Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.
I continue to try my hand at creative endeavors. #CLMOOC Challenge for this week is fairly easy, a 5 image story. I got the Tapestry app on my phone (free), so it was easy to upload 5 silly shots of my cat hiding in a grocery bag. It was as though she thought she was invisible. We are a little nutty about our animals. I took some shots of this cat trick and made a 5 image Tapestry story. Unfortunately, wordpress does not embed Tapestry. Click on the link. I promise it’ll only take a second. Can you add the words?
https://readtapestry.com/s/ZDImIgGiA/
Last week I got my brain fried in pre-AP training. I finally had some time to process and work with a frame that my colleague Beth and I came up with. We want to use the theme of Wonder for our year. I tried Wonderopolis with my students a few times last year and they loved it. In my thinking/planning journal we brainstormed what each letter could stand for and began planning to use this format for our daily language lesson. I’m thinking it can guide my whole week.
I am such a teacher-geek passionate teacher that I spent hours planning out Wonder frames for the school year.
First I selected an interesting Wonder from Wonderopolis, such as Fireflies. Each Wonder includes a video, a nonfiction text passage, vocabulary, links, and interactive quizes. A teacher’s dream website! I mean who doesn’t get excited about learning about bioluminescence?
On Monday, students will read and paraphrase a quote: “All that I know about us is that beautiful things never last, that’s why fireflies flash.”
On Tuesday, they will analyze a Robert Frost poem about fireflies: (Underline the word(s) that fireflies are compared to in the poem and explain how they are similar to fireflies.)
“Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can’t sustain the part.” Robert Frost
On Wednesday, they will define bioluminescence and use it in a short paragraph.
On Thursday, they will edit this sentence, “Fireflies may be none for there glow power but their knot alone. ”
On Friday, they will read another passage from Mental Floss and make an inference.
I can only imagine how my classroom will be buzzing about fireflies. In the meantime, my students will be able to read their own choices (I am determined to channel Donalyn Miller this year) and will be writing their own pieces during writing workshop. I’m excited to find a way to feel like I am incorporating valuable lessons without sacrificing student choice. Here is a pdf file of the Wonder template for ELA (2).
Reflections on the Teche 
Love the WONDERful ideas here! 🙂 I’m thinking about using Wonderopolis more this year too… So thanks for the ideas!
Tapestry is new to me! I love it. Same with Wonderopolis. I like you “thinking and planning journal”. I should get one. Sometimes I can’t relax until I’ve worked through an idea for my classroom. 🙂
Happy stuff going on here. And here’s hoping you leave plenty of room for improv in the mix. Wonder on in awe. Seems to me that Frost misses the awe of the firefly. Perhaps you might introduce the idea that the published poet might just be wrong and that the part IS sustained in our memories and that, ultimately, all the stuff of the world is star stuff.
I don’t think I would dare say that Frost missed the awe of the firefly; however, I do think we appreciate them more now that they are rare and in some places nonexistent. Perhaps students could extend the metaphor or, better yet, create their own. Thanks for pushing my thinking.
WOW! I love this idea! Wonderopolis is an amazing website. I may borrow this idea in my own way for my students. Thank you Margaret!! By the way, I just love, love, love the Tapestry with the cat and dog pics. Adorable!
I love how you say, “in my own way.” This is as it should be. We use lessons in our own way and in the best way for our students. Adapt to your heart’s content. Then share with me what you are doing. I may want to steal it.
Interesting! These are all new to me and your notes make me want to do some exploring, thanks!
I took a picture of our late cat Shoestring in a bag too. My son, who was a young teen, poured him our and said, “who let the cat out of the bag?”
Oh, I love, love, love this thinking and brainstorming. These are wonderful plans and you are so generous to share them. I would love to use Wonderopolis more, too – I know the kids would get a lot out of it. The pics of your cat and dog and the bag are adorable. 🙂
Margaret, you inspired me to download the Tapesty app and look more deeply at Wonderopolis. Your blog post today was filled with ideas to motivate young readers and entice teachers to try out new ideas to push the writing process. I will bring these ideas to my training workshops for teachers and tell the story of where I found the resources. Thank you.
My kids had such fun with Tapestry last year (and so did I!). You have inspired me with the Wonderopolis lesson, Margaret – such a creative and meaningful way to engage kids with this site!
Second post today that talked about Tapestry….had to go and download the app! Now I am ready to create when the opportunity arises!
I admire your mid-summer practicality and creativity! I can only think of teaching on the broad philosophical plane until a couple of weeks before things start up again. Instruction-as-tapestry is a principle I’m going to carry away from this…