Reading for life! · his Teacher’s Handbook “Reading for Life” aims to contribute to the improvement of the performance of teachers of second grade primary education, mainly

Reading for life!

Teacher’s Handbook of Educational Strategies

SECOND GRADE2

1 2

1

2

3

Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Learn, Practice and Apply (APA) Methodology: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Components of Reading . . . . . . . 11

Alphabetic Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Phonological Awareness . . . . . . . . . . 11

Reading Fluency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Reading Comprehension and Writing . . . . 12

Vocabulary Developmet . . . . . . . . . . 12

CREDITSReading for life! Second Grade Teacher’s Handbook of Educational Strategies

© 2016, Bluefields, RACCS

CARS/USAID:Richard Fisher, DirectorHenry Myers, Sub-DirectorMelvin James, Education SpecialistSara Carter, Reading FacilitatorMirna Villalta, Reading Facilitator

Author:Jacqueline Sánchez, Education Strategies Expert

Edition:Víctor del Cid

Translation:Lisette AnzoateguiJosé Saballos

Photography and layout design:Francisco Saballos

The photographs used in this handbook were taken at the Primary Moravian School, Bluefields.

Illustration:Alvhents Rodríguez

USAID-Nicaragua Representative:Alicia Slate

The purpose of this Teacher’s Handbook of Ed-ucational Strategies “Reading for Life” is to con-tribute to the improvement of the performance of primary education’s first grade teachers.

This document was made possible by sop-ported from the United States Agency for In-ternational Development . It was prepared by DevTech Systems, Inc . for Community Action for Reading and Security under contract AID-524-C-13-00001 . The views expressed in this document are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of USAID and/or the U .S . Government .

CONTENTS

3 4 5

4

5

Educational Strategies . . . . . . . . 13

Strategy 1: Let`s tell stories and sing songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Motivational topic 1: Let`s play with the alphabet letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Motivational topic 2: Songs and couplets of my land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Motivational topic 3: Let`s read scientific texts . . . . 20

Strategy 2: Listening to fables and painting with words . . . . . . . . . . 23Motivational topic 1: Describing landscapes . . . . . 23

Motivational topic 2: Using the dictionary . . . . . . . 28

Motivational topic 3: The verb in affirmative and negative sentences . . . 32

Strategy 3: Knowing our surroundings and enjoying poetry . . . . . . . . . . 36Motivational topic 1: In my community we take care of our resources! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

1

Presentation

This Teacher’s Handbook “Reading for Life” aims to contribute to the improvement of the performance of teachers of second grade primary education,

mainly by focusing on the areas of language and literature .

This handbook will enable teachers to develop innovative, dynamic and participatory pedagogical practices according to the needs of students . In this way, they will experience significant learning through reading using the Learn, Practice and Apply (APA) methodology, having the student become the protagonist and not a mere subject .

The Community Action for Reading and Security (CARS) is an activity funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) . It has established coordination and communication with officials of the Min-istry of Education and the Regional Secretary of Education of the Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions and local non government organizations with the aim of working together to improve the results of early grade, and contribute to the reduction of citizen insecurity .

This handbook includes teaching and learning strategies for reading and writing to support teacher performance . However, the material is flexible by allowing teachers to further include their own strategies based on her or his experiences to give greater relevance .

Second Grade Teacher’s Handbook of Educational Strategies 5

2

Learn, Practice, and Apply (APA) Methodology

In recent years, USAID Nicaragua has funded projects and materials based on the Learn, Practice, and Apply (APA, in its Spanish acronym) methodology to ensure compliance

with goals 1 and 3 of the USAID education strategy . The APA methodology consists of strategies to:

Teach how to develop skills and values, how students learn, why they learn, and the teacher’s role to guide autonomous and cooperative work . At the same time, the methodology includes specific activities that consider the characteristics of students and their educational needs . As a result, these a activities must be done in a specific order so as to fallow a process that integrates their knowlodge, forms of under-standing forms of teaching to think, and waysof knowing to be .

This methodology promotes comprehensive education and transforms content as means and not ends . One of the main characteristics of the APA methodology is that it pro-motes logical thinking skills and the social construction of knowledge through group work while allowing the develop-ment of educational skills such as oral and written expression, and listening and reading comprehension . It includes activities to be developed individually, with peers, family relatives, or in the community, while aiming to become an active subject in the construction of significant learning.


The structure of the APA methodology is organized in three parts (Araquistain & Saldaña, s .f)1:

Learn:

This methodology assumes that learning does not begin in school . It is about gen-erating a network of reflections toward the prior experiences and knowledge of students, which will be the basis for the generation of new learning .

The development of learning is the central step in the Learn aspect . It is formed by a set of structured learning activities that provide opportunities for students to manipulate, observe, and listen . Through their personal experiences complemented with peer interactions they establish relationships, associations, make their own hypotheses, create questions, and express interest in solving them by using research .

In this process, every teacher is very important because she or he stimulates and guides students to enhance their interactions . It takes into account that although learning is the result of an internal process that no one can do for someone else, you can learn through others because contact, dialogue, and joint activity require testing knowledge and skills at all times, enabling them to be improve and expanded .

Practice:

This process aims to prepare students to act according to the new knowledge, attitudes or values . This is why many individual activities are proposed taking into consideration that although the construction of knowledge is social, its ownership is individual . These activities help integrate theory and practice, exercise and cor-roborate that each student has a new learning .

In the case of consolidating the learning acquired in Learn, students get involved in creative thinking, reasoning, remembrance, social interaction and problem solving .

Apply:

This is about students being able to apply learning in specific situations in their daily lives with their family, community and other settings . Activities are proposed to help

1 Araquistain, F . & Saldaña, J . ( s . f ) . Módulo 3: Estrategias Educativas que Contribuyen al Desarrollo de la Escuela de Excelencia . Proyecto Alianzas II . USAID-Fundación Zamora T erán-R TI International . Pág . 29 .

8 Reading for life!

2. LEARN, PRACTICE AND APPLY (APA) METHODOLOGY:

students use knowledge to solve problems or answer questions . This is the step that allows a high degree of autonomy, because students can choose and implement activities and projects that are important to them and productive for school, family or community .

They also exert autonomy to deepen their knowledge on their own from other sources such as the library and institutions in their community .

In Apply, the relationship between the school knowledge and the knowledge of the community is also strengthened, allowing use of strategies to learn to judge, discuss, confront ideas with others, cooperate with the group, learn to value, respect individ-ual differences and, consequently, have adequate levels of tolerance within a group .

Reading

Reading is the process of obtaining meaning and understanding of any information and/or ideas stored in a media and transmitted through some kind of code, usually a language, that can be visual or tactile (for example, the Braille System) . Other types of reading may not be based on language such as notations or pictograms .

Weaver has stated three definitions of reading:

• Know how to pronounce written words .

• Know how to identify words and the meaning of them .

• Know to extract and understand the meaning of a text .

Mechanics of Reading

• Physiology allows us to understand the human capacity to read from a biological point of view, thanks to the study of the human eye, the field of vision, and the capacity to stare .

• Psychology helps to define the mental process that takes place when reading either at the stage of decoding characters, symbols and images, or the phase of association of the visualization with the word . Psychological processes of reading were studied for the first time in the late nineteenth century by Emile Javal. He was the director of the ophthalmology laboratory at the Sorbonne University .

• The clinical pedagogy deals with educational aspects of the teaching and learning of literacy, specific reading disorders, and skills needed for an effective reading process .


3

Components of Reading

Alphabetic Code

The set of letters (graphemes) and rules allow the written representation (graphic) of spoken language . By learning the alphabetic code, we learn to establish a relationship between phonemes (minimum articulation of a vowel and consonant sound), graphemes (minimum unit of writing of a language, correspond to the letters), and existing agreements or rules used for writing words .

Learning the letters of the alphabet is done at the end, and not at the beginning as is done in traditional methods . When working with a constructivist approach, the first letters that students learn are those of their names and others names that have great meaning to them .

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness is the capacity that makes students recognize, identify, and manipulate the sounds that make up words . It is the relationship between sounds and letters . The graphemes and phonemes form voiced and written units which allow the building of a meaningful word .

Students have limited awareness of the sounds of language . It is difficult for a student to understand that the letter is called one way and pronounced another . For example, F is called ‘ef’ and pro-nounced ‘fffff ’ . The teacher must recognize phonological similarities and differences . It is important to consider the development of this cognitive capacity as an essential first step before formal teaching of the alphabetic code .

To analyze the sounds of a word, it is individually separated with a slash .


Example:

• Charles C/h/a/r/l/e/s

• Maria M/a/r/i/a

• John J/o/h/n

The sounds of a language are written between slashes, . For example / a / .

Reading Fluency

Reading fluency only applies to reading out loud, by contrast silent reading is no longer called reading fluency, but is now referred to as reading speed (rs) . This capacity develops when students increase their level of word recognition. Therefore, fluency is necessary for a proper understanding of the text and to develop a love for reading .

Reading Comprehension and Writing

Reading and writing are complex processes that go beyond simple decoding . It is an act of communication that allows a meeting between reader and author of the text . Reading opens the doors to the world and knowledge . It will allow the reader to enjoy, have fun, laugh, mourn, admire, and research . Reading and writing are activities with which we build and expand our knowledge of the surrounding world . To acquire reading and writing skills is to promote new and effective channels of communication between students and their social and cultural environment .

Vocabulary Development

Is a learning strategy applied through a process of correspon-dence of the graphemes and phonemes . The process consists of each teacher presenting the phonetic part verbally and sharing the acoustic image through writing or the grapheme .

Is a writing procedure by which the student listens first to a certain number of words, retains them in his or her memory, and then writes them down immediately .

12 Reading for life!

3. COMPONENTS OF READING

4

Educational Strategies


Learn

Strategy 1: Let`s tell stories and sing songs

Motivational topic 1: Let`s play with the alphabet letters

Purpose:

To form words and short sentences with the letters of the alphabet

Recognizing the letters of the alphabet

• Bring two vowel games to the classroom and put them in a visible location .

• Organize students into teams and give a vowel to each team . Ask them to identify the names of the objects that are within the letter. Have them share their findings with the class .


Practice

• Ask students to repeat the vowel they were given and draw the letter in the air .

• Ask them to write the letter of the vowel on the blackboard . Assist them as necessary .

• Organized in teams, students form sentences with the letters of the alphabet, for example:

» Albert eats coconut .

» Alexander plays in school .

» Edward colors the drawings .

Playing with cards and letters

• Prepare a set of ten cards to play . Each card must have four columns and four rows (4x4) . In each square, write the letter of the alphabet in upper and lower case .

• Ask students to get into teams to identify letters of the alphabet, distinguishing between uppercase and lowercase . Help them to pronounce the sound of the letters .

• Ask students to draw the letter in the air and then write it on the blackboard .

• Form groups of three . Hand each group one of the cards below . They should iden-tify the name of the object in the drawing corresponding to the letter . Then they practice the pronunciation of the letter name and sound .

AaBb

ZzYy Vv Ff Ii

Uu Ee JjDd Tt RrCc Ss Pp

Tree Boat House Table Nest Parrot

DdDolfin Sea star Eye Pot Wave



• Write words that begin with the same letters as above, for example:

A-a B-b C-c CH-ch D-d E-eairplane beautiful Cat Chair

anchor ball

ant bottle

apple boxApril boat

• Ask for volunteers to go to the blackboard to write phrases and sentences that correspond to each picture .

• Encourage the students least involved to say with which letter each drawing is written and to enunciate the corresponding sound .

• Urge them to mention names of people, animals, or things that begin with the letters shown on the cards .

• After mentioning the names, help them to form short sentences and write them on the blackboard .

• Ask them to copy the sentences written on the blackboard into their notebook .

¡ Remember

We write capital letters for:• The beginning of a sentence • The first letter of proper nouns of people and animals• The first letter of the names of countries and cities.

Apply

Continuing to form sentences

• Request that every student, with the help of their family, writes on a flipchart paper one of the letters of the alphabet and then write six names of persons, animals, or things that begin with the letter chosen . They must also write a phrase or sen-tence with each word selected .

M mMark monkey milk

Mary mug mango

1 . Mark travels on boat .2 . Mary cooks a rondon .3 . The monkey climbs the tree .4 . The mug has beautiful

colors .5 . The milk is white .6 . Mom is eating a mango .


4. EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES

Learn

Motivational topic 2: Songs and couplets of my land

Purpose:

Develop reading coprehen-sion and public speaking skills through the interpretation of poems and songs .

Let`s sing!

• Place students in a circle then in-vite them to sing the song “Ring Around a Rosey.” Sing first, then have the students repeat line by line while skipping in a circle in the classroom and holding hands .

• You can also choose other local, pop- ular songs for children .

• Send someone to the center of the cir-cle . Ask them to recall any part of the song that the student remembers . Do this consecutively on two or three occasions .

• Encourage them to draw and color the actions words or verbs in the song . For example: hug and stomp .

Ring Around a Rosey

Ring around a Rosey Pocketful o’ posies

Light bread, sweet bread, squat! Guess who she told me, tralalalala Mr . Red was her lover, tralalalala

If you love him, hug him! If you hate him, stomp!



Practice

Analyzing stories

• Read the story of the fox and the dog while students listen carefully .

• In teams, students discuss the story and identify the characters .

• In plenary, they discuss the attitude of the dog towards the fox .

The fox and the dog

A fox entered into a full flock of lambs and approached a little lamb . He brought him close to his chest and pretended to hug the little lamb . The dog, which looked after the herd, realized what was happening and told the fox:

• “What do you think you are doing?”

• “I am only hugging and just playing around with the little lamb,” said the fox, with a face pretending innocence .

• “If you don`t want to know my hugging, then let go of the lamb!” said the dog , “And go now .”

• Working in teams, have the students invent another end to the story, and orally share the new ending with the class .

• Next, have the students look for antonyms for the following words:

Antonyms are words that have a meaning op-posite or opposed to another . There are ant-onyms that can be nouns, such as love and hate . Adjectives can also be antonyms such as long-short, narrow-wide, or current-past, accuse-defend .

• Share short stories with the students and then help them to:

» Identify the characters .

» Express the messages conveyed in the stories .

» Write on the blackboard or flipchart paper the stories that they like the most.

» Read the sentences of the stories .

» Write these sentences on dotted lines on the blackboard or flipchart paper.

small . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Large

care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Neglect

innocence . . . . . . . .impurity



Apply

» Search for unknown words, look up their meaning, and then find their ant-onyms .

» Write a paragraph expressing their opinion about the story and read it to the class .

It is important to practice writing cursive and script letters on sheets paper or notebooks with lines .

A paragraph is a set of sentences that conveys an idea or information . Paragraphs have unity, coherence and clarity . They use linking or transition words .

What do couplets tell us?

• Organize students into teams to read the couplets with fluently and intonation.

With warts on her nose and sharp pointy toes,She flies through the night on her broom .With covers pulled tight in the shadows of night,I hide in the dark of my room .

I shine forever free . I do not cost a cent .I need no bulb or battery . My light is permanent .You’ll find me way up in the sky, When each new day’s begun, But do not look me in the eye -- I am the shining sun .

• In teams, have students discuss the message of each couplet .

• Invite them to complete the verses below using the key words that you write on cards, flipchart paper, or the blackboard:

A _______ is a busy bee Buzzing in your _______ .His hive is full of hidden _______ waiting to be said .

His _______ comes from your ideas That he makes into a _______ .He flies around looking for what goes on in your _______ .

poems, head, thought honey, rhyme, mind

Read the completed couplets to the students so they listen to the full text:

• A poem is a busy bee, buzzing in your head . His hive is full of hidden thoughts, waiting to be said .

• His honey comes from your ideas, that he makes into a rhyme. He flies around looking for, what goes on in your mind .

The couplet is a poetic compo-sition, written in verse or strophe . This composition employs rhyme .



Learn

Motivational topic 3: Let`s read scientific texts

Purpose:

Interpret natural and artificial signals .

Let`s talk about the rainbow

• Place rainbow images across the classroom in locations that are visible to students .

• With the students, discuss the colors of the rainbow and write their names . For example: blue, pink, orange, yellow, green and red .

• Stimulate a conversation about natural signs such as rainbows with questions like, “Have you ever seen a rainbow? When does it form and appear in the sky? Why does it appear?”

• Direct the conversation to the colors of the rainbow .

Let`s read about what a rainbow is:

A rainbow is an ordered set of colorful arches . It appears in the sky when it rains . The sun’s rays pass through water drops in the atmosphere creating a multicolored arc visible to the human eye .



Practice

Let`s talk about the images

• Place images like those shown at the bottom of this text in visible places through-out the classroom .

• Organize students into pairs and ask them to discuss these images .

• Then, have students present in plenary what each image expresses and what they discussed about them .

• Suggest that in the same pairs, students continue the conversation based on the following prompts:

» Why do people use umbrellas? When do you use an umbrella?

» Have you ever bathed in the rain? Did you like it?

» Do you think that rain is important? Why?

» Share what your parents have taught you about signs that come from nature .

» Prepare in advance sheets or images showing nature signs and put them in visible places in the classroom .

• Ask students, “How do we know if it will rain?”

• Organize teams to comment on the following natural and artificial signals:

» The rising and setting of the sun

» Clouds in the sky and rain

» The image of a wheelchair

» Church bells ringing

• What does the crowing of a rooster mean? How is it useful in rural areas?

The crowing of a rooster is a natural sign .



Apply

• Ask students to classify natural and artificial signs.

• Then, write the names of the signs on the blackboard . As a group, they will review, correct errors, and then copy them into their notebooks .

• In plenary, discuss with the students about the usefulness of each signal .

• Read, “Now, let’s listen to hear about how clouds are formed:”

Ask students to get help from their families to:

• Draw and color artificial and natural signs.

• Under each drawing put the name of the sign .

• Pick one of the signs and write a sentence .

• Share at school the work completed at home .

Clouds are formed when moist air rises and cools . Water vapor condenses into water drops or ice crystals . Clouds are condensed water, that is, thousands of tiny water drops form clouds .



Learn

Strategy 2: Listening to fables and painting with words

Motivational topic 1: Describing landscapes

Purpose

Demonstrate skills a nd hands-on comprehension of fables and short poems .

Painting landscapes

Place this picture in a central place in the classroom and ask stu-dents to observe it .


• Ask them to draw and color the part of the landscape they like the most .

• Prompt a dialogue based on the following questions:

» What do you see in this picture?

» What are people doing?

» How many small boats are there? How many large boats are there?

» What do the houses look like?

» How many people are seen in the picture?

» What kind of vegetation is observed?

» What kind of work do these people do?

» Have you been to a place like this?

» Does your family do this kind of work?

» Which place looks like this landscape?

Ensure respect for the ideas of each person .

Fill in the poem

• Read the following poem with the students and ask them to complete it with the words that appear in the box:

The sea looks like a __________

Reflecting the beauty of __________

The coconut trees swing like a child __________

nature

lulled

mirror

light

What is the movement of the palm trees com-pared to?

• Analyze: What is the sea being compared with?

Fluently read, with intonation the verses in the boxes .

• Instruct students to write in cursive what they see in the slide using lined paper . For example: The strong wind moves the palm trees .



Practice

Poems that compare

• Read with intonation the poem either all together, verse by verse .

There was a butterfly,

whose flutter

was as soft as melted butter .

He met a ladybug,

so small like a bean,

It was almost impossible for her to be seen .

As they flew, their friendship grew .

Ask the students:

• What does the poem describe?

• Who are the characters in this poem?

• What does the butterfly do?

• What is the butterfly flutter compared to?

• How small is the ladybug?

• Did the characters get along?

Conclude by telling the class that this poem has comparisons

A simile or comparison is when we compare people, objects, events, or situations . We use certain words to compare: as, like . . .

• Read the poem fluently and find words that rhyme.

• Invite students to underline the rhyming words and write them on flipchart paper or in their notebooks .

» Flutter with… .

» Bean with…

» Grew with…

• Encourage them to draw the characters .



Poems are composed of verses . They can be short or long . They have musicality, rhythm, and beauty that reflects the poet’s feelings .

Words that rhyme

• Use the right intonation to read the following verses:

The sea with the wind makes a song

and that song of harmony

Fills with happiness my heart

• Ask students to verbally describe the sea and its surroundings .

• Prompt answers to the following questions:

» Have you ever been to the beach?

» Have you ever listened to the sound of the sea? Do you believe it sounds like a song?

» Why does the poem say that the sea and the wind make a song? Imitate the harmonious song of the sea . Do you believe it is a song?

• Students should read the text as a group emphasizing intonation and the rhyming words .

• Ask the class, “What words rhyme in the text?” Encourage students to share their answers with others classmates .

• Have fun with students by finding words that rhyme, for example, “Who can tell me a word that ends like shark?”

• Continue the game with other words with endings such as: ar, le, er, on, etc .

• Write with students on the blackboard or flipchart paper the rhyming words and encourage them to write them in their notebook . Emphasize the correct spelling and cursive form on lined paper, for example:

Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom lived a princess

a b c d george 26 Reading for life!


Apply

Inventing rhymes

• Describe the place where we live .

• Have students draw what they like most about the places where they live .

• Next, have them describe an animal they have at home or in their community, “What size is it? How is its body? What does it like to do?”

• To conclude, have them write a rhyme to their mom or any member of their family, school staff, or someone else they like . For example:

» It’s a special day, Mom, And I want you to know,

» I’ll just love you more, Every year that I grow .

Students should write their rhymes clearly and in cursive letters .

• Students need to practice reading the rhymes they created with fluency and intonation .

Rhymes are when verses end with the same sound, for example:

• Tiger, tiger; burning bright,

• In the forests of the night;



Motivational topic 2: Using the dictionary

Purpose

Enrich the vocabulary by using synonyms and antonyms in oral and written texts .Learn

Searching for synonyms and antonyms

• Read the text in the box below:

On the shores _________ of Wawa River, the mountain is dense, like all of the seacoast . There are thousands _________ of noises, that sometimes all become quiet _________, and then the ugliest _________and most deformed _________ creature of the forest sings, but with the most divine gift of song: it is a mountain toad . There must be a beautiful law of compensation in nature that from the throat of a toad, comes sweet, _________ singing like a bird .

• Ask students to copy the text to their notebook in clear and legible letters, paying attention to the punctuation marks (comma, period, and colon) .

• Tell them to fill in the blanks with words that have the same or similar meaning to the words in bold . For example, thousand / lots .

• Reread the text fluently, pausing according to the punctuation marks.

• Organize teams to complete the table. The first column has the words that are written in the text “Shores of the Wawa River” written in bold . In the second column, the teams must write the synonyms that they used to fill in the blanks.

In groups, ask the students conclude if the meaning of the text has changed replaced some words whit others, that have the same or similar meaning .



Practice

• Next, in the third column of the same box, them write the words that have the opposite meaning .

Words from the text

Equal or similar meaning

Opposite meaning

Example: quiet silence talkshapelessuglysweetthousand

• Have the students order these words alphabetically: dense, thousands, quiet, ug-liest, deformed, and beautiful . Have them search for the meanings of these words in the dictionary and copy it into their notebook .

The dictionary is a book where we find the meaning of words . In the dictionary the words are arranged alphabetically .

Substituting words

• Ask students to replace the underlined words with others that are in the box on the right, making sure that the sentences have the same meaning .

» We take care of the plants in our school .

» My country has many hills .

» In the sea there are big turtles .

» The rainbow has pretty colors .

» In my community there are many rivers .

» We keep our school clean .

• sanitary

• plenty of

• beautiful

• protect

• mountains

• enormous

• Clearly read the sentences with the new words and discuss their meaning .

Completing the sentence:

In this exercise, students worked with _____________, or words that have similar meanings .

Synonyms are words that have the same or similar meaning . An-tonyms are words with opposite meanings .



Completing the sentence:

In this exercise, we have used _________, or words that have opposite meanings .

Playing “Simon says…”:

• Ask a student to give the command “Simon says laugh” while the others respond with a word that means the opposite, for example, “Simon says cry . ”

• Continue the game of ‘Simon says’, using different words with the opposite mean-ing, ensuring that all students participate .

Organizing words and writing sentences

• Ask students to order alphabetically the words that appear in the boxes below .

• They must look at the first letter of each word.

• say• community• advice• easy• win• goodness

• advice• goodness• community• say• easy• win

• In teams, have students search in the dictionary for the meaning of the words once they are organized alphabetically .

• Then, have them select three words and then make three sentences . Students should write these sentences with a capital letter and putting a period at the end .

Let`s read the sentences out loud and fluently.

• Have the students copy the words listed below into their notebooks and circle the letter m if it comes before p or b .

• camp

• envy

• ample

• drum

• important

• lamp

• companion

• time

• bamboo

• evolve

• Encourage students to write four sentences with the words: drum, lamp, camp, and bamboo . They should write the sentences with capital letters and a period at the end .



• Support the teams to place commas where needed .

drump: _______________________________________________ lamp: ________________________________________________ camp: _______________________________________________ bamboo: _____________________________________________

Punctuation marks are used to make sense of what we write . When we read the texts we should pause according to the punctuation mark encountered .

• Organize students into groups of three to complete the sentences using the letter m before p and b:

» During winter, the ca _p stays lonely .

» My co _ panion for dinner is Javier .

» The a _bassador is visiting our town .

» Winston changes the la __ps of his house .

» The a__bulance is not working well .

» Grace knows how to co___bine colors well .

• Read clearly and fluently the sentences completed by the groups.

Apply

Writing with our family

• Ask students to write sentences in cursive with help from their family using the following words:

Umbrella: _________________________________________

Hat: _____________________________________________

Jump: ____________________________________________

Thumb __________________________________________

• Each student writes the names of all family members in cursive beginning with capital letters .

• Encourage students to write antonyms based on everyday situations . Read these out loud as examples:

» Before bathing, he was dirty . » After bathing, he was clean . » Before eating, you were __________ . » After eating, you were __________ . » Before turning on the light in your house, it was __________ . » After turning on the light in your house, it was __________ .

Be sure to use punctuation marks correctly by making brief pauses .

Remember to write m before p and b .



Motivational topic 3: The verb in affirmative and negative sentences

Purpose

Develop oral and written expression, using correctly written simple sentences .

Learn

Analyzing fables

• Practice by reading the following dialogue:

“The Stork and the Coyote”

Coyote: Help me please! I am dying!

Stork: What is happening to you coyote?

Coyote: I have a bone stuck in my throat .

Stork: That is what happens when you eat the little sheep .

Coyote: Help me please, I promise to be good from today on .

Stork: Okay, I will take out the bone .

Coyote: I am so happy! I feel great . Goodbye dumb, skinny, and ugly stork .

Stork: This is the way you thank me for the help I gave you?

Coyote: What help stupid? On the contrary, you should thank me for not eating you, when you were in my throat .

Stork: Ungrateful! Someday you will again need my help .



• Ask the students to answer the following questions:

» Who does the coyote speak to?

» What happened to the coyote?

» What does the coyote promise the stork?

» What did the stork do?

» What did the coyote tell the stork after she helped him?

» Was the coyote good? Why or why not?

» What words did the coyote use to insult the stork?

» Which of the characters behaved badly? What would you have done in their place?

Students should respect the ideas of others . They must listen carefully and answer clearly .

• Request that the students invent another end to the story and share their new creation with the other classmates .

• Encourage students to express the message of the reading or what behavior they should have when someone helps them .

The word flies indicates action . This word is a verb .

The stork is the subject of the sentence .

Flies high is the predicate of the sentence .

Analyze sentences:

• Read the sentence: The stork flies high.

• Ask the following question, “In this sentence, which word indicates an action?”

• Then follow with, “ Who is the sentence about?” The answer is the stork .

• What does the sentence say about the stork? The answer is, flies high

The stork flies high.Subject predicate

• Practice with other sentences by following the same steps to recognize the verb, subject and predicate .

¡ Remember

A capital letter is used for proper names and at the start of a sentence .

Invite the students to act as if they were the coyote and the stork . Have them rehearse the dia-logue and present their work to the class . They may use masks or costumes . They should act gra-cefully .



Practice

Practicing with sentences

• Have students complete these exercises based on the previous reading:

» For each one of the following subjects, write a predicate

» The stork __________________________

» The coyote _________________________

• For each one of the following predicates, write a subject:

» _________ had a bone stock in his throat .

» _________ helped to remove the bone out of the throat .

» _________ ate three little lambs .

» _________ did not say thank you for the help .

• Have the students continue to practice with simple sentences .

• For each one of the following subjects, choose the adequate predicate . We match them by drawing a connecting line:

Suject Predicade1 . The bird grunts between the trees .2 . The tiger meows on the roof .3 . The monkey barks in the garden .4 . The cat chirps in the nest .5 . The dog roars in the jungle .

• Encourage students to write in their notebook the new sentences formed, un-derlining the subject and separating the predicate with a line .

And now with the affirmatives and negatives

• Guide them to complete the box with affirmative and negative sentences after placing it in a visible location in the classroom . After reviewing and correcting, each student will write them in their notebook .

Affirmative sentences Negative sentences1 . The stork helped the coyote . 2 .3 . 4 . The stork is not skinny .5 . 6 . The coyote does not eat little lambs .7 . I have a bone stock in my throat . 8 .

Write affirmative sentences Write negative sentencesI am… I like… My favorite game is…

I do not like…My aunt does not… I am not…

In teams, have the students share their

sentences with their classmates .



Apply

With fables we learn how to behave

• Direct students to choose two or three animals for them to write a fable about . Then, have them select the theme or the message of the fable, which can be: honesty, friendship, cooperation, among others .

• Request they write the fable according to the following scheme:

Beginning ____________________________

____________________________________

Development _________________________

____________________________________

End _________________________________

____________________________________

• Remind students to correctly spell the words carrying the letters m before p and b . Use punctuation marks: commas, semicolons, and periods .

• Help students to develop the fable’s message .

• All of the students should discuss what they have learned to conclude the activity .

Writing with our family

• Assign students to:

» Write down three sentences that describe activities carried out at home or elsewhere with their family .

» Underline the subject and separate the predicate .

» Discuss in teams the importance of the activities carried out .

» Read what they wrote in front of the entire class .

Once upon a time…

One day…

After, it happen that…

At the end or finally …



Learn

Strategy 3: Knowing our surroundings and enjoying poetry

Motivational topic 1: In my community we take care of our resources!

Purpose

Narrate and write texts using elements of the environment while thinking about how to keep the environment clean .

Read fluently and with intonation

“Taking care of the place where we live”

Alexander is a student of the Cypress School . He is talking to Alison, who also studies there . Alexander says, “We need to take care of the place where we live and the resources that we have .”

“Good? says Alison, “I will look after my seat, my notebook, my pen, because all of these are resources .” Alexander responds, “Those are your resources, but I am re-ferring to more than that, like taking care of the school and community surroundings .”

“What can we take care of?” asked Alison .

Alexander answers, “I think we can protect the trees, rivers and the land surrounding our school and homes . Keep them clean and without puddles . We can also protect the animals .”


“Ugh! That is too much for us,” says Alison . “Let us start with our home and school by making sure that we do not litter . We can also keep our classrooms and the places where we play clean . Let’s not waste water to prevent puddles from forming . What else can we do?”

Alexander says, “We can make signs to inform students that there is a correct place to throw the garbage . Also, we can make banners about using water appropriately because it is scarce, and puddles can form .”

Alison responded, “Yes, but the puddles dry out on their own .”

Alexander adds, “No, it is not so easy for a puddle to dry if the water has nowhere to go – it accumulates . Then, animals play there . Do you know which animals?”

Alison declares, “Mosquitoes . This is dangerous because mosquitoes can cause diseases such as malaria .” Alexander then asks, “What is malaria?” To which Alison states, “Well, I only know that malaria is the same as ‘paludismo .’ Let us ask the teacher what is malaria or paludismo .”

When they asked their teacher, she replied, “We will get more information from Gloria, who works in the health center . She can give us a presentation about malaria . We can ask her whatever we would like to learn about the disease .”

Alison expressed, “Oh! It’s good that Gloria is coming . We can ask her about how to prevent malaria .”

Reflecting on reading content:

• Read carefully and analyze the contents of the previous reading with students .

• With the students, identify the main ideas and write them on the blackboard . Look up unfamiliar words and talk about their meaning .

• Write sentences with these words and then create paragraphs .

• Encourage hygienic practices to keep the school and home environment clean .

We save water, which is needed

for today and tomorrow .



Practice

Discuss the environment surrounding us

• Promote a dialogue with the students about:

» The damage that garbage poses to our life and other living creatures when it is in the surrounding areas of our school, home, rivers, lakes, and lagoons .

» The advantages of living in clean environments .

» The risks we run when there is accumulated water, which is related to the proliferation of mosquitoes .

» The diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and how we can avoid them .

Recognizing our surroundings

• Organize a class tour around the school to observe all the elements of the environment .

• Upon returning to the classroom, organize students into teams to describe and discuss what they observed .

• Ask the students to describe the qualities of the elements that they observed, for example, we saw tall trees, etc .

• Request that the students exchange their notes to help each other .

• Have the students draw and color what they liked most about what was observed in the school environment .

• In plenary, have each team express in an oral presentation what natural elements they found in the environment .

• After the group presentations, select some things that were observed in the en-vironment and write them on the blackboard or flipchart paper using ruled lines.

Examples:

birds chicks leaves

• Make sure students continue to practice writing words using lined paper, em-phasizing to students which letters are written above, below, and at the center of the lined paper .

• Invite students to pay close attention to how the first, intermediate and final-letters of each word sound .

• Encourage the writing of short stories based on the activities carried out, for example, the tour around the school .



• Give students the freedom to write about any subject that interests them . Nevertheless, emphasize writing about the environment and how to take good care of it, for example:

“The boys who keep their school clean,” “Taking care of our pet,” “Protecting the plants in our garden,” etc .

• Ask them to illustrate the stories with drawings related to their content . They can get help from their parents if they like to draw .

• In plenary, and voluntarily, students can share their stories with clarity, intonation, gestures, and acting .

• Develop a story fair that includes participation from all of the students in the school, parents, and some invitees from the community . In the fair, student volun-teers can read their stories to the attendees .

Combating the contamination of our resources

• Promote a dialogue with the students about their knowledge about contamination .

• Request that they observe the pictures, and explain its content and what appears to be happening .

• Organize student teams, help them make a list of possible causes of contamination, and the actions they can take to protect the environment .

• Use the following table to note down the causes and actions:

Say NO to contamination



Causes of contamination Protection actionsExample: There are people who throw garbage on the river banks .They cut down many trees .

Convince these people of the damage caused by cutting trees and throwing garbage on the river banks .

• Have the students discuss the result of their work . Then have them draw to-gether on a flipchart paper ensuring all contribute .

• Fluently read the following sentences related to environmental contamination:

» Our land is dirty with the garbage we throw .

» Plastic bags and bottles contaminate our environment .

» The air we breathe is contaminated with the smoke from stoves, cigarettes, and cars .

» The water in rivers, lakes, and lagoons is contaminated by the waste we throw, which kills the fish, plants and other animals that live there.

Writing environmental protection messages

• Ask the students to carry to the classroom materials from their environment such as flowers, plants, seeds, sand and stones, etc. to make banners with messages about the protection of the school and community’s surrounding environment .

Examples:

» We deposit the garbage and waste in its proper place .

» We plant trees on the banks of rivers, our homes, and our community .

» We keep the school clean .



Completing the box

• Prepare cards with the words that appear in the table below:

Words Paronymoussee wemud hugbasket marketbee freesession obsessiondry why

• Organize teams to form sets of words that are similar in their writing but different in their meaning (paronymous) .

• Ask that when organizing words on a flipchart paper that students make a table like the one above . Copy the table on the board as a model .

• Request that they copy the table in their notebook .

• In plenary, have each student presents their work .

• Correct their work when necessary .

Paronymous: Applies to a word that has a similar form to another or it is pronounced in a similar way, but it has a different meaning . For example: “ August,” and ‘’angust” are paronymous words .

Reading poems

• In groups, have the students read the Earth poem .

• Continue the group work by organizing the search for music for the poem . They can sing and act out verses with gestures . Support their creativity .

The Earth is round like a ballAnd it does many orbits around the Sun

The Earth is round like an orangeAnd its orbit takes one year .The Earth turns and does not stay still .From making so many turns, dizzy it will stay .

• Tell them to look in the books available for poems, songs and stories about the environment, natural resources, our land, etc .



• To conclude this activity, organize a plenary where:

» The students discuss the content of the poems, songs, and stories that they found .

» Instruct them to find punctuation marks.

• Encourage them to express the importance of the messages of the poems, songs, and fables .

• Ask them to orally explain some messages they have seen in their community .

• They can make educational messages or warnings related to environmental pro-tection (care of animals and plants) on cardboard or flipchart paper.

• In teams, have them identify in poems, stories, songs, and signs found, the names of people, animals, plants and objects with a stress on the last syllable, for example:

export

present

decide

begin

obey

overflow

carryon

upgrade

• An example of a word with stronger voice or stress on the last syllable is ‘ begin .’ Divide the word into syllables–as shown in the box below

• “gin” is the syllable pronounced with more stress or force .

bepenultimate

syllable

ginlast

syllable



Apply

• You can encourage students to read and listen in the reading corner to stories about natural resources, contamination and protection of the environment .

• Ask them to repeat the stories they wrote, heard or read by other students and family members .

• Ask that they tell their classmates and friends, stories and fables that they have learned from their parents or elders .

• You can help them to make a mural of educational messages about protecting the environment . Invite family members and community members to participate .

Have the students plant a tree in the garden, backyard, or sidewalk . Remember that they provide oxygen, prevent erosion, dampen noise, and provide shelter for birds and insects .

Adopt a tree . Get organized with fa-mily and friends to reforest and care for trees planted .




Bibliography

Bluefields Indian & Caribbean, University (BICU). (2011). Antología Poética Afro-carinica. “Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur”. Bluefields. Recuperado de http://memoriacentroamericana .ihnca .edu .ni/uploads/media/Afrocarinica .pdf

Montenegro, M . (2013) . Historia de dos sapos . Fondo Editorial Libros para Niños .

Aguilar, K . (2011) . Aprendo con mi nombre . Guía para enseñar a leer a partir del nombre propio . Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo . México, D .F .

Proyecto Excelencia. MINED/USAID. (2009). Expresiones significativas. Leyendo y Escribiendo para Aprender: Proyecto 1: El Nombre Propio; Proyecto 2: En la Venta se Compra, se Vende y se Conversa; Proyecto 3: Orgullosamente Nicaragüense; Proyecto 4: Plantas y Animales de mi Comunidad .

USAID/AMCHAM Nicaragua . (2012) . RTI Internacional . Desarrollo de competen-cias lectoras en educación Primaria . Primero a tercer grado . Módulo I . Material de Formación Docente . Managua .

USAID . Fundación Zamora Terán -Miembro del grupo LAFISE- RTI Internacional . Módulo 4 – Lectura . Construyendo Nuevas Rutas de Aprendizaje Para El Desarrollo de la Fluidez y Comprensión Lectora con la XO . Una Apuesta al Futuro para los Tres Primero Grados de Educación Primaria .

USAID . Ministerio de Educación . (2010) . El vuelo de la imaginación . Cuentos de niñas y niños Dominicanos . República Dominicana .

http://enciclopedia .us .es/index .php/Refran

http://tuspreguntas .misrespuestas .com/preg .php?idPregunta=5636

Documents

Reading for life! · his Teacher’s Handbook “Reading for Life” aims to contribute to the improvement of the performance of teachers of second grade primary education, mainly