Mrs. Unterborn: Colorful Spring

Colorful Spring!
A Collaborative Internet Literacy Project Spring 2005

Mrs. Helen Unterborn's Kindergarten
Pine Brook Elementary School
Greece, New York

Literature used:
Fiction
Spring Song by Barbara Seuling
My Spring Robin by Anne F. Rockwell
It’s Spring by Else Holmelund Minarik
First Comes Spring by Anne F. Rockwell
Little Robin Redbreast by Shari Halpern
Hopper Hunts for Spring by Marcus Pfister

Non Fiction
Spring Changes by Ellen B. Senisi
Spring, by Ron Hirschi
Spring Across America by Seymour Simon

Summary of our colorful spring unit

Using the literature above as well as poems found on various teacher websites we explored the season of spring through various genres of writing. We used what we had learned about each genre, observations and prior experiences to write a non-fiction book about spring and our colorful spring poem below.

Throughout the unit we sang songs and read poems and chants about spring. Using the book My Spring Robin we broke the class into three smaller groups and ran a modified literature circle. Each group was responsible for listening to the story and completing their task - identifying spring characteristics, listing spring vocabulary words and writing questions we now have about spring. This activity was done during the time our ESOL teacher is in the room and her group focused on the vocabulary to assist our ESOL student. We then gathered as a whole group and shared what we had learned or discovered.

The following day we used photographs of spring scenes and again broke into three groups and wrote captions for each picture. As a group we arranged the pictures and captions on pages to create our class non-fiction book Spring Is Here. We discussed the differences between the genres and focused on what makes a poem a poem.

We decided that a poem paints a picture with words. Sometimes the words repeat, sometimes they rhyme. We also noticed that when you read aloud a poem it usually has a rhythm.

Remembering those characteristics we began to write our poem over a span of several days. Making changes each day here and there. When we wrote our final copy we decided we would use the colors we spoke of and also arrange the words in a pattern of question response, question response (we were big into our pattern unit in math).

Once the poem was written we made a list of details we should have in our illustration to reflect our words. All the students took part in illustrating our poem which is proudly displayed in our room for all to see and enjoy.

Spring Rainbow

What is the color red?
Little robin redbreast flies to get a worm.

What is the color orange?
“Quack, quack” says the duckling with his hungry
orange beak.

What is the color yellow?
Yellow sun shines down on happy yellow tulips.

What is the color green?
New spring grass and leaves growing greener.

What is the color blue?
Snow melts into little blue puddles. Splash! Splash!

What is the color purple?
First flowers of spring, crocuses peek out purple.

New York State ELA standards addressed:

Standard 1 Students will read, write listen and speak for information and understanding.

Reading Performance Indicator I:
Students will read and begin to construct a hierarchy of meaning from developmentally and/or grade appropriate non-fiction and informational texts.

Reading Performance Indicator II:
Students will begin to relate ideas from one text to another with teacher guidance.

Writing Performance Indicator 1:
Students will present information in a variety of written forms.

Listening Performance Indicator II:
Students will listen to comprehend, interpret and share data, facts and ideas.

Standard 2: Students will read, write listen and speak for literary response and expression

Reading Performance Indicator I: Students will read and begin to construct a hierarchy of meaning from developmentally and/or grade appropriate fiction and non-fiction pieces of literature and imaginative texts.

Reading Performance Indicator III: Students will read to understand some basic story elements (setting, character and events) to make connections to other works and personal experiences.

Writing Performance Indicator I: Students will use the writing process to produce imaginative text and literary response.

Writing Performance Indicator II: Students will make use of writing conventions appropriate to the task.

Listening Performance Indicator II: Students will listen to comprehend and respond to a variety of literature of different genres and performances.