Hello Everyone,
From Goodreads.com
This month, we’ve been studying Appalachian culture in the Special Areas, so I dug out a copy of A is for Appalachia. What a fantastic way to incorporate a culture while simultaneously practicing the alphabet with my primary grade students?
Each of the three grades of students had a different writing/paper task after the story video (which is incidentally available here). Students in grade 2 identified labeled images of items that belonged to or represented Appalachian culture, such as ploughs and slates with chalk, while ruling out more modern items, like refrigerators and cars.
I’ll explain the grade 1 and kindergarten assignments below.
While teaching this lesson, I’ve really been able to see that sometimes within each class of students, it is necessary to differentiate assignments to facilitate the learning of students with differing abilities in the same homeroom.
After watching the story video, I expected grade 1 students to identify the beginning sounds of words, such as identifying the “m” of “mountains” by looking at the mountain range picture and circling the “m” from the provided options. In one of my grade 1 classes, there is a student who cognitively functions on a kindergarten level. While his classmates completed the grade 1 writing assignment, I provided him with the kindergarten assignment for Appalachian culture. On that sheet, I asked him to trace capital and lowercase letters with corresponding relevant pictures. Through differentiation, the student was able to successfully complete the independent writing assignment just like his peers.