Spicing Up Your Asking/Answering Questions Mini Lesson!

          Currently, my coteacher and I are working incredibly hard on students answering questions (both orally and written) in complete sentences. We have been relentless with this expectation and I must say it is paying off! So this week in reading, we again are working on strengthening our comprehension in addition to answering questions in complete sentences (and even adding evidence.. gasp!)

            So like the rest of you reading this blog, I am always looking at ways to spice up my mini lessons! Capturing and maintaining first grader’s (kindergartner’s, fifth grader’s.. you get the gist) focus is a job within and of itself.  And with my constant desire and urge to integrate other subject areas, I thought of a fun way to not only spice up my mini lesson but help my kids with their math! (yes, math!)          

First, I carefully decided on my read aloud: Pinkilicious and the Butterfly! Since we are learning about butterflies in science, I found this to be the perfect book. Though fiction, it was very informative and related to our class' newest "class pet," Cookie the Caterpillar! I then thought about how can I ask my students questions and keep them engaged?  I quickly reflected on yesterday’s math lesson: 3D shapes. To put it bluntly: some kids got it and some kids just flat out didn’t!  So I walked over to my shapes’ bag and dumped them in a bucket. I then drew (I use that word loosely) each type of 3D shape we were learning about on an anchor chart.  Within less than 5 minutes, my super awesomely integrated mini lesson was prepared!

At the beginning of my mini lesson, we quickly reviewed what we have been working on as readers and mathematicians. (I love starting my mini lesson with the STUDENTS reminding me what we are working on) After a quick naming of each shape on my anchor chart, I asked students for question starters. I paired each starter with a shape and let the fun begin!

Once my read aloud was finished,  I strategically called students up one at a time.  My focus for each student was different and based off of what I know they are struggling with: naming 3D shapes, flat vs. curved sides, answering higher level thinking questions or simply speaking in complete sentences! Each student closed his/her eyes and picked a shape. Based off of it’s features, each student had to name it without seeing it. The students got to  tell them if they were correct or not! After the “shape reveal,” We QUICKLY talked about each shape and it’s attributes focusing on curved sides because they just did NOT get that concept. (being as this truly was a reading mini lesson) Then, the student had to answer a question using the question starter of the corresponding shape from my anchor chart! Oh and since my coteacher and I love a good theme, accessories didn't hurt our cause to spice things up!

When learning about butterflies, why not BECOME one?!

Close your eyes. Pick a shape and GUESS!

It was a HIT! The kids were laughing, smiling and LOVING this “game.” This lesson’s success got me thinking that this type of mini lesson can be done with ANY topic: multiplication facts, stages of a life cycle, types of graphs, fractions, objects.. the list goes on!  Simply replace the shapes in the bucket and the shapes on the anchor chart with whatever topic your students are struggling with! Get creative!  Pair each item with a question starter and voila!

I challenge you to think about how can you not only spice up your next mini lesson on asking and answering questions (or anything really!) BUT how can you integrate another subject area?