Pain and the Great one - Book Review

I have chosen to do a lesson in language arts for Kindergarteners but could possibly be modified for first graders as well. My objective for this task is ELACCKRL3: with prompting and support, identify characters, settings and major events in a story. I used three different resources to achieve my objective. First, I used the book The Pain and the Great One by Judy Bloom (Blume, Trivas, & Bradbury Press, 1984), Next, I went to Learner.org and used Interactives – Elements of a Story (Annenberg Foundation, 2014) and finally a played a song from YouTube.com Parts of a story song – Little songs for Language Arts by Heidi Butkus (Heidisongs.com & Butkus, 2009).

The Pain and The Great One, I chose this book because its grade appropriate and is fun to read. It’s a picture book about two main characters, siblings; a brother and a sister who cannot get along. The plot is simple for the students to follow with a basic home setting. The story talks about a common problem among siblings fighting, arguing and just plainly not like each other. This is also a common problem among students in a classroom which makes this an excellent book to read at the beginning of a school year to the class. It will set the tone for how the students will be expected to treat each other while in school.

Annenberg Learner multimedia – Interactives is a website with a ton of resources for educators. It’s a fun way for students to learn and work independently to comprehend the different elements of a story. It explores and explains the different elements that go into making stories fit together and fun to read. First, the students will watch and listen to an interactive version of the story “Cinderella”, then the students will learn about the various elements common for all stories: setting, characters, and plot along with exposition, conflict, climax and resolution. An explanation of each literary element is discussed followed by interactive activities that will help the student enrich their understanding and keep them student completely engaged while still learning the necessary objective.

The song from HeidiSongs “Parts of a story - Little songs for Language Arts by Heidi is fun to listen and sing along with. The songs help students practice phonemic awareness skills, such as characters, setting, and plot along with rhyming words and how to sound out words. The song uses hand movements, visual texts along with catchy tunes to help students understand and solidify what and how to identify different elements of a story. It is a music CD that teachers can purchase for the class to help kids learn basic language art skills in a fun way.

The evaluation checklist is an essential tool used to ensure students are engaged and learning simultaneously. Design is the first area in the checklist and the most important. It ensures students are being given clear, accurate, reliable and non-bias information at an appropriate grade level. It also ensures all students regardless of gender, culture, learning abilities and goals are consistently being assessed and challenged while learning.

Another area on the checklist is Procedures. This assures students are being actively engaged and motivated while learning. It encourages students to think beyond the lesson and use high order thinking.

Next is Clarity, it guarantees students understand the lessons clearly. Students receive clear and easy to read lessons that are attractively presented. The layout and content information is intuitive so students can navigate the necessary