Cooperative Learning

Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.1.E
Form and use prepositional phrases.
Learning Objectives:     Students will be able to create sentence with prepositional phrases.   

 I will focus on four grouping patterns to teach the concept of prepositional phrases. This is a fourth grade standard that we will be teaching next in our writing unit.

I will have a mixture of heterogeneous groups during think-pair-share, so that students are exposed to several ideas and the struggling students can hear ideas from their peers. Sometimes students may not understand the concept when I teach it, but they can understand when a peer teaches them, so it is crucial to give the students an opportunity to teach each other. Along with heterogeneous groups, I will incorporate homogeneous grouping during my small group lesson, so that I can target the skills based on their levels. When students are paired in homogeneous groups, it provides them a chance to feel confident and not worry about not answering quickly enough. They are given an opportunity to work with a group that is at their level.  

Here are the activities I have selected to use during each grouping configuration in order to reinforce the grade level content standard:

Whole Group & Peer Pairs: Teacher will chunk lesson using whole brain teaching strategies. Teacher has paired the students in heterogeneous groups so the struggling students can hear their partners ideas before having to share. It gives them another chance to hear the concept.

Teacher will say “What is a prepositional phrase?” Students will turn and teach their partner the question of the day. Students will turn towards their partner and repeat “what is a prepositional phrase.” The teacher will call the class back. Next, the teacher will share the answer.

The teacher will say Mirror Words and the students will mirror her words and gestures. “A prepositional phrase uses squirrel words.” Students will turn and teach their partner what that “a prepositional phrase uses squirrel words. Once again, the teacher will call the student's back.

Now the teacher will explain what squirrel words are. “A squirrel can be: by the tree, under the bench, beside the table, in the box, near the food, against the tree.” Teacher will then tell the students to teach their partner where the squirrel could be. As the students share, the teacher will walk around a listen to their conversations. After the students have shared a few with each other, the teacher will call the students back.

Teacher then explains when you start a sentence with a squirrel word, you need to add a common before the subject. Teacher will then say Mirror words and share several examples. Teacher will say, “For example, down the hole, a snake hid. Under the table, a baby threw a tantrum. Beside his desk, he found the paper he was looking for. Inside the car, you will find my forgotten lunch.

Next, the teacher will have the students turn to their partner and say as many examples of sentences with prepositional phrases. The teacher will then walk around and listen to their conversations.  After the students have shared a few with each other, the teacher will call the students back.

If the students understand the concept based on the observations, the teacher will move into the small group and individualized design. However, if they are struggling with the concept, they will watch a short video that also explains prepositional phrases.

Small Group:  Students will meet in homogeneous groups, so they teacher can target the instruction based on ability. Groups would be picked based on a pre assessment and the teacher’s observations during the above whole group instruction.

During small group the struggling students, the teacher will reteach the concept in a small setting. They will search for prepositional phrases in a short text.

My at grade level students will meet with me and work on writing sentences using prepositional phrases with me next to them in case they need support.

My gifted students will work on writing prepositional phrases in a story. Instead of writing several sentences that don’t go together, they will be challenged to use the new skill taught and put it into writing a narrative, informational, or opinion piece.

Individual Design:

Students will write “advanced sentences” on strips of paper. For example, Lucas found his backpack under the table. The kids will perform surgery on the sentence by cutting the sentence strip before the word under. They will then place it in the front of the sentence. Next, they will capitalize the beginning of the sentence and put a period at the end. To complete the surgery, they will place a bandage after the prepositional phrase where they cut. This band-aid will represent the comma. The students will understand that we can change the order of the sentence and create a new sentence with a prepositional phrase.

Reflection: As I reflect, I think about all the things I am doing to meet the needs of each of my students along with my teaching style. First, Learning objectives is important part of differentiated instruction to keep the focus of the lesson. These objectives will be displayed in the classroom, so even while doing different activities, students and I will know the desired outcomes. I will have a mixture of heterogeneous groups during think-pair-share, so that students are exposed to several ideas and the struggling students can hear ideas from their peers. Sometimes students may not understand the concept when I teach it, but they can understand when a peer teaches them, so it is crucial to give the students an opportunity to teach each other. Along with heterogeneous groups, I will incorporate homogeneous grouping during my small group lesson, so that I can target the skills based on their levels. When students are paired in homogeneous groups, it provides them a chance to feel confident and not worry about not answering quickly enough. They are given an opportunity to work with a group that is at their level. The goal of assessment is to ensure students have reached the standards and objectives. Each student is different. If we differentiate our instruction, we must also differentiate our assessments. The assessments chosen for the lesson vary in complexity, which will reach the needs of all my students.