need help with unit plan

[Mrs_Student_Teacher]

I am a first year student-teacher and my mentor has asked me to design a unit for a grade three class. I haven't done a unit plan before. The unit is suppose to teach the children how to write an invitation for a celebration. What kinds of lesson activities could I do? :confused2: I can't think of enough activities to make up a whole unit. I really need to come up with something good because my last lesson was "below expectations" :(

[Brit]

start with what your summative assessment will be. What EXACTLY are your expectations? What are you grading them on when they're done? Design that activity first. Key assessment points might be remembering all the elements of an invitation (who, what, when, where, why) or layout. use your curriculum documents to help decide what your assessment points will be.

NOW, look at your expectations and break them down into learning goals. design one lesson for each learning goal. for example, if parts of an invitation are an assessment point, design 1 lesson to teach that and 1-3 lessons that help review that. Go an look for books you can use that support your teaching point (e.g. is there anything out there that has an invitation as it's focus? google it!)

Keep your teaching points simple and brief (this is where I have trouble -- brevity). Build in lots of practice opportunities. Build modelling into every lesson that introduces a brand new teaching point.

[ms.jodi]

I think it always helps to have a nice story to add into a thematic unit. I searched Amazon's kids books section and saw this cute one: Arthur's Birthday Party (I Can Read Book 2)
by Lillian Hoban. It says it is for grades 1-3. On the very first page the little monkey, Arthur is making invitations to his party. So there is a connection to your intent immediately. Also, can the kids actually plan a party so their invitations will be for real? It's always exciting when things are real--much more meaningful. They could even plan Arthur's Birthday party if you could find a stuffed animal that looks like him!

The other idea I had was can you tie in lessons about the post office? You could set up your own little mailing center/post office in the room and have them put mail in a box and lift the flag. Then you could take the mail and leave mail the next day in response. THere were also a zillion books on Amazon about the post office. Some even had little letters tucked inside of them. Try putting some key words in Amazon under the Childrens Books heading and see what you get. A good book can spark so many ideas from which to jump off!

Good Luck!

[hweber]

Building off ms. jodi, you could have them invite parents to their conferences or open house. Or some other classroom celebration. Make it relevant - invite the principal too, plus your college supervisors.

[Mrs_Student_Teacher]

hmmm... there are some really good ideas here thank you for your help. LOL But I don't know about the actual throwing a party idea. I'll run it by my mentor. I like the idea though.

[Boxcar]

These are great ideas. When I read the original post, I drew a blank. Good job everybody!