Literacy Lesson Plan

Student Description:
Tutoring student correctly and automatically identified the level four words on the words in isolation
assessment with 90% accuracy. She did so with 100% accuracy when she was untimed. She took the level
for QRI reading assessment and read 70 WPM with 91% accuracy. She read the level three passage at 87
WPM with 96% accuracy. However, her level of comprehension was 25%. She read the level two reading
passage at 75 WPM with 97% accuracy and 93% comprehension. The focus should be on increasing
comprehension and fluency in level two texts.

Whole Group (20 to 30 minutes daily)

Standards of Learning 4.5 and 4.6: The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional
texts, narrative nonfiction texts, nonfiction texts, and poetry using reading strategies throughout the
reading process to monitor comprehension.
Objective: To use schema to build and monitor comprehension of various text genres.
Plan:
Day
Monday

Plan
Concrete Experience: Begin the lesson by talking about what makes a person
unique. Every person is uniqueno one in the world is exactly like another person.
There are things that make everyone different or unique rom each other. Pick a student
and name some thoughtful ways that we are different from each other and talk about
how that makes both of us unique people. Have students turn and talk with their
shoulder partner about what makes them unique or different from their partner. Push
students to think beyond superficial or physical things. Give students the opportunity to
share the ideas they had about what makes them and their partner unique. Ask
students to share some thoughts, feelings, experiences theyve had in their lives that
make them different from other people. Be sure to foster the community during this
time, as students may share some very personal things. Identify these individual

Tuesday

uniqueness as the students schemas, or their background or prior knowledge. Talk

about how their schema is unique and no one else has exactly the same schema. People
may share parts of their schemas, but no two are exactly alike. Sprinkle tiny sheets of
paper with my own person experiences, thoughts, and feelings on them. Read some of
them aloud to the students. Show students the lint roller and tell them that the lint roller
is like a brain. Everything that comes into contact with the lint roller brain sticks to it
and that is just like my schema. The lint roller brain has thoughts, feelings, and
experiences stuck to it that are mine. Roll the lint roller across the pieces of paper. Share
that there are many more pieces to my schema that make it even more detailed and
elaborate, but these are just a few things. Allow students some time to write down some
of their own schema pieces and pick it up with one of the classroom schema rollers.
Take some time to review the idea of unique schemas. Allow students to comment on
some things they learned about their own schema the day before.
Sensory Exercise: Conduct the One-Minute Schema Determiner. Create the T-chart
on a large piece of post-it poster paper. Explain to students that in just a minute, Im
going to write something on the left side of the T-chart. When I say, GO!, they will
have about thirty seconds to call out any thoughts, opinions, connections, feelings, or
experiences about the topic. Write Harrisonburg on the T-chart. Give students about
30 seconds to call out and write down what they say on the chart. Congratulate the
students on all the things they came up. Explain that we are going to try again with a
new topic and they will have about thirty seconds to call out again. Write Greensboro
on the right side of the T-chart. Give students about thirty seconds to call out. Compare
the two charts. Ask students to share the difference they felt between the first and
second chart. Ask students which topic they felt like they knew more about. Ask
students to share how they felt when they saw Greensboro. Ask students why they
struggled more with Greensboro than with Harrisonburg. Point out that the reason
they knew more or made more connections to Harrisonburg is because they have more
schema for Harrisonburg. They have had more experiences and they have more
feelings, thoughts, and opinions about Harrisonburg because they have lived here. They
have a schema for Harrisonburg. Talk about how schema includes everything you have
ever seen, heard, tasted, smelled, or felt. Reiterate that no ones schema is just like
another persons schema. Share with students that I have a schema for Greensboro

because I lived there for a while when I was younger. Tell some stories or memories from
when I lived there to demonstrate my background knowledge for schema.

Ask students to share some things they have learned about schema over the course of
the week. Ask them to share their own experiences and schema from the week. Post the
Concentric Circles of Connections poster for all the students to see. Walk through each
circle and explain what it means.

Wednesday

Thursday

Sensory Exercise: Listen to the song Rachel Delevoryas. Share an experience that
the song reminds me of. Ask students to turn and talk with their shoulder partner about
a personal connection they have to the song. Ask them to share a thought, experience,
or feeling that the song reminds them of if they feel comfortable. Repeat the shoulder
partner-share process with text-to-text connections and text-to-world connections by
first modeling and then releasing students to talk with their shoulder partners and then
to share with the class. Point out that many of the things people shared were a text-toself, -text, or world connection. Give students an opportunity to write one of their
connections on a sticky note and place it on the poster. Ask them to think about what
type of connection it is before placing it. Talk to students about how all of the
connections that they made to the song are part of their personal schema because they
are thoughts, feelings, opinions, or experiences that belong to them.
Wordless Picture Book: Introduce the wordless picture book, Frog Where Are You? by
Mercer Mayer. Refer to the Concentric Circles of Connections poster again and talk
about what each connection means. Do an extended picture walk through the book.
Stop after every page and give students to use their schemas to think of ideas for what
is happening on each page. Give students the opportunity to make connections between
their interpretations of the illustrations and themselves, other texts they have read, or
the world. Talk to students about how, even though there were no words on the pages,
they were still able to use their schemas to interpret the illustrations. Each person has a
different schema, which ends up giving us a lot of different interpretations of the
illustrations.

Ask students to share their schemas about schema from the week. Post the Thinking
Stem and read each of the thought starters aloud before diving into the text. Refer to
the Concentric Circles of Connection poster and ask students to tell me about each
type of connection.

Friday

That reminds me of
Im remembering
I have a connection to
I have a schema for
I can relate to
Time for Text: Do a picture walk through Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner.
Give students to opportunity to make a connection to what they saw in the pictures.
Read the story to the students, stopping at the end of each page. Give students the
opportunity to share a connection with the class. If they have trouble making a
connection, model by giving an example of a connection I have between the text and
my schema. Pass out the sticky notes and ask students to write at least one connection
they made and post it on the poster like they did previously. Give some students the
opportunity to share their connection with the class.

Guided Reading (15 to 25 minutes daily per group)

Standard of Learning 4.5: The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts,
nonfiction texts, narrative nonfiction texts, and poetry.
Objective: To build comprehension and fluency when reading.
Plan:
Day

Monday

Tuesday

Plan
Introduce the book Penguins and Antarctica by Mary Pope
Osborne
Discuss the title and ask students what they think the book
will be about
Use a K-W-L chart to draw on background knowledge and
schemas that students have about Antarctica and Penguins
Discuss some vocab terms from first chapter that might cause
problems for readers (Arktos and Antarktos)
Read page 10 through (half of) page 15 as a small group
Talk about what readers learned from the text
Ask students What do you think of when you hear the word
Arctic?
Let students write down something they learned from the
reading on a sticky note to add to the Learned part of the
K-W-L chart
Review K-W-L chart from the day before
Discuss vocab terms that might cause problems for readers
(Gondwana and equator)
Read pages (half of) page 15 through page 16 as a small
group
Stop during reading to ask questions: What kinds of struggles
do you think penguins face? What do you think helps

Homework
Read Eve of the
Emperor Penguin by
Mary Pope Osborne for
20 minutes and write a
reading log response
comparing the purpose
of the two books

Read Eve of the

Emperor Penguin by
Mary Pope Osborne for
20 minutes and write
down two things that
are different from and
two things that are
similar to what we are

penguins survive the harsh conditions in Antarctica? What

other resources could we use to learn more about penguins
and Antarctica?
Have students whisper read page 17 through half of page 20
Tap on students shoulders for them to read louder to observe
accuracy and fluency
Talk about the difference between interesting facts and
information and ask for examples of each from the text
Talk as a group about some things they learned from their
reading
Let students write down something they learned from the
reading on a sticky note to add to the Learned part of the
K-W-L chart
Wednesday Discuss how what we are reading in reading groups is different
from and similar to what we are reading for homework using
a Venn Diagram
Discuss vocab terms that might cause problems for readers
(pack ice and fossils)
Have students whisper read the other half of page 20 through
page 23
Tap on students shoulders for them to read louder to observe
accuracy and fluency
Talk about where we typically see interesting facts in the text
Ask where we are seeing interesting facts in this text
Ask what looks different about the interesting facts in this text
Have students find examples of interesting facts from the
margins or within the text using the characteristics of
interesting facts weve talked about
Talk as a group about some things they learned from their
reading
Let students write down something they learned from the

reading in class

Read Eve of the

Emperor Penguin by
Mary Pope Osborne for
20 minutes and write a
reading log reflection of
choice

reading on a sticky note to add to the Learned part of the

K-W-L chart

Thursday

Friday

Refer to K-W-L chart and reflect on chapter onedetermine

what questions from the Want-to-Know section have been
answered and list any new questions that have arisen since
the first chapter
Discuss vocab terms that may cause problems for readers
(species and rookeries)
Have students whisper read the other half of page 25 through
half of page 29
Tap on students shoulders for them to read louder to observe
accuracy and fluency
Talk as a group about some things they learned from their
reading
Let students write down something they learned from the
reading on a sticky note to add to the Learned part of the
K-W-L chart
Have students write their three favorite interesting facts or
pieces of information that they have learned from reading
the text this week on a sticky note
Discuss vocab terms that may cause problems for readers
(molt and preening)
Have students whisper read the other half of page 29 through
33
Tap on students shoulders for them to read louder to observe
accuracy and fluency
Talk as a group about some things they learned from their

Read Eve of the

Emperor Penguin by
Mary Pope Osborne for
20 minutes and identify
one thing that we read
or talked about in our
group that helped with
your understanding of
what your read for
homework

Read Eve of the

Emperor Penguin by
Mary Pope Osborne for
20 minutes

reading
Let students write down something they learned from the
reading on a sticky note to add to the Learned part of the
K-W-L chart

Independent Reading (20 to 30 minutes daily)

Standard of Learning 4.5 and 4.6: The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional
texts, narrative nonfiction texts, nonfiction texts, and poetry.
Objective: To increase comprehension and fluency by reading variety of genres.
Plan: Each day, students will spend approximately 20 to 30 minutes reading a book or text of choice
independently to build comprehension and fluency. During this time, the teacher will conference with two
to three students to assess progression and attainment of reading skills. Students should read an
additional 20 minutes for homework each day.

Writing (30 to 40 minutes daily)

Standard of Learning 4.7: The students will write cohesively for a variety of purposes by using a variety
of prewriting strategies and organizing writing to convey a central idea.
Objective: To develop strategies for prewriting to develop ideas
Plan:
Day
Monday

Plan
Mini Lesson: Our schemas also help us when we write narratives or stories! The experiences,
thoughts, feelings, and opinions we have help us generate or think of IDEAS in our writing.
The first step in our writing process involves coming up with IDEAS for our story. We do that
by using pre-writing strategies. We can come up with ideas for our writing through pre-writing.
Lets practice prewriting. This light bulb represents all my ideas about the writing. Im going to
post a picture. Based on your own schema give me some ideas for what the story might be
about if you were the writer! Im going to write your ideas in the light bulb. (Post the picture
of a little boy jumping out of pond of mud.) Take a minute to think to yourself about
what this picture means to you. I want a few people to tell me about what they thought about
when they saw this picture (Give some students an opportunity to share ideas for
what they thought about and write them in the light bulb.) Based on what you thought
about when you saw this picture, what do you think the story would be about? (Give some
students an opportunity to share ideas for what they think the story would be
about and write them in the light bulb.) You guys came up with some great ideas. Now I
want you to try this on your own. Im going to post a sentence instead of a picture, but youre
going to do the same thing on your own at your desk. Im going to pass out a light bulb
picture. When I post the sentence, I want you to write in some ideas for what the story might
be about inside the light bulb. Try to come up with at least six or seven ideas, but there is no
limit! You can have even more than seven ideas. Well regroup later to talk about what we
came up with! (Post the thought provoker BOOM! was the next thing I heard
and)
Independent Writing: Students will think about the sentence that I posted and use their

schemas to come up with ideas for what the story might be about as a prewriting strategy.
Share: After their independent prewriting, students will have an opportunity to share their
ideas for a narrative with the class.

Tuesday

Mini Lesson: Yesterday, everyone came up with and shared some really great prewriting
ideas! I was really impressed with how everyone used their schemas to generate ideas to
come up with interesting story ideas. They are the foundation of your narrative. Ideas are
what make your story engaging for your reader. Lets take a look at the first example we did
yesterday. (Re-read ideas to the entire class and assign a number to each one.) Even
though all of these were really fantastic ideas, we have to choose just one of them to write
about. Were going to take a vote. Everyone gets one vote on their favorite story idea. The
idea with the most votes is what well model the writing process with this week before you do
it on your own. Take a minute before we vote to think about which idea you think is most
interesting. Also consider how much detail you can add to each idea to make it a fun,
engaging story. (Take votes and tally how many votes each idea gets. Choose the
most-voted-for idea.) Great job thinking! The next step were going to take in our writing
process is a prewriting strategy called free-writing. When we free-write, we write whatever
comes to mind. This will help us later by giving us more ideas about the beginning, middle,
and end of our narratives. Were going to do a minimized version of this with our whole class
writing project. Each of you have a piece of paper. Were all going to take about five minutes
to share write. Were going to write down anything and everything that comes to mind. Its
like a shorter version of what your entire narrative will be. (Give everyone five minutes to
free-write). Alright, Im going to start by sharing what I wrote. (Share my writing.) How did
free-writing feel? Did you feel strange writing down your thoughts no matter what they were?
(Take responses.) Well share these free-writes tomorrow. During independent writing time, I
want you to follow these steps (Post process steps.):
1. Look at the pre-writing ideas you wrote down yesterday
2. Choose ONE idea that you want to write about in your narrative
3. Free-write (write down anything and everything you think about).
Independent Writing: Students will choose one idea and free-write about it.
Share: Students will have an opportunity to share some of their free-writes in small groups.

Wednesd
ay

Mini Lesson: Now that we know which idea were going to write about and weve gotten
some ideas on paper in a free-write, were going to start brainstorming. During this writing
project, were going to use the brainstorming graphic organizer I have posted right here. Its
called a mind map, so you might say were creating an idea map of your schema related to
this topic. In the middle is the topic that we voted to write about. (Write idea in the center
square.) You can see that there are three bubbles around the center square that say
Beginning, Middle, and End. We will brainstorm some ideas about what happened at the
beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the story using some things we wrote in our freewrite and some ideas that pop into our head that we hadnt thought or written about before.
Does anyone want to share their free-write from yesterday about our whole-class writing
project. (Choose some students to share their freewrite if theyre comfortable.) Lets
hear some ideas about what happened at the beginning. (Write down ideas about what
happened at the beginning.) You guys did a great job with this today, so now Im going to
push you out of the nest so you can come up with ideas about what happened first on your
own. Everyone has a copy of this same graphic organizer at their desk. Here is what youre
going to do during independent writing time (Post process step poster.):
1. Take out your brainstorming graphic organizer
2. Write the idea you chose in the center
3. Review your free-write for ideas
4. Brainstorm and write down at least five ideas for what happened first using your freewrite or other ideas that pop into your head
Independent Writing: Students will return to their seats and follow the process steps to fill
out their brainstorming graphic organizer and use their free-write and other ideas come up
with at least five ideas for what happens at the beginning of the story.

Thursday

Share: After independent writing, the students will have an opportunity to share their ideas
about what will happen at the beginning of the story with the class.
Mini Lesson: Yesterday, we chose our main idea for the writing project and brainstormed
some ideas for the beginning part of our story. Can anyone tell me how your schema relates
to the writing process? (Take responses.) Were going to continue our brainstorming today
with the middle and end part of our narrative. Well follow the same steps as yesterday. Lets
review the ideas we came up with yesterday. (Review ideas.) Lets think about some things

that would happen in the middle of our narrative related to the idea we chose. (Write down
ideas about what happened in the middle.) What about the end? What should happen at
the end of the story? (Write down ideas about what happened at the end.) As always, I
want you to try this on your own. Here are the steps you need to follow (Post process step
poster):
1. Review the prewriting idea you chose
2. Review what happened in the first in the story
3. Brainstorm and write down at least five ideas for what happens in the middle of the
story
4. Brainstorm and write down at least five ideas for what happens at the end of the story
Independent Writing: Students will return to their seats and follow the process steps to
write down at least five ideas for what happens in the middle of the story and at least five
ideas for what happens at the end of the story

Friday

Share: Students will have an opportunity to share some ideas they came up with for the
middle and end of their story with their shoulder partner.
Mini Lesson: Over the past few days, weve been prewriting and brainstorming. We came up
with some fantastic ideas for our model writing project and our individual writing projects. Ive
really enjoyed hearing your ideas and I cant wait to read your narratives when youve
finished your stories and added details. The ideas we decide on are what come together to
make up our storyline or our plot. This is just the bare bones of our writing. Ideas are like the
skeleton of the narrative! Today, our focus is going to be on organizing our ideas in a logical
way, or a way that makes sense. Weve talked about what it means for things to happen in a
chronological order. Does anyone remember what it means if something happens in a
chronological order? (Take responses.) So chronological order means in order of what
happens first, second, third, and so on. We already have a little of that organization with our
beginning, middle, and end. We need to work on organizing the beginning, middle, and end
ideas. Lets begin with the beginning ideas. (Read beginning ideas.) So which of these
ideas would happen first? Second? Third? Fourth? Fifth? (Follow the same process with
the middle and end ideas.) Now that youve seen how to organize the beginning, middle,
and end ideas, youre going to try it on your own during individual writing time using these
process steps (Post process steps.):

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Look at your ideas for the beginning of the story

Organize your ideas based on what should happen first, second, third and so on
Look at your ideas for the middle of the story
Organize your ideas based on what should happen first, second, third and so on
Look at your ideas for the end of the story
Organize your ideas based on what should happen first, second, third and so on

Independent Writing: Students will organize the ideas for the beginning, middle, and end of
their stories in chronological order.
Share: Students will share their organization with a partner to see if their order makes sense
and listen to ideas form their partner.