Dear Families of
Room 14,
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Rachel
Alberstein, and I am the student teacher working with Mrs. Boyle. I am very excited to be a part of your child’s
classroom! We have so many interesting
projects that will be sure to capture your child’s heart and mind. One such project is the literature unit we
will be delving into over the next five weeks.
The theme for our unit is “reaching out to others.”
We will examine what it means to reach out to
others, why it is important to do, what it takes to reach out, reasons
we do
it, and ways we can do this in daily life.
The unit will be used in combination with our service
learning project. In order to teach kids
about service learning (a project which involves helping others and
learning at
the same time) and come up with a great
way to help others, we will be conducting a drive to bring in art
supplies,
games, toys, and books (which are not overly expensive) for the kids at
Children’s Hospital. I will be sending
home a list of the hospital’s greatest needs within a week. I think this is a fantastic way for students
to reach out to others in need and learn about volunteering. (If this creates a financial burden, simple
homemade gifts are warmly welcomed.
However, your child is not required
to bring anything in.)
The
unit aligns with EALRs 2.1, 2.3, 3.4. and 4.2.
These match up with GLEs 2.1.4, 2.1.5,
2.1.6, 2.3.1, 3.4.1,
and 4.2.1 which are available for review on the OSPI (Office of
Superintendent
of Public Instruction) website http://www.k12.wa.us.
We will spend the majority of the five weeks reading
together, in table groups, pairs, and individually.
We will examine five books related to our
theme – Best Friends for Francis, Sarah, Plain and Tall, The Kids’
Volunteering
Book, Almost to Freedom, and The Giving Tree.
We will then do art projects,
write in our journals, do other written assignments, discuss the topic,
and
come up with ways we can reach out to others in the future.
It is important to me for students to try to put
themselves in the shoes of others and begin to see what they can do to
make a
difference. I realize that each child
will have a different idea of what that means and how he or she will
use the
information. Yet, when children start to
realize that reaching out to others is fun and
helpful, they will likely feel empowered and start looking for ways to
do so in
their day to day life. It is my hope
that the feeling this brings will spur the desire to continually look
for more
ways and to take action.
I urge you to discuss the theme with your child and talk
about ways you can reach out to one another, to the community, and to
the
world. If you would like information
about methods we used in this unit, please refer to Reading
Essential and Writing
Essentials, both by Regie Routman.
Incidentally, she lives in
Finally, please feel free to stop by the classroom any
day. We would be happy to have another
friendly face in our room. I am
available by cell phone at (206-290-0147).
Thank you for your support and interest in our journey of
learning!
Sincerely,
Rachel Alberstein
P.S. Community
Resources include the local libraries, as
most of them have copies of the books we will be using.
If parents would like copies, they can call
and have the librarian do a city-wide search.
Any book can be ordered and sent to your local library in a
matter of
days. The North East branch is located
at
Thematic Book / Resource List:
Erlbach,
Arlene. (1998).
The Kids’ Volunteering Book.
This book introduces kids to what volunteers are, how they can help (or reach out to) others, and ways to make that happen. We will use this book in conjunction with our service learning project which is connected to this unit.
Hatkoff,
This is the unbelievable true story of a baby hippopotamus, Owen and a 130-year old giant tortoise, Mzee. After being orphaned by a tsunami, Mzee is placed in a wildlife enclosure with Mzee and the two form an instant bond. Despite Mzee’s loner tendencies, he reaches out to Owen while Owen reaches out for a friend too. I will read this story aloud to the class. We will write letters and do an art project based on the story.
Hoban,
Russell. (1969).
Best Friends for Francis.
This story is about a badger named Francis. When she is excluded from play by her neighbor, Albert, Francis decides to take matters into her own hands. She comes up with something fun with her little sister and excludes Albert. Finally the pair realizes that true friendship is not about fair-weather friends, but “all the time friends.” We will use this story to discuss how you can make friends by reaching out to someone.
MacLachlan, Patricia.
(1985). Sarah, Plain
and Tall.
This book is about a family living on the prairie. Their mother has died and the father places an add looking for a new wife. A woman named Anna answers the advertisement and a bond slowly grows between her and the family. Students will read this story in various grouping – whole class, in table groups, pairs, and individually – throughout the unit. It is the central piece of literature that the unit is structured around. We will do many assignments throughout the unit related to this text. (See daily plans.)
Nelson,
Vaunda M. (2003).
Almost to Freedom.
This book tells the story of a family of slaves that tries to run away to the north. There are many people along the way who they reach out to and are helped by. I will read this book aloud to the class. We will use the book to study making inferences, write down golden lines from it, and make quilt squares from the golden lines.
Routman,
Regie. (2003).
Reading Essentials.
Routman,
Regie. (2005). Writing
Essentials.
I
often referred
to this book to remind me of ways to craft my unit plan.
Chapters two, six, and seven were especially
useful, though I did not copy anything from the book.
Central Questions:
During the course of this unit, there are several questions I would like students to think about and answer. They are:
Generalizations: