Classroom Resources and Organization

Elizabeth Rudicill

 

Purpose:

This mini-lesson will help students locate resources and supplies within the language arts classroom.� Students will also understand that various areas of the classroom are reserved for different reading/writing workshop activities.� A poster will be placed on classroom wall to serve as a quick reminder of the classroom layout.� The point of this activity is to orient students to the reading/writing workshop and the atmosphere it creates in the classroom.� The purpose of the classroom is to serve students and it should contain appropriate resources for reading/writing workshop.

 

Instructional Objective: Students should be able to:

  1. Quickly locate needed resources within the classroom.
  2. Move quietly and efficiently about the class.
  3. Understand that certain class areas are reserved for certain activities.
  4. Introduce students to different types of resources available within the classroom.

 

Objectives for Middle Grades Standards: Middle grades teachers:

  1. Understand how to facilitate and motivate student learning though the use of a wide variety of developmentally responsive materials and resources (e.g., computers, Internet, manipulative materials). K (5.6)
  2. Know how to employ effective, developmentally responsive classroom management techniques. K (5.7)
  3. Value the need for providing and maintaining environments that maximize student learning. D (5.2)

 

Objectives met for North Carolina English Language Arts Competency Goals:

  1. Grade Six, Seven and Eight/Competency Goal 2: The learner will explore and analyze information from a variety of sources.

 

Objectives met for Early Adolescence/English Language Arts Standards:

IV.� Accomplished Early Adolescence/English Language Arts teachers create a caring and challenging environment in which all students actively learn.

 

Time Frame:

10 Min. Exploration Activity

10 Min. Discussion of Findings, Classroom Layout, and Use

 

Materials:

  1. Exploration Activity Sheet

 

Instructional Activities:

  1. Introduction (Engagement)
    1. Ask student if they have ever participated in a scavenger hunt (most are likely to say yes).� Explain that this activity is similar to a scavenger hunt.� Then divide class into groups and handout activity sheet.

 

  1. Exploration Activity (Exploration)
    1. Explain the importance of looking for materials, books, and resources in an orderly manner.� Also, remind them to put all supplies back in the location where they found them.
    2. Let the groups begin to explore the classroom for items on the list.� Direct groups to different activity centers and give them five minutes at each area and then direct the groups to a different area.

 

  1. End Exploration Activity Hunt (Explanation)
    1. Determine which group found the most items.
    2. Ask the class what they believe is purpose of this activity. (Some may say to learn where they can find things in the class.)
    3. Begin discuss of classroom setup, the use of materials, books, and resources.

 

*Discussion: Uses of materials, books, and resources

 

Learning to use resources is a very important part of becoming an effective reader and writer.� As a reader what do you do when you see a word in your reading that you don�t understand? [Answers will vary greatly.� Many students may skip the word a few others may look it up in the dictionary.� Others will guess at the word�s meaning based on the content.� All of these are appropriate answers.]� In this class use of the dictionary and thesaurus will help you work on your rough draft writing assignments or as you read a challenging novel.� It is important that you know where to locate these resources and also know how to use them.� What is a thesaurus used for?� How many of you have used a thesaurus in the classroom before?� [Most students will respond that have experience using the thesaurus, however some may have no previous knowledge of it.� This is why I would demonstrate the use of the thesaurus by looking up a word and explaining that often there is a better word with a more exact meaning then the first word the student may think of using in his/her writing.]� I would continue to demonstrate uses of other resources in the classroom in a similar manner.� Then I would ask, �What do you think the small tables and couch at the back of the class are for?� (Students may say for doing homework or reading.)� I would use this question to begin discussing the use of the classroom in reading/writing workshop.� This discussion may lead into another procedural minilesson about the rules of reading/writing workshop to be discussed the next day.

 

  1. Poster board (Elaboration)
    1. Post poster board of classroom layout and tell class to use it frequently until they learn the location of all resources.

 

  1. Participation (Evaluation)
    1. All students will receive a 100 for participating in a cooperative manner during lesson.� There will be a deduction of ten points for each infraction.