Stone house game and ELA

Grade/Subject: Grade 1 ELA Time: 10:15-11:45 Duration: 90 min.

Overview of lesson:

In this lesson students will learn the importance of symbolic language to every culture, with a
special emphasis on the Blackfoot peoples. Indigenous worldview will first be interpreted by
sitting in a circle to allow for equality of opportunity and establish an informal setting. Students
will collaborate in establishing meaning for certain symbols, and then come up with possible
ways to work those symbols into their own stories. They will practice their sight words my
creating sentences that incorporate words they are already familiar with, with the pictures they
will encounter on the stones during this lesson. Then they will participate in the Stone House
game to emphasize the importance of respecting each other's time to talk, their decisions and
respecting objects and the way they fit into the world.

Program of studies (Goals and Objectives (Maximum 3 each) Be attentive to the terminology of the
Program of Study you are using.)

GLOs/GLEs SLOs/SLEs

2. Students will listen, speak, read, 2.2 Respond to texts

write, view and represent to 2.3 Understand forms, elements and
comprehend and respond personally techniques
and critically to oral, print and other
media texts. 5.1 Respect others and strengthen
community
5. Students will listen, speak, read, 5.2 Work within a group
write, view and represent to respect,
support and collaborate with others.

Critical and Lesson Guiding Questions

(These guide the lesson, can be used for formative assessment and are lead-ins for pedagogical
discussion with students) A lesson can have several guiding questions.

Can students come up with their own stories when prompted by pictures?
Can students create sentences by combining sight words and symbols?
Who are the Blackfoot peoples?
What do the Blackfoot peoples connect with?
Learning objectives Teaching Strategies

Students will… Direct instruction- Teaching about the

● Develop respect for each other and
each other’s decisions/time to talk
● Brainstorm story ideas
● Practice sight words
● Incorporate symbols into their
sentences
● Develop comprehension skills by
listening intently to one another
● Practice retelling (oral stories) in their
classmate’s exact words
Blackfoot people and symbolic language
Interactive instruction- Asking questions,
collaborating on what a symbol represents,
brainstorming story ideas
Experiential learning- Telling their own
stories, making their own sentences, retelling
and listening to each other

Differentiation Accommodation Modification

(Example an alternative way for a student to (Example: If a student (Example: Student has
receive information or engage with a lesson.) has a hearing been identified with a
impediment) learning challenge such as
dyslexia)

● Sitting in a circle to allow everyone

to see and participate equally
● Symbols on rocks to inspire
storytelling

Assessment

Formative (Example: Observation/Anecdotal, Student/Teacher conferencing, check list etc..)

Can students form a sentence with sight words and symbols?

Can students tell stories using prompts?

Summative
N/A

Preparation

● Find the sight word index cards

● Pick out some stones to introduce first
● Put students in groups of 3
○ Mckenna, George, Rhett
 ○ Kai, Shelby, Will (?)
○ Figure out their birthdays to ensure fairness during game!

Material and equipment (Art supplies, manipulatives, smartboard, online whiteboard etc…)

● Stone house stones

● Sight word cards
● 2 placemats

Lesson Procedure

Introduction (~7 min.) (Description of Hook/Attention Grabber; Expectations for Learning and
Behavior; Transition to Body, etc.)

Welcome
● Sing the song
Today I thought we would try something new. Were all going to sit in circle so that I can
see all of you, you can see me, and I can make sure that no one is moving around.
I still want you to listen closely and put your hand up when you want to speak.
● Ask students to make a circle

Reflect on last class (2 min.)

● Who can tell me what we have been doing together in writer’s workshop?
● (Writing our own stories) You are becoming better authors everyday!
● Who knows what an author is?

Today’s programme (5 min.)

● Today were going to write stories again, but were going to use a different prompt than
fortune tellers
● Remember that me and Mrs. VanderLinden were away on Tuesday? Well we were
learning about how to teach students better and one thing we learned about is called
the stone house game. Were going to play this game but first were going to do some
brainstorming.
● What is brainstorming? : (a creative technique that authors use to figure out an answer
to a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its
members.)
● Were going to brainstorm different story ideas by looking at specific symbols
● Who can tell me what symbols are? : (a simple drawing or character used to represent
an object, meaning, or process.)
● What are some examples of symbols? : (The letters in the alphabet, traffic signs, or
music notes, washroom signs, emojis.)
● Does anyone know why we use symbols?

● So were going to take a look at some symbols, tell some stories, (MAYBE : then were
going to work on the stories you started writing yesterday) and then we will get ready
for daily 5

Body (40 min.)

(Descriptive and clearly organized steps/scaffolding and transitions in lesson. Indicate timing of each
section. Identify teaching strategies, organization of class etc. How and when are you using formative
assessment in your lesson?)

Stone house game (35 min.)

-Explanation/background info. (4 min.)

● So the symbols that Mrs. V and I learned about on tuesday come to us from the
Blackfoot people.
● Can anyone tell me who the Blackfoot are? : (They are the First Nations peoples who
lived in this area of southern Alberta, before all the settlers and adventurers came over
from Europe to explore and make their homes here)
● I think you know a word in the Blackfoot language, can someone tell me the
word for hello? (:Oki)
● In the past, the Blackfoot people didn’t write down their language using letters like we
do, they used symbols to represent the things they wanted to talk about.
● These people have a very deep connection with the land so many of the symbols they
used are connected with different animals, fishing or hunting practices, and social
topics ike peace and war.

-Introducing the stones/brainstorming (10 min.)

● Bring out stones
● I have some examples of the Blackfoot symbols that I made myself on tuesday.
● First we’ll look at them and do some brainstorming, then I will teach you the game.
● Take out stones from bag, one at a time
● Ask students what they see?
● What kind of stories could we tell using this symbol?
● What kinds of things or actions are related to this symbol?
● Place rocks in circle.
● Ask students to please not touch them, just look, they will all get a chance to
hold them when we play the game
● If students are touching, but rocks back in the bag.
● Go through many different rocks until students seem bored

● Allow students to go get a drink if they need one

● (Get sight word cards and stones set up)

-Sight words practice (10 min.)

● Now were going to use the sight word cards and the stone symbols together to write
some sentences.
● Lay out the cards and the stones for everyone to see.
● Ask students to create a sentence, starting with the daily helper, using the sight words
and the symbols on the stones.
● Go through each student.
● Ask students to help pick up cards but leave stones where there are

Brain break (5 min.)

● What were some of the animals you saw on the stones?
● How can we make ourselves look like those animals?
 ● Stretch your wings out as far as an eagle
● Get on all four of your paws and stretch like a wolf
● Crouch on your knees and hop like a bunny

Stone house game (10 min.)

● So in this game there are 3 players so I have already separated you into groups
● One person will be the storyteller, one person is the reteller, and the third person is the
judge.

● We will have the youngest student be the storyteller first, the oldest be the
reteller, and the middle one will be the judge. *Then rotate, the storyteller
becomes the reteller, the reteller the judge and the judge the storyteller

● The storyteller will choose 3 stones and use them to tell a story
● The reteller will move the stones onto the placemat in the exact same spot while
retelling the story in the exact same words that they heard it in.
● So you have to listen very closely to the story!
● The judge also has to listen closely because her job is to decide if the reteller told the
story the exact same way and the stones are in the exact same spot!

● Have both groups sit on the floor but far away from each other
● Go around to see if they’re playing properly

Closure (5 min.) (~11:00)

(Consolidation Learning; Indicate clean up protocol, material management etc.
Transition to Next Lesson. How do you plan to prepare students for the next period?
Are they changing classes? Is another teacher coming in to the room.)

Clean up/consolidation (5 min.)

● Ask one student to please put placemats away
● Ask students to come back to the circle on the carpet

● Who can tell me something they noticed today?

● What did you like about this activity?

Daily 5 (45 min.)

● Let’s get ready for daily 5
● Remember that Mrs. V. told you how beneficial it is to read to someone?
● So if someone asks you to read with them you should say yes
● You can also choose to read to me if you like
● If you want to work on writing, I’d love for you to continue your stories that we started
yesterday :)
● Ask where are you going first today? To quietest student

● Make sure to stop every 10-15 min. To share and switch activities (~11:15)

Closure (~11:35)
● Have students share
● Remind them not to go get ready for recess until I dismiss them
 ● Ask :How do you say hello in Blackfoot? To dismiss them

Reflection : How did it go? What should you change? What did you forget?