The 1 Penny Whiteboard
For ELA
Ongoing, “in the moment” assessments
may be the most powerful tool teachers
have for improving student performance.
For students to get better at anything, they
need lots of quick rigorous practice, spaced
over time, with immediate feedback. The 1
Penny Whiteboards can do just that.
Bill Atwood: Collins Education 2014
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To add the 1 Penny White Board to your
teaching repertoire, just purchase some
sheet protectors and white board markers
(see the following slide). Next, find
something that will erase the whiteboards
(tissues, napkins, socks, or felt). Finally, fill
each sheet protector (or have students do
it) with 1 or 2 sheets of card stock paper to
give it more weight and stability.
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Questions
When posing questions for the 1 Penny Whiteboard, keep
several things in mind:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Mix low and high level questions
Mix a variety of standards: you can cover questions from
language strands (grammar, questions about compound words,
suffixes, alliteration, stanzas) as well as main idea questions.
Use academic vocabulary (characteristics, author’s purpose,
mood, describe, explain, best expresses…).
Mix verbal and written questions (ones that can be projected
and build reading skills)
Consider how much ink the answer will require and how much
time it will take a student to answer. (You don’t want to waste
valuable ink and you want to keep things moving.)
To increase rigor you can: Analyze a mistake, ask students to
infer, compare, predict, find evidence…
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Examples
What follows are some sample questions that relate to close
reading and grammar/conventions/language for grade 3-6.
Each of these can be answered on the 1 Penny Whiteboard.
To mix things up, you can have students “chant” out answers in
choral fashion for some rapid fire questions. You can also have
students hold up fingers to show which answer is correct.
Remember, to ask verbal follow-ups to individual students: Why
do you think that? How does the evidence make that clear? Can
you think of another example not in this selection?
Remember that you can also follow up or preview by using the
ELA flash cards. Go to www.collinsed.com/billatwood.htm for
the ELA Flash Cards!
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Print out the following
excerpt for your 1 Penny
Whiteboards…
Then tell students to read
the passage and get ready to
answer questions on the
whiteboard.
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“We have plenty of food,” Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow or sand created by the wind
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“We have plenty of food,” Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow or sand created by the wind
Circle the characters.
Underline evidence of the setting. (when and where)
Where and when do you think the story takes place?
An apartment in the city (second floor)? They can walk to get milk (not
country). Could be a house. Happened a long time ago, before
refrigeration (ice-box). Happened in winter. (snow)
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“We
have plenty of food,”
v Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
v
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow orv sand created by the wind
Circle the verbs that show someone is talking
Circle the place where you can find what the
word drifts means.
Find a place that has a character’s exact words.
Circle the quotation marks.
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“We have plenty of food,” Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow or sand created by the wind
What does Milton’s father think about Milton’s
idea? What is the father’s tone? Circle some
evidence that shows supports your idea.
He thinks Milton is making a bad decision. He thinks Milton is crazy. His
tone is surprised, shocked, and astonished! The word exclaims shows he
is also loud and certain. Maybe he is a little judgmental or angry as if
Milton shouldn’t even thinkBillthis.
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“We have plenty of food,” Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow or sand created by the wind
Find the word foolish. Circle the suffix.
What part of speech is foolish?
What if you said, “Don’t be a fool!” What part of
speech is fool? Why?
If you didn’t know what an icebox was, what
context clues could help you? Circle them.
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“We have plenty of food,” Mama said, checking the icebox. “But I do wish
we had more milk.”
“I’ll go and buy some,” Milton offered.
“Don’t be foolish, Milton!” his father exclaimed. “The drifts1 are already
climbing to the second story. You would be buried out there.”
_______________________________________________
1
drifts — piles of snow or sand created by the wind
In the fourth line, Milton’s Father uses some
personification. He describes something that is
not alive as if it were alive (like a person). Find
this example of personification and circle it.
Circle the compound word in line one. What
two words are put together? Write another
compound word that you know.
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
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(
)
Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
Circle the Title
Box the sub-title
Bracket the introduction/blurb/italics…
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
What genre is this?
Non-fiction or informational writing
Circle evidence that supports your idea. Be
prepared to explain.
It’s about a scientist, Dr. Bastion, and his experiments. This first four
sentences gives mostly information.
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
Circle the main idea of the first paragraph.
Underline the details that support this main idea.
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
Underline the 9 verbs that show how dolphins
make sounds.
Circle the simile/comparison in this selection.
Bill Atwood: Collins Education 2014
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
2 THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ,
1
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
3
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
The author tries to make this selection interesting for young
readers. Underline (and number) 3 pieces of evidence that show
how the author makes it interesting to read.
1. In the sub-title she writes “Dolphins talked to each other” --- seems incredible
2. Uses the word “story” in the title --- makes is seem fun to read
3 Uses great language like squeak, squawk, mew, rasp and even yelp like dogs--– makes it
interesting by using surprising details
too. Amazing that dolphins can do this! Who knew?
Bill Atwood: Collins Education 2014
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
Even though the author is not a poet, she uses
some alliteration. Underline two different
examples of alliteration.
Bill Atwood: Collins Education 2014
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Dr. Bastian is a scientist who studies dolphins. Read about his experiments with two
amazing dolphins, Doris and Buzz. Then answer the questions that follow.
THE STORY OF DORIS
AND BUZZ
the Dolphins Who Talked to
Each Other
by Margaret Davidson
Dolphins make many kinds of sounds. They squeak, squawk, squeal, mew, rasp,
click, and clack. When they are upset or excited they even yelp like dogs. Most of all
they whistle.
Underline the commas between the verbs in
sentence two. Why are they there?
Series or list…
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Read this folktale and answer the questions that follow.
The Billy
Goat
and theVegetable Garden
retold by Lucía M. González
O
nce there was a very old woman and a very old man who lived on a farm. They shared a vegetable garden
in which they grew tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, beans, and plantains.
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Read this folktale and answer the questions that follow.
The Billy
Goat
and theVegetable Garden
retold by Lucía M. González
O
nce there was a very old woman and a very old man who lived on a farm. They
shared a vegetable garden in which they grew tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, beans,
and plantains.
Circle the characters.
Underline evidence of the setting.
Bill Atwood: Collins Education 2014
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Read this folktale and answer the questions that follow.
The Billy
Goat
and theVegetable Garden
retold by Lucía M. González
O
nce there was a very old woman and a very old man who lived on a farm. They
shared a vegetable garden in which they grew tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, potatoes, beans,
and plantains.
Circle the genre.
Find evidence that supports the idea that it is a
folktale? Underline the evidence.
Retold- folk tales weren’t written down
Once there was– has that typical once upon a time beginning
Simple setting: farm
Simple characters: very old woman, very old man
Bill Atwood:
Collins
Education 2014
Has animals: common to fairy
tales,
folk
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Circle the title.
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Underline the characters.
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What is the story about? Underline evidence.
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Underline evidence of the setting.
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What is the evidence that shows how Skate
feels about Uncle Mort.
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