Lesson Plan 1
Mathematics & Literature
Fractions in Play dough
The object of this particular lesson is to get underachieving sixth grade math students to work with effective manipulatives in trying to understand in a concrete manner the basic principles of sets, fractions, and the transformations of numbers from whole to mixed, proper to improper, and the combination of fractions by basic arithmetic operations. I have chosen experimentally play dough as a media. Materials required for this exercise would be a small gram scale, a lump of play dough (multi colors) for each student, a small plastic knife, a twelve inch ruler, a guide sheet that would be preferably laminated in plastic.
Step 1: Objective & Anticipatory Set:
Step 2: Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
Step 3: Guided & Initial Practice:
Step 4: Summary & Follow-Up Practice:
Science & Technnology
Hugh M. Lewis
I conducted two sets of lessons in three different classes on Thursday, Oct. 3rd and again a week later on Thursday, Oct. 10th, at the school that I was observing. Under the conditions provided by the school and the context, no opportunity was provided for integrating technology except in the sense of using an overhead projector with some basic overheads relating to the structure of the earth's core, the rock cycle, the sedimentary cycle and the hydraulic cycle. If it had been my own course, I would eventually have attempted to get a digital projection device and to show students examples of the earth and rocks via the Internet. I attempted to keep the lessons as coordinate as possible with the host-teachers own previous and intermediate instruction. She had been discussing the scientific method the day before the first class I instructed, and during an intermediate class they used clay to make rocks, identifying the three kinds of rock, and then smashing the rocks together to demonstrate how rocks can form under pressure. In the first lesson I brought in a set of manipulatives, small sets of rock samples that were numbered and labeled by type and category, and larger rocks that were examples of the different kinds of rocks.
In the second set of lessons, I brought in ancient fossil samples and contemporary shells and sea-life equivalents of the fossils, to demonstrate how sedimentation deposited both organic as well as inorganic minerals. In the first lesson, I attempted to extend the teacher's discussion of scientific method by demonstrating how science depended upon careful and systematic observation and different kinds of measurement (size, weight, time, and place) and the values of being careful and honest in one's observations. In the second lesson, I extended the discussion of scientific method in conjunction with social-science course I taught the day before that focused upon generalization and causality in science, to discuss how science studies cycles of phenomena, using the rock cycle and water cycle demonstrated the day before to discuss the cycle of sedimentation of rocks and fossils. Materials used in these lessons were various rock, shell and fossil samples, small plastic magnifiers, overheads, various other kinds of magnifying devices.
First Lesson: Oct. 3rd. 2002
Step 1 Objective & Anticipatory Set:
There were multiple goals in this lesson:
1. To extend the students understanding of the scientific method by showing the importance of careful observation, description and measurement of natural objects.
2. To get the students to think about the geophysical structure of the earth in dynamic terms, as something that is continuously changing, introducing the basic geological rock cycle.
3. To get students to understand the basic differences and relationships of the three major categories of rock: Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary.
4. To get the students to recognize and identify rock samples according to the three major categories.
5. To get students to systematically discriminate rock samples on the basis of hardness by scratch using a fingernail to a crayon, a toothpick and a nail.
My anticipatory set was to inquire of the students if they remembered their lesson from the day before in regard to the scientific method, and to get them to think about how science was based upon observation, and to think about the kinds of observations and the kinds of measurements that we may make of something like a rock, including size, weight, hardness, color, time and place. Various rock samples were passed around.
Step 2 Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
I held up different large rocks, and had them discuss what kinds of rocks they might have been. I held up first a large lava rock, and we discussed how the magma or lava was liquid rock and how when it cools it forms hard rock. We identified this as igneous rocks. I should them a large piece of obsidian, or volcanic glass. I showed them an overhead of the earth's core and cross-section, and how at the core it was mostly melted metal and very hot. We then discussed how rocks were also changed in their structure under extreme physical pressure, and I showed them a couple of examples of metamorphic rocks, including coal and granite. We then discussed sedimentary rocks, and how sediment forms as deposition of erosion in the ocean. I showed them an example of a sedimentary rock, with the layers.
Step 3 Guided & Initial Practice:
The students were told to divide a paper lengthwise into three sections and to label each column according to the major kinds of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. They were provided with a set of number rock samples at each table group, and they were asked to write the number down and a brief description of each kind of rock, using a guide to rocks and a brief physical description of each kind of rock according to its type. I wanted to get them to measure the rocks and to do a detailed drawing of their samples.
I would have given them the scratch test for hardness, but there was not enough time to continue with this part of the project. If I had this class to do over, I would have brought in small scales and had students weigh their rocks to compare the weights.
Step 4: Summary & Follow-Up Practice:
I asked the class as a whole summary questions about what were the meanings of kinds of rocks and how they were formed. We discussed the importance of observation in scientific method.
If it had been my own class, I would have followed up by getting the students to find from their homes one rock, and to try to identify what kind of rock this is, even bringing it to class the next period. I would also have followed up this class with an excursion or rock hunt around the school grounds, having students collect and record the locations of rocks that they may find there.
Second Lesson: Oct. 10th. 2002
Step 1 Objective & Anticipatory Set:
There were again multiple goals in this lesson coordinate with previous lessons taught in science and social science by both myself and two other teachers:
1. To extend the students understanding of the scientific method by demonstrating evidence for basic cycles in nature.
2. To focus on how living things left fossil remains and these were part of a sedimentary cycle.
3. To get students to think about living things in classes of plant, animal and bacteria or microbial in a similar way that they categorized inorganic rocks in terms of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary.
4. To get the students to appreciate how old some fossil samples were and to observe fossil samples in detail.
5. To get students to compare some ancient fossils with their modern relatives based upon shell samples.
My anticipatory set was to inquire of the students if they remembered their lesson from both the day and week before in regard to the scientific method, and to get them to think about how science might be concerned with cycles in nature. I asked them the chicken or egg problem, and had them try to answer this. I showed them how the chicken and egg formed a cyclical system, just like parents and children who grow and reproduce. We then did a test from the previous classes, asking students at their table groups to identify a rock sample according to its type, and to share this with the rest of the class.
Step 2 Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
From this I showed them samples of current shells and ancient fossil correlates, taken from tables at the center of the class and we discussed using a set of three overheads how weathering and erosion creates sedimentation, and how things get buried in sediment in the ocean. I had the students working as table groups, choosing a representative to carry samples from the main table to the study groups, and to gather and share information. I asked the students to look at the various fossils on the tables and to compare them to their modern correlates, and to use their magnifying glasses to examine these fossils in detail.
Step 3 Guided & Initial Practice:
I did not have time to extend the practice to drawing and writing descriptions of individual fossils, but they had plenty of hands-on experience, as this was probably the first time many of them had even gotten to see or to handle first-hand these kinds of objects.
Step 4: Summary & Follow-up Practice:
We discussed the importance of cycles in understanding scientific processes and we reviewed how sedimentation occurred and how this was related to fossilization. We demonstrated how the same processes that embedded fossils 500 million years ago are still occurring today.
If it had been my own class, I would have followed up by having the students write a one page essay on one of the following topics:
1. The scientific method and its components.
2. The process of the rock cycle.
3. The process of sedimentation and fossilization.
Lesson Plan 3
Physical Education
In keeping with sixth grade standards relating to Physical Education, and in keeping with a rising interest of many of the male students in the classes with baseball, I conducted on Thursday, Oct. 17th, to three separate classes an approximate rendition of the following lesson plan. I had procured about 65 tennis balls in a bucket. They were relatively cheap, being 25 cents a piece at Target. My intention was to develop with the students basic throwing practice using the tennis balls. I had students partner up, and form two lines a short distance apart. They warmed up by doing some calisthenics (jumping jacks, stretching exercises, etc., and by leading them on a run around the perimeter of the entire field. Once the students were warmed up I had then practice sprints of fifty yards in relays, showing them how to position themselves in starting position. I got a boy and a girl student to demonstrate how to throw the ball underhand and to catch the ball with both hands. We began by dividing the class into two groups, by throwing the ball back and forth underhand. I increased the distance gradually for individual pairs as they showed command over the throwing and catching. Students were told to keep track of the number of times their partner caught the ball, saying each catch was worth ten points. We then tried throwing the ball overhand once an intermediate distance was reached. We did several repetitions of this per class.
Step 1 Objective & Anticipatory Set:
My anticipatory set was to line the students on their calisthenics line and to tell them I was an ex-Marine and that sometimes what had to be tough in life. I then told them that this lesson was about following directions. I made them do a basic one-two exercise, standing at attention with arms at their sides on the command of one, which they repeated, and then spreading their legs with their hands on their hips with the count of two. We did several repetitions of this and had the students shout out as loudly as they could each time, until all the students were shouting. (They enjoyed this part.) If I were to continue with such classes, I would develop this counting method all the way up to ten in a series of commands. I pulled out a couple of students who were too busy talking or having difficulty following directions and had them serve as models, standing behind me (which was a mistake, as they should have stood before me intermediate between myself and the rest of the class.)
I then did a clapping and stamping exercise, having the students wait until I was finished and then repeating the number and sequence of claps and stamps. I then had them close their eyes. We did several repetitions. (I would develop this exercise routine further in additional classes as well.)
We then proceeded to do some calisthenic warm ups, with a set of 10 jumping jacks, "cotton pickers" and some helicopters with the arms until their arms grew tired. I then had them do arm stretches. Then I had them run one lap around the entire field. I ran with them. If I were to continue this part, I would teach them to run as a group and to chant nursery rhymes (jazzed up) as they ran.
Step 2 Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
When the students returned to their line, I explained to them that we were going to learn how to throw and catch a baseball properly, and using a couple of models I showed them how to hold a baseball, to aim for the other person's chest, to catch with two hands when not using a glove, and to always keep one's eyes focused on the ball. We demonstrated this with the models and I had a question and answer with the entire group to reiterate the basic principles. I then numbered them "a" and "b" and had the "b" group step out to a line about 10 feet from the a line. I had a model pass out one ball to each of the b line. I then told them that they were to throw underhanded first, and showed them how to throw underhanded in a straight way, rather than in a high-arc, using a "shuto" snap of the wrist when throwing the ball.
Step 3 Guided & Initial Practice:
I let the students start throwing to one another for a period of about five minutes. At first a lot of students were missing the ball, but the lines maintained their integrity. I tried to find people having difficulty with the throwing and made sure everyone was paired by walking up and down the line. In one group two girls who had no previous experience I helped by peeling them off, and I would play toss with any students who were left out as odd-balls in the line up.
We then increased the distance in two sets, to a maximum of about 50 feet. By then I told them to start throwing overhand. I brought the two lines closer together and showed them overhand and we practiced this, spreading back out again on a subsequent round. At this point I told them to start keeping count, adding 10 points for each catch. We repeated this two or three times per class. In the last class, with extra time on hand, I showed them to do one bounce grounders. At the end, we formed "war ball" with the two groups separating at a distance of about 60 feet, each massing, and throwing all the balls at the same time. The students did this for about five minutes. Many students were hit by the balls, but they all had fun doing it. They were tired by then.
Step 4: Summary & Follow-Up Practice:
At the end of the period, I lined all the students back into a single line, and had my recalcitrant "ball-boy" pick back all the balls. I then asked the students how to throw and catch a baseball, and they told me all the things one needed to know and do.
If I had additional time, and subsequent lessons, I would have the students try to throw and catch the ball by throwing it at a high angled trajectory to one another. We would then increase the distance to the maximum that we could, to see if the students could catch "long bombs." We would then try to practice catching one or two bounce grounders on the blacktop. We then play 3 person catch and "pickle" of three persons each. I would got the team first to form triangles and to begin passing the ball around each group. We would then start pickle in which each person took turns being it. In further lessons preparatory to playing baseball, I would teach them proper batting techniques, safety, and then the rules and strategy to the game.
Overall, the lessons went well, and by the 3rd period they went as I wanted them to go. There were problems of time and getting the students to model what I wanted. I should have spent more time modeling the throwing/catching technique. Emphasis to me in Physical Education should be increasing perceptual-motor skills, improving physical vigor, developing ego threw a structured discipline framework, emphasizing teamwork and active participation at all levels and in every way. I enjoyed the PE classes and think that they can be made an important part of the student's everyday curriculum.
History-Social Science Lesson Plan
Hugh M. Lewis
Step 1 Objective & Anticipatory Set: To teach the students the main characteristics of the major divisions of Human cultural history according to the development of human technology, and to discuss the neolithic revolution and transition that preceded the rise of state-civilizations.
Step 2 Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
The Ages of Human Industry
The Stone Age: circa 4 million B.P. to 8,000 B.P.
Paleolithic "old stone"
Mesolithic "middle stone"
Neolithic "new stone"
The Copper Age: Chalcolithic: Circa 6000 B.C. to 2,500 B.C.
The Bronze Age: Circa 2,500 B.C. to 800 B.C.
The Iron Age: Circa 1500 +/- 500 B.C. to 1880
The Age of Steel: 1880 to present.
The Age of Plastic: 1930's to 21st. Century
Step 3 Guided & Initial Practice:
Demonstrate for students flint knapping using a different set of rocks and a percussion stone.
Pass around the different forms and have students guess what they are and what they period they may be examples of and what uses they may have had.
Step 4: Summary & Follow-Up Practice: Write an essay about why tools have been important to humankind.
Language Arts Lesson Plan
Hugh M. Lewis
The objective of my language arts lesson plan was to get the students to freely express themselves about themselves on paper and to objectify a symbolic sense of self-identity in terms of writing and drawing. From a psychological standpoint this is seen as being prerequisite to "opening" them up for greater differentiation and development in the use of language. The class as a whole is a "slow" class and many read at only a first to third grade level, and a few are primarily Spanish rather than English in their functional language. I believe self-expression and limited de-repression of one's feelings, overcoming inhibitions and social shyness, are important to building adaptive ego-functioning and a sense of resilience and self-esteem in all people, but especially in children. I also believe that at the primary level especially pictures and words go hand-in-hand and are inseparable in this regard, and constitutes a basic mechanism for the symbolic mediation and linguistic integration of reality for children. I chose two simple projective techniques in combination, a ten frame sentence completion task, and a simple human figure drawing task derived from the Goodenough Draw-a-Man task, rooted in a symbolic framing methodology has this has been developed through previous research and application. The book I have arranged was based upon the results of this limited involvement. I have also gone in and taken a few photographs of the students in her Language Arts class. Again, I've adopted what I call a four by two step lesson plan that is an alternate variation of the standard seven step plan.
1. Set & Objectives:
Announce to the students that we are going to draw a picture of a person, any person. It cannot be a stick figure, and give out a piece of 8.5 by 11 paper. Give the students ten minutes to draw the figure. Then, on a piece of notebook paper, have the students write an 8 sentence paragraph, with an introductory sentence, about the person, in answer to the following questions. 1. Who is the person? 2. How old is the person and how is the person feeling? 3. What is the person like? 4. Where is the person? 5. When is the person? 6. Why is the person like this? Conclude with a summary sentence.
Step 2. Outline Modeling & Check for Understanding:
Show them an example of a child's drawing. Explain to them that they can draw the person in any manner they wish to, except not to draw it as a simple stick figure and it should be drawn lengthwise on the paper. Show them an example of a stick figure on the board.
Step 3. Guided & Initial Practice:
Pass out a short sentence completion form, and have the students complete the sentences. This was completed as an "I Am Poem." The sentence frame used was as follows:
I am....
I wonder...
I hear...
I see...
I want...
I am
I pretend...
I look...
I feel...
I worry....
I cry...
I am....
I understand...
Step 4: Summary & Follow-Up Practice:
Collect the papers, and edit them, and then return them to the students for revision in spelling & grammar in a second period and to add four more sentences describing the person's life in greater detail.
If this lesson sequence were continued, I would have them do a second set in which they are instructed to draw a family doing something together, and to write an essay in a similar manner describing the family, and, in a third set, for them to draw a set of friends doing something together, and to write a third essay describing this group of friends.
The teacher followed through with a one to two page autobiography, which was a good direction to take the class in terms of their writing.
Under the circumstances that I was provided, which was a very restricted time window of only about 20 minutes, I could not accomplish more than a cursory lesson. My mentor instructor has been almost exclusively preoccupied with the forthcoming standards tests and trying to meet these, and after almost 90 hours of classroom observation, I've been permitted no more than a single twenty minute period to conduct any lessons in her class, until last week when I conducted a set of PE lessons outside. Other lessons were conducted in other classrooms.
The book I have composed of this class has been based on only a very brief and limited time spent in direct instruction with the students in language arts, though I have spent considerably more time in observation of their performance and behavior and in working with individual students in their various language-arts lessons on a one-to-one basis. The lesson, though incomplete in its implementation and follow-thru, proved nonetheless efficacious in demonstrating clearly its intentions in the response patterning of the students. Since I am only a guest in the class, there is little I can say or do to alter the structure or style of language-arts instruction, though a few recommendations I have made have been seized upon without acknowledging my input. I appreciate and thank my mentor teacher for tolerating me and permitting me in her classroom for so long a period of time.
Physical Education
Lesson Plan
Hugh M. Lewis
1. Objective: To combine teaching the KWIS Elementary First Grade students basic physical movements as per physical education standards at their grade level, such as running, jumping, throwing, with basic social and communication skills associated with team and group activities, and knowledge about and how to conduct a set of relay races. This lesson is part of a larger thematic plan in physical education designed to allow students ultimately to conduct their own Olympic events day.
2. Anticipatory Set: To explain the operation to my own first grade class prior to going out to the field, and to have them help me arrange the chairs and other props to be used in conducting the relay races before we do them. Secondly, to tell the classes when they are all congregated together that we will be conducting a set of relay races and to explain to them the purposes and way a relay race is run. Teams will wear clear colored sashes tied around their arms to distinguish them by their teams. Modeling the passing of the tennis balls will be used. Then PVC batons will also be used by the students: Ideally, flags with the colors for each team will be provided as markers to allow the students to be guided during their races.
3. Instruction: To explain to the students how the relay race will be run when they are on the field. Students will be divided in teams about the field, and the members of each team will be given numbers per their station. These members will be deposited on the field in their respective stations. The
4. Check for understanding: Ask the students while they are assembled if they have any questions about how to run a relay race. The main attempt is to get as many students on the same page in the staging of the event as possible.
5. Guided Practice: To stage a mock trial relay race on a small scale to iron out any kinks in their model of how it is done or what they are supposed to do. Make any adjustments to the stations and visit each station and talk with the students to make sure they understand what they are supposed to be doing.
6. Independent practice: Expand the relay race to a larger area, possibly to extend the number of stations to incorporate more students. Variations can include having students run certain obstacles during the relay race. Run several sets of races during the time remaining.
7. Closure: Have students reconvene at the edge of the field at the end of the period. Ask them if they have enjoyed themselves and what they have learned. Dismiss them back to their respective classes.
ELD/SDAIE Lesson Plan
Poetry Activity Development
around Hailstones and halibut bones
by Mary O'Neill
Hugh M. Lewis
Framework: I have chosen to use the children's poetry book Hailstones and halibut bones by Mary O'Neill as a basis for in integrated lesson plan involving specially designed academic activities for second English learners. I have found this book to be a good one for meeting the needs of these integrated activities in a number of ways. The poems are structured by simple four to five syllable lines. The rhyme pattern is a simple and consistent alternating structure between couplets, and marked by imperfect rhymes in the alternate lines. The content of the poems focus on basic relationships and metaphors based upon color terms, and the illustrations depict clues to all the basic relationships and nouns within the poems. Oral recitation of the poems, their possible memorization and explanation by the students, provides the students a good model and context for hearing and reproducing the sound pattern in English in simple line structures, and for accessing basic vocabulary terms. It also provides them a framework for developing a basic semantic network and symbolic associations in terms of English. In the course of this lesson students will move from reading and thinking to writing and word recognition/association to performance and speaking and acting.
I would divide the lesson into five sittings, intended to last about 30 minutes per session, and requiring that the students do their homework between the periods. Each student would have a copy of the entire text. This lesson would be intended for upper grade class instruction, grades IV through VI. It is possible to use it with the lower grades, through I think no lower than II or III grade, otherwise one must probably select another collection of poetry instead.
I have followed and met the following points recommended by SDAIE guidelines: 1. Personalizing instruction by including on-going participation, self-expression and choice by all students; 2. I have sought to contextualize the reading and interpretation of the poems in the students own experiences as well as within the classroom framework; 3. I have built-in teacher-student interactions daily upon a number of levels; 4. I have also built-in student-student interaction by pairing students up on recitation and acting of poems and by exchange of word cards; 5. I have included both reading and writing exercises in the completion of this lesson set; 6. I have used homework study skills as well as intensive reading study skills; 7. I have included a multi-cultural angle by having students relate the words to their own native language; 8. I have concluded the lesson with performance of the poetry reading and assessment would be based upon the performance and involvement by the student in the lesson on a per session and on-going basis. I would not be interested in assessment for grading per se, but in assessment for acquisition and obstacles to acquisition, including motivation and factors of psychological resistance.
First Session: I would open the class with a discussion about colors. I would ask them what their favorite colors were and have them explain why. I would show them the colors of the rainbow by projecting light through a right-angle prism. Then I would show them basic paint colors and how to create new colors from mixing different colors. I would show them a color wheel with the primary and secondary colors, and show them the color palette on a computer screen. I would ask students to play a guessing game "I am thinking of something blue in the classroom," letting students take turns.
I would do a shared reading of the book with either the entire class or a guided reading group that was composed of those students with limited English proficiency. I would try to pair off students with good English proficiency with students who are less proficient. Since there are twelve poems, it would be possible to pair up 24 students with a poem each to work on in a buddy system.
We would picture walk through the book, discussing the pictures, concepts in print, and the relationships between the things in each set of illustrations. We would write out the basic colors on the blackboard or overhead, and have students volunteer to write the name of the equivalent color in their own language.
I would develop a set of basic flash cards with the colors, and have the students guess orally the names for the colors that I show them.
I would elicit students feelings about each color and the different pictures, and have the students relate personal experiences they have had in relationship to the things they see in the pictures.
I would then have the students to choose one color from the set of colors in the book, and have them practice reading the poem for that color in the book as part of their homework.
Session Two: Initially in session two I would start out by doing an choral reading of the first four poems in the book. We would discuss each poem, one at a time, as we read them. For each poem, we would write basic words in English on the white-board or overhead that we can identify in the text. Again I would ask students to provide me with equivalents for these terms and their associations in their native language. I would have the students try to identify in the illustrations the basic words, and to fit the label to the picture as we go through each poem.
As we did each poem in a set, I would ask students "grand" questions like "how can a color be a grandmother to another color" and why a color is a certain look of the face or a feeling. I would ask students to try to give me a color look.
I would then ask for volunteers of the students to read to the class or group the poem that they had chosen the day before. I would ask about one-third of the group to recite their poems. Each student I would ask why they chose the poem and what feelings they have when the read the poem.
I would ask that each student take their poems and make basic set of word cards from the basic words in their poems, providing them with index cards for the purpose. I would assign them a homework project of making up a small skit to illustrate the reading of their poems.
Session Three: We would do a choral reading of the second set of four poems, again discussing them as we did the day before, and writing down basic terms that we associate with each color.
I would ask for more volunteers other than the ones the day before to recite their poems.
I would ask the students to collect all their word cards together in pair groups, and to practice sorting the word cards according to the colors that the word cards are related with. We would have students exchange their card sets and work with different colors at work tables.
I would ask the students to try to memorize their poems and practice them for recitation on the final day. I would have the students read the poems in group, with an alternating line recitation pattern, and I would demonstrate to them how this is to be done.
Session Four: We would read together the final set of poems. I would ask students who had chosen these poems to read them to the class, instead of reading them myself. And we would discuss them as we went.
I would ask the students to try to pick a color and to write their own poem about that color. I would give them time in class to do this. As homework I would tell them to prepare their skits and oral recitations of their poems, and to finish their own poems relating to their color.
Session Five: I would have students volunteer to try to recite their poems from memory and perform their skits. Alternatively, I would just have students pull "numbers" from a hat or jar. This final session would be spent having all the students recite their poems to the rest of the class. I think at this stage it would be fun to bring in a video-recorder and to record their presentations, and then to show it back to them at a later point, possibly providing them with copies.
Notes: It might be possible to extend this lesson plan thematically in a number of ways to introduce concurrent activities or adjacent sets of activities. It is fun and somewhat instructive to have kids do Luscher pile sorts with colors or to construct color pyramids. Students can try a word-association game to think of all the kinds of things that are of a particular color, and to list these down. Other color poems might be found to complement and reinforce the poems that the students are reading and writing. A short note-book of the poems the students write themselves can be made up. Poetry on other themes that might relate somehow to color could be sought out and developed. Context bulletin boards on color themes can be developed. People can be told to wear their colors the day of their presentation. Students can practice painting and possibly dyeing things in their colors, etc. One could construct a bulletin board with a ring of 12 rings, and have the students add their word cards to each ring appropriately labeled by their colors.
Guided Reading Lesson
Mary Wore Her Red Dress
Adapted and Illustrated by Merle Peek
Hugh M. Lewis
I have chosen the book Mary Wore Her Red Dress, a song adapted and illustrated by Merle Peek, because I have been interested in working with late emergent readers who are at the hind end of the learning curve in 1st Grade for a variety of reasons. The book was chosen to help reinforce concepts of print. It is well illustrated and a picture walk through the book is rich in detail and tells a story that the words themselves to not tell. The words are a structured couplet with a song pattern that is easy for the kids to remember, and they only need to substitute the names of the animal, the name of the clothing and the name of the color, for couplet. There is sufficient repetition in each line, and throughout the story, that the students gain plenty of practice in reciting and hearing the words of the song over and over again. There is a nice refrain at the end of the song that switches the frame to a question and answer format, and from the day to the night. It is therefore an excellent book for teaching phonemic awareness and for extending basic word recognition and association with color terms, with basic clothing terms and with proper names.
Day One: On day one I would have the students do a picture walk through the story as a whole group. I would have the students tell me what they see in each picture, starting with the cover. I would get them to describe the colors, the animals, and the clothing on each page. I would have the kids then write down the basic color terms used in the story and make flash cards with the colors on one side of the card and the name of the color on the other side of the card. I would ask the students what colors come first in the story, and have the students arrange the colors according to their order of presentation in the story. If there are not enough students in the story for every color, I would chose a color myself and have a couple of students take a couple of colors.
Day Two: On day two, I would begin by doing a shared reading of the text with the students, pointing to the words as we read. The students would be asked to follow along with the story by pointing to the words as they read each line in their own books.
I would pass out the color flash cards, one to each student. We would reread the story, and the students would then hold up the flash card of the appropriate color as we read that line in the story.
We would write the names of the characters on each page, and have the students identify what kind of animal each character is. I would then show them pre-cut pieces of construction paper in the shape of the different items of clothing. I would ask the students to identify what each clothing was. I would have them write the names of the clothing on one side of the piece of paper from their book, passing them out to each of the students. Each of the students would then adopt the name of the character with that clothing. The students would then be asked to write the names of the colors of their clothing on the other side of the card.
Day Three: On day three, we would do another choral reading of the story, but this time singing the lines rather than reciting them. As each student's name was called with their appropriate names, they would hold up their pieces of paper clothing when we sang their line.
Students would then be asked to read the song out loud by themselves, as I would monitor and help them individually.
Day 4: On day four, we would sing the song together as a group, each individual who is a character in the story holding up their pieces as we sing.
I would then pair the students up, and have them sing the song to each other and together.
When they are done, I would then have them trade their characters and their articles of clothing with each other.
Day 5: On day five, I would have each buddy group sing the song to the group. As the name of each character was sung out, that character would stand up and show the group the article of clothing.
I would then give each buddy group a set of 3 x 5 cards with the names of the characters, the clothing, and the colors on each. I would ask them to sort the cards in order of the story by the sets of characters, clothing, and colors, and to line these sets up in parallel fashion.
We would then practice the song only by looking at the cards lined up together as a set, possibly on a felt board or white-board. I would get each group to sing the song together just by looking at the word-cards in order. If any word cards were out of order, then I would ask the group if that sounds right. Students can correct their cards as they go.
Notes: The object of this guided reading lesson is to get students working as a group and then individually in learning the flow of the text and practice recognition through a variety of means of individual words in the text. The repetition of the text in reading and in song through the week will help to embed the story and its structure in the developing minds of these emergent readers.
Shared Reading Lesson
"You Can't See Me"
By Brenda Parks
Illustrated by Christine Eddy
Lesson by Hugh M. Lewis
Teaching Points: This book contains many different elements promoting basic vocabulary, phonemic awareness through rime pattern, and word recognition. There is a great deal of information in both the text and in the pictures containing zoomorphic figures that appeal in a non-threatening way to children of K through 2nd Grade levels.
Day One: Introduce the Book beginning with the Cover. Address the basic concepts of print with the cover, title, author, illustrator, and the information of the second page.
Do a picture walk beginning with the cover. As the students what things they see in the each picture, listing the things on the chalk board. On the cover the students can see the bear, with eyes, ear, nose, mouth, fur, and claws. There is also a tree with branches, leaves and trunk. There are also flowers. The colors of the picture are green, red, brown, yellow, and blue.
Walk through all the pictures of the book, listing the names of the animals found on all the pages: Bear, squirrel, beaver, chipmunk, fox, deer, etc.
Ask the students on each page "What do you think is happening in the picture?" Then ask the students "What kind of animal do you think you can see on the next page?"
Day Two: On the second day, the words put on the board on the first day will be transferred to cards for the second day. The teacher will check for basic concepts of print.
Do a student shared picture walk through the story, with students telling what they see on each page and what they think is happening. Have students connect the word cards to the pictures.
Read to the students the book slowly while fingering each word in order.
Day Three: On the third day, reintroduce the book. Ask the students if they remember how the story went, having them retell the story as a group.
Do an echo reading of the text.
Have the students identify the riming words that recur through the story, listing the words on the board: running, morning, playing, something, watching; be, me, and tree.
Ask the students on each page what the animals are doing.
Day Four: On day four, do a choral reading of the story, word highlighting the rhyming words in the text.
Have students discuss what they like best and don't like about the story.
Assign to a group of students the role of each animal, and have one student be a tree. Have the class chorale read the story again as the students act out the parts of each animal.
Day Five: On day five, do another chorale reading of the text.
Then make a song of the story complete with arm motions.
Have the students practice singing the song.
Comments: The goal of this lesson is to teach concepts/conventions of print, basic words and word recognition, and phonemic awareness of rime pattern. Its purpose is not to teach the student to read or spell per se, although vocabulary practice can be incorporated into the lesson. It is recommend to use clear plastic laminant and an indelible marker to write the names of the elements of the pictures and the story in the first couple of days, to which the students can return on subsequent days and from which added vocabulary practice can be introduced.
Multi-Cultural Lesson Plan
Making Teepees
1. Objective: We are going to make a Teepee? What is a teepee? Who made teepees? Did all Native Americans live in Teepees? Why did these groups of Native Americans make Teepee's and other groups did not? Were all Teepee's the same? What would be the advantages to living in a Teepee? What would be the disadvantages?
Provide a map of Native North America.
2. Pass out straws and construction paper and ask students to design their own teepees. What makes a teepee strong? Ask them to make a cone with a piece of construction paper? What shape does the paper have to be cut in? How can they cut this shape?
Have them do the math of making a teepee. What is the basic shape of a teepee. How can we measure to see if the poles are long enough?
3. Provide materials for making a small model of a teepee. Provide:
1. Wooden dowels.
2. String.
3. Canvas
4. Rulers and scissors.
5. A compass
6. Paints and paint brushes
3a. Alternative materials:
Small flour tortilla shells
Magic Markers
Popcycle sticks.
4. Would you like to live in a teepee? How about in the winter? When you go camping, do you pitch a teepee? What is different between a teepee and a tent? Why don't we live in Teepees today? Do people still live in teepees?
5. Extension of the Teepee Project:
1. Make models of other kinds of Native American dwellings.
2. Study different kinds of dwellings in different places in the world.
3. Provide materials for students to make an intermediate size teepee, large enough to be constructed as a group in the class-room.
4. Provide the materials for students to make a real life teepee, large enough to be constructed on the play-ground.
5. Provide models, pictures, and designs of different kinds of buildings
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
As retold and illustrated by Jan Brett
A cloze test for basic nouns, pronouns and adjectives in context.
Once upon a time there were three bears who lived together in a house of their own in a wood.
One of them was a little, small, wee bear, and one was a middle-sized bear, and the other was a great, huge bear.
They each had a bowl for their porridge--a little bowl for the little, small, wee bear, a middle-sized bowl for the middle-sized bear, and a great, huge bowl for the great, huge bear.
And they each had a chair to sit in--a little chair for the little, small, wee bear, a middle-sized chair for the middle-sized bear, and a great, huge chair for the great, huge bear. And they each had a bed to sleep in--a little bed for the little, small, wee bear, a middle-sized bed for the middle-sized bear, and a great, huge bed for the great huge bear.
One day, after they had made their porridge for breakfast, and poured it into their porridge bowls, they walked out into the woods while the porridge was cooling.
And while they were walking, a little girl named Goldilocks came to their house. First, she looked in at the window, then she peeped in at the keyhole, and seeing no one was at home, she lifted the latch. The door opened before her, and in she went.
How pleased Goldilocks was when she saw the steaming porridge on the table.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
As retold and illustrated by Jan Brett
A cloze test for basic nouns, pronouns and adjectives in context.
Once upon a _________ there were three __________ who lived together in a __________of their own in a __________.
One of them was a little, small, wee __________, and __________was a middle-sized bear, and the other was a great, huge __________.
They each had a bowl for their porridge--a little __________for the little, small, __________bear, a middle-sized bowl for the __________-__________bear, and a great, huge bowl for the great, __________bear.
And they each had a chair to sit in--a little __________for the little, __________, wee bear, a __________-__________ chair for the middle-sized __________, and a great, huge __________for the __________, huge bear. And __________ each had a bed to sleep in--a little __________for the __________, small, wee bear, a middle-sized __________for the middle-sized __________, and a __________, huge bed for the great __________bear.
One __________, after they had made their __________for breakfast, and poured it into their porridge __________, they walked out into the __________while the __________was cooling.
And while __________were walking, a little __________named Goldilocks came to their __________. First, she looked in at the window, then __________peeped in at the keyhole, and seeing no __________was at home, __________lifted the latch. The door opened before her, and in __________went.
How pleased __________was when __________saw the steaming __________on the __________.
The Little Engine that Could
Cloze Test for Contextual Syntactic-Semantic Clues in Repetition of Basic English Words.
Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled across the tracks. She was a happy little train for she had such a jolly load to carry. Her cars were filled full of good things for boys and girls.
There were toy animals--giraffes with long necks, Teddy bears with almost no necks at all, and even a baby elephant. Then there were dolls--dolls with blue eyes and yellow curls, dolls with brown eyes and brown bobbed heads and the funniest little toy clown you ever saw. And there were cars full of toy engines, airplanes, tops, jack-knives, picture puzzles, books and every kind of things boys or girls could want.
But that was not all. Some of the cars were filled with all sorts of good things for boys and girls to eat--big golden oranges, red-cheeked apples, bottles of creamy milk for their breakfasts, fresh spinach for their dinners, peppermint drops and lollypops for after-meal treats.
The little train was carrying all these wonderful things to the good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. She puffed along merrily. Then all of a sudden she stopped with a jerk. She simply could not go another inch. She tried and tried, but her wheels would not turn.
What were all those good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain going to do without the wonderful toys to play with and the good food to eat?
The Little Engine that Could
Cloze Test for Contextual Syntactic-Semantic Clues in Repetition of Basic English Words.
Hugh M. Lewis
Chug, chug, chug. Puff, __________, puff. Ding-dong, ding-_________. The __________ train rumbled across ____________ tracks. She was a happy ________train for she had such a jolly load ___________carry. Her cars were filled full of ________things for boys and ________.
There were ________ animals--giraffes _________ long necks, Teddy bears __________almost no necks at all, and even a baby elephant. Then there were dolls--dolls ___________blue eyes and yellow curls, dolls __________ brown ____________and brown bobbed heads and __________funniest little _________ clown you ever saw. And there were cars full of _________engines, airplanes, tops, jack-knives, picture puzzles, books and every kind of _____________ boys or ________ could want.
But that was not __________. Some __________ the cars were filled _________ all sorts of _________ things for __________ and girls to eat--big golden oranges, red-cheeked apples, bottles ___________ creamy milk _____________their breakfasts, fresh spinach for ____________ dinners, peppermint drops and lollypops ___________after-meal treats.
The _________ train was carrying all these wonderful _________ to the good ________ boys and _________ on the other side of ____________mountain. She puffed along merrily. Then all of a sudden __________ stopped with a jerk. She simply could ________ go another inch. She tried and ________, but her wheels would ________ turn.
What were all those good little __________ and girls on the other side of _____________mountain going to do without the wonderful ________to play with and the _________ food to eat?
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Cloze Test for Semantic/Logical Associations in Text and for word pattern.,
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider.
That wriggled and wriggled and jiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Well, fancy that, she swallowed a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
What a hog, to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She's dead of course.
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Cloze Test for Semantic/Logical Associations in text and for word pattern.,
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a ____________.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady _____________ swallowed a spider.
That wriggled and wriggled ___________ jiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the ______________.
I don't know why she _______________ a fly.
Perhaps she'll ___________.
There was an old lady who __________________ a bird.
How absurd, to swallow a ________________!
She swallowed the bird to catch the ________________,
She ____________ the spider to catch the _____________.
I don't know ________________ she swallowed a fly.
________________ she'll die.
There was an old lady who ____________ a cat.
Well, fancy that, she swallowed a _________________!
She swallowed the __________________ to catch the bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the ____________________,
She swallowed the spider to catch the _______________________.
I don't know ___________________ she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die.
There was an old lady _____________ swallowed a dog.
What a hog, to swallow a _____________!
She swallowed the dog to catch the _________________.
She swallowed the cat to catch the ____________________.
She swallowed the bird to catch the ___________________,
She swallowed the ________________ to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a _______________.
Perhaps ________________ die.
There was an ____________ lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how ________________swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the _____________.
She swallowed the _________________ to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the _________________.
She swallowed the _______________ to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the _____________________.
I don't _________________ why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll _________________________.
There was an ____________________ lady who _________________________a horse.
She's dead of course.
Primary Spelling Inventory
Fan
Pet
Dig
Mop
Rope
Wait
Chunk
Sled
Stick
Shine
Dream
Blade
Coach
Fright
Snowing
Talked
Camping
Thorn
Shouted
Spoil
Grow
Chirp
Tries
Hiking
Graded Spelling Inventory
Bed
Ship
When
Lump
Float
Train
Place
Drive
Bright
Shopping
Spoil
Serving
Shoot
Carries
Marched
Shower
Cattle
Favor
Ripen
Cellar
Blanket Copyright, Hugh M. Lewis, © 2005. Use of this text governed by fair use policy--permission to make copies of this text is granted for purposes of research and non-profit instruction only.
Last Updated: 03/14/05