Between Friends:
Shooting Star (pages 12–13)
Written by Avis Harley
Illustrated by Josée Bisaillon
Text Type: Fiction: Poetry—rhyming poem
Oral Language
Teaching Strategy:
Time:
Offer Structure to Reluctant Talkers (see page 10) Offer encouragement, low-key
prompts, and adequate thinking time to elicit conversation from shy students.
20 minutes
Materials:
- Between Friends, pages 12–13
- Audio CD: “Shooting Star
Grouping:
whole class and partners
Assessment:
Grade Two Oral Language Assessment Scale (see pages 30–31)
FIRST READING
BEFORE SINGING AND READING
Analyzing/making
connections
•Show students the double-page illustration that accompanies the poem.
Today we shared our ideas with a
•
Ask students what they think is
partner before we shared with the
happening in the illustration. Have
class. This helps us think about our
students share their ideas with an
answers and can help us feel more
elbow partner. Then invite a couple
comfortable sharing our ideas in a
of students to share their ideas with
larger group.
the class. Explain to students that
sometimes it is easier to share our
thoughts with one or two people before sharing them with a group.
Activating and Building Background Knowledge
sk students to discuss what
•Athey
know about shooting
stars.
Analyzing/making
connections
© 2014 Scholastic Canada Ltd. fter all students have shared their
•Aknowledge
with an elbow partner,
ask students to share with
the class. Record what they
know on chart paper while
connecting what they know with
the illustration.
This poem is titled “Shooting Star.” What
do you know about shooting stars? Share
what you know with an elbow partner.
How is what you already know about
shooting stars reflected in the illustration?
What time of day is it? What is going to
happen to the star? What is the girl in the
illustration thinking? How do you know?
Literacy Place for the Early Years—Grade Two
119
Setting a Purpose
Inferring/synthesizing
to students that the poem has been set to music, and you want them
•Explain
to listen to the song and join in whenever they are ready. Ask students to think
about how the author describes the shooting star.
DURING SINGING AND READING
•Play the song on the Audio CD and encourage students to sing along.
•Focus on comprehension by offering prompts:
Analyzing
-What words does the author use to describe the shooting star?
Analyzing
-What colour is the shooting star?
Analyzing
-How does the shooting star move across the sky?
Evaluating/making
connections
Evaluating/making
connections
Evaluating/making
connections
Evaluating/making
connections
Evaluating/inferring/
making connections
Inferring/evaluating
-Why is the shooting star a bright surprise?
-How is the shooting star like a falling fire?
-How is the shooting star like a light that dies?
-How is the shooting star like a fleeting gift?
-What do you think the girl in the illustration is wishing for? What would you
wish for?
-How does the girl feel and how do you know?
time for students to think and then share with a partner before sharing
•Provide
with the class, in order to provide structure to reluctant talkers.
the song and track the print in the big book. Have students clap along
•Replay
with the song to build awareness of rhythm.
Adding Playful Movements
•Replay the song on the Audio CD and teach students these or other actions:
at my window
in the night
(put hand over eyes and pretend to peer out the window)
a shooting star
silver-white
(hold up both hands and wiggle fingers)
a sudden streak
a bright surprise
(pull both hands down quickly in a streaking motion)
120
Literacy Place for the Early Years—Grade Two
© 2014 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
a falling fire
a light that dies
(put both hands up and wiggle fingers as hands move down to lap)
a fleeting gift
a blaze to keep
(put hands to chest, as though holding a gift)
a wishing time
before I sleep…
(fold hands under side of face, as though going to sleep)
AFTER SINGING AND READING
the purpose for singing and reading by asking students what words
•Revisit
the author uses to describe the shooting star. Encourage reluctant students to
participate by providing time for them to think individually and share with a
partner before discussing as a class.
•Conclude the session by having students sing along with the song on the Audio CD.
SECOND AND FURTHER READINGS
he students will want to reread and re-sing “Shooting Star.” During further lessons,
T
consider including a balance of ideas from the following areas:
Engaging in Playful Language Activities
students to imagine that they are in their room at night and they just saw a
•Ask
shooting star. Have students think of a wish they would make. Ask students to
draw or write their wish on a star and use their star when acting out the poem.
Extending Comprehension
what else they would see
•Ainskthestudents
sky when looking out their
window at night. Have students draw a
picture of what they would see and share
the picture with the class.
Close your eyes and pretend you
are looking out your window at
night. What do you see? What do
you hear? How do you feel?
students’ drawings to write a new poem together. Brainstorm actions to go
•Use
with the new poem, and sing it as a song to the same tune as the original poem.
You can use the instrumental version of the song on the Audio CD. Below is an
example that you may use or modify:
© 2014 Scholastic Canada Ltd. at my window
in the night
a rounded moon
bright and white
a sight to see
so far away
Literacy Place for the Early Years—Grade Two
121
a place to dream
a spaceship flight
a view of mine
while counting sheep
a calming time
before I sleep
Developing Vocabulary and Interpreting Visual Images
students to list the words in the poem that describe what a shooting star
•Ask
looks like. Have students brainstorm more words that describe shooting stars. If
possible, display other images of shooting stars while brainstorming.
•Have students list words that describe other objects they see in the night sky.
Interpreting by Acting Out Poems or Creating Poems
the class into six groups and have them act out and perform actions for
•Divide
each section of the poem.
a verse to the song by using the words students brainstormed to describe
•Add
shooting stars.
•Have students create a new last verse using the following cloze verse:
a wishing time
before I sleep
the last I see
through closing eyes
a
a
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES
the Audio CD and six small versions of the text in the Listening Centre.
•Place
-Students can reread the poem while tracking the print. The fluent reading on
the Audio CD can be used for support if desired.
- Students can sing the song.
books about stars and the solar system in the class library so students can
•Put
read and learn about the night sky, and invite students to write about what they
learn.
122
Literacy Place for the Early Years—Grade Two
© 2014 Scholastic Canada Ltd.