Ms. Lee is originally from Hong Kong. She has lived in Hong Kong, Australia and Boston. She graduated from Wellesley College with a BA in economics and music. After college, Ms. Lee worked for two years at a non-profit organization in Hong Kong, sending English teachers to inland China. She then attended Teachers College for an MA in Elementary Education and has been teaching 2nd grade at PS 124 for the last 3 years.
One of the lessons in the original unit required students to write about their neighborhood by looking at photos of their neighborhood. As part of our study on New York City landmarks, I gave students photos, pictures or postcards of landmarks. Using writing strategies that we have learned such as including details and descriptive language, students wrote their observations and what they learned.
Instructional
Objectives
Students will learn about New York City landmarks by making observations through the study of a photo or picture.
Students will apply and incorporate details and descriptive language in writing about what they observed and learned.
Students will compare their observations with others who wrote about the same landmark to see similarities and differences.
Technology Integration
Photos of New York City landmarks were downloaded and printed from the Internet. The following web sites were used:
First, I looked at the picture or photo that the students studied and wrote about. The first level of assessment was based on whether the student was able to give details based on the physical and apparent evidence from the picture or photo. The second level of assessment was based on whether the student was able to use descriptive language to give as many details as he/she could about their landmark. Lastly, I also looked to see which students could draw inferences based on what they observed and learned.
Tips
for Teachers
Have students work in groups during some of the lessons so they can brainstorm and bounce ideas off each other. It creates a collective learning environment and students can mutually excite and propel each other's learning.
Student Work Samples
Click on each thumbnail to see a full-screen version.
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