BACK Before Reading Work Sample
Reflection on The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cyber Lesson
My first grade students really enjoy working on the computers. Unfortunately, we do not have computers available in the classroom for students to use on a daily basis. Once a week, each class is allowed an hour of computer time in the library. Our school does not have a technology teacher, so it is up to the classroom teacher to plan activities for the students to complete while using the computers. Typically, teachers have students use the program KidPix or explore the PBS website. These activities are not related to our curriculum and they don’t have any educational connection to what we are teaching in the classroom.
When given the task to create a Cyber Lesson I could implement with my students, I was ecstatic. This was the perfect opportunity to create an activity my students could complete on the computers that would be connected to our curriculum. What a concept!
During the month of April our first grade science curriculum states that students need to learn about the life cycles of various plants and animals. One life cycle that we focus on is that of the butterfly. Therefore, I decided to create a Cyber Lesson on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, which discusses the life cycle of a butterfly.
The Cyber Lesson was implemented over a three week time period. Students worked on the Cyber Lesson for a one hour every Monday morning. While students worked on the Cyber Lesson I walked around guiding and redirecting students when needed. I also was monitoring reading comprehension and fluency by listening to them read and asking them informal guiding questions.
Before introducing my students to the Cyber Lesson, I completed a picture walk with them and introduced them to many of the new vocabulary words they would encounter in the book. During the picture walk, we made predictions and discussed them as a class. I thought that this would beneficial for the students to partake in before reading the book since previewing text is a critical component of the reading process.
The before-reading activity built the background knowledge that my students needed in order to read the book and complete the Cyber Lesson successfully. The students really enjoyed the fact that the different stages a butterfly goes through lit up. It was the perfect initiation to hook them in for the rest of the lesson! During reading, students were asked to recall and record the different foods that The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate on each day. Students were able to successfully recall and record the different foods.
I particularly enjoyed observing the beyond reading activity. For this activity, students were given props that they could cut out and use to retell the story to a partner. They did an awesome job on this! They retold the story with such enthusiasm and accuracy, it was incredible. I observed students using the checklist from the Cyber Lesson confirming that their oral retell included all the crucial components. The after reading activity was also a success. Students love to write to their pen pals, and this writing assignment really allowed them to articulate what they had learned. I was very pleased with the content of their letters.
I think all these activities were such a success because students were highly motivated to read the book and complete the Cyber Lesson. It was something new and exciting for them. They don’t get to use the computers often, and they were eager to actually produce a product while on the computers. I am considering creating a Cyber Lesson for a different book each month since this one was such a success.