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Unit 1: Establishing a Classroom Community
Objectives:
In parentheses, you will find the Missouri GLE the objective meets
and the learning styles used based on VARK (visual, auditory,
reading/writing and kinesthetic) learning styles.

Guided and Independent Reading Objectives:
    Students will read at-level texts with fluency, accuracy and  
    expression within guided reading groups. (CA R1D4a; R)

    Students will adjust their reading rate to the difficulty of the text
    they are reading during guided reading groups. (CA R1D4b; A)

Mini-Lesson Objectives:
    Students will make text to text and text to self connections while
    reading the selected texts. (CA R1I4a,b; V, A, R)

    Students will demonstrate listening behaviors (e.g., prepares to
    listen, listens without interruptions, maintains eye contact) while
    another student is speaking. (CA LS2B4; V, A)

Other Activity Objectives:
Writing Activity: Friendly Letter to Wanda

    Students will properly use complete declarative, interrogative,
    imperative and exclamatory sentences in a friendly letter. (CA
    W2F4a; R)

    Students will write with the appropriate format for the intended
    audience in an organized friendly letter to Wanda. (CA W3E4; R)

State Standards
(text in gray refers to objectives that are not included in this unit)
From Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education:
CA R1D4: Fluency
    Read grade-level instructional text
    • with fluency, accuracy and expression
    •adjusting reading rate to difficulty and type of text

CA R1I4: Making Connections (PARTIAL)
    Identify and explain connections between
    • text ideas ---information and relationships in various fiction and
    non-fiction works
    • text ideas and own experiences
    • text ideas and the world by demonstrating an awareness that
    literature reflects a culture and historic time frame

CA W2F4: Sentence Construction
    In composing text,
    • use complete declarative, interrogative, imperative and
    exclamatory sentences
    • identify and write compound sentences

CA W3E4: Audience and Purpose (PARTIAL)
    Write informational reports, diary/journal entries, organized
    friendly letters, thank-you letters and invitations in a format
    appropriate to an intended audience and purpose

CA LS2B4: Listening Behavior
    Demonstrate listening behaviors (e.g., prepares to listen, listens
    without interruptions, maintains eye contact).


Anticipatory Set:
Adapted From LessonsPage.com

Title - Building our Classroom Community
By - Lorrie Soria
Primary Subject - Social Studies
Secondary Subjects - Other
Grade Level - Grades 3-4

At the beginning of the school year, I want my students to know that they
are part of a classroom community. On their desks when they arrive,
they find a plastic zipper bag containing several items and an index
card with the significance of each of the items. The items usually
include:

a box of multi-cultural crayons, because it doesn't matter what we look
like, we are part of a set; an eraser, because it is okay to make
mistakes in our classroom; a gold star, because everyone in our
classroom is a star; a small kaleidoscope, because there are many
different ways to see a problem and find a solution; a piece of wrapped
candy, to remind us to keep our words sweet when we speak to and
about our classmates; a glue stick, because as a class we need to
stick together and stick up for one another.

Students can take these home to avoid clutter in their desks.a

If you want to spark discussion, you could hold onto the index cards,
and simply ask the students to share what they think the significance of
each item is. Their ideas might spark some more ideas for you!

It may be a good idea to keep one bag.  If you ever need to go back to
the ideas you introduce here, you can use the bag as a reminder and
visual demonstration.
Why care about
learning styles?
See:
Miller, P. (2001).
Learning Styles: The
Multimedia of the Mind.
Research Report.
Retrieved from ERIC
database.