Created by Julie Dalton and Erica Ireland April 26,2012

1. Does a Student Made book from previous years benefit my current students as a model and resource? How and Why? Created by Julie Dalton and Erica Ireland April 26,2012

2. Questions we asked while using the student created Text We used our student created books (Dinosaur Alphabet Book and Did You Know??? An informational book about dental health) as a modeled informational text in order to guide instruction. We wanted to find out what the students learned from using these books. How did these books help the student’s learning? Did we find evidence of these learned facts in their writing and discussion?

3. Who was involved? In each classroom, all of the students were included in the learning activities. We presented the material in whole group instruction. The activities and student created artifacts were inspired by the ideas that students had while we were learning.

4. Materials used for instruction: -KWL chart -Student Created Text -Video of Student created Text (http://vimeo.com/22041532)

5. Dental Health: Day One Introduction The students were asked to help complete the K W portion of a K W L chart. I wanted to know where their level of understanding was when it came to Dental Health. I used the text that was created last year to begin my instruction. The connection the students made to the text was immediate. We spent a large portion of the first day just looking at the pictures and discussing what we were seeing. After walking through the text, I read the book to the students. The attention and participation that I had was excellent.

6. K~ W Chart K Brush your teeth Don’t eat too many sweets Toothpaste on the brush Eat good foods Drink milk Drink water W How do you take care of your teeth? Cavities? What are they and what do you do? How much water do your teeth need? Can you eat any chocolate candy?  * This was done prior to even showing my students the book.

7. What did we Learn? Don’t share your toothbrush Teeth have roots Milk teeth Canine teeth-tear Incisors-cut Molars-grind Teeth start to fall out when you are five or six Teeth help you smile Teeth hold in your slobber Brush your teeth 2x’s a day in a circle for 2 minutes Carrots and broccoli are good to eat. Some chocolate is okay to ea. Should brush teeth soon after eating Floss your teeth

8. Continuation of Dental Health Instruction The second day, I quickly questioned the students on what we were discussing and asked them to help me fill in the L portion of the KWL chart. I was curious to see how much information they were able to retain. I was very impressed. Text becomes almost predictable, increase of sight word knowledge Simplicity of teaching using only one main text to drive instruction. Students are able to make the text to self connection easily.

9. LEA Stories On the weeks that we write LEA stories, I try to allow my students to choose the topics that they would like to write about for the week. These stories were created the week after we began the Dental Health unit.

10. ELL Student Created LEA’s

11. Play Center After the first day of creating the K W portion of the KWL chart and listening to the Dental Health book, my students immediately carried their learning over to their play.

12. Individual Writing This short story was created by one of my ELL students. This student does not enjoy writing normally.

13. Cross Over into the Dinosaur Unit • After completing the Dental Health unit, we began learning about dinosaurs. One of the points that we cover is what and how does a dinosaur eat. My students were able to: • Ask specific questions about if they had milk teeth, incisors or molars. • Labeled the kinds of teeth on their dinosaur pictures that they created.

14. Writer’s Workshop This is a sloppy copy that was created during writer’s workshop.

15. Creation of the Dental Health Book

16. Creation of Dental Health Book

17. At Home • Students were eager to go home and implement some of the learning that was gained while studying Dental Health. • “We all have to brush our teeth with a timer for 2 minutes otherwise it does not count in the evening.” • “My child was able to come home and tell me the name of the tooth that they were getting ready to loose.”

18. Book Center This was one of their favorite times to go and just look through the book with a partner. After a few days of reading this book, my students were able to read some of the text independently. There was such a connection made between the informational text and my students.

19. Differences in Learning Use of teacher created lessons All of the learning responsibility fell on the teacher. Less kid friendly materials. Student learning was less enthusiastic. Use of Student Created Text • Instruction was simplified. • Connections were quickly made and maintained. • Evidences of learning were obvious throughout the school day.

20. What do you know about dinosaurs? What we know about dinosaurs Dinosaurs are big. Dinosaurs are dead. Dinosaurs are little. Dinosaurs eat grass. Dinosaurs eat other dinosaurs. T-Rex’s eat people. T-Rex’s eat dinosaur eggs. Dinosaurs live in the woods. Little dinosaurs eat dinosaur eggs. Dinosaurs are mean. Dinosaurs eat meat. What we want to know about dinosaurs How old are dinosaurs now? How long are their necks and feet? Do they eat leaves or the whole trees? How do dinosaurs eat other dinosaurs? Do dinosaurs take care of their babies? What are the different kinds of dinosaurs? How much do dinosaurs weigh? Can dinosaurs swim and fly? What color are dinosaurs? Where do dinosaurs sleep and live today? Can dinosaurs run fast? What do dinosaurs drink? Do dinosaurs wear underpants?

21. Lets start learning about dinosaurs! The children were amazed that my students last year made this entire book. We discussed how the students researched a different dinosaur and wrote about it. I read from this book each day using my document camera. Each day the children learned about 3 different dinosaurs. We started on March 5, 2012 with the Allosaurus.

22. Allosaurus - Fabrosaurus * Students noticed that the meat eating dinosaurs walk on two legs and the plant eating dinosaurs walk on all 4 legs. Allosaurus Brachiosaurus *A child asked me to show her how to write an ipoem during writing. *They discovered the difference between a carnivore and an herbivore Compsoghathus Diplodocus *A child predicted that the T-Rex will be the dinosaur in the book that starts with the letter Tt. Eoraptor Fabrosaurus

23. Giganotosaurus - Lambeosaurus *The children read A-I to me and was able to give me a fact about each dinosaur. *The Hadrosaurusipoem stated that it was extinct. What does that mean? Giganotosaurus Hadrosaurus *Students wanted to go outside and draw Dinosaurs with chalk using the correct measurements. Janenschia Iguanodon *The children used what they have already learned about dinosaurs to deepen their own understanding of what a paleontologist is. *I observed the children digging in the dirt and rocks for dinosaur bones. Kentrosaurus Lambeosaurus

24. Look at us! Lambeosaurus Digging for fossils Janenschia Kentrosaurus

25. Macroplata - Riojasaurus *Wanted to know where Asia was since the Oviraptor fossils were found there. *My retained student was ecstatic to teach his classmatesabout the dinosaur he researched last year. *Students insisted to be introduce to the 1st graders, who wrote about the Nodosaurus and Oviraptor. *A child brought 3 books from the public library about dinosaurs. He had them bookmarked to the dinosaurs we have already learned about. *What is a pronunciation key ? * Pronunciation key was used in the book center. Macroplata Nodosaurus Parasaurolophus Oviraptor Quetzalcoatlus Riojasaurus

26. Stegosaurus - Xiaosaurus *Students were able to relate the Ultrasaurus with the brachiosaurus and Lambeosaus because of the crest and nostrils on the top of the head. *Dinosaur books are being written each day *Dinosaurs found in the book center are being compare to the ones we have learned about in the ABC Dinosaur Book. *prediction of dinosaur V: Valsognathus, Vimpasaurus and Veroplata *Students played Wannanosaurus as the “mean stranger”, Xiaosaurus as the “baby” because they are very little, Velociraptor as the “protective daddy” and Hadrosaurus as the “Mommy” because she can chew the food up with her cheek teeth for the babies. Stegosaurus Triceratops Ultrasaurus Velociraptor Wannanosaurus Xiaosaurus

27. Yangchuanosaurus & Zephyrosaurus Yangchuanosaurus Zephyrosaurus *We had to pay close attention to the pronunciation key with these dinosaur names. *Resource Page *I placed a copy of this Resource Page for the kids to use to look up the websites if they wanted to. *I now placed the book in the book center for the children to look at.

28. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs….we know all about dinosaurs *Dinosaurs are extinct *A Diplodocus’ neck is about the length of a pick-up truck. *Dinosaur babies hatch from eggs *Dinosaurs attack with their sharp spikes, claws and teeth. *The children can easily tell you the 26 dinosaurs from the ABC Dinosaur book. They are very aware that there were much more. *Some dinosaurs weighed less than I did when I was a baby. Some dinosaurs weigh as much as 4,000 school buses. *Some dinosaurs can swim and some can fly. *Dinosaurs had bumpy or scaly skin. They don’t know exactly what color their skin was. *The smaller dinosaurs ran much faster than the huge ones. *Plant eating dinosaurs are called herbivores. Meat eating dinosaurs are called carnivores. *Some dinosaurs walk on 2 legs and some walk on 4 legs. *Most dinosaurs have a way to protect themselves.

29. Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs….we know all about dinosaurs *Dinosaurs make sounds to warn that attackers are coming. *Dinosaur fossils were found all over the world by paleontologists. *Some dinosaurs have toothless beaks called Duck Bill Dinosaurs. *Some dinosaurs have flat teeth inside their cheeks. *Some dinosaurs stayed with a pack and some roamed alone. *Some dinosaurs had small brains. *Some dinosaurs had crests that helped them smell. *Some dinosaurs had armor on its back. *Some dinosaurs stole eggs from other dinosaur’s nests to eat. *Some dinosaurs had plates to keep them cool or warm. *Some dinosaurs had small heads and some had big heads.

30. Let’s create a dinosaur? I divided the class into 5 heterogeneous groups. I gave each group a large piece of chart paper and markers. The children worked together in collaborative groups to design their own make-believe dinosaur. As I walked around the room I observed them brainstorming on the type of dinosaur they wanted to create. I heard many vocabulary words being used that was learned from the previous 10 days.

31. What does it look like? Group 1: Chunksognothus Group 2: Ollosaurus Group 3: Hornetodon Group 4: Zegasaurus Group 5: Vampiroraptor

32. Introducing our newly created Hornetodon

33. Let’s write about it? Hornetodon Looks Like: The Hornetodonwas red and blue. It had wings and a crest on his head. He also had a big black and yellow stinger. Eats: The Hornetodonwas a scavenger. He flew around looking for dead dinosaurs to eat. Lives: The Hornetodonlived in a forest. He built his nest in the tallest tree. The other dinosaurs couldn’t reach it. Protects Himself: The Hornetodonhad a giant stinger that he used to sting other dinosaurs if he got scared. If the stinger didn’t work he would fly away to safety. Travels: The Hornetodonflew around with his wings. He traveled in a large pack with his family and friends. Looks Like Hornetodon babies lived in a nest high in the trees. The parents stayed with them to protect them and feed them.

34. ipoems I am a Hornetodon I am a Hornetodon I wonder what the other dinosaurs are eating today that I will finish I hear a T-Rex chasing after me I see all the dinosaurs for miles around as I fly through the air I want to keep my eggs and nest safe I pretend that I am a huge dinosaur when I’m high in the air I feel the wind blowing over my wings I worry about flying into a tornado I cry when storms knock down my nest I understand how the wind lifts me up with my wings I dream that I forgot how to fly and had to walk everywhere I hope my stinger works if I have to fight I am a Hornetodon

35. Introducing our newly created Ollosaurus

36. Introducing our newly created Vampiroraptor

37. Introducing our newly created Zegasaurus

38. Introducing our newly created Chunksognathus

39. Differences in Learning Teacher Created Lessons Information was not geared towards cognitive and developmental level. We continued our learning into a four week unit but the lack of enthusiasm was evident. Teacher preparation was enormous. Student Created Text • Student Connections were immediate. • What was normally a two week unit continued into a four week unit due to student’s continued desire learn and create. • Teacher preparation was minimal.

40. Benefits of using a student made book as a model and resource: Student centered learning Child friendly text Less teacher preparation required Increased student interest in their learning Learning is transposed across the curriculum due to the connections that the students are able to make to the text. Use of these books gave the students the needed prior knowledge to help them decode the Non-fiction text that was in the book center.