Class+Book+I+Am

Lesson Name: //I Am Chinook// class book

Submitted by: Alix McKee

Standards: Self-Awareness 1B Students demonstrate awareness of their personal traits. Social Awareness 3C Student demonstrates an awareness of cultural issues and a respect for human dignity and differences.

Materials: //I Am America// by Charles R. Smith, Jr. digital camera sentence strips or blank paper depending on age of students Time: 45-60 minutes (usually towards the beginning of the school year) Goals: Students will recognize and appreciate the differences that exist in our classroom and school community. Students will write a complete sentence with correct conventions. Students will share something about themselves with their new classmates. Lesson Steps: Read aloud I am America. Discuss student reflections. Tell students that we will be creating a class book, I Am Chinook (can be changed to reflect the name of your school or the name of your class, etc.), and each student will create a page. Write the sentence stem, “I am...” where all can see. Reread the book as an author, pausing to discuss what the author means with the various sentences. Brainstorm a list of the things that we could say about ourselves. Model how students could modify the idea to fit the sentence stem, “I am...” Some students will be inclined to change the sentence stem to, “I like...” without support. Give students time to talk with a partner about their plans for writing. Send students to work on a draft. Some children will have a hard time limiting themselves to just one sentence. You can channel this into a personal book, “I Am Malik,” or have students contribute more than one page. While children are drafting, or at another convenient time, snap portraits of the students to be included on their book pages. Edit children’s work for grade appropriate skills. Have students write final drafts on sentence strips, blank paper or what ever format you want to include in the class book pages. Assessment/Activity: Review student writing samples for writing conventions and for the ability to work within the confines of the sentence stem. Note student comments during the discussion of the book for awareness and respect of cultural and other differences.