April Raintree

GENERAL METHODOLOGY OF UNIT 1

UNIT ONE GROWING UP IN FOSTER HOMES

Introduce April Raintree to the group. Discuss the title, author's name, publisher, date, scan the jacket & headlines in the table of contents. What do you think this story is about? Is this story fiction or non- fiction? Was this story based on the author.s experience? (see notation on page 228). Students who have already read the book as recreational reading material will be assured they will be taking an in depth look at the novel as well as learning the skills they require at their level.

Vocabulary Do you need to know the meaning of every word in the story to enjoy it?? Find and discuss the best meaning of the vocabulary words before we read the chapter. Vocabulary words can also be used for spelling tests.

Class activity #1: The total number of vocabulary words in an assignment are divided among the students; each student looks up their designated words in the dictionary and are asked to find the meaning of the word that best suits the meaning of the sentence. As a group, discuss the meaning of each word in turn and the meaning is written on the board. This strategy introduces the concept of selecting contextual meanings and enables the teacher to assist the 110 students with dictionary skills while the others are busy. This strategy also enables the 110 learners to:

• Participate in vocabulary discussion with the group
• Learn the meaning and pronunciation of unknown, longer words as they are being discussed by 120/130 students
• Write the meaning from the board