Lesson Plans
2 Week Unit
This unit will meet the course goals and create excitement and encourage imagination and wonder for my students by, incorporating media elements, out of class and in class activities, and allowing the students to engage in group work and individual unit
SOLs
1.8
The student will expand vocabulary.
a) Discuss meanings of words in context.
b) Develop vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts.
c) Ask for the meaning of unknown words and make connections to familiar words.
d) Use text clues such as words or pictures to discern meanings of unknown words.
e) Use vocabulary from other content areas.
1.9
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fictional texts.
a) Preview the selection.
b) Set a purpose for reading.
c) Relate previous experiences to what is read.
d) Make and confirm predictions.
e) Ask and answer who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about what is read.
f) Identify characters, setting, and important events.
g) Retell stories and events, using beginning, middle, and end.
h) Identify the main idea or theme.
i) Read and reread familiar stories, poems, and passages with fluency, accuracy, and meaningful expression.
Book Selection
These books about Thanksgiving and the Fall season will help engage my students in close reading and critical literacy. They will also help develop my student's vocabulary and writing skills.
Thanksgiving/Fall Unit
2 Weeks
Rubric for all assignments: Since the children are so young, I will only take participation grades. I require each student to participate and respect everyone. I want to hear specifically from each child every day. I expect attendance and positive attitudes to obtain a satisfactory evaluation.
Day #1
Before Reading Activity:
• Read the title of the book with students.
• Make predictions about what the students think the book is going to be about.
• We will then write the predictions on the board.
• Connect their predictions to their real-life experiences. Do they eat turkey for Thanksgiving?
1-Hour reading and discussion
We will begin the book and after each page, we will stop and I will ask them to predict what happens next.
After Reading Activity:
Review the student's predictions and see if anyone was right.
Have the students retell the story.
Have the students tell about their favorite part of the story.
40-minute activity
I will then give them a worksheet and put them into small groups. They will work together to answer questions like, "Why do you think the turkey dressed up as a particular animal? What is the setting? and Who are the important characters?"
After they discovered that the turkey is the main character, I will give them a template of a turkey. I will ask them the question "If you were the turkey, what would you dress up as?"
My students will disguise a turkey to look like something/someone else. I will provide them with supplies such as cotton balls, cloth, glue sticks, and crayons.
I will hang their finished creations on the wall.
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Day #2
30-Minute refresher/game
I will begin with an open discussion about how the students liked the book, and ask them to help me remember what happened.
We will discuss sequencing words such as: first, then, next, last and finally.
I will have those words written on the board and have different events that happened throughout the story on slips of paper all jumbled up at the bottom of the board.
The students are to split into groups of 3-4 and sit in their groups. I will call them up and they have three minutes to organize the events in order. The group who gets the most correct will get a prize.
20-Minute Story Creating
After the students are familiar with their sequence words, I will ask them to tell a short story of what they do on Thanksgiving.
Each student will get a workheet with blanks that they can fill in what happened first, second, and lastly.
Day #3
20 Minute Vocabulary Review
The students and I will go through the book and write down the words that they are unfamiliar with, such as costume, grumbled, bleated, wailed, and desperately.
We will work on using these words in sentences and discussing synonyms and antonyms of each word.
30 Minute Extended Writing Project
I will have the students write a short paragraph about 'How to help a turkey escape from Thanksgiving Dinner. They will have to include why they would do what they did, and how they did it.
Each student will have a chance to read his or her paragraph to the class.
We will then watch a short 4-minute video about turkeys on youtube
I will ask the students to make their best turkey noise
This will be a silly multimedia activity to inform the students on turkeys.
I will ask the students some recall questions from the video and ask them what their favorite part was.
Day #4
We will now begin a new book.
This will be a fun short book to help my students appreciate all the joys of fall.
30 Minute Leaf hunt
I will allow my students to go outside and find a beautiful fall leaf. They each can go on a leaf hunt and find one of their choosing.
This will also allow the students to find the joys in learning, by allowing them to move around and explore.
After each student has found their leaf, we will go inside and glue them to a piece of construction paper that they put their name on and decorate.
15 Minute Adjective lesson
I will explain to the student's what an adjective is and how it describes something.
The students will then have to choose 5 adjectives to describe their leaf and write it on the bottom of their paper.
I will hang their masterpieces up on the board.
I will then sit the children down on the rug and we will all discuss our favorite parts of fall. I will ask them questions like "What is your favorite thing to do during the season? and Why do you think the leaves change color? and Why do the leaves fall?"
Day #5
Introduction of the book
20 Minute explanation of what a Rhyme is.
I will call out a word and ask the student to name another word that rhymes with it.
Every time a student answers correctly, I will give them a prize.
We will then discuss why they think that leaves fall.
I will play a short 4-minute video about fall and the science behind the leaves falling
Then the students will talk about what they liked about the video
15 Minute reading of the book
I will instruct the kids to say the 'hoorah, hoorah' parts on my cue, so this could make the reading more entertaining
After reading it enthusiastically the first time, we will then take a deeper look and search for rhyming words.
I will go page by page and allow the students to tell me which words rhyme
Day #6
Funday Monday!
Today we will discuss the book and read it one more time with great enthusiasm.
I will attempt to incorporate readers theater in by letting the students shout the hoorahs and at the end when it says "Jump Jump Jump" I will let them act it out.
Today will be a fun day for the students because we will go to the computer lab and I will tell them to go to akidsheart.com and they will be able to play online games that teach them about fall and leaves.
For the last 30 MInutes I will give them another leaf scavenger hunt, but this time there are specific details
The students will be given a basket and they are to find different colored leaves and leaves with a specific amount of points. This will help with counting and the depicting of colors.
Day #7
Now that we have covered fiction and poetry, lets move on to nonfiction.
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving tells the true story of the holiday and allows the students to see a different culture.
I will begin class by asking the students "What is Thanksgiving? Why do we celebrate it?"
I will then play a 3-minute video about the story of Thanksgiving.
After watching the video I will introduce the book.
This book is a little longer than the others, so we will spend the rest of the day reading it.
Once finishing, I will give my students homework to get their parents involved.
They must draw a picture of themselves and their family at Thanksgiving dinner with Squanto. (Include the attire that the book describes him wearing.)​
Day #8
Discussion
We will begin class by talking about the book. I will summarize the highlights and ask the students to split into two groups (The Indians and the pilgrims)
I will provide the materials needed for the students to create pilgrim hats and belts, and Indian feathers and pelts.
The students can color their own outfit in any way that they want.
After our craft, I will take their creations and save them for the last day of our unit.
I will then ask the students to come to the front of the room, where I will have a ven-diagram on the board.
I will have them compare and contrast the Indians and the pilgrims.
Most importantly, we will discuss how they are alike and how diversity is a beautiful thing and that no matter what, they are all human.
I will ask the kids if they have ever felt like they looked different from someone else, or if they have any friends that are different ​
Day #9
Powerpoint Presentation on Thanksgiving
Since we have covered three books about Fall and Thanksgiving, we will summarize the entire unit with this powerpoint.
At the end of the powerpoint, there is a small quiz that the students will take as a group, to see what they have learned.
We will discuss the differences between fiction and nonfiction. I will ask them which they prefer and quiz them on which book was each genre.
We will then discuss what they learned about sequencing and how to use an adjective.
This day is basically a day of reflection and a day of summarizing the SOLs that were covered.
Day #10
Happy Thanksgiving
This is the last day of the unit and the last day of school before break.
Today we will bring out the Pilgrim and Indian costumes that we made a few days ago. I will arrange for some parents and the PTO to help me organize a 'dinner' for the kids.
The children will dress up in their costumes that they created and sit around a long table just like Squanto and the pilgrims did during the first Thanksgiving. Before the children are able to eat, I will have them each stand-up and share one thing that they learned/ their favorite thing about the books we read, and one thing that they are thankful for.
This unit will help engage my students in the wonders of literature and allow my resistant readers to take part in activities that make them enjoy reading.
Would you like to learn more?