T/L 339 Final Project Bartlett 1

Adapting Lesson Plans to Better Suit ELL Students

Delaney R. Bartlett
Washington State University
May 1, 2018
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Lesson Plan: A.M. or P.M.? Grade: 1 Subject: Math

By: Jen Kessel
Introduction:
 Talk with your class about time. Explain to your students that being able to read time is
important because it ensures that they will be on time to appointments or meetings later on in
life. Tell students that reading time can also help them keep track of everything they do in a day,
and is necessary to create a schedule.
 Ask students if they know what a digital clock is. Write down your students' answers on the
whiteboard.
 Ask students if they know what an analog clock is. Write down your students' answers on the
whiteboard.
 Talk about what a.m. and p.m. mean. Define a.m. as meaning the time before noon, so from
midnight to 11:59 in the morning. Define p.m. as meaning after noon, from the middle of the day
until the middle of the night.
 Write down the definitions on the whiteboard.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Create two columns labeled A.M. and P.M.
 Tell the class that they will be identifying whether an activity is done in the morning (A.M.) or in
the afternoon and evening (P.M.). Tell students that they will be placing the activity in the
correct category on the pocket chart.
 Identify one activity and place it in the correct category together.
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling:
 Call on volunteer students to choose and place the notecards with activities on them under the
correct category.
Independent Working Time:
 Pass out the A.m. or P.m. worksheet.
 Read directions aloud.
 Walk around the room to check for understanding as students complete the worksheet.
Closing:
 Have students share what the first thing they do in the morning is and what the last thing they do
before bed is with the class.
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Lesson Plan #1 Reviewed

By: Delaney Bartlett
Introduction:
 Talk with your class about time. Explain to your students that being able to read time is
important because it ensures that they will be on time to appointments or meetings later on in
life. Tell students that reading time can also help them keep track of everything they do in a day,
and is necessary to create a schedule.
I feel that this introduction is appropriate for the age range, I think it would also be fun to have
students share their experiences being late or their experiences with time (such as, “every day at
4PM when I get home from school, I have a snack”), to give some perspective for others
(especially ELL’s) about how time can be used in the real world. This gives student a sense of
authenticity, as hearing how their peers use time can then help them relate it to their personal
lives. While hearing student responses should not take up a lot of time (maybe call on 4-5
students), it would get them started on thinking about time and how it is used in their lives.
 Ask students if they know what a digital clock is. Write down your students' answers on the
whiteboard.
 Ask students if they know what an analog clock is. Write down your students' answers on the
whiteboard.
 Talk about what a.m. and p.m. mean. Define a.m. as meaning the time before noon, so from
midnight to 11:59 in the morning. Define p.m. as meaning after noon, from the middle of the day
until the middle of the night.
 Write down the definitions on the whiteboard.
This is where I feel the lesson plan can be most developed for ELL students. As the teacher starts
pulling out vocabulary that ELL students will most likely not know, and starts moving quickly
without much help for ELL’s. I think visuals are a must have in this situation. Physically bring
out an analog clock and ask students if they know what it is, and have them use the vocabulary
associated with it (such as, hour hand, minute hand) and explain which hand is which. Clarify
that “hands” in this case are the arrows that point to the time, and not an actual human hand.
Then do the same with a digital clock but discuss the time slots and how the numbers increase. I
think the a.m. and p.m. discussion is good, but maybe having visuals to show day and night and
the different times of the day so that ELL students can have a visual representation.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Hang up the pocket chart somewhere the entire class can see it.
 Create two columns labeled A.M. and P.M.
 Tell the class that they will be identifying whether an activity is done in the morning (A.M.) or in
the afternoon and evening (P.M.). Tell students that they will be placing the activity in the
correct category on the pocket chart.
 Identify one activity and place it in the correct category together.
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This is also where I feel more representation is needed, as ELL students might not understand the
American actions that take place during morning and night. For example, brushing one’s teeth is
usually done after they wake up and before they go to bed, but ELL students might not be aware
of this common practice. I think it would be fun to have students act out the actions (such as
brushing their teeth) as they are placed in the pocket chart.
Independent Working Time:
 Pass out the A.m. or P.m. worksheet.
 Read directions aloud.
 Walk around the room to check for understanding as students complete the worksheet.
I think this portion of the lesson is a good assessment of the lesson, maybe have them work in
pairs to verify understanding with each other.
Closing:
 Have students share what the first thing they do in the morning is and what the last thing they do
before bed is with the class.
I think this is a good closing idea, maybe could also have them share their favorite part of the day
to get ELL students to see what their peers enjoy doing, and give other students a chance to hear
what the ELL student enjoys doing. This is a fun way to share interests and see what students
have in common with each other.
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Lesson Plan: Trees, Tree Everywhere Grade: K/1 Subject: Science

By: Sanayya Sohail
Learning Objective: Students will be able to describe the different parts of a tree.
Introduction:
 Tell your students that they will be learning about the parts of a tree today.
 Ask your students if they know about any parts of a tree.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Place a fake tree in the classroom.
 Touch and show your students the leaves, trunk, roots, crown, branches, and twigs. Label each
part using a sticky note.
 Explain the role of each part.
 Tell your students that trees have many benefits. Explain to your students that trees provide
shade, give fruits, and let children swing on them!
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling:
 Ask your students to get into groups of three.
 Ask each group to draw, color, and cut pictures of fruits and children swinging. Ask them to also
draw, color, and cut pictures of people and animals resting.
 After that, have your students pick their best pictures and stick them on the fake tree in the
classroom.
Independent Work Time:
 Ask your students to complete the Guess Who worksheet for parts of the tree.
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Lesson Plan #2 Reviewed

By: Delaney Bartlett
Introduction:
 Tell your students that they will be learning about the parts of a tree today.
 Ask your students if they know about any parts of a tree.
I think for kindergarten and especially ELL students they need more instruction than just
shouting out the parts of a tree. I think if the teacher started off with a picture of a tree and
pointing to the different parts to see what they already know and can identify this would be more
successful. This way you can get a baseline of what they already know/do not know before
moving to the model of the tree. But for ELL students, just asking if they know any parts of a
tree is not enough guidance, as they might not know what a tree is. It is important to provide
visuals and give them different representations of a tree, that way they can have a better
understanding of what everyone is describing.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Place a fake tree in the classroom.
 Touch and show your students the leaves, trunk, roots, crown, branches, and twigs. Label each
part using a sticky note.
 Explain the role of each part.
 Tell your students that trees have many benefits. Explain to your students that trees provide
shade, give fruits, and let children swing on them!
Why not take students outside and show them a real tree? I think that would be much more fun
and interactive for the students. I’m not too sure where I would find a fake tree anyways, and
being able to show them a real-life model would provide a more authentic version of the lesson
anyway. I think that by taking them outside it would make the lesson more interesting and
provide a better understanding for students, especially ELL students. Have students brainstorm
what they think the role of each part is in the given environment, and then explain the role to
them. I think actually going outside and providing students with an actual example of a tree in
the environment is a better learning experience overall.
When students come back inside, make a master version of the tree on the board and have
students say the parts that they remember. This will take the place of the sticky notes/classroom
model of the tree. The teacher can write the different labels/parts along the tree to provide ELL
students with the correct spelling and visual representation of the vocabulary. This will
significantly help their learning experience and overall memory of the parts of the tree, as they
saw it on the actual tree outside, and then can see it on the example on the board, and are
therefore more likely to remember the parts since they have seen it more times.
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling:
 Ask your students to get into groups of three.
 Ask each group to draw, color, and cut pictures of fruits and children swinging. Ask them to also
draw, color, and cut pictures of people and animals resting.
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 After that, have your students pick their best pictures and stick them on the fake tree in the
classroom.
I get the point of having students see the benefits of the tree such as swinging, fruit, resting, but I
don’t think it’s necessary in this lesson. The objective of the lesson is not to show what a tree can
be used for, it is to show the parts of the tree. I think teachers should print out worksheets of
blank trees and have students create a key with different colors and the different parts and then
color the tree according to their own key. For example, one student might create a key that says
“Leaves = blue, trunk = orange, branches = red, etc.”. This way students have their own
representation of their own tree, get to color it on their own (which individualizes the learning
and provides students with an opportunity to get creative and create their own visual), and again
reminds students of the labels for the third time in the lesson. I think the original part of this
lesson did not align with the learning objective, and I feel mine represents the objective much
better.
Independent Work Time:
 Ask your students to complete the Guess Who worksheet for parts of the tree.
I am not sure what the Guess Who worksheet is, but I would wrap up this lesson here. I think it
would be fun as an ending to the lesson to have students share their visuals and have to explain
their keys out loud to the class or to a partner, that way they have to say the vocabulary and be
reminded of it for the fourth time now. You could potentially have students who want to share
stand up in front of the class and say, “My tree trunk is blue, my leaves are purple, my branches
are brown, etc.” that way they get experience using the vocabulary and get to share their own
drawing that they did.
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Lesson Plan: Animal Habitats Grade: Kindergarten, Subject: Science/Writing

By: Jasmine Gibson
Learning Objective: Students will be able to understand and identify the different habitats
that animals live in.

Introduction:
 Introduce the lesson by asking students to think about what kinds of things animals might need to
survive.
 Write “What Animals Need” on the board and record student thinking in a list. Encourage
students to think about similarities between people and animals. Prompt students as needed by
asking: Where does (dog/cat) animal like to rest? What do animals eat? Do animals need
anything to stay safe from predators?
 Explain that animals all live in something called a habitat, which is what we call the most ideal
or natural home of that animal.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Read aloud the book Habitats by William B. Rice. Pause as you read to define unknown words
and to add information to “What Animals Need” list.
Guided Practice:
 Ask students to think about some of the different kinds of habitats in the world by naming some
of the most common (desert, forest, ocean, jungle).
 Write Desert, Forest, Ocean, and Jungle on the board and ask students to think about each habitat
and what animals and plants they might see in that habitat.
 Capture student thinking on the board by passing out sticky notes or index cards and having
students draw a picture of a plant or animal for each habitat. Then, have them place their cards
under the correct title.
Independent Work Time:
 Explain that students will now get to choose an animal who lives in one of the habitats we
discussed (and are listed on the board) and get to draw a picture of their animal in its habitat.
 Pass out a copy of the My Animal Habitat worksheet to each student.
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Lesson Plan #3 Reviewed

By: Delaney Bartlett
Introduction:
 Introduce the lesson by asking students to think about what kinds of things animals might need to
survive.
 Write “What Animals Need” on the board and record student thinking in a list. Encourage
students to think about similarities between people and animals. Prompt students as needed by
asking: Where does (dog/cat) animal like to rest? What do animals eat? Do animals need
anything to stay safe from predators?
 Explain that animals all live in something called a habitat, which is what we call the most ideal
or natural home of that animal.
I think this lesson starts off very well with good student participation and good prompting of the
teacher. But I think for ELL students in particular, visuals are always important. I think during
the last step of explaining habitats, showing examples of habitats would be good before diving
into the book, that way students have a verbal and then visual representation of what they should
be looking for. This would provide students with a multitude of information before diving into
the book. While some students may pick it up off the bat, ELL students might not understand
that a habitat is where an animal lives and is not the same for every animal. It is important to ask
questions and make sure that they understand what is going on before you just dive into the book
and they get farther behind on the concept.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Read aloud the book Habitats by William B. Rice. Pause as you read to define unknown words
and to add information to “What Animals Need” list.
Guided Practice:
 Ask students to think about some of the different kinds of habitats in the world by naming some
of the most common (desert, forest, ocean, jungle).
 Write Desert, Forest, Ocean, and Jungle on the board and ask students to think about each habitat
and what animals and plants they might see in that habitat.
 Capture student thinking on the board by passing out sticky notes or index cards and having
students draw a picture of a plant or animal for each habitat. Then, have them place their cards
under the correct title.
I don’t have much to add onto this, other than the fact that I mentioned we should give examples
of the habitats before the book so that students know what to look for. I think providing
examples and then guiding students to put their drawings under the correct category is good.
Maybe make this a group activity or paired activity, so the students can draw together to promote
social engagement and conversation, and make it less of an individual assessment, as that would
be done by their individual pictures in the next step. I think by giving the group a series of
animals and having them do it together would be good for ELL’s especially to communicate in
smaller groups and have group assistance, before doing it on their own. I think that they can
draw together and then help each other to decide where each animal should go. Especially
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because they’re in Kindergarten, I think it would be extremely helpful to use groups for this
activity.
Independent Work Time:
 Explain that students will now get to choose an animal who lives in one of the habitats we
discussed (and are listed on the board) and get to draw a picture of their animal in its habitat.
 Pass out a copy of the My Animal Habitat worksheet to each student.
I think this is a fun idea, however, I always like to add a sharing component into the lesson to
promote social engagement and vocabulary use. It would be cool to have students share why they
picked their animal and how they know it fits into the category that it does. For ELL’s this is
especially important to hear the vocabulary again and hear their peers use it in sentences. It
would obviously promote noticing and the ideas of social engagement with peers.
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Lesson Plan: What’s Inside a Pumpkin: Creating a Book Grade: Kindergarten, Subject:
Science/Writing
By: Tammy Schwinkle
Learning Objective: Students will be able to identify what is inside a pumpkin.
Students will write and illustrate books with representations of real pumpkins.
Introduction:
 Begin the lesson by showing your students a real pumpkin. Pass it around so that they can feel
the outside.
 Discuss what might be inside. Potential discussion questions include: What does it look like
inside? Is it soft? Is it hard? What do you do with the inside?
 Record their responses on the board to show that spoken words can also be written.
 Explain that you will be cutting the pumpkin open so that your students can see what's inside and
make a book about it.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Cut the pumpkin open. Carry the pumpkin around to let your students see what's inside.
 Ask your students to describe what they see. Identify the pulp, or the soft orange part, and
the seeds, or the part of the pumpkin that can create new pumpkins.
 Give each student one predrawn pumpkin shape, and instruct your students to cut them out.
 Have each student fold the pumpkin shape in half, creating a book.
 Ask them to label the front of their books with the title What’s Inside a Pumpkin?
 Direct them to write the words Author and Illustrator on the front cover as well. Explain that an
author writes the story, and an illustrator draws the pictures.
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling:
 Ask your students to offer examples of authors and illustrators of books they have read. For
example, Dr. Seuss is the author of Green Eggs and Ham.
 Instruct your students to identify the author and illustrator of their own books. If they are able,
have them write their own names next to author and illustrator.
 Direct your students to use the construction paper, glue, yarn, and seeds to represent what they
see inside of the pumpkin.
Independent Working Time:
 Have each student continue to work at her own pace to create a pumpkin representation inside of
her book.
 Encourage your students to place materials inside of their books in the same way that they see
the materials inside the real pumpkin. For example, if there are seeds all over the inside of the
pumpkin, make sure that students put seeds all over the insides of their books.
 Go around the room, and ask each student what she sees inside the pumpkin. Ask your students
to point out how they are representing the pumpkin in their books.
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Lesson Plan #4 Reviewed

By: Delaney Bartlett
Introduction:
 Begin the lesson by showing your students a real pumpkin. Pass it around so that they can feel
the outside.
 Discuss what might be inside. Potential discussion questions include: What does it look like
inside? Is it soft? Is it hard? What do you do with the inside?
 Record their responses on the board to show that spoken words can also be written.
 Explain that you will be cutting the pumpkin open so that your students can see what's inside and
make a book about it.
It is also important to note to students (especially ELL’s) when pumpkins are used and what they
are (gourds) and that although they grow like fruit does, they are usually not eaten. This would
be fun to do around Halloween time, to get kids excited about the Holiday. It is also important in
this case to understand that not everyone celebrates Halloween, especially other cultures (who
might celebrate Day of the Dead and other things instead). I like the discussion questions and it
would be fun to see the student’s reactions. I think it would be beneficial to have them make a
prediction or guess and write it down or make a tally under their prediction or something similar.
That way you can see where their minds are at and what they will think will be inside.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher Modeling:
 Cut the pumpkin open. Carry the pumpkin around to let your students see what's inside.
 Ask your students to describe what they see. Identify the pulp, or the soft orange part, and
the seeds, or the part of the pumpkin that can create new pumpkins.
 Give each student one predrawn pumpkin shape, and instruct your students to cut them out.
 Have each student fold the pumpkin shape in half, creating a book.
 Ask them to label the front of their books with the title What’s Inside a Pumpkin?
 Direct them to write the words Author and Illustrator on the front cover as well. Explain that an
author writes the story, and an illustrator draws the pictures.
I like this idea, it would be interesting to see how ELL students would react. I think having them
create a book is fun. For ELL students you will most likely have to explain what an author and
illustrator is, and note that they can either be the same person or different people, and that each
book has one. It might be worthwhile to also show some examples of book covers so that they
can see visual representations of how every book has an author and illustrator.
Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling:
 Ask your students to offer examples of authors and illustrators of books they have read. For
example, Dr. Seuss is the author of Green Eggs and Ham.
 Instruct your students to identify the author and illustrator of their own books. If they are able,
have them write their own names next to author and illustrator.
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 Direct your students to use the construction paper, glue, yarn, and seeds to represent what they
see inside of the pumpkin.
I really like the individualism of this part, as each student can create their own interpretation of
what they saw inside of the pumpkin. I think before it would be smart to have the share ideas
with a partner as to what they are going to do in their book, as I know that sometimes kids get
stuck and don’t have ideas or they can bounce ideas off of each other. This would also promote
social interaction and noticing within the students, and allow them to share their thoughts on the
pumpkin without having to share with the entire class.
Independent Working Time:
 Have each student continue to work at her own pace to create a pumpkin representation inside of
her book.
 Encourage your students to place materials inside of their books in the same way that they see
the materials inside the real pumpkin. For example, if there are seeds all over the inside of the
pumpkin, make sure that students put seeds all over the insides of their books.
 Go around the room, and ask each student what she sees inside the pumpkin. Ask your students
to point out how they are representing the pumpkin in their books.
I like how this says “at their own pace”, as some students might take longer than others. I think it
would be worth it to have them label the things that they put inside of their pumpkin, as we went
over them before as a class (the pulp and seeds) to promote vocabulary usage. I love the
encouragement of trying to get them to emphasize what they saw, instead of doing something
crazy, and as always, I love the sharing as a class to promote vocabulary use.
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Works Cited
Gibson, J. (2018, March 19). Animal Habitats | Lesson Plan. Retrieved April 25, 2018, from
https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/animal-habitats/

Kessel, J. (2015, August 04). A.M. or P.M.? | Lesson Plan. Retrieved April 25, 2018, from
https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/am-or-pm/

Schwinkle, T. (2015, September 02). What's Inside a Pumpkin: Creating a Book | Lesson Plan.
Retrieved April 25, 2018, from https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/whats-inside-a-
pumpkin-book/

Sohail, S. (2015, September 29). Trees, Trees Everywhere | Lesson Plan. Retrieved April 25,
2018, from https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/trees-trees-everywhere/
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Project Reflection

For my Teaching and Learning 339 final project I chose to adapt 4 lesson plans to better

suit ELL students. I found these pre-made lesson plans online and chose to copy and paste them

and then provide my review and how I would change it for my classroom. I copied the original

lesson plan, and then I would copy it again and provide my edits underneath it. I felt it was

important to include the original plan so that the grader could get an understanding of the overall

original plan/intent before I add all my reviews. A lot of my reviews were similar, as I feel like

the language is a key part in the learning and there’s always more language learning that can be

added in. For example, having the teacher write out the words for students to see, or having

students share with each other so that they can practice their vocabulary and content use. I feel

that this can be used for teachers so that they can see how to adapt lesson plans to better suit

ELL’s. It really isn’t much of a dramatic change, just providing more structural support and

language support for their learning and to better assist them since English is not their first

language. I think that also having more social interaction between ELL’s and other students is

always necessary and can provide an abundance of support, especially when it comes from their

peers. I mentioned how to promote social interaction through the given lesson plans, and how it

would help to have students share their ideas and work with a partner every once in awhile to

promote the language use and also to increase those student to student relationships. I enjoyed

adapting these lesson plans, and I look forward to creating lessons in the future for my students.