Welcome to the Underworld
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engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.
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This learning activity provided by:
Author:
Rebekah Odegard Sewell
System: Dothan City School: Highlands Elementary School
General Activity Information
Activity ID:
2936
Title: Welcome to the Underworld
Digital Tool/Resource: Welcome to the Underworld from commonlit.org
Web Address – URL:
Overview: Students will locate new academic vocabulary terms in the paired reading Welcome to The Underworld after reading chapter 18 from The Lightning Thief. They will create a digital Frayer Model or handwrite the model in their composition notebooks for their selected top 3 most difficult vocabulary words from the list after they read the short story. As the students find the new vocabulary words, they will add them to the “Word Wall” for the week and write the words so all students can make sure they have the same vocabulary list.
This resource was created in partnership with Dothan City Schools.
Associated Standards and Objectives
Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts 27. Discover word meanings by analyzing word parts, examining connotation and denotation, or using print or digital reference tools.
Unpacked Content
Teacher Vocabulary:
27.
Word parts
Connotation
Denotation
Print reference tools
Digital reference tools Knowledge:
27. Students know:
The meaning of words can be identified by examining the word's morphological structure or its connotation or denotation.
Strategies for using print and digital reference tools. Skills:
27. Students are able to:
Use word parts, connotation, and/or denotation to determine word meanings.
Use reference tools to determine word meanings. Understanding:
27. Students understand that:
If they encounter an unfamiliar or unknown word in text, they should use a strategy to discover the word meaning or consult a reference tool to find the word meaning.
Learning Objectives: Students will discover academic vocabulary through a paired reading of The Lightning Thief .
Students will use the Frayer Model to understand word parts by looking up three word meanings online that originate from the paired reading Welcome to the Underworld.
Strategies, Preparations and Variations
Phase: Before/Engage
Activity: The students will use the Frayer Model graphic organizer to learn word parts and discover word meanings while reading the academic vocabulary in context of Welcome to The Underworld (a paired reading) after reading chapter 18 in The Lightning Thief .
Teacher Steps:
1. Go to Commonlit.org and create a free account. You can create classroom links to share this assignment with students on Google Classroom or post the link in your classroom for students to log in.
2. The teacher will start the class by reading the short story Welcome to The Underworld.
3. As students read, have them write the 11 new vocabulary words down in their notebooks. The vocabulary words are tagged with a teal number tile. As they hover over the vocabulary word they will see the definitions. They will write these definitions down in their notebooks.
4. The teacher should have a word wall where they write (or have students come up and write) these 11 words. Here is a free template you can use to get started . This ensures that all the students can see the words throughout the week.
5. After the students have written all the words with their definitions in their notebooks, the students will choose 3 of the 11 words to create a Frayer Model to discover the word meanings. See the example here for how to set up/draw the Frayer Model in a notebook.
Assessment Strategies: Students will create 3 vocabulary models using the Frayer Model with the vocabulary words they discovered in the paired reading Welcome to the Underworld . The Frayer Model will be evaluated. The teacher will look at the student notebooks to determine if all 3 words were correctly written down with the "Definitions, Characteristics, Examples, and Non-Examples."
Advanced Preparation: Teachers should have already completed reading Chapter 18 from The Lightning Thief before reading this paired story. The teacher should make sure they & the students have access to the following website: www.commonlit.org.
Variation Tips (optional): Teachers with a class set of student digital devices might use this digital form to create the Frayer Model for students to write their vocabulary words and share using technology.
Tier 2 Intervention: Teachers could play the audio from commonlit.org while students read together for the paired story Welcome to the Underworld. In a small group, the teacher can guide the students on how to complete the Frayer Model.
Extension/Expansion : Advanced students can complete the 5 Guiding Questions on the commonlit.org page.
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
Keywords and Search Tags
Keywords and Search Tags:
6th grade ELA, paired reader, The Frayer Model, The Lightning Thief, vocabulary, Welcome to the Underworld
