Hannelore Rogers

ECE 250
Activity Plan 2
April 18, 2015

Objective: (what you want children to learn) (one only) 5 points

Students will be able to clearly communicate their thoughts by speaking while
using complete sentences.

Materials: 5 points
The book titled The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
Ball of yarn (preferably red/or any other color)

Scaffolding: (child's prior knowledge this activity is building on) 5 points

The children have just learned from the book that they are connected to the
people they love and who love them. By early elementary, typical students would
have had experiences and opportunities to add to their growing vocabulary. This
activity furthers their opportunity to practice expressing their thoughts and ideas
into complete and clear sentences.

Procedure: (in detail - how to carry out the activity) 5 points

Tell them you want to introduce them to twins who learned a valuable
lesson taught by their mother. (Suggestion of questions: Does anyone
know what the word twins mean?)
Introduce the title of the book including the author and illustrator.
(Explain what author and illustrator mean.)
(Suggestions of questions during reading: Who here is afraid of
thunderstorms? Do you feel safe when you are with your mommy? Can
you see the string? Neither can Liza or Jeremy. Now, lets listen closely,
their mom is about to tell them something important about the invisible
string. Who here has a best friend? Who here has a family pet? Does
anyone know what a submarine is? Who has seen and been on a
submarine? Who knows what a ballerina/explorer/astronaut is? Do you
get into arguments with your siblings or with each other here? Do you
have dreams when you sleep?
At the end of the book, point out to the children how happily Liza and
Jeremy are sleeping and even dreaming in their beds even though the
storm is still going on outside.
Tell them you want them to think of someone who helps them feel happy
and safe when they feel scared. Ask if anyone would like to share who
that person is.
Explain to the children that just as Liza and Jeremy were connected to the
people they loved, so are we. We are all a part of the class and that our
love for each other, connects us together.
Take out the yarn and explain and model the instructions for the activity.
(The activity starts with the teacher who is holding the yarn.) Explain that
when a person is the one holding the yarn, they are to choose someone
in circle that they want to say something nice about. Grab the piece of
string from the yarn and hold onto it. Then gently toss the yarn to them
and say (using complete sentences) what you like about them (e.g. I like
 the way Karen helps me water the plants in our classroom.) Then that
person chooses another person, grabs the piece of string to also hold
onto, and gently tosses the yarn to the chosen person and says
something nice about them. This is repeated until everyone is holding
that string of yarn. The children can then clearly see that we are all truly
connected to each other.
At the end of the activity, comment on how you noticed the kind words
they were using and how we all help to make each other feel happy and
safe in the classroom.

DAP support: (page and short quote) 5 points

Page 221: Teachers foster a learning environment that encourages
positive peer interaction.
Page 222: Teachers provide a variety of engaging learning experiences
and hands-on materials.
Page 223: Teachers use a variety of learning contexts throughout the
day/week including a whole group setting, etc.
Page 225: When children are talking, teachers take into account their
capabilities as speakers, giving children time to express themselves and
responding attentively to their speech. Teachers share with children the
role of setting the topic and purpose of talk.

Open ended questions for children: (questions to make a child think) 5 points

Liza and Jeremy felt safe with their mommy. Who do you feel safe with
when you are scared? Why do you think you feel safe with them?
Does anyone know what a submarine is? Tell us about it.
What would you like to be when you grow up?
If you have a sibling, what do you both argue about?
Do you remember any dreams you have had after you went to bed? Tell
us what happened.

Do self-evaluation after group critique

1. What would I change and why? 5 points
The book quickly and shortly mentions heaven and I previously thought it
would be too abstract for them and so I would not bring it up or question
the children about it. However, at this age children are rapidly learning
concepts such as death, friend, etc.
I would now include a brief explanation of the little boy missing his uncle
who had passed away and gone to heaven. The children could be
questioned if they had someone they knew and loved who also passed
away and went to heaven.

2. What would I keep and why? 5 points

My group made a point on my objective. I stated that the children were to
clearly communicate their thoughts using complete sentences. The
complete sentences confused some since children at this age do not
know exactly what makes a complete sentence. I originally planned that
would be for me to assess the childrens speech and observe if they are
able to communicate their ideas and or emotions coherently. The task
would not be a writing task so children would not need to know the what
(noun, verb, predicate, and punctuation) of how to form a complete
sentence which is a completely different objective and not
developmentally appropriate at this age.
I would make one change mentioned above and keep the rest. It is
developmentally appropriate. The message of the book makes the activity
meaningful for the children. The activity is a hands on activity that the
children can touch, do, and see. It incorporates one of the many learning
contexts in the day whole group setting and promotes a caring
community with positive peer interaction within the classroom.