the island? Where did the story take place?/What was the setting? Was it real or

imaginary? How did Max start out the story? Was he good or bad? How did he end

the story? 2. Wild Things synonyms activity and worksheet:

Split students into groups of two. Provide each group a bag of 20 cards with words on them. Give each student a worksheet with 20 different words on them. Tell students they have to work together to find the cards that has the

synonyms for the words on the worksheet and each student has to write the word on the card next to the word on the worksheet to form a synonym pair. Demonstrate the first word on the ELMO. After going through all the words, students will raise their hands for the instructor to check student work. (Optional) Inform students that putting words already used back in the bag may make it easier as they move through the worksheet.

Assessment:

Teacher will assess students before, during, and after reading through observation and questions.

Teacher will assess synonym activity through observation and collection of worksheets.

Reflection:

This lesson went very well. Though almost all of the students were already very familiar with the book already, they were still engaged in the reading activities. I didn't use all of the questions before and during the book because of time constraints, but the questions I asked had some of the students thinking a bit deeper about the book and the vocabulary words. The students were also very excited to have the opportunity to participate in the read-aloud by acting the parts of the wild things. The students did not know what "gnashed" meant when I discussed it with them at the beginning of the lesson, but were able to figure it out when it was read in context.

The synonym word-pairs activity also seemed to be a success. I tried to be cognizant of student personalities before forming the student pairs, but I had not been in the classroom long and there were two pairs that ended up not working very well together, with one student taking the lead over the other. The students enjoyed the hands-on part of the activity and many pairs were successful in matching up their word-pairs without correction from me or without needing the definition for some of the pairs.

Overall, I would definitely do this lesson again! For the next time, I would try to be more mindful of student personalities and remind students that each group member needs to have an opportunity to participate. I would also expand the lesson into a unit and incorporate various activities such as story strips where students would have to order sentences in the order they appear within the story or pocket charts with questions about the story based on Bloom's Taxonomy (Story Question Sailboats from A Guide for Using Where the Wild Things Are in the Classroom by Susan Kilpatrick). For my art lesson that same afternoon, I incorporated the book by having students use scrapbook paper and construction, along with oil pastels, eyes, yarn, and beads, to create their own version of wild things, emphasizing using their imagination.

*Though the ELA Common Core standards do not include synonyms until the fourth grade, the first grade classroom I was in is at a private school that was in the process of developing their curriculum for the Common Core. My practicum teacher had been reviewing synonyms with the first graders during my first week in her classroom.

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