For my second practicum we learned about story elements, and for this grade 1 class it was the first time they had come across this idea. For this topic I introduced it in 3s, so my first half of this unit began with what elements a story has 1) Characters, 2) Setting, and 3) Problem/ Solution. We read several stories focusing on this topic, and for each one I would have sections already written (i.e. the character is……) which would also be paired with me modeling the complete sentence on the smart board. I would keep the written section of the worksheet on the board so students who needed more direction with their writing could come close and write it, and all students were able to draw and colour their view of the subject. I felt this was age appropriate for grade 1 as students had a lot more guidance in completing these worksheets, and would utilize my answers on the smart board especially if they were still struggling with writing. I also included a drawing/ colouring space on each of these worksheets so if a student had a hard time writing, as grade 1s are still working on this skill, they could also communicate their answers through this method.
We also had a fun day at the end of my practicum! Our last focus for the second half of my practicum was on beginning, middle, and end of a story. We had been working on this topic for a while, so at the end of practicum when we had practiced these skills I modeled how to complete the worksheet after reading “Uh-Oh! It’s the Unicorns”, but this story was about unicorns making trouble so the “unicorns” started to make trouble for our class too. This is something I would have only been able to do with grade 1 so the unicorns invaded our worksheet at the beginning of the day, and after the students had handed in their sheet I sprayed them with watercolour paint. I then threw the sheets around the room and hid some unicorn badges as a hide and seek game for students to discover. This was the highlight of my practicum as grade 1 students were VERY invested in the unicorns visiting and even wrote some letters for the unicorns which was awesome to see students using writing to engage with the unicorns.
I also had a self assessment with this unit which allowed students to gage their own own learning in an easy to understand way. I really enjoyed this assessment because I felt like it really worked for the grade 1 level, and I had to agree with most of the assessments students made for themselves. This method of assessment was very useful with this age level as students were able to easily understand what I was asking of them with minimal need for me to re-explain what I wanted from them.
