and indefinite pronouns.Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future.Use frequently occurring adjectives.Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or so, because).Use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).Use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward).Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.
1 L.1.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using frequently occurring conjunctions to signal simple relationships (e.g., because).
2 L.2.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.Use collective nouns (e.g., group).Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e.g., feet, children, teeth, mice, fish).Use reflexive pronouns (e.g., myself, ourselves).Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told).Use adjectives and adverbs and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy).
2 L.2.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.Compare formal and informal uses of English.
2 L.2.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g., When other kids are happy, that makes me happy).
Grades K–2 Interacting in Meaningful Ways Collaborative Standard 1
What the Teacher Does
During the year, children engage daily in multiple discussions. Discussions occur in pairs, small groups, and with the entire class. Some discussions are adult led. Others are conducted by the children, with teacher guidance and monitoring. Teachers use a variety of structures for discussions and make sure that all children have ample opportunities to contribute, not just the most outspoken children. Furthermore, they ensure that children engage in discussions with diverse partners. That is, children do not always turn to the same one or two neighbors to respond to a prompt or share their thinking.
To teach students to contribute to discussions and express ideas: Teach and demonstrate discussion behaviors that indicate respect for others, such as listening closely, not interrupting, responding to comments, encouraging others to contribute, and acknowledging and appreciating all participants’ thinking on the topic.
To support students in asking and answering questions: Use sentence frames with question prompts to demonstrate for students how to ask and answer questions at a variety of depth of knowledge levels. For example, “How was this similar to . . . ?” or “What would happen if . . . ?” or “Can you defend your position about . . . ?”
To help students to follow turn-taking: Use role cards for listening and speaking to teach students how to take turns. For example, a role card with an ear for listening can be created on one side with language frames for listening, such as “My partner said . . . ,” can be used. Similarly, a speaking card with a mouth icon printed on one side with a language frame, such as “I think . . .” or “I believe . . . ,” can be used. In K–2, these role cards can be color coded with speaking in green for go and speak, and red for listening for stop and listen.
To demonstrate useful feedback for students: Engage the children in reflection on the discussion process, such as asking them to consider what was helpful in keeping a discussion on target and what might have made the discussion run more smoothly.
Tips for Differentiation by Proficiency Level
Emerging—Small groups are given images of resources that accompany the day’s lesson and are prompted to draw on the images to capture what they learned during the lesson. Use basic sentence frames such as “I think . . .” or “I see. . . .”
Expanding—Students may respond to sentence frames about the images, such as “This image shows . . . ,” “This image is important because . . . ,” or “This image is related . . .”
Bridging—Students may study images, including photographs and illustrations, and then discuss in small groups or pairs with questions or sentence prompts to guide them.
Note: A variety of sentence frames should be used throughout the school year (notice the variety provided above). ELLs at the Emerging level will need the support of basic frames, but these frames should then be varied according to language purpose throughout the school year. ELLs at the bridging level should then be expected to use more sophisticated sentence frames or to have internalized the language, so that they no longer need them at all. Sentence frames should be used as a scaffold and not a crutch.
Source: 2014 English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework, p. 210; video links can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/cf/implementationsupport.asp.
Grades K–2 Interacting in Meaningful Ways Collaborative Standard 1
Academic Vocabulary—Key Words and Phrases Related to Standard 1: Exchanging information and ideas
Affirming others: Teacher or student comments that reflect a positive behavior (i.e., turn-taking) or a response or question from someone else in the conversation that exemplifies or clarifies the gist of the discussion.
Asking relevant questions or adding pertinent information: Teacher or student questions and/or comments that move forward the group’s understanding of the concepts being studied. These are usually open ended, and can be text dependent, clarifying, and/or making connections questions or comments (to oneself or others, to other texts, to other ideas).
Building on other’s responses: Student comments that take into account what others have said in the discussion, and linking their comments to those points.
Collaborative Conversations: Discussing ideas and working jointly with others to develop new thinking.
Multiple exchanges: Discussions where one idea is considered and discussed by several persons, growing richer and more complex as new ideas or examples are added, instead of the typical question/answer, new question/answer pattern that limits discussion.
Providing useful feedback: Offering specific, helpful suggestions to a student in order to improve his or her thinking or work product. Examples include “You did a good job on ______” or “I think you should ______ because it would help ______.”
Speaking audibly: To speak loudly enough to be heard but not so loudly as to be shouting or distorting the message.
Sustained dialogue: Collaborative conversations in which students create new thinking by working with others to add details or further develop thoughts on the topic of discussion.
Turn-taking roles: Various ways for students to consciously listen to others, say their contribution, and then listen again. These roles can include Think-Pair-Share, Reciprocal Teaching, using Equity sticks, etc.
Using learned phrases: Opportunities for students to share their ideas and thoughts by using patterns or prompts to frame their oral language. These can come from pattern drills, sentence frames, and other sources.
Source: Taberski & Burke, (2014), The Common Core Companion: The Standards Decoded, Grades K–2.
Notes
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