Need ideas for coop Lit. class 1st-5th grade?

[scheelimama]

I volunteered to take this class for the fall. It will meet for 4 weeks in September and October. I am really clueless on what to do with them. It's only for 45-60 minutes once a week. We moved here in the spring and were only here for the last 4 wk session. In that session the mom/teacher of the class focused on creative writing. One week she gave them an idea they had to expound on, another week, she gave them the first paragraph. In class they created stories verbally, going around the story, each adding a sentence to the story. They also read their stories aloud. And they did a show and tell to get used to speaking in front of the group.

I was told that my options are open ended, I can pretty much do whatever I want with them. It doesn't even necessarily have to be literature based. But that is what the class has become in the last few years, so I think I'll continue with that theme. I'm totally at a loss here. What would you do if you had this class with such a wide range of ages?

Oh, and FTR, last spring there were probably 10-15 kids in the class. No idea how many will be there this fall, but assuming a similar amount.

[AAK]

In your title you called it a lit class, but your examples have been about writing. Then, you say it doesn't even have to be literature based, so it makes me curious: what is the class supposed to be? If you mean that it doesn't need to be classic literature, but still a lit class, I get that. But right now, it doesn't seem to have any defined scope.

Also, you are guessing 10-15 kids based on last year, but how are they distributed? Is it pretty evenly dispersed from grades 1-5? Or, are 10 kids in 4/5th and 5 in first?

For ideas, though (and staying with a broad description of literature class), I would focus on short stories, (including picture books, fairy tales, fables, poems etc). I might share one with the class and then talk about plot. OR I might read a traditional version of the "Three Little Pigs" and then read "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs" and talk about point of view. You can have a writing activity to further this by picking other commonly known fairy tales and have the class create the other viewpoint together. Read and act out fables, write your own fable based on a modern day problem. Take a story and turn it into a poem. In library school, one visiting teacher took a rhyme (itsy, bitsy spider) and expanded it into a story. Look at haiku, concrete, and poems with pattern rhymes. Have the kids turn their name into a poem. Perhaps have the kids review several Caldecott winners and discuss "why" that book may have won. Look up information about the award (it is actually for the illustrator). Take a pile of books and have the kids make their own awards committees. Teach them to critique a piece, make your own criteria and your own award. Another fun thing is to take a poem (short nursery rhyme) and to say it aloud using different emphasis and/or emotion each time. Then, let the kids have a try.

I would focus on short material because all ages can benefit from it, while at the same time, you can read the entire piece in one day. You can make the lesson in one day or expand into several.

Have fun!

Amy

[scheelimama]

That's the thing Amy, the way I described it is the way it was described to me. The only example I have to go off is the last session last year. They've left it very open ended and I just don't know where to go with it. It's kind of frustrating not having a defined scope for the class. So, I guess anything goes. I get to decide. Last year, it was a pretty well balanced group of kids, with a few in each grade/age range. I'm assuming it will be pretty balanced again this year.

Thank you for those ideas. That definitely gives me something to think about.

[khenn]

Check out www.lessonplanet.com . I teach a writing class and I have found so many amazing ideas on this site. You can sign up for it for a 10 day free trial and print off lesson plans during that time.

[scheelimama]

Thank you, that looks like a really neat site. I'll check it out later.

[Momma Aimee]

nak

what did you end up chooseing???

[scheelimama]

Funny that you should ask today. Our first class is in 1.5 hours today.

I chose Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. The first assignment was to read the first 3 chapters and write a page about your favorite summer adventure and/or bring something to show and talk about that represents it. We will also talk about imagery and draw a picture of one of the scenes in the first 3 chapters (their choice).

Next week I was thinking of having a nonsense "pretend" tea party. We can't really have a tea party, it wouldn't work in the setting we are in, and with the number of kids I'll have. But I thought it would be fun to have a nonsense discussion like in the book.

[Momma Aimee]

hope it goes well, can't wait to hear about it.

[scheelimama]

It went pretty good! There were maybe 10 kids (I didn't count them, but that would be my guess). All were 1st-3rd graders except 2 older 5th grade girls. They had a lot of fun doing their show and/or share about their favorite summer adventure (most wrote 1/2 - 1 pg. about it, some brought something in to talk about). And we had a lot of fun talking about all the nonsense in the book. Then we talked about imagery and some of the ways it was done in this book. Then they all drew pictures of the different scenes from the book. Thank you for asking Aimee!

[Momma Aimee]

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