Read Aloud Plan

Link to YouTube Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmdQkY90DQI

Link to My Read Aloud: https://youtu.be/pqr-xITxwNk

Title of Book: A Dance Like Starlight One Ballerina’s Dream

Standards: What standard could you address using this book that aligns with the strategy you’ve chosen to focus on?
ELA Standard(s): https://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2016/ela/

RL.4.2. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

RI.4.1. Refer to details and examples in a text and make relevant connections when explaining what the text
says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Content Standard(s): https://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/2014/arts/12.pdf

1.2.5.A.3 Determine the impact of significant contributions of individual artists in dance, music, theatre, and
visual art from diverse cultures throughout history.

6.1.4.A.12 Explain the process of creating change at the local, state or national level,

Plan the Central Focus of Your 3 Lesson Sequence:

a) Lesson Rationale: Briefly describe the book. Include the title, author, approximate reading level, and a brief
summary. Explain why you chose this book. What makes it a good choice? How does it connect to your theme?
Identify what makes it appropriate for your student(s) and their interests. What did you consider about your
students’ everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds, practices and interests? Integrate citations to
theory (chapter 1 of our text) to support your rationale. [Good source to use:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html]

The book “A Dance Like Starlight” One Ballerina’s Dream written by Kristy Dempsey and illustrated by
Floyd Cooper is written on guided reading level N and is most appropriate for students in grades K-4. The
story is about an African American girl growing up in Harlem New York in the 1950’s. She has dreams of
being a ballerina someday and the book focuses attention to the first African American prima ballerina Janet
Collins. The story then goes on to describe the young girls experience witnessing Janet Collins perform on
stage for the first time and how the little girl changed her views on how to reach success after watching Collins
perform. The story instills hope and determination into the reader.

This book is a great read aloud because it focuses on the idea that with hard work and hope anyone is able
achieve their dreams, no matter who they are or what they look like. In addition, it provides inspiration to the
students that if you believe in yourself and work hard you can make all of your dreams come true. It is
historical fiction which also allows for a pre-activity about Janet Collins life and how she became a historical
figure in society. The book also determines the different between wishing for something and hoping for
something. Students will be given time think about and share their goals and dreams for the future, reflecting
on their current situation and developing a plan on how to reach their goals. This demonstrates Vygotsky’s
theory of placing emphasis on social factors contributing to cognitive development, Vygotsky believes that the
environment in which children grows up in will influence how they think and what they think about.
Utilizing the book students will have the opportunity to develop an understanding between wishing for
something and hoping for something in terms of goals. They will also be able to relate to the main character of
the book by thinking of their own goals and developing a plan on what they are going to do in order to
accomplish them. The overall message of hope and resilience can be applied to anything in a student’s life,
which is what makes this book a nice read aloud.

b) Central Focus: Name the central focus (theme) of your 3-lesson sequence. Clearly explain the standard(s) addressed
in this sequence of lessons, and briefly describe the three lessons. How do the lessons relate to each other, and how
do they build on each other?

The students will be able to identify the central focus or theme of the story using supporting details and
summarizing the book. The students will be able to make connections to the main character of the story
through details within the text as well as inferences that they have made. Students will also be able to
recognize who Janet Collins is and the importance she had on African American History.
During Lesson 1 the book will be read aloud to the students allowing them to visualize, make inferences
and comprehend the plot of the story. Students will engage in a discussion before, during and after the read
aloud that will help target their understanding of the story and the content in relation to the story. The
discussion will focus on information needed to understand the book as well and brainstorming ideas for
their assignments to come after the book is finished. Students will have to use their background knowledge
on determining the theme and plot of a story.

Lesson 2 will build on the discussion by allowing the students to think of their own dream or goals and
draw a picture to represent it. They will then pair up in partners and share their drawings with one another
to hear each other’s goal and see how each other expressed them visually. Student will them write out a list
of the steps they a e going to take in order to reach their goals. This will allow them to break down their
goal into smaller steps so that is becomes achievable to them. One by one students will then read just their
steps to achieve their goal out load to the class and everyone will guess what they believe their goal is
based on the steps. This will help student utilize their inferencing skills to determine what their classmates’
goal is based off of context clues.

In lesson 3 students will have to write a 2-paragraph narrative story about their journey to reaching their
goal as if it already happened. This will make them think about the future and using past tense verbs even
though these events have not actually occurred. This will allow them to use their imagination a little bit and
have them describe their ideal route to get to their goal. This can also be used as a guide for them in the
future to help them. They will be encouraged to think outside the box and write as much as they can about
their goals and how they are going to achieve it in detail.

 Provide a brief explanation of lesson 1 and explain what you know about the value of using Read Aloud to
share books with the students.
 Identify the strategy to be taught in lesson 2 and provide a brief explanation of how you’ll support students
with the reading strategy in this lesson.
 Briefly explain the writing task connected in lesson 3. Be sure you have identified the planned connection to
a meaningful opportunity to engage in writing in response to the reading and practice the literacy strategy
in the context of writing.

1. Read Aloud
 Consider what discussion
you can create before during
and after the lesson.
3 Lesson Sequence
Discussion Before Reading: Previewing the book cover, the scene of the book
will be set describing that it is taking place in the 1950’s in Harlem New York.
Introducing and discussing what was going on during that time period in terms
of African Americans and what they were allowed to do/ not allowed to do
during this time. A short video explaining the life of Janet Collins will be
played in order to provide some background information on her life and
contribution to America. Students will be asked to recall 3 facts they learned
about her from the video before starting the reading. Ask students if they have
a dream or a goal for themselves in the future and to keep the dream in mind
while reading.
Discussion During Reading: As the story is read ask students to consider some of
the following things:
- What relation does the young girl’s mom
have in her wanting to become a professional
ballerina? (Page 8)
- What is she doing that is differently from the
beginning of the story when she was
“wishing” on the rooftop compared to how
she “hoping” in the dance lesson? (Page 14)
- What is the little girl hopeful for when she
sees a Janet Collins? How is this helping her
dream? (page 16)
- What is the little girl thinking right now?
How is she feeling? (Page 22)
Discussion After Reading:
Engage students in discussion about what the main idea and theme of the story
was. Allow them to summarize key points and reflect on how that moved the
plot of the story along. Discuss how the young girl felt when she saw an
African American ballerina on stage and saw herself being represented how
that must have felt for her. Discuss if we think the young girl is going to
achieve her dreams in the future why or why not? Encourage students that they
are capable of anything they set their mind to just like Janet Collins.
 2. Strategy Focus
Based on the literacy strategy you identified
in lesson 1, consider how you will explicitly
teach and have students practice the literacy
strategy using the workshop model
structure to design your plan. Be specific
and address the following components of
the lesson as it relates to the book you’ve
chosen.
 Identify a literacy strategy you
will have opportunities for developing in
students by using this text as a mentor text.
Be specific about how the strategy aligns
well with the book.
o Connection
o Model or Teach
o Engage Students
o Link to Independence
o Independent Practice with Coaching
o Share Session
Strategy: Connecting
Connection: Explain to the student in the story the main character had
a dream of becoming a ballerina. Have students identify how they can
connect to the main character in the book by thinking of their dream or
goal in life. Have student pay attention to how to wish for a dream
compared to how to hope for a dream and what the difference is
between the two.
3 Examples from the Book for Modeling:
Example 1: Connect text to self- The main character in the book
decided to become a ballerina because of the influence of her mother,
have you ever been influenced in your life by your parents, your
teacher your coach?
Example 2: Connect txt to world- Janet Collins was the first African
American prima ballerina, what other African American figure have you
learned about that has broken down a color barrier before, Martin
Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, who else?
Example 3: Connect to text- This book is about a young girl having the
dream of becoming a ballerina, have you read a similar book about a
someone having a dream or someone wanting to become a dancer?
1 Example from the Book for Students to Use the Strategy through
Active Engagement:
Students will be asked to draw a picture of their dream or goal in life.
They will then participate in a pair and share, so that they can describe
their picture and their dreams with one another. This will allow them to
make connections between the main character in the book and
themselves.
Explanation to support students’ ability to link the strategy to how it
should be used whenever they read:
Student’s will be introduced to the idea of connecting to the character
before the reading begins as I read it aloud, I will stop to ask them how
they can personally connect to the story. After the story is finished I will
ask the to think about other connections to the story. This story is easy
to connect to because everyone has dreams and goals for the future., I
will remind them to consider how they made connections to the main
character in this story, even though their dream maybe wasn’t’ to
become a dancer. No matter what the plot or theme of the story is
there is always some way that you can make a connection to the story
even if is not a personal connection. I can explain to them that in the
future we may read a book with a similar themes and then next time
they connect the main character in this book to the amin character in
another book.
Independent Work: Students will be asked to use their picture and list
out the different steps they can take in order to achieve their goal. Have
them write 2 sentences explaining how they are going to work hard and
hope for their goal as opposed to just wishing for their goal.

Share: Students can share their list of steps they made with the class
and they can take turns guessing what they think their goal is based on
the steps that they listed.
 3. Writing Connection - Application of the Reading Through a Meaningful Connection to Writing:
 Design a writing task for students to
complete which will integrate
opportunities to apply the literacy
strategy.
 Clearly identify what the writing prompt dreams and goals for the future, write about your biggest goal
will be.
 Include an explanation of what the
criteria will be for this task. What will
you expect students to do?
 How will the prompt you’ve created
enable to them use the literacy
strategy?
Writing Task: Require students to use their pictures long with
their lists to write a narrative as if they have already achieved
their future goal.
Prompt: Like the main character in the book, everyone has
and how you achieved it as if it has already occurred.
 Briefly engage students in discussion first. Encourage
students to talk about the topic before writing. Ask the
following:
 What is your biggest goal you want to accomplish?
 What do you know about achieving this goal?
 Transition them to the idea of writing or drawing their
ideas. For example, say the following:
 Use your picture you drew and your list of steps to
help assist you in writing this narrative.
 Remember that the narrative is being written in past
tense, as if you have already completed these steps
and achieved your goals.
 Remember to include lots of details and add dialogue
to help move the narrative along and make it
entertaining for the audience.