I had my fourth graders draw a comic strip, consisting of nine blocks, to illustrate the major events leading up to and during the American Revolution. It was a great way to allow those kids who need a more "hands-on" approach, a way to express themselves. I required certain events to be depicted, (those that are required SOLs, such as the Battle of Great Bridge), but allowed them some leeway with filling in the rest of the blocks. They LOVED it! I will pick three from each group to display outside the classroom on a "bragging" wall.
In the Power Lab I have used Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast characters and story events, and I've also asked students to draw pictures to illustrate multiple meanings of homonyms. Visitors to our school will also notice nonlinguistic representations in the form of word walls that feature vocabulary words with illustrations, and and posters that use pictures instead of words, especially in primary classrooms.
In my fourth grade Language Arts classroom, I incorporated this strategy into my unit on homophones. We read the book "Dear Deer" by Gene Barretta. The students were provided a copy of the text and they were able to illustrate the pages of their own book. Students shared their booklets with their classmates. This was a very successful and exciting activity in teaching the meaning of homophones.
In my seventh grade Civics classroom, I have utilized the Venn Diagram to help illlustrate the similarities and differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties. In addition to the Venn Diagrams my students also have created a time sequence pattern organizer to help them research the origins of America's unique two party system.
The most direct way to generate nonlinguistic representations is to simply construct a mental picture of knowledge being learned. During physical education class I engaged in a kinesthetic activity that allowed students to apply physical movement. By definition, physical movement associated with specific knowledge generates a mental image of the knowledge in the mind of the learner. In P.E. class my students participated in an activity called "Walk across America". I hung a large map of Virginia on the wall with numerous historic places along with geographical locations (i.e. national parks, battle grounds, rivers, lakes, valleys, capitals, etc.) Each student had to keep a physical activity log (outside of school) for a month. Every student started their walk from the same location on the map. Each week the students tracked their walk using stick pins depending upon the amount of physical activity that they had logged. For every 30 mins. of activity the students were allowed to "walk" 50 miles. The activity created competition among the students while also allowing the students to learn geographic locations and some history about the state in which they live.
I had my fourth graders draw a comic strip, consisting of nine blocks, to illustrate the major events leading up to and during the American Revolution. It was a great way to allow those kids who need a more "hands-on" approach, a way to express themselves. I required certain events to be depicted, (those that are required SOLs, such as the Battle of Great Bridge), but allowed them some leeway with filling in the rest of the blocks. They LOVED it! I will pick three from each group to display outside the classroom on a "bragging" wall.
ReplyDeleteIn the Power Lab I have used Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast characters and story events, and I've also asked students to draw pictures to illustrate multiple meanings of homonyms. Visitors to our school will also notice nonlinguistic representations in the form of word walls that feature vocabulary words with illustrations, and and posters that use pictures instead of words, especially in primary classrooms.
ReplyDeleteIn my fourth grade Language Arts classroom, I incorporated this strategy into my unit on homophones. We read the book "Dear Deer" by Gene Barretta. The students were provided a copy of the text and they were able to illustrate the pages of their own book. Students shared their booklets with their classmates. This was a very successful and exciting activity in teaching the meaning of homophones.
ReplyDeleteIn my seventh grade Civics classroom, I have utilized the Venn Diagram to help illlustrate the similarities and differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties. In addition to the Venn Diagrams my students also have created a time sequence pattern organizer to help them research the origins of America's unique two party system.
ReplyDeleteThe most direct way to generate nonlinguistic representations is to simply construct a mental picture of knowledge being learned. During physical education class I engaged in a kinesthetic activity that allowed students to apply physical movement. By definition, physical movement associated with specific knowledge generates a mental image of the knowledge in the mind of the learner. In P.E. class my students participated in an activity called "Walk across America". I hung a large map of Virginia on the wall with numerous historic places along with geographical locations (i.e. national parks, battle grounds, rivers, lakes, valleys, capitals, etc.) Each student had to keep a physical activity log (outside of school) for a month. Every student started their walk from the same location on the map. Each week the students tracked their walk using stick pins depending upon the amount of physical activity that they had logged. For every 30 mins. of activity the students were allowed to "walk" 50 miles. The activity created competition among the students while also allowing the students to learn geographic locations and some history about the state in which they live.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea. Also incorporates Geography into your curriculum.
ReplyDelete