Thursday, August 15 - AM Fluency
Introduction of students and teacher
Talk about Pet Peeves. Explain they need to be able to explain WHY something is a pet peeve.
On board write about my pet peeve: Cars leaving a gap when stopped at a red light.
List the three reasons this “bugs” me:
A. I am unable to turn right on red because the cars are blocking me.
B. It takes extra time to resume driving because it takes longer to get through
C. I probably waste gas AND time waiting to get through such a red light.
Ask former students to list the three parts of a paragraph. (Explain they’ve just seen me “brainstorming” the second part of the paragraph.)
List topics on board and ask students to “brainstorm” 3 reasons explaining their feelings about 3 of the listed topics:
A. My Pet Peeve
B. Ways to Save Money
C. My Favorite Season
D. Advantages of Renting Rather than Buying
E. Yesterday was the Worst Day of my Life
F. My Favorite Relative
7. While students brainstorm 3 of the topics, I will write out the paragraph about my pet peeve.
8. Students will share some of their thoughts on the topics they chose.
9. Students will observe the paragraph, and figure out the topic sentence, the 3 body ideas, and the conclusion.
10. Students will be given a ditto of 4 short paragraphs. Together, we will all highlight the topic sentence with a pink marker. We will find the 3 “reasons” that make up the body and highlight them in yellow. Then we will highlight the conclusion in blue.
The remaining three paragraph markings will be discussed.
11. Students will now choose one of the three topics they brainstormed earlier and write a paragraph about it.
12. After students finish their paragraph, have them swap papers and let partners read each other’s paragraphs.
13. Introduce the concept of using rubrics.
14. Distribute copies of the rubric of 15 points giving credit for having a topic sentence, a body consisting of 3 supporting details, and a conclusion.
15. Have students grade the paragraph, using the rubric.
16. Have students write a comment about the paragraph on the paper.
