I feel like the past few years of teaching in a pandemic have really impacted how I teach in general. Teaching digitally reallllly forced me outside my comfort zone. While I am fine on my specific computer programs, suddenly I had to become a master of it all…and that was hard for me.
One program that I am comfortable in is PowerPoint. It’s my jam and I learned to use it as much as possible. We began creating a daily PowerPoint with all of our lessons and worked through it each day. Even though we are no longer teaching digitally, this habit stuck. We still have a daily PowerPoint.
Teaching is hard. For all of us now. To make it easier, I thought I would start sharing some of my lessons for units for FREE.
To kick off this new habit, I am sharing our latest first grade unit where students determine if the information come from the text of pictures. It meets this Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text.
It is a simple five-day unit. Students spend the first two day analyzing pictures to determine what they can learn from the picture. The next three days students analyze a nonfiction book from Epic Books about Cottontail Rabbits from Epic books- a perfect subtle nod for Easter or Spring! While we analyzed the text, we created a web. Students shared what they learned and we wrote the facts on an anchor chart and noted if the fact came from the words, pictures, or both. Of course, I forgot to take a picture before I left for break, but I will try to remember to snap one when I return!
TEACHING TIP: I will say to avoid students making inferences regarding information form a picture…which can actually make this skill way more difficulty than it needs to be, encourage students to use the prompt “I see _____ in the picture.”
To grab your unit, click here or on the picture.
If you would like activities for students to complete after these lessons, please check out this link. There are five simple worksheets for students to practice the skills in the lessons!
Mandy Gregory is a 2007 and 2012 Teacher of the Year. She has taught Kindergarten- 4th grades in both the general education and inclusion settings. She is currently a 1st grade Special Education teacher. She is the owner and creator of Mandy’s Tips for Teachers website (www.mandystipsforteachers.com) and has over 13 years of teaching experience. She is married with two beautiful children.
