Captured Lesson: Contraction Surgery - The Doctor is in! (Updated)

My Contraction Surgery lesson is the first of my Captured Lesson posts. These are lessons that I have felt quite proud of, from planning to implementation to student reaction. I can't claim all these plans as completely original, but I have been inspired.  At any point, if I can recall the origin and link it, I will be sure to credit the inspiration. I found the gist of this lesson while student teaching, but I added my own spin to it. I also wrote this plan using SIOP, which is great for English Language Learners in a variety of ways. You are welcome to grab the lesson plan and graphic by clicking on the I Share...You Grab icon.

For a follow-up lesson about contractions, students entered the room and were immediately addressed as doctors. I wanted this to be a bit performance-based. This is a great way to boost engagement without adding too much time to the lesson, and it is possible to turn any number of lessons into performances. Each "doctor" used their desk as an operating table... no sitting, they had surgery to perform! Wearing surgical masks and rubber gloves, the doctors used scalpels (scissors) and stitches (tape) to join their words together as contractions. They had to call out for these supplies. Doctors would say, "Scalpel," and I would present them with scissors. "Scalpel." Actual band-aids were used as the apostrophe. Perhaps you've seen this online or on Pinterest before.

I added an extension activity so that the students would have to use their contractions in writing. What comes after surgery? Well, a prescription, of course! In this case, our stu....er, doctors wrote prescriptions to their patients about what to do and what not to do in order to get better. Here are some of the pictures of their work and the resulting bulletin board. Of course, I have to include a photograph of my second grade doctor staff!

A little programming note: I'm still new to blogging and green as I'll ever be when it comes to self-promotion, but I'm trying. My mentor is keeping me accountable and has recently shared the blog with her network. So if you're new here, thanks for stopping by. If you think that anything I post is worth sharing, I would welcome and love any pinning, sharing, posting, linking, tweeting that your heart so desires!

UPDATE (05.04.14)
I finally created the unit plan that I've wanted to create for the past two years. I now have two packets on TPT. The link for the freebie is still available, but if you want a complete set of anchor charts or a full unit packet, click on the images to follow.

I hope you've enjoyed this post! Happy following.