Piratas del Caribe: Chapters 4-8

Whew!  I started to blog about what I was doing with Piratas and then didn’t get a chance to finish up!  One thing that I have been modifying this year is how I assess a novel since I have switched to IPAs.  I believe that this can easily go hand in hand.  As we discussed during edcampCIVa, the importance of a novel is the vocabulary that students acquire through reading.  I am not overly concerned if they remember Raquel’s secret pirate name, but I do want them to acquire more language.  (I will say that I was shocked when I had my students do a write and pass as an exit ticket at the end of the novel how much new vocabulary they have learned!  While I did this at the end, this would be appropriate to use throughout the book.)

This year, I decided to have students complete an interpersonal assessment based on the Puedos that they had previously did (from the last post.)  I changed some of the questions, and I left some of the same.  Students were in small groups, and they could choose some questions to ask each other from a list of questions.  (This aligns with how I am scaffolding interpersonal assessments this year.)  We completed this around chapter 5.  I found that I was able to give students feedback about the vocabulary they were using when they spoke.

After going over chapter 4, I did a jigsaw review of the chapters.  I had students break up into 4 different groups.  They came up with 3 key words from the chapter, 3 key facts and 3 questions.  Then they went to another group with someone from each chapter (1-4).  They shared the facts and words and asked the group the questions.

After reading chapter 6, students created a Play-doh scene.  Then students walk around and guess what scene it is from the book in Spanish.  After, I can circulate and discuss aloud with students what happened in each part of the book.  It helps to again reiterate many of the key structures that I am hoping that they are acquiring throughout the book.

Before chapter 7, I had students create a mind map of key words associated with pirates.  I used Sara-Elizabeth’s example as a guide.  I provided white paper for them to write a word, draw a picture and include a sentence.  I also allowed students to use Google Drawings to create a mind map as an alternative.  (We ended up having a snow day around this time, and I had students do a similar activity on words associated with Spaniards.)

Also, after chapter 7, I had students write responses on whiteboards to a variety of topics a la Whiteboard Splash.  At times, I had them use a vocabulary word from the book in a sentence.  Other times, I gave them a prompt to use as a guide.  Then students walked around and gave feedback.   I really did notice an increase in their writing abilities.  (So much so that I am using this activity today again.)

Then, I did Goosechase.  This by far is one of my students’ favorite activities, and I had students upset that they were going to miss it.  (I am planning another one for my level 5 right before spring break.)  I did a lot of prompts that required students to reread sections to fill in the blank.  A few of my other favorite Goosechase missions include:

• Any time they could make a video of Henry and Antonio attacking each other
• Drawing scenes from the book- the fleet, Raquel as Santiago, a map of a secret island etc.
• Having a teacher read a line from the book (I stole this from the Latin teacher!)
• Finding a picture of the real Henry Morgan
• Freeze frame with everyone in the group from a section of the book

In the next post, I will finish up what I did with the chapters and the final assessments.