Author: Colin Weatherford  Date Created: 2/16/2006 12:09:00 PM PDT   Technology Lesson VITAL INFORMATION Subject(s): Language Arts (English) Topic or Unit of Study: The Rain Forest Grade/Level: 4 Objective: The objective of this lesson will be to help enable the students to correct simple grammatical and spelling errors in short paragraphs. Summary: This lesson will be used to help students correct simple grammatical and spelling errors in short paragraphs about the Rain Forests. Technology will be incorporated because we will put the paragraphs up on the "smart" board and allow the children to correct the errors using the special "smart" board markers. IMPLEMENTATION Learning Context: This activity will fit into my overall theme of the Rain Forest because all of the paragraphs that the students will be correcting will in some way be about the Rain Forest. Procedure: 1. Teacher writes 5 paragraphs about the rain forest, all of which have several errors in regards to spelling and all other conventions. 2. Teacher uploads the paragraphs onto the computer and turns on the smart board. 3. Teacher explains to students that today they will be correcting grammatical errors on the "smart" board. 4. The teacher begins by correcting the first sentence themself to show the students what they need to do. 5. After this the teacher brings up the new paragraph and asks the students to raise their hands and when called upon to say one error that they see. The teacher then writes this up on the board and asks whether the other students agree. If they do then continue, if not see ask them how it should be. 6. Once the students are done the teacher needs to see if the sentence is correct. If not the teacher should try to give hints to encourage students to find the mistake themselves. If even after hints they can not find the error(sd) show them and take not of the rule that they do not seem to understand so you can review it in the future. 7. Pull up the next paragraph and this time ask for volunteers to fix the errors on the board themselves. Once given the student can return to their seat and the discussion on whether it is correct or not can take place as in step 5. 8. Repeat step 7 with new paragraph. 9. Do this until all paragraphs are done, remember to take notes of any rule that the students seem to be struggling with. 10. After this have the students break up into groups of four. They will then go onto a computer as a group and create their own paragraph that has spelling and grammatical errors. Once they have done this the teacher will upload the files onto the main computer. 11. Then each group will play teacher and have the other students raise their hands to correct the errors in the paragraph they created. Fixing the mistakes that other students see using the "smart" board. Have all groups do this, remembering to watch for any misses mistakes and once complete they return to their seats. 12. Transition to another activity, preferably one that is a little more fun and involves more moving around. Differentiated Instruction:   Sample Student Products:   Collaboration: Students will work collaboratively & individually. Students will work in groups of 4. Time Allotment: 1 class period. 45 Min. per class. Author's Comments & Reflections:   MATERIALS AND RESOURCES Instructional Materials:   Resources: The number of computers required is 1 per 4 students. Technology resources: Word Materials and resources: "Smart" board and "smart" board materials, such as markers. STANDARDS & ASSESSMENT Standards: AZ- Arizona Academics Standards • Subject : Language Arts • Subject/ Grade/ Domain : Writing • Grade : Grade 4 • Strand : Strand 2: Writing Elements • Concept : Concept 6: Conventions Conventions addresses the mechanics of writing, including capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar and usage, and paragraph breaks.  Performance Objective PO 7: Spell high frequency words correctly.  Performance Objective PO 5: Use a colon to punctuate time. • Performance Objective PO 6: Use apostrophes to punctuate:  Example a: contractions  Example b: singular possessive • Performance Objective PO 12: Use the following parts of speech correctly in simple sentences:  Example a: nouns  Example b: action verbs  Example c: personal pronouns  Example d: adjectives  Example e: conjunctions • Performance Objective PO 1: Use capital letters for:  Example a: proper nouns ( i.e., names, days, months)  Example b: titles  Example c: names of place  Example d: abbreviations  Example e: literary titles (i.e., book, story, poem) • Performance Objective PO 2: Punctuate endings of sentences using:  Example a: periods  Example b: question marks  Example c: exclamation points • Performance Objective PO 3: Use commas to punctuate:  Example a: items in a series  Example b: greetings and closings of letters  Example c: dates  Example d: introductory words • Performance Objective PO 4. : Use quotation marks to punctuate:  Example a: dialogue (although may be inconsistent or experimental)  Example b: titles Assessment/Rubrics: