Resource+3+-+written+grammar

=Resources for lesson (b): Written Grammar =

=ONE = [|Video: BrainPOP Jr. Water Cycle]

This video looks at the different stages of the water cycle in a cartoon format and is aimed at students in years K-4. It gives the definition of the water cycle as 'the movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth'. It relates the water cycle to the everyday lives of the students as it is told through the eyes of a little girl. It starts with the girl playing on a swing and it begins to rain. She then tells us that water is constantly moving around the earth. We then see her at a beach where she explains how the energy from the sun heats up bodies of water like the ocean which causes evaporation. Cartoon diagrams show water rising in the air and turning into water vapour which then cools down and condenses into a liquid which forms clouds. The little girl then explains what precipitation is and the forms it can take on (rain, sleet, snow and hail). She then explains what happens to precipitation; some goes into streams and lakes, and some goes into the ground which is used for drinking water and watering plants. It then shows that this is a continuous cycle which never ends.

The aim of this unit is to familiarise students with multimodal texts so they are confident to use them themselves and are equipped with the skills to deconstruct them. Using multimedia such as videos in the classroom is becoming ever more important in ‘modern literacy and learning practice’ (Winch, Johnston, March, Ljungdahl, Holliday, 2006, p. 36). Having a video at the beginning of the lesson enables the teacher to summarise the main learning points of the water cycle in an engaging manner. BrainPOP holds hundreds of animated videos for Science, English, math, Social Studies, Technology, Health, and Arts & Music as well as providing teachers with learning activities based off those videos (Mobytherobot, 2008). In lesson six, students will be using the word wall activity after watching the BrainPOP video. This provides students with the metalanguage required when learning about the water cycle such as ‘water cycle’, ‘precipitation’, ‘condense’, ‘evaporate’, and ‘atmosphere’.

=TWO =

Written text

These are basic sentences based on the structure of the BrainPOP video. In the lesson, students are to arrange these sentences in sequential order to help them form an explanation on how the water cycle works. It also provides a basis for teaching the structure of an explanation. Students are to then add sequencing connectives to help the flow of the explanation. This lesson is working towards the outcome WS2.10 Produces texts clearly, effectively and accurately, using sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type (Board of Studies, 2007, p. 39) and these sentences help students learn the structure and layout of a sequential explanation by allowing the students to physically manipulate the order the sentences should be in. By having ready-made sentences, the teacher is able to draw attention to how sentences can be linked or joined together using text connectives or conjunctions. This lesson focuses on not only the structure of an explanation, but how students can use sequencing connectives to help the flow of the text and to link ideas together, a key grammatical feature of sequential explanations (Droga and Humphrey, 2008, p. 142).

 ﻿ The Water Cycle ﻿ The water falls back to Earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow  ﻿ Water turns into water vapour in the atmosphere  ﻿ The sun heats up the water in rivers, lakes and oceans  <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">﻿ This is evaporation  The water vapour cools in the air and forms clouds. Clouds get heavy when the water vapour collects in them. This is precipitation
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">References **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Board of Studies. (2007). Syllabus: English K-6. Sydney: Author.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">BrainPOP (1999-2010). BrainPOP Jr. Retrieved September 25, 2010 from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Droga, L., & Humphrey, S. (2008). Grammar and meaning: an introduction for primary teachers. Berry: Target Texts.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mobytherobot. (2008). BrainPOP presentation [Youtube]. United States. Retrieved September 28, 2010 from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Winch, G., Johnston, R.R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2006). Literacy: reading, writing and children’s literature. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.