RUNNING HEAD: Literacy Lesson Plan !

Evan Volski

Literacy Lesson Plan

University of Colorado Denver

RUNNING HEAD: Literacy Lesson Plan !2

Lesson Plan

Obadiah Read Aloud (30 Minutes)

Lesson Title/Time

Essential Question
How can our senses of touch and smell help us understand our world?
(Stage 1
Understanding by
Design)

Students will understand that:

Big Ideas
Our senses allow us to understand the world around us and help
(Stage 1 UBD)
us make decisions.
We can use our understanding of the sense to describe the things
we touch and smell every day.

Kindergarten Oral Expression and Listening

Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
CCSS Addressed (CCSS: SL.K.6)
(Stage 1 UBD) Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with
prompting and support, provide additional detail. (CCSS: SL.K.4)
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners
about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small
and larger groups. (CCSS: SL.K.1)
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others
and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under
discussion). (CCSS: SL.K.1a)
Kindergarten Reading, Writing, and Communicating
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key
details in a text. (CCSS: RL.K.1)
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between
illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person,
place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts). (CCSS:
RI.K.7)
Kindergarten Physical Science Extended Evidence Outcome
Investigate by looking at, touching, listening to, tasting or
smelling things in the environment
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LT .Students will be able to identify and describe the senses of touch

(UBD Stage 2)
and smell.
I can use my nose to smell.
I can use my hands to touch.

Key Vocabulary: Smell and Touch. These words are central to both the
read-aloud and the writing activity. These are also words that are central
to our everyday experience so it will be important that they are able to
understand these concepts and articulate their meaning. By framing the
learning targets in this way I believe students will be able to connect the
new vocabulary to familiar body parts in such a way that they will be
able to retain the information better.

.Students will write a descriptive sentence related to the item they

PT
are given.
(UBD Stage 2)

WIDA
(CREDE 2)
1 - Students will complete sentence frames with assistance of pictures
Differentiation
(UBD Stage 2) that they will glue into the blank space provided.

2 - Students will complete sentence frames with assistance given a sheet

featuring descriptor words accompanied with pictures to prompt answers.

3 - Students will complete sentence frame with help of a scribe who will
assist them with spelling.

4/5 - Students will complete sentence frame independently.

Students understanding will be assessed after the sensory/writing activity

FA
when they will be asked which sense they used to complete their writing
(UBD Stage 2)
assignment.
Student understanding will be assessed during the closing of the lesson in
which they will be asked to complete the sentences from the learning
target by using the key vocabulary.
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SA Students will create a visual representation of the five senses and

(UBD Stage 2)
demonstrate how they help us understand the world around us.
Class Descriptions Class: Kindergarten
Make up: 4 male, 1 female (20% ELL)
Special Ed: 100%
Gifted: 0%

The class I am currently working in is a self-contained program made up of

kindergartners and first graders, however the first graders work with another
teacher for literacy interventions. The students formal literacy instruction is
based on a scripted program called Early Literacy Skills Builder. The students
rarely, if ever, write complete sentences independently, so for this project I have
stuck with what they were familiar with and able to produce independently,
which is fill in the blank style sentence frames.

The two literacy groups in our program, which are usually split, were combined
so I had to teach to 9 students instead of 5, so Ive provided updated class
information:

Class: Kindergarten and 1st grade

Make up: 8 male, 1 female (22% ELL)
Special Ed: 100%

Rationale:
This lesson is transformative because we are constantly using our senses
Why it is
Transformative? to make sense of the world around us and if we are able to articulate this
vital relationship then students will be able to make better sense of their
world. Students will also be able to communicate their understanding to
others and express why it is they might be feeling a certain way. Through
these means students will become better advocates for themselves.

The students have a wealth of information related to this topic. They are
Connection to
constantly interacting with the world in a sensory capacity and I will
student lives
(Funds of activate this background knowledge by doing a quick re-teaching of the
Knowledge) five senses (which they have already covered this year) and asking them
CREDE 3 & 6 if they can think of ways they used their sense of smell or touch this
morning.
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Obadiah
Materials Five Senses Chart
Shoe Boxes containing rock, wet cloth, and icepack.
Tupperware containers containing vinegar, oobleck, and horseradish.
Sentence frames
Pictures with descriptor words (smelly, slimy, sticky, hard, wet)

WIDA English Language Proficiency Standard 1 : English language learners

communicate for Social and Instructional purposes within the school
setting Social and Instructional language
English Language Proficiency Standard 2: English language learners
communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic
success in the content area of Language Arts
English Language Proficiency Standard 4: English language learners
communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic
success in the content area of Science

Linguistic Demands
of Lesson Listening
Students will listen to a text in which the main character encounters a
number of situations relating to sensory experiences.
Students will listen to their peers discuss the ways in which they
experience touch and smell.
Students will listen to their peers describe various items.
Speaking
Students will speak to partners to make predictions about text
Students will use descriptive language to foster understanding of a
physical object
Writing
Students will write using descriptive language related to a physical
object and describe the sensory process they used to help them come to
an understanding of that object.
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Opening / Access To open the lesson I will conduct a quick re-teaching of touch and
Prior Knowledge/
smell to activate the background knowledge that students possess. Two
Build Connections
(5-10 minutes) sentences that highlight the learning target will be written on the board
behind me. These sentences say I can use my nose to smell. and I can
CREDE 2 use my hands to touch. Above the words smell and touch will be
pictures that represent the words and ideas. (See Appendix A) After I read
each sentence the students will have an opportunity to engage in these
sensory experiences to reinforce the concepts. After smell I will hand
out scented wax and after touch I will hand out cotton balls. After the
students have been given a chance to interact with these items I will
refocus their attention to the board and state the learning targets once
more.

I will state that title of the book is Obadiah and ask students what they
What do you
notice? think Obadiah could be? They will use context clues on the cover to help
(Speaking and them answer.
Listening) Students will then look at the cover of the text and describe what they
Pair-Share
see. I will ask What do you notice about Obadiah?

CREDE 2 Students will discuss their predictions with a partner then share out with
the group.
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Body Read Aloud (Fisher & Frey, 2016):

(25 minutes) 1.Begin read aloud by reading pages 2-3 and asking students to make
(UBD Stage 2) predictions based on what they have just heard.
All students will be given the chance to make a prediction
before moving on.
2. Read pages 4-5.
3. Read pages 6-11 and after each page ask students as to what sense Obadiah
used before he jumped.
(Speaking and Ask students how they know and if they can use any clues from the pictures
Listening) to help them answer.
4.Read pages 12-14 without questioning.
CREDE 2 5. Read pages 15-16 and ask students what sense Obadiah used before he
decided to lay down.
Students will then be given the opportunity to take a stretch break before
transitioning to the circle tables in the back of the class. While stretching
students will watch a video related to the five senses and point out when the
senses of smell and touch appear.

Sensory Activity:
1.Students will gather around the table and each be given a box containing an
item that they will either smell or touch.
Pair-Share 2. The students will be given the chance to interact with each item and once
(Speaking and everyone has done so they will get back their original item.
Listening) 3. Students will interact with their item for one minute and make observations.
CREDE 2,4 The teachers and paraprofessionals will ask questions such as What do you
notice about whats in the box?
4. Students will share their observations with a partner.

Writing Activity:
i. After students have made their observations they will write a sentence
related to what they observed about their item.
Worksheets with sentence frames (See Appendix B) will be
provided and students will fill in a blank with their descriptions
(Writing) of whatever item they were given. They will also describe
which sense they used to come up with that description .
CREDE 4 Students will be given opportunities to work independently but
various levels of support will be given. Paraprofessionals and
teacher will be available for support with spelling, however if
more structured support is needed supplemental materials will
be provided that will prompt answers and independent work.
(See Appendix C)
Differentiation:
Sentence stems will be provided to students. (See Appendix B)
Pictures of certain descriptors with the word written out underneath will be
provided and students can use these to aid in the writing process. Students may
copy the words provided or glue on the pictures and words.
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Closing At the end of the lesson I will once again go over the learning targets
(3 Minutes)
once again, leaving out the last word and seeing if they can fill in the
Formative blank. This will assess whether or not the students have learned the key
Assessment vocabulary.

CREDE 2
I can use my nose to ______.
I can use my hands to ______.

Review and Assessment

My formative assessment was based around the second sentence on the writing activity

(See Appendix B) which is I use my sense of _____ to help me figure this out. Overall, I think

this assessment strategy was effective for gauging understanding after the lesson. Each student

had an appropriate answer with the exception of one student whose writing is illegible. Another

student who was having trouble writing the words independently drew a hand for sense of touch,

which I believe is highly indicative of understanding. (See Appendix D for student work

samples) The students were able to complete the sentence frames with varying levels of support,

but the support students received from paraprofessionals and teachers was appropriate for their

abilities and needs. Some students used the visual support while others needed additional support

in the form copying or tracing words that paraprofessionals had written.

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Self-Reflection and Revision of Lesson Plan

Overall, I would say that the lesson was a great success and students were able to engage

in a variety of activities that fostered learning and literacy development. Students were fully

engaged throughout the lesson and I believe that including the video intermission was critical

to maintaining engagement for the duration of the 30-minute lesson. Another strength was that

the learning target was clearly stated and students had multiple exposures to the learning target

throughout the lesson. Students had opportunities to demonstrate their learning through speaking

and writing, however they were well-supported during writing. The supports given to students

were appropriate and all were available to each student if they wanted to utilize them. Certain

supports (such as glueing on descriptors to the sentence frame) were intended for students who

are non-verbal, however students knew they could access these materials at any time.

The main thing that my CT and I discussed as an area of improvement during our

coaching session (See Appendix E) was the lack of a formal closing. We discussed ways in

which this could be accomplished and I have included a simple strategy to close the lesson,

assess student learning, and reinforce the literacy aspects of the lesson. Having had time to

reflect upon the lesson and the issues that arose I have also considered changing the format of the

sensory activity. Instead of the format included in the lesson plan, I would lead a discussion

group in which the students described their sensory item to the group and the other students

would have the chance to say whether or not they agree with that description. I believe this

would have been a richer discussion than just describing the item to a partner.

Thinking back upon the lesson I believe that the sensory and writing activity would have

been more effective if I had modeled activity. Modeling is something that I am very familiar with
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in the realms of behavior and one-on-one instruction, but it is something that I failed to do in this

whole class activity. In the future I will be more mindful to model effective strategies for creating

high-quality work.

Some students were extremely engaged with the read-aloud and I think that at times I was

focusing on those students too much and not directing my attention to the other students in the

group enough. When I did call on some of the other students I didnt always give enough time

for them to respond. In the future I will make sure to give students adequate time to respond to

questions.

Another point of reflection is the circumstances around the lesson that I gave. When I

arrived to school on the day of the lesson I learned that the classroom which the first grade group

uses for literacy had flooded. As a result, I had to teach the lesson for twice the number of kids

than I had planned for. Flexibility and thinking on your feet are necessary traits for teachers and I

believe that I showed this in the slight adjustments and scrambling for materials that I had to do

in order for this lesson to be effective.

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Appendix A

Smell Touch
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Appendix B

Obadiah jumped in the bed.

The bed was __________,
so he jumped out instead.

I used my sense of ______

to help me figure this out!
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Appendix C

Smelly Cold

Hard Wet

Slimy Sticky
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Smell Touch
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Appendix D

High

Medium
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Low
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Appendix E
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References

Fisher, D. & Frey, N. (2016). Improving adolescent literacy: Content area strategies at work.

Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.