Thematic 3: Answer Key; Module 1B Assigned Activities

Use this report to evaluate the students' awareness of the changes that have taken place in their own community. The emphasis should be placed on the validity and amount of information that students have gathered, rather than the mechanics of the writing.

Students are instructed to prepare a title page and one page for each of the topics listed below. Each page should include a drawing and at least one sentence. The report may be printed by hand or entered on a computer.

To assist you in marking the students' writing, you may wish to use the following rubric:

Skill

Score

Scoring

Validity of Information

/10

10		The information is accurate and precise in all topics; details are included.

8		The information is accurate in all topics; some details may be present.

6		Most of the information is accurate.

4		The information is sometimes inaccurate.

2		Most of the information is inaccurate.

Amount of Information

/10

10		Information is included about each of the topics listed, and additional pertinent facts about the community are also present.

8		Information is included about each of the listed topics.

6		Information is included about most of the listed topics.

4		Information about some of the topics is present.

2		The student has made few attempts to include information about the topics

General Neatness, Writing Conventions, and Clarity of Expression

5		Work is neatly done; the cover page is well proportioned; standard spelling and punctuation are used; and ideas are expressed clearly and concisely.

4		Work is neatly done; cover page is acceptable; standard spelling and punctuation are usually used; and ideas are expressed clearly.

3		General neatness and cover page is acceptable; standard spelling and punctuation is present some of the time; errors don’t affect understanding; and some ideas may be confusing.

2		Work is untidy or shows lack of effort; standard spelling and punctuation are rarely used; and errors affect the understanding of the information.

1		Work is untidy and shows lack of effort; spelling is phonetic; punctuation is rarely used; and the work is difficult or impossible to understand.

Total

/25

Day 15: Oral Reading

Listen to students' oral readings. Do a reading miscue analysis or running record. You may wish to use the following abbreviations or you may have your own system.

		word read correctly
S	substitution	Write word(s) that the student substituted.
SC	self-correction	If the student succeeds in correcting a miscue, do not count that word as an error.
O	omission	May be recorded with a dash or by crossing out the word in the text.
I	insertion	Record the word that was inserted by adding a carat and the inserted word.
T	told	The student was told the word.
A	appeal	The student asked for help.
R	repetition	The student repeated the word or phrase.

Print a copy of the Running Record Sheet. Listen as students read page 17 of "Our Home Is the Sea." There are 199 words on this page. If you need more information, you may choose to do additional pages or passages as well. You may need to print additional Running Record Sheets.

See the sample running record below for "Our Home Is the Sea," page 17, first paragraph.

Paragraph	Running Record	Number of Errors	Number of Self-Corrections
1	S^cool S/SC.^seal/sea	2	1

Score the number of miscues out of the total number of words. Determine if students are reading at an Independent (98%), Instructional (90–97%), or Frustration level (less than 90%). Also count the number of self-corrections. A self-correction of 1:3 or better shows a competent reader.

Analyze the errors and corrections that were made. Add comments to the Running Record.

RUNNING RECORD SHEET

Student's Name:

__________________________________________

Date:

________________________

Title of Book::

_________________________________________________________________________

Page Number(s):

______________

Number of words in passage:

____________________

Paragraph	Running Record	Number of Errors	Number of Self-Corrections

Score:

Number of errors + self-corrections	=	________________		ratio ________________
Self-correctionss

Comments

When evaluating students' reading skills, also consider voice quality, fluency of reading, and use of phrasing, intonation, and inflection.

Reading Fluency	Score
Fluent reading: reads primarily in meaningful phrases; expressive interpretation is evident; attends to punctuation and syntax; may reread to solve problems, but is generally fluent	4/4
Increasing fluency: a mixture of word-by-word reading and phrases; attends to punctuation and syntax; may reread to solve problems; increasing expressiveness	3/4
Some fluency: mostly word-by-word reading with some two-word phrasing; some evidence of syntactic and punctuation awareness; some expressive phrases	2/4
Very little fluency: word-by-word reading; long pauses between words; little expression; does not use punctuation cues	1/4

Questions from Oral Reading

What is your favourite part of this story? Why?

Answers will vary. Students should tell about their favourite part and tell why.

Why do you think the boy hides his report card and doesn't want to show it to his mother?

He doesn't want his mom to say he should be a teacher. The reader is left to infer that his marks are very good and that he does well in school. While he is able to become a school teacher, he would rather be a fisherman. He loves the sea, but he doesn't like school.

Do you think the father wants the boy to become a teacher or fisherman?

Again, the reader is left to infer that the father wants him to become a fisherman because he does not agree with his wife when she speaks of it. He is encouraging the boy to become a fisherman by taking him out to the fishing boat to help and by telling him their home is the sea.

If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would you ask?

Answers will vary. Accept any reasonable question.

Day 17: Phonics, Pages 21 and 22

Page 21 from the Phonics book, Modern Curriculum Press Phonics: Level C, checks students' mastery of initial, medial, and final consonants.

Phonics

Page 21

1.	pedal	2.	happy	3.	soap
4.	dog	5.	pedal	6.	hated
7.	bike	8.	cowboy	9.	cab
10.	leaf	11.	yellow	12.	pedal
13.	music	14.	comic	15.	room
16.	soap	17.	music	18.	gas
19.	room	20.	hurry	21.	near
22.	near	23.	funny	24.	wagon
25.	gas	26.	wagon	27.	dog
28.	tow	29.	hated	30.	vat
31.	zoo	32.	hazy	33.	jazz
34.	funny	35.	jiffy	36.	leaf

Page 22 from the Phonics book checks students' mastery of the hard and soft c and g.

Phonics

Page 22

1.		got
2.		certain
3.		huge
4.		guess
5.		carefully
6.		giant
7.		can't
8.		call
9.		curtain, carefully, can't, call
10.		certain, cement, cent, cell
11.		got, hug, guess, garden
12.		gym, huge, gem, giant

Day 18: Animal Observation Journal

Students are asked to complete an animal observation journal to record the growth and development of at least one living animal. Students and home instructors have the option of completing this activity at a later date if it is not possible to observe an animal's life cycle at this time.

Students are required to make at least one observation at each stage of development in the animal's life cycle. If students have chosen to observe a mammal, bird, reptile, or fish, at least three observations should be present. If students have chosen an amphibian or insect to observe, at least four observations should be included.

Each observation should include a drawing of the animal and at least two sentences describing the animal's appearance. Student must also include information about caring for the animal at the current stage. At the end of the animal observation journal, students are asked to draw the life cycle of the animal.

Marking emphasis should be on the accuracy of the descriptions and drawings. Care instructions should be specific and demonstrate knowledge of the needs of the animal at each stage. The drawing of the animal's life cycle should show three stages of development for fish, mammals, birds, and reptiles or four stages of development for amphibians and insects.