​Olivia​ Cherubin​​

​Jamie​ Frizell​​

​Vanessa Johnson

​Madey Crawford​​

​Willow Girard​​

​Justin Kwon

​Annie​ Cameron​​

​​Sarah ​Harrigan​​

​Alessandro Massi 

​Josh​ Cummings​​

​​​Maddy​ Berical​

​Kassandra​ Mitrovic​

​​Timothy​ Frankze​

​Isabelle Howowitz-Steck​

​Christopher Mustard​

​Giulia Pirrera​

​ Isabella Valvano

Sentence structure (B3.1) Vanessa (1), Jamie (1), Prescious (1)

Grammar (B3.2) Olivia (1), Jamie (1)

Capitalization and Punctuation (B3.3) Prescious (1), Vanessa (1), Olivia (1)

Generating and developing ideas (D1.2), gathering info (D1.3) and organizing info (D1.4)

Topic: Storytelling

• Content

  
  

Thinking

• Content

Application

• Content

This activity, used in a grade 4 classroom, can directly focus on students' formation of letters in the appropriate shape, size and proportion. It can be paired with a sand table tracing activity for a technology-to-kinesthetic connection.

This can be used in a grade 4 classroom setting to introduce typing at a differentiated level for all learners. There are many other lessons, typing practice and games to explore once students learn the basics. (Head to the comments for more ways to apply this in a classroom!)

The teacher can use this resource as a way to open a lesson and encourage students to point out words they remember from previous lessons/grades.

This resource can also lead into another assignment where students must write down 2 to 3 sentences using different FANBOYS words.

With this exit ticket the teacher will be able to know if the students were able to understand the lesson, allowing the teacher to help students in the areas they need help.

Students can warm up with the worksheets and once filled out go into groups of 3-4 for creative Chain Story exercise. Students can use the worksheets they filled out to help them with there cursive writing. Each group will get a lined piece paper. The first student writes 3-4 sentences in cursive making up a story before passing the paper to the next student, who adds a few more sentences adding to the story. Until all of the students have contributed to the story, this procedure is repeated.

Topic: Indigenous Short Stories

Helping students understand written OR visual elements of texts, OR points of view OR literary devices

Specific Expectations:

• Style (C1.5)

• Visual elements (C1.4)

• POV (C1.6)

• Literary devices (C3.1). 

AND 

Helping students identify important details in texts by summarizing.

Specific Expectations:

• Summarizing texts (C2.6).

  
  

Grade: 6

Curriculum Expectation: C2.6 - Summarizing Texts

This resource is a collection of Indigenous short stories and poems. In the classroom, this collection of short stories can be used as a resource that allows students to practice summarizing texts (C2.6). One sample lesson using this resource involves completing an anchor chart. As a class, teachers can read the first chapter and practice summarizing the text on an anchor chart; this would give students an example of what needs to be included and an opportunity to help create the success criteria. Then, students can choose another short story in the novel to summarize independently or as a group. 

Grade: 6

Specific Expectation: C1.6 - Points of View. 

This resource is a collection of five fictional short stories, based on the experiences of Tsartlip First Nations children who were sent to the Kuper Island Residential School. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different child, highlighting their experiences, homesickness, and confusion. In the classroom, this resource can be used to explore different points of view (C1.6). For example, each chapter can be read as a class and foster an open discussion about the experiences of children in Residential Schools, the narrator’s point of view, and the different points of view the story is told. Questions can be raised and discussed, such as: “How would this chapter change if it were told from the perspective of a different child? What about if it was told from the perspective of the children’s parents?” As a next step, students could write a journal entry retelling the events of the chapter from a different perspective, considering how the events or knowledge that the narrator knows would be altered. This resource encourages students to consider different points of view, to think about how perspectives can change a story, and to connect and empathize with a perspective that differs from their own. 

Grade: 6

Specific Expectation: C1.4 - Visual Elements

This resource is a picture book version of a short story/poem, highlighting the author’s experiences and what was taken from them in the Residential School system. This book has powerful visuals that help guide the poem, allowing this resource to support students in understanding the meaning behind visual elements (C1.4) in a story. One sample lesson to target this curriculum expectation that could be used with this story is a mind map. As a teacher reads the story, students can use a mind map to write down how the visual elements and artwork convey meaning. The teacher can pause at moments in the text to point out specific visual elements or to ask prompting questions that encourage students’ thinking. After reading, the class can come together to share their thoughts and opinions, fostering an open discussion about the importance of visual elements in a text. 

This resource is also beneficial as it is cross-curricular with the arts (Grade 6 Visual Arts Expectation D2.2). 

• This resource offers a range of worksheets designed to heighten students' understanding of sentence fragments, run-on sentences, conjunctions, subjects, and various sentence types.   

Thinking

• This worksheet focuses explicitly on fixing run-on sentences. Students practice correcting a run-on sentence by adding a comma or a coordinating conjunction.  

Application

• Syntax and Sentence Structure (B3.1): Identify and construct various sentence types and forms, including simple and compound sentences formed with prepositional phrases and/or independent clauses  

• Classroom Application: Educators can use this tool to do a diagnostic assessment to determine students' prior knowledge and understanding of sentence structure, guiding future instruction and support.  

• This resource is a gamified approach to teaching sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation. The goal of the game is for students to identify sentence errors and fix them using the proper grammar and punctuation.  

Thinking

• The student is presented with a sentence ("Put that doWn now!") and then a "diagnosis" that identifies what is wrong with each sentence (Uh oh! Don't let capital letter sneak into the middle of words).   

Application

• Capitalization and Punctuation (B3.3): use their understanding of the meaning and function of capitalization and punctuation to communicate meaning clearly and coherently, including the use of capital letters for proper adjectives, commas to set off nouns of direct address, and quotation marks to indicate the title of a short work. 

• Classroom Application: This digital resource could be used as a warm-up to reinforce students' understanding of capitalization and punctuation rules. The immediate feedback of the "diagnosis" allows students to assess their understanding and potential errors independently.

Grade: 6

Specific Expectations:  C1./ C2.6 

This resource is a worksheet to pair with any of the selected Indigenous short stories/story books within this unit. Specifically, this task asks students to summarize a chosen text through prompts such as “What words jumped out at you? What details are the most and least significant? Tell me about some of the important ideas that struck you”. These reflection questions lead students in organizing their own summary of the main ideas and details in a text (C2.6). After answering the prompts students can create a visual representation to orally present from the class. This task connects narratives with visual elements (C1.4) in a story. As a sample lesson, a teacher could read a story like “I Lost my Talk” by Rita Joe or “Ancestor Approved” by Cynthia Leitich Smith. After a class reading of the story, student’s can complete 3-4 of the teacher prompts to organize their summary details. Then, they can complete the visual summary of the text and take turns presenting their summary through a classroom gallery walk.

Grade: 6

Specific Expectations: C1.5/C1.4

This resource is a template to pair with a text such as “No Time to Say Goodbye” by Rita Morris, Sylvia Olsen and Ann Sam (or another Indigenous text). This worksheet is a great resource for students to use during a classroom read-aloud to organize their thoughts when analyzing a text. This activity would work best if the teacher paused after reading each page so students could gather their thoughts while hearing the story aloud. A sample lesson that a teacher could use would be to assign students the task of identifying what words and sentences from the text help them to visualize the story. After students have completed the activity during the read aloud, as a class share their findings and discuss if the words/sentences they chose are examples of elements of style such as voice, word choice, word patterns, or sentence structure (C1.5). Consolidate as a class by choosing one example of each element of style from the class reading to add to an anchor chart and have students choose one element to draw a visualization of (C1.4). 

Grade: 6

Specific Expectation: C3.1

This resource is another extension activity that can be used following a lesson on the story “Ancestor Approved”. This worksheet discusses literary devices, specifically idioms in this text (C3.1) and has students analyze the phrases' meaning with an Indigenous context. Students are analyzing specific idiomatic expressions from the text to interpret the meanings and further discuss how the expressions reflect cultural perspectives and themes. This worksheet encourages students to have an understanding of idioms, along with understanding Indigenous texts and topics. This idioms resource helps students not only promote their understanding of literary devices, but also improve their cultural awareness of Indigenous culture. By exploring language in this context students are enhancing their comprehension of figurative language and cultural awareness, ultimately promoting engagement that is respectful in regards to Indigenous literature and voices. 

Grade: 6

Specific Expectations: C3.1 

This resource can be used as an initial activity after learning about literary devices (C3.1). The lesson would be generalized to encompass a variety of terms but this resource specifically places emphasis on hyperboles (C3.1),  as stated in the curriculum expectations. This worksheet provides examples of hyperboles and regular phrases and the students need to determine which phrases are hyperboles or not. By completing this worksheet, students will be able to explain how hyperboles create meaning (C3.1) and add to texts that they are reading. Students are exploring how exaggeration is being used by the authors to promote certain aspects such as emotion, humour, or vivid imagery. This worksheet could be further connected to the other text resources listed and making connections to literary devices within Indigenous stories.

This activity can be ran as a class and also assigned individually to students. The class can read through the paragraph and pick out errors and provide reasoning as well as corrections to other students' work.

Similar to peer editing, this activity requires applying skills learned in class in order to successfully correct grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. This activity allows for students to engage in peer learning, classroom activity, and to gain a better understanding of language concepts through correction.

This video can be used to create a concrete experience for learning within the classroom, as it repeats its meaning often, making it easy for students to understand and recall the information they receive. This video can also be mentioned within lessons to refresh students' memory on the subject.

Grade: 6

Specific Expectation: C1.4

This resource is a picture book that tells the story of Chief Goose, telling the story of why geese fly south for the winter. Incorporating themes of leadership, community, and cultural teachings through both illustrations and texts, the story’s visuals support comprehension by showing characters' emotions, actions, and cultural settings. Students are encouraged to explore how visual elements contribute to meaning in a story (C1.4). One example of a lesson to hit the curriculum expectation is to start with the teacher showing just the illustrations before reading each page, and ask students to predict what is happening in the story. Have the students use visual clues such as facial expressions, colours, and scenery to support their predictions. The teacher then reads the text out loud. Students will then compare their predictions with the actual story, giving particular attention to how the illustration guided, or enhanced their understanding. After the reading, the class can come together and create an open discussion, sharing their predictions, and discuss the significance of using visual elements in guiding, or supporting a story.

Grade: 6

Specific Expectation: C1.6

This resource is an interactive storyboard worksheet designed to help students identify and analyze the narrator’s point of view in a story whether it is a first, second, or third person view. By allowing students to visually organize scenes and annotate who is telling the story, the worksheet supports comprehension of how point of view shapes narrative perspective and meaning (C1.6). An example of a lesson to target the curriculum expectation is to have the teacher present a short story such as the Chief Goose by Mike Bowden, and fulfill the worksheet questions and prompts after reading the story. By completing this worksheet, students will be able to indicate the narrator’s point of view for each scene, and explain how this perspective affects what the reader knows about characters, events, and emotions. After completing the storyboard, students can compare their work with their peers, and engage in an open discussion about the advantages and limitations of the narrator’s perspective in conveying the story. To deepen understanding, students can also connect the story to their own experiences, reflecting on how different points of view influence interpretation and meaning.

This resource supports B3.1: Syntax and Sentence Structure, which is part of the Grade 4 Language curriculum. It uses concise examples and illustrations to clarify the distinctions between simple, compound, and complex sentences. The website teaches students how different sentence structures impact meaning and how putting ideas together may make writing more engaging. Key expectations for Grade 4 sentence construction are reinforced, including those related to subjects, predicates, and conjunctions.

Thinking

As they contrast and distinguish between various sentence forms, students are challenged to apply critical thinking skills. Students are encouraged to see how altering conjunctions or phrases changes a sentence's meaning by looking at the examples. To assist students examine and assess sentence variety, the teacher can go one step further and allow them to rewrite examples in other formats or come up with their own. The source is reliable for use in the classroom as it is reputable and easily available.

Application

This resource may be used in a literacy centre or writing mini-lesson. Students can construct their own simple, compound, and complex sentences or arrange sentences by type after studying the examples. Through the use of UDL and DI methods, the graphics empower various learners by making the information interesting and simple to grasp. Students' writing clarity is enhanced and their grammatical knowledge is used in a beneficial and helpful way with this exercise.

This poster supports B3.2: Demonstrate an understanding of the functions of parts of speech in sentences. It helps students understand how each type of word contributes to logical easy to comprehend sentences by breaking down the eight elements of speech into simple explanations and examples.

Thinking
Students are able to examine how various words work in sentences and how altering a single aspect of speech may change the meaning. Students' understanding of sentence structure and comprehension is enhanced by the images, which challenge them to consider the relationships between words.

Application

This poster may be used as a reference or anchor chart by teachers while teaching grammar and writing. It may be used by students to build sentences with particular word kinds, find parts of speech in their own writing, or edit their work for clarity. Since it engages visual learners and reinforces grammatical ideas, the visual layout complements UDL and DI.

Exit Cards are also possible.

For example, text to text, we could COMPARE/CONNECT articles on the same topic to develop media literacy/source credibility.

Students may wish to read articles together or use text-to-speech to aid in accessibility

https://www.cbc.ca/kidsnews/

Helps students to organize their thoughts.

D2. Creating Texts - apply knowledge and understanding of various text forms and genres to create, revise, edit, and proofread their own texts, using a variety of media, tools, and strategies, and reflect critically on created texts

Specific Expectation for Grade 4:

D2.2 Printing

write in cursive, forming letters of appropriate shape, size, proportion, and slant to improve the legibility of texts, and begin to develop fluent keyboarding skills using touch-typing techniques

Handwriting Without Tears is a handwriting practice booklet that students can use to learn handwriting through an array of easy activities. The booklet provides simplified letter groupings and strokes to help students recognize the similarities between different letters. Additionally, this resource is designed for students in grades kindergarten through grade 6. This type of approach allows students to begin practicing handwriting at an earlier stage and thus allows for the skill to become second nature

A tutorial on how to use this game.

https://youtu.be/OAXAeI2wUB0?si=qM2VcT82-4PU_fzf