Julia Parzyck Mini Lesson #1

TE 402 READING LESSON PLAN

Reading Lesson Plan #1

Your Name: Julia Parzyck Grade Level: Kindergarten

Date lesson was taught: April 10, 2012 Number of Students: 1

1) Rationale (What evidence do you have that your focus students need to learn this skill/strategy?):

• Students need to be exposed and develop and understanding of concepts about print at an early age to become successful readers. Books are organized, with a cover, spine, title, and author, and reading in English flows in a particular and consistent direction, left to right and top to bottom. When young students successfully point to or otherwise track the print as someone reads aloud, they demonstrate their understanding of orientation and directionality. It is important for students to learn these basic skills in order to understand how to read and even begin to read. Without concepts of print students would not understand how a book is even to be read so it is of extreme importance that concepts of print are understood at an early age. This focus student needs to learn this skill in order to become a strong reader. I often see this student holding the book incorrectly, beginning at the back of the book, and reading from left to right which if continued will only lead to confusion of a story and frustration that she does not know how to read a book. Concept of print is very important because you need it in order to be able to read and know how to read. It is essential to conventional reading and writing and improves as reading and writing skills do. Instruction relies or assumes on concepts of print, for example, it is assumed a child would know where to begin reading but not all children will know. Concepts of print allow teachers to learn about children and see what they already know and what they still need to learn about print.

2) List which reading skill/strategy is the main focus of your lesson (select ONE area):

• The focus of this lesson is concepts of print

3) Objective for this lesson (performance, condition, criteria):

• Student will use their previous and new knowledge to show they understand concepts of print by correctly identifying parts of a book (front cover, back cover, spine, title, author,) and how the book is correctly held and used and contains pictures along with text by presenting and discussing it to the teacher after a discussion about concepts of print and a reading of a book.

4) Materials & supplies needed:

• Big Mama’s by Donald Crews

5) OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN (Provide a bulleted list of ideas):

• Introduction to the lesson (List what you will say to help children understand the purpose of the lesson? How will you help them make connections to prior lessons or experiences? How will you motivate them to become engaged in the lesson?) (3 minutes)

• “Today Student J we are going to learn about books and the special parts of books!”
• “It is important that we know how to use a book and take care of it so we can keep it for a very long time and when we read it correctly we can enjoy the book!”
• “When we know how to read a book then we can use our imagination anytime we want and can read lots of and lots of books and improve our reading, because reading is very important in school.”
• I will help my student make connections to prior lessons by telling them that when we know the parts of the book and when we know how to read a book it helps up become better readers and reading is important in every part of the classroom
• I will motivate them to become engaged in the lesson by using a happy, upbeat voice and telling them that “when you know how to read a book we become strong readers and reading is very important and very cool. Reading is SO important in school and I want you to become a good reader because I know you can do it!”

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include specific details about how you will begin and end activities; list how you will teach students what the strategy is, how to use the strategy, and when to use it; what questions you will use; how you will help children understand behavior expectations during the lesson; when/how you will distribute supplies and materials) (10 minutes)

· I will begin my lesson by having Student J sit next to me on the floor and I will hold Big Mama’s by Donald Crews in my hands

· I will tell my student that it is very important for her to listen to the lesson because what I have to say is VERY important and will help you in first grade!

· I will tell Student J that when we read a book we hold it a certain way and demonstrate how we hold the book

· I will then show Student J that there are different parts to a book and have her repeat them to me after I went over them and point to each part

o This is the front cover (show cover), the spine (show spine), the back cover (show back cover), the title (show title), and the author (show author)

· I will show the student that inside the book we also have special parts to the book

o We have words (point to words) and we have pictures (show pictures) in this book and when we read we read left to right (show left to right)

· I will ask her to then show me the parts of the book by holding the book herself and if she does not remember every part I will tell her to show me that particular part

o Where is the cover? The spine? The title? Etc.

o How do we hold the book? Which way do we read the book? Can you show me with your fingers?

· I will then read the book demonstrating how to correctly read from left to right using motions with my fingers and pointing out the pictures

· I will then tell Student J that we need to know the parts of the book and how to read a book because otherwise we might read it the wrong way and not understand the story! I will tell her that when we read we always read left to right and we read every day so it is very important to understand this

· My student will understand the behavior expectations during the lesson because I gave them at the beginning of the lesson, this student rarely has behavioral issues so I feel I will not have to do much outlining of my expectations for her as I might with other students

• Closing summary for the lesson (List how you will bring closure to the lesson and involve children in reflecting on their experiences. How will you involve them making connections to prior lessons or prepare for future experiences? What kind of feedback do you want from them at this time?) (2 minutes)

· I will bring closure to the lesson by again going over the parts of the book and having her say them along with me

· I will make sure to reiterate the importance of knowing how to hold a book and the parts of the book and that it will help her become a stronger reader

· I will tell her that in first grade the teachers expect students to know the parts of the book and how to read a book because in first grade you begin to do a lot more reading so to make sure she practices showing the parts of the book and practices reading as much as she can

· I want my student to understand the importance of concepts of print and I want her to know the parts of the book and how the book is held and used

6) Ongoing-Assessment: (How will you know the students are progressing toward your identified objective? What will you observe for and/or take notes on to help you plan follow-up instruction?)

• I will know if the student is progressing toward my objective if she can best to her ability show me the parts of the book and show me how to hold and read a book after the discussion
• I will observe Student J’s initial understanding of the parts of the book and how the book is used and held and base my questions on whether she understands them from the beginning or not
• I will also observe how Student J reacts to my instructional approach and if she can stay engaged during the lesson and what she takes from it to help plan follow up instruction

7) Based on what you know about your focus students, what Academic, Social and/or Linguistic Support will be needed during the lesson?

• Student J will need some academic assistance during this lesson and will need me to talk slowly and use simple language that is loud and clear for her to understand
• I will make sure my instructions are understandable to avoid any confusion
• She is also a very quiet student and I will make sure I provide a comfortable environment where she feels free and open to talk to me

Reflection:

• What did you notice about your students’ participation and learning in relation to your objectives?
• Student J showed great participation within the lesson. She exceeded the learning objective and used some of her prior knowledge to help her along. She did not know all the parts of the book but she did know what the spine and front cover was, she also asked questions to help her further understand the parts. She asked me if all the other sides were considered spines as well and I had to specify that the spine is where the book is held together. She did an excellent job in this lesson and participated further beyond what I had expected. I noticed that she used her prior knowledge also when realizing that there was only one name under the title and that it meant that the author was most likely the illustrator as well.
• What were the strengths and limitations of your lesson for supporting your students’ learning?
• The strengths of my lesson was that it was very simple and to the point. There was no major area of confusion and the student could easily understand what I was trying to get at. The weakness of the lesson was that it could have been longer and I could have used multiple texts to show that all books has a spine, cover, back cover, etc. instead of just showing one book. Also I could have asked the student to show me the parts initially to gauge how much she already knew instead of showing her first them repeating after me.
• What did you notice about yourself as a teacher?
• I noticed that should not underestimate my students and that they may know a lot more than what I believe they do. My MT and I discussed who would benefit from this lesson and we decided on Student J and I do believe she did gain from this lesson but she also knew a lot more than I thought she did. It is so important to understand my students’ strengths and weaknesses but I also need to make sure I am not misjudging my students. Although Student J may be a lower achieving student in other subjects she does very well with Language Arts and I really began to notice this during the lesson. I will not make sure that in the future I truly understand my students the best to my ability.
• What questions do you have?
• The question I still have is when do you begin to introduce concepts of print? Right away or do you wait? Also do you keep going over those parts of the book every time you read to remind the students?
• Another question I have is when you are introducing concepts of print do you make it a big lesson, or an introductions lesson/mini lesson before doing a lesson on a book or a lesson about reading?