Wet Your Kinders' Chops on the Sound "Op"!

Kinders will explore the sound “Op” with a reading of Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop by Chris Raschka and a showing of the PBS Between the Lions episode #130 “Be Bop,” which also features the Charlie Parker book and explores the “op” sound.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts

By Dirk Robertson

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Related topics

• Learn more about English language arts.

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Learning outcomes

The students will learn to:

• interact with books that feature the “op” sound
• predict and determine “op” words in literature
• to distinguish between “name ops” and “action ops” in literature
• to develop spelling and writing “op” words

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

2 Days

Materials/resources

• Purchase “Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop” (it should be in EVERY Kinder collection) by calling Follett Library Resources (1-800-435-6170) and requesting product #11805GX “Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop” by Raschka ($13.56)
• Purchase Episode #130 of “Between The Lions” entitled “Be Bop” by calling 1-800-949-8670 to order (remember to mention discount code NCBTL3 to get 25%off when this video becomes available in the fall of 2003)!
• Bonus! Purchase or borrow a Charlie Parker CD from www.Amazon.com or www.TowerRecords.com and let the children hear Charlie Parker during the lesson and later party times!
• Bonus! Arrange a local talented high school jazz saxophonist to learn a Charlie Parker solo and come play it for the class!
• Bonus! Borrow the Ken Burns’ DVD Series “Jazz” from the local public library and play the Charlie Parker segments so the kinders can see what he looks like while playing the saxophone to bring more meaning to African-American History Month.
• Take the list of “op” words in the attachment and pull all easy books in your school library’s collection which emphasize those words with either illustration or text.

Technology resources

• TV/VCR for the video presentation
• presenter/SmartBoard/SmartTV if you choose to do some “op” web-questing!
• DVD player for the TV if you choose to borrow and show the Ken Burns’ Jazz series which includes “Charlie Parker” (this is also available on VHS Tape, but the DVD is a better resource!)

Pre-activities

The students need to know nothing other than to have their phonic and writing skills to the point that they can handle sounding and writing “op” words (this would probably be a great lesson to do in February during African-American History Month as Charlie Parker happens to be African-American).

Activities

The instructor may choose to do many steps in one day or spread the exposure over several days as the instructor sees fits.

1. Go to http://www.iss.k12.nc.us/schools/mountmourne/drobertson/Opwords.htm to print the list of “op” words that students need to learn.
2. Go over these words with the students to get them thinking about words that will appear in the story.
3. Employ the Prediction Objective 2-5 by having students guess “op” words that may appear in the story- have them tell you the list of words in the attachment!
4. Read the story to them (NOTE: this is a GREAT “repetitive” story; in other words, read one line and then stick your hand out to indicate they should repeat what you say (a few will be confused for the first line of the story, but they quickly catch on and the kinders REALLY ENJOY making the silly sounds that are used in the text of this book)).
5. View the “Be Bop” episode #130 from the “Between the Lions” series and pause during examples of “op” words to emphasize the meaning.
6. Have a brief lesson discussing the “op” words that are nouns “naming words” and the “op” words that are verbs “action words”.
7. Offer group center time during the day for kinders to find “op” pictures and possibly words (if they have the reading skills) in books selected by the teacher.
8. Play the Charlie Parker CD and show the Ken Burns DVD Video segment if those resource items have been procured.
9. Have the kinders write the op words they have learned to add to their “word club” or whatever writing incentive is used in the classroom.

Assessment

Go to “Op” Lesson Rubric to print a rubric for the students’ evaluation of the lesson

Interview each student individually to evaluate comprehension
(a: ask what instrument Charlie Parker played; b: ask what kind of music he played; c: ask them to write as many “op” words as possible and evaluate their growth as compared to other words they have learned to write during the year; d: ask them to point to a “naming op” word and to an “action op” word).

Supplemental information

NONE- this lesson simply extends the phonic skills of the kinder teacher and offers an exciting way to bring literature and music together to provide a unique insight into phonics studies

Related websites

go to http://www.redhotjazz.com to hear Charlie Parker on the internet!

Comments

I have always loved Chris Raschka’s work as an author, and this book (along with the terrific phonic series “Between the Lions”) offers an excellent opportunity for kinders to learn new words via the world of music and African-American History!