LESSON PLAN EDUC 3503 Fall 2019

LESSON PLAN
Grade:__1___ Lesson Title: __Learning The Alphabet_________ Lesson Duration (mins): __40 minutes__

Overview of lesson (150 words). Write a clear and concise paragraph that indicates what the lesson is, how it is
connected to the POS and what students will learn.

During this lesson my class will be learning the alphabet, how to sound out the letters, how to write the letters. This
lesson directly correlates with the general and specific learner outcomes of grade 1 English Language Arts program of
studies by teaching my students how to listen, speak, read and write to help comprehend texts such as the alphabet.
The SLO’s refer to the use of the alphabet as an aid in writing, using personal wordbooks, and naming/matching upper
and lower case forms of letters. Throughout my lesson my students are learning to write the alphabet so that they can
use the letters to write full words and be able to apply the difference between upper and lower case letters. Overall,
this lesson is teaching my class phonemic awareness and helping build their onset-rime as well. My lesson is based off
of an I do, we do, they do method where I demonstrate how to say, read and write the letters A-C, my students and I
then practice together, and then they work independently in their booklets to write the letters. My classroom is
designed for a class of 20 in a smaller rural town. I have designed the lesson with differentiation assuming there will be
students who need differentiation for their individual learning needs.

Alberta Program of Study: Goals and Objectives. Carefully select GLO and SLO that pertain to your lesson. Do not put in
10 SLO's just because you find a link. Choose selectively and think carefully about what is achievable for students to learn by the end
of the lesson/unit

General Outcome 2: SLO / SLE 2.1 Use Strategies and Cues

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and Use References:
represent to comprehend and respond personally and - use a displayed alphabet as an aid when writing
critically to oral, print and other media texts. - use personal word books, print texts and environmental print to assist
with writing
- name and match the upper and lower case forms of letters
Critical Questions
The unit inquiry question guides the unit...at the end of the two lesson students must be able to respond to the unit question. The inquire question is
a broad question and is linked to curriculum outcomes

Unit Inquiry Question: How do you write the letters in the alphabet in upper and lower case font? With the use of the alphabet be
able to write words with the letters.

Lesson Guiding Questions (These types of questions guide the lesson itself and are more specific questions. These can facilitate
dialogue, they can be used for formative assessment and can be used to facilitate pedagogical discussion with your students. Guiding
questions aim to provoke thinking and can be used for share/pair activities. Guiding questions are just that - guiding. A lesson should
have several guiding questions.

Lesson Guiding Questions

1. Raise your hand if you have seen the alphabet before.
2. Are letters written the same way when they are uppercase and when they are lowercase?
3. Does this letter go with this letter? (Point to upper case A and lower case B)
4. What do we use letters for?

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Learning Objectives
Students will…
Students will be able to demonstrate their ability to read and write the alphabet.

Learning Resources List

Resource #1: Dr. Seuss’s ABC

-I will read this book to the class as an introduction to the alphabet, it is an engaging storybook that students will enjoy listening
to. It will be helpful for student’s to think about can be linked to each letter in the alphabet. Before the book gives examples of what
things match the letter, I will ask students to try and name a few things that begin with the specific letter.

Resource #2: ABC Song

-The ABC song is a great tool to use with young students to grasp their attention and create a memorable song for them to help
memorize their alphabet. I found the song on YouTube, which I will load on the smartboard to play for the class. The good thing
about the alphabet song is that even something goes wrong with the smartboard or video, or if my classroom does not have a lot of
technology I will just teach my class the song on my own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75p-N9YKqNo

Resource #3: ABCs booklet

-The ABC’s booklet is a resource used for tracing so students can practice writing there letters independently and as a teacher I can
keep their booklets for records and observations.

Resource #4: ABC letters

-The alphabet will be displayed on the walls of my classroom so that it is visible for my students to use when they need help
remembering or we need to sing the song as a class I can point to the alphabet letters.

Resource #5: ABC practice booklets

- These flip booklets will have laminated pages that my students can use markers on and be able to erase so they can keep
practicing. We will use these booklets in the ‘we do’ section of my lesson plan where we all trace together each letter. These will be
sent home as well so that they can practice the letters at home. The link provided below is an example of what the booklets will
look like.
https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-alphabet-tracing-book

Material and Equipment

List: Art supplies, manipulatives, smartboard, online white board etc…

- Big Bold Alphabet Letters so that it is displayed for students to look at.
- Alphabet booklets for students to trace each letter (20).
- Pencils or crayons for each student (4 packs).
- Flip paper for myself to write each letter out to show students how to write each letter upper and lowercase.
- Mini alphabet cards for each student to take home and practice (20).
- Smartboard for video.

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Lesson Procedures

Introduction (_10_min.):
Description of Hook/Attention Grabber; Expectations for Learning and Behavior; Transition to Body. Indicate the timing for each section

1. Myself speaking to the class: “3, 2, 1” (By the time I get to 3 students should be in their desks with eyes on me, seen within my current
practicum classroom).
2. “Good morning class! Can everyone please move to our carpet area so that we can begin our English lesson.” Have students sit on
carpet area.
3. Sit in chair on carpet area, begin discussion about the alphabet to gain prior knowledge.
4. Introduce Dr. Seuss book, prompt pre-reading strategy (Tompkins, Bright & Winsor, 2016), has anyone read this book before? Does
anyone have any ideas what the book will be about? Begin the reading from A-C (Interactive read-aloud, Tompkins, 2013)(Stage 2
reading Tompkins et al., 2016) (2 minutes)
5. “These will be the letters of the alphabet that we will begin to learn today, but first we are going to watch a video of the alphabet
song.”
6. Direct student’s attention to screen “class can we all turn our bodies so that we can all see the screen, we will watch the video here.
Remember what listening looks like: eyes up front, using our ears and no touching your classmates around you.”
7. Put A,B,C song on (2:12 minutes) have students sing along.
8.”Good job class, you did a great job! Okay now I want everyone to focus up here on me, I am going to show you how to write these
letters, remember we always have the alphabet on our wall in case you need help remembering!”

Body (_27_min.): This is the largest part of your lesson. Write clearly and concisely. Image a substitute teacher picks up this
lesson; will they be able to carry it out based on your descriptions and instruction?

Steps and Procedures Identify Teaching Strategies:

1. I will have a big flip board book set up beside me on our
carpet area. It will have three lines drawn on the paper, two lines
called the sky (top) and the highway (bottom). In the middle
there is the fence this line is dotted, and we have the ditch on the
bottom of the highway (technique seen in my practicum).
Dialogue:
-“Okay class can anyone tell me by raising your hand, what
the first letter of the alphabet was, think back to the
song or Dr. Seuss?” (Responding stage, Tompkins et al.,
2016)
Choose student if one remembers, if not then help them out by
pointing to the alphabet; they should be familiar with alphabet so
this part should be fairly straightforward.
2. Dialogue:
-“Good job, the first letter is A. Can we all say ‘A’ when
we say it on it’s own it sounds like ‘ah’ (emphasize), now I
want all of us to sound it out together ‘ah’, ‘ah’, ‘ah’.”
1. Direct Instruction: I will use direct instruction
to teach my students the letters and how to write
them before we practice as a class.
2. Independent Study: my students will be
working individually on their ABCs booklet for
tracing the letters. This is independent with my
help surrounding them.
3. Interactive Instruction: I will be displaying a
classroom group interaction method, asking my
students questions will be considered a question
and answer method where all my students can
participate and be involved and engaged.
4. Instructional Skills: I will be demonstrating in
the ‘I do’ portion of my lesson to show how to
write letters.

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(Alphabetic principle, Stahl, Hester & Stahl, 1998)
3. Dialogue:
-“That was wonderful class!” “Now I want us all to look at
the paper, I am going to show you how we write the letter
A.” (This is the I DO portion of lesson it will take
around 5 minutes)
4. Dialogue:
-“We first begin by drawing our line from the sky all the
way down to the highway but we draw the line on a
diagonal.”
-“Then we draw the second line beginning at the top of the
sky and draw the line to the highway but on the opposite
side.”
-“We have one last line we need to draw, we need to
connect the two long lines and the way we do this is to draw
a short line on the fence.”
5. Dialogue:
-“Now, do we think this is the only way to write an A?” class
responds (yes or no..)
-“No it is not, this is what we call an upper case A. Does
anyone know when we use upper case letters?”
-“Good examples when we start our name or the beginning
of a sentence!”
-“We can also write a lowercase A!”
-“This is how we do it, is everyone watching?”
6. Dialogue:
-“This time we begin on the fence, and we make half of a
circle down to the highway.”
-“Then we go back to where we started on the line and we
draw a straight line from the fence to the highway so that we
connect the half circle.”
Call on student as formative assessment.
- “(Timmy) do you remember which of these A’s are
uppercase and which are lowercase?”
- “Good job Timmy!”, “(Sophia) can you tell me where we
begin when we want to write an uppercase A?”
-“No we do not start at the fence, (Abby) do you know where
we begin with an uppercase A? That is right we begin at the
sky!”
- Repeat above instruction with letters B and C
-“Good job class! Now we are all going to help each other
write the letters!”
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Fall 2019
Formative Assessments:
1. Observation: I will be constantly observing my
class for understanding or confusion.
-Taking note on which students have difficulty
answering questions.
-Which students need help completing
workbooks, which students need more of a
challenge.
2. Questions: I will ask appropriate grade level
questions to check for understanding. I let
students answer but also call on specific students.
-Is this an uppercase A or lowercase A?
-Check for who is listening or distracted
3. We Do Portion: As a class we will all trace
letters together, this will be a great time for check
in.
-I will be able to visually see where each
students understanding is when they begin to
trace.
-I will prompt my students to tell me where
to begin and the steps to follow, this will inform
me if a step needs to be taught again.
4. Circulating during ‘they do’: I will be constantly
circulating around my classroom when my
students are working at their desks.
-This will help me to check on each student
and how they are doing on tracing the letters.
*There will be no summative assessments, I will
have my students ELA booklets which I can keep
track of each student and where they are in
regards to our lesson and moving forward. These
assessments will be a collection to help
determine their individual progress, as well as our
future plans as a class.
 LESSON PLAN EDUC 3503 Fall 2019

7. Flip paper book, have student follow along with me with their
alphabet booklets and we all trace the letters together.
(This is the We Do portion of the lesson it will take around 10
minutes)

8. This will be part of my formative assessment as well; I will call

on student’s to check in on where the understanding is and who
needs extra help or more challenge.

9. I will select students to tell me where we should begin to

write the letter, and the steps to follow.
Dialogue:
-“Class we will all trace the letter together, you will trace
the letter on your booklet and I will trace on my paper.”
-“First we need to know where to begin, should we start
down here at the bottom? Do you think this is right
Anthony?”
-“No we shouldn’t should we, we should start at the sky.
Good job Anthony!”
-“Okay everyone place your marker at the sky of your letter
and draw the line down.”
Calling on students and helping when they need it. This is a way
for the students to practice knowing the steps, the students will
have their individual flip booklets and it will have one upper and
lower case letter on each page. We will all trace the letter
together as a class.

10. My class and I will trace A-C then we will also add in a word
such as CAT where we can all practice writing together,
beginning with decoding the letters and moving into their
writing booklets.
-“Okay class we are going to practice writing the word CAT,
we know the letters A and C but there is one extra letter in the
word CAT. Lets sound it out (sound out letters).”
-“Wonderful work class” (write the word as we sound it out
on the flip paper)
-Trace C, A, T in their flip booklets. (Exploring stage,
Tompkins et al., 2016) (phoneme segmentation, PA Handout 4A)

11. After we have completed the appropriate amount of letters

for my class, and our materials are put away I will let them
complete the (They Do portion it will take around 12 minutes
or until I decide we should clean up).

12. Dialogue:
-“Wonderful job today class, you all did very well!”
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-“We will now quietly walk back to our desks and work on
our booklets.”

13. Once students are sitting in their desks I will ask for a helper,
a child who needs direction or a student who has difficulty
sitting still. We will hand out their ELA booklets, which will
contain letter pages that they will trace.

14. There will be one or two pages that are dedicated to tracing
upper and lower case letters, they will complete the ones we
have practiced (This is the writing portion more of a writing to
understand their letters and practice). If they get done early and
it is done properly they can color the Dr. Seuss themed pages
until the class is finished and it is time to move on. (Extending
stage, Tompkins et al., 2016)

15. I will be circulating helping each student with what they

individually need help with. This will also be another formative
assessment for myself to see if they are able to trace the letters
by themselves or if they still need some clarification on what to
do.

Differentiation
1. For students who struggle with writing which they are all beginning to learn at this age, but the oral instruction of telling me how to write a letter
will help for those students who have more difficulty writing. This will be a way for them to still display their understanding of the letters.

2. My lesson also has components that create a multimodel lesson such as visual, kinesthetic and audio techniques. I also use the carpet area as a way
to change their seating so that they are able to move out of their desks and can learn in a slightly different environment.

3. I will be able to determine a better sense of the student’s having difficulty with speech or oral components because of our ABC song and the
sounding of the letters. I can then implement an individualized plan for helping them with their speech when we move to our booklets.

Consolidating and Closure: 3 minutes

1. This will be time for my students to show me their booklets and where they are in regards to completion of the task
given. If completed the tracing activity completely and properly than they can color the pictures in their booklets.

2. This time will also be allocated towards cleaning up any material laying around such as pencil crayons, as well as
collecting booklets.

3. I will have completed multiple formative assessments in addition to their booklet so I will be informed on whether
we need more work on their letters and can successfully move to the next set of letters in the next ELA lesson.

4. We will move into the next subject or recess during this time slot as well.

Reflective Notes:
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Rationale

I have created my lesson to demonstrate a variety of different models of teaching such as

including visual, audio, oral and kinesthetic components to help solidify the lesson. Within the lesson

my students learn to read, write and sound out letters of the alphabet developing their phonemic

awareness. This lesson is intended for the beginning of the year and as a class we work through the

alphabet focusing on each letter so that my students can begin to write full words but our reading

activity for this lesson includes their tracing booklets. I believe that creating multi-model lessons help

students to stay engaged and allow the application of a variety of learning techniques for individual

learning needs. Within my lesson I have incorporated the key stages of reading, I pre-read Dr. Seuss

using questions that will prompt prior knowledge and inquiries about the book and our lesson. I than

read the book to my class engaging in the text and discussing relevant information in regards to the

letters that we will read, also producing response type conversation. My students will begin to explore

unfamiliar words demonstrating the exploring stage while extending their knowledge to their

workbooks where the pictures will be Dr. Seuss themed (Tompkins, Bright & Winsor, 2018).

Tompkins illustrates interactive read-alouds, which is part of my lesson where I engage my students

with Dr. Seuss so that they are involved throughout the reading (2013). I also include the alphabetic

principle discussed both by Tompkins et al. (2016) and Stahl, Duffy-Hester & Stahl (1998) where my

class will learn about the phonemes and graphemes connection. This lesson is a foundation for

scaffolding my student’s phonemic awareness.

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References

Clark & Uhry, (1995). Phonemic Awareness [Online Handout]. Retrieved from University of

Lethbridge Education 3503 Language in Education Moodle site.

Stahl, S. A., Duffy-Hester, A. M., & Stahl, K. A. (1998). Everything you wanted to know about

phonics (but were afraid to ask). Reading Research Quarterly, 33(3), 338-355. Retrieved from

file:///Users/emma/Downloads/Everything_you_wanted_to_know_about%20Phonics%20STAHL.pdf

Tompkins, G., Bright, R. & Winsor, P. (2018). Language and Literacy: Content and teaching

strategies (7th Canadian Ed.). Don Mills, ON: Pearson Canada.

Tompkins, G. (2013). 50 Literacy Strategies: Step by step (4th Ed.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.