Share a topic/idea from class this week. What’s one thing you did with students this week that you will (or will not do) again? Why?
The idea that I am going to share from class this week is actually something that I do on a weekly basis, but I think it’s worth mentioning. When I first started teaching, a mentor teacher introduced me to Jane Bell Kiester’s “Caught’Yas.” I really liked the idea of having my students do them, but for some reason, I didn’t use them for the first nine years or so of my teaching. I have, however, been using them for the past three years. Two or three times a week, my students grab their Caught’Ya packets. My two regular LA classes use “Tales of a Four-Eyed Weirdo,” and my TAG (Talented and Gifted Class) uses “Romeo and Juliet Revisited and Revised.”
We focus on one sentence per day. In my daily agenda, I tell my students how many of each type of correction they are looking for (ex. 5 capitalization, 3 commas, etc.). Students then work through the Caught’Ya, making the proper corrections to the sentence. When all students are finished, we go over the Caught’Ya together. I use the AirSquirrels Reflector app I downloaded on my Mac to connect my iPad (via Airplay) to my computer (and to the projector). I then use a great app called Notability (where I have imported the Caught’Ya sentences). The students pass around the iPad, making the proper corrections to the sentence. When a student gets the iPad and makes a correction, he or she has to tell the class what he or she corrected and why. This activity is a great way to hit upon and talk about the different rules for sentence structure, dialogue, capitalization, punctuation, spelling (homophones, etc.), etc., and to hit upon the parts of speech. Each sentence also includes a vocabulary word, and I have the students use their Chromebooks to find the part of speech and definition of the word. Students enjoy passing the iPad around to make corrections, which helps to get them even more involved. They actually fight over who gets to use the iPad first. Something else that is nice about her activities is that Jane Bell Kiester has various Caught’Ya examples for different grade levels. If you are a language arts teacher and want a fun and different way to teach grammar, I would definitely recommend investing in her books.
We focus on one sentence per day. In my daily agenda, I tell my students how many of each type of correction they are looking for (ex. 5 capitalization, 3 commas, etc.). Students then work through the Caught’Ya, making the proper corrections to the sentence. When all students are finished, we go over the Caught’Ya together. I use the AirSquirrels Reflector app I downloaded on my Mac to connect my iPad (via Airplay) to my computer (and to the projector). I then use a great app called Notability (where I have imported the Caught’Ya sentences). The students pass around the iPad, making the proper corrections to the sentence. When a student gets the iPad and makes a correction, he or she has to tell the class what he or she corrected and why. This activity is a great way to hit upon and talk about the different rules for sentence structure, dialogue, capitalization, punctuation, spelling (homophones, etc.), etc., and to hit upon the parts of speech. Each sentence also includes a vocabulary word, and I have the students use their Chromebooks to find the part of speech and definition of the word. Students enjoy passing the iPad around to make corrections, which helps to get them even more involved. They actually fight over who gets to use the iPad first. Something else that is nice about her activities is that Jane Bell Kiester has various Caught’Ya examples for different grade levels. If you are a language arts teacher and want a fun and different way to teach grammar, I would definitely recommend investing in her books.
After doing various D.O.L.-type activities, sentence revisions, etc., I think using Caught’Yas has been perfect for my classroom.
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