Read Aloud Lesson Plan

Samantha Boyd
Cynthia Lambert River Bend Elementary School
Thursday, October 10, 2013
A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON: Read Aloud
B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
a. I chose these books because my cooperating teacher asked me to read
them. The books are on Columbus and Columbus Day is the Monday
after I am reading the books to them. It is relevant to the time of the
year. It fits their interest in discovery and exploration as well.
C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand
Know
Direction in regards to
What is an explorer?
reading.
That reading is a twoWho is Columbus?
way process, reading and
thinking about what
youre reading.
Be exposed to two
Why we share with other
different types of books:
people in need.
informational and story.
It is important to take
What is a map?
turns when answering
questions so we can hear
each other.
Where is the Atlantic
Ocean?

Do
Be able to explain what
an explorer is.
Be able to tell me a little
about Columbus.
Critical thinking: write
about what youd like to
explore.
Be able to point to the
Atlantic Ocean on a map.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
a. Through reading the books in a large group, it will enable to students
to answer questions I ask. I will make sure to have each child answer
at least one question.
b. In their journals, they will be asked to write about what they would
like to explore. I will have them read their entries to me and describe
their pictures. I will be able to see if they understand explorers and
what they do through this assessment. They write in their journal
every day about what they read during read aloud time in the
morning.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

a. English:
i. K.3 c The student will build oral communication skills. Begin
to follow implicit rules for conversation, including taking turns
and staying on topic.
ii. K.5 d The student will understand how print is organized and
read. Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom
on a printed age.
iii. K.9 b The student will demonstrate comprehension of
fictional texts. Relate previous experiences to what is read.
iv. K.12 b The student will write to communicate ideas for a
variety of purposes. Draw pictures and/or use letters and
phonetically spelled words to write about experiences.
b. History and Social Studies:
i. K.4 b The student will use simple maps and globes to
describe places referenced in stories and real-life situations.
ii. K.4 c The student will use simple maps and globes to locate
land and water features.
F. MATERIALS NEEDED
a. The Story of Columbus by Anita Ganeri
b. In 1492 by Jean Marzollo
c. Globe
d. Journals
e. Pencils
f. Crayons
G. PROCEDURE
a. Read The Story of Columbus by Anita Ganeri
i. Before:
1. Introduce the idea of an explorer. Ask them if they
know of any explorers and what an explorer does.
2. Ask if anyone knows who Columbus is. I expect none of
them will, so I will tell them that is who we will be
learning about in the next two books.
3. Show them the cover and read the title, author, and
illustrator.
ii. During These questions will be asked when they are
appropriate to be asked in regards to the text:
1. Has anyone seen the Atlantic Ocean before? If youve
been to Virginia Beach then you have. Explain that that
is the same ocean Columbus was sailing his ships on.
2. Show the globe and point out the Atlantic Ocean.
3. Do we have a king and queen in America? What do we
have instead?
iii. After:

1. Ask if the students remember the names of the three

ships Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.
2. Ask who Columbus is and what he did.
3. Ask why Columbus is important. I expect that this
question will stump most of them. I will lead them
through the thought process, asking if they would be in
America if Columbus didnt find it.
b. Read In 1492 by Jean Marzollo
i. Before:
1. I will have just read The Story of Columbus; so
transitioning to this book will allow me to explain the
difference between the two kinds of books. I will tell
them the first book was the information about
Columbus, but this book tells a story about him and his
journey.
ii. During These questions will be asked when they are
appropriate to be asked in regards to the text:
1. What is compass?
2. Would you share your food with the native people if you
were Columbus? Why? Why is it important for us to
share with our friends?
iii. After I will ask these questions:
1. Where did Columbus come from?
2. Where did he end up? Did he land where he thought he
was going to?
3. What ocean did Columbus cross? Show me that on the
map.
c. The students will write in their journals about what they would like to
explore. I will introduce this after reading In 1492. We will discuss
this a little as a class before sending them off to write in their journals.
They will share some ideas and I will share my idea of exploring under
the sea.
H. DIFFERENTIATION
a. Make sure the students are engaged in the story by using inflection
and making the story exciting.
b. For second language learners having props like the globe will help
them understand a little better.
I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG/WHAT WILL YOU DO?
a. Kids dont always listen. If they arent listening I will ask more
questions than those that I prepared. I could also have them act out
the story of Columbus, getting them moving around.
b. If a question is too confusing for them I will help them answer the
question by leading them through the thought process.

Reflection
This lesson went surprisingly as planned. There were of course a few things
that changed. Some of the questions did not get asked and I added a few other
questions on a whim. I think that is important as a teacher. If you gauge the
students responses to the text, you know when to ask a question and when to keep
going. I found myself asking many more questions during the informational book
rather than the story itself. They got very into the story and I didnt want to break
their attention from it just to ask a question. I did ask some, but not all of the ones I
had planned to. Each of the points I was planning on talking about were talked
about, just not necessarily during the exact time I had planned on asking them.
I was very surprised with how well they answered my questions. My
cooperating teacher did not think they would know the answers to who Columbus is
or what an explorer is, but they knew. Columbus was a little far fetched, only a few
of them had heard of him, but someone knew nonetheless. Almost all of them had
some understanding of what an explorer does. One of the youngest students in the
class was quick to answer with, Jack Sparrow! Most of the students knew who that
was and they used him as a reference point through the books. When we talked
about compasses they talked about how his compass was broken. It was neat to see
that they were making the connections.
I loved hearing the connections the kids had to the books. One of the
students connected to the names of the ships. One of the ships had the same name
as his sister and every time I would read about the ships he would get a big smile on
his face and say something about his sister. I knew he would remember that one
ship if nothing else. I couldnt expect them to remember everything I read about the
book, but seeing the light blubs go off when they found something they related to
was very awesome. Another child thought it was so cool that he swam in the same
ocean as Columbus had sailed.
The students really enjoyed the lesson and got very involved in the two
books. They asked me questions afterward and were excited to show me their
journal entries. I would like to have more props for the future if I were to do this
lesson again. They really liked seeing the globe and pointing out where the Atlantic
Ocean is. I think it would have been helpful to talk about compasses and let them
see the compasses. This class is very much a hands-on learning class, which they
respond to very well. I enjoyed doing this with the whole class, but for assessment
purposes it would have been much easier to do with just a few students. The
assignment was rich in that I got to hear so many students ideas and connections,
but for an assessment in the future I will not complete the assignment with the
whole class.

Assessment
This checklist style assessment is based on comprehension and retelling. I wanted
to see if these two children understood what was being said and if they could make
connections to their lives.
Assessment Question
Who is Christopher
Columbus?
What did Christopher
Columbus do?
Can you tell me what a
map is?

Mike
An explorer.
He sailed to find
America.
It shows the world.

Point to the Atlantic Ocean Pointed to the correct

on the map.
area.
Journal Entry Exploring He wanted to explore the
ocean. He drew an ocean
and a boat with a person
on it.

Kristen
He went on the ocean. A
explorer.
Found new friends.
Pointed to the map It
shows where Columbus
was.
Pointed to the Pacific
Ocean.
She wanted to explore the
jungle. She drew animals
and herself.

Mike was much better at this than Kristen. Kristen has a slight attention problem, so
the results did not surprise me very much. Mike paid and always answered
questions during the read aloud. Kristen, on the other hand, did not answer many
questions in the large group, and seemed to be daydreaming at times. I would call
on her to answer a question and she would respond with a blank stare. During the
assessment portion I took them aside and just asked them a few quick questions.
Afterward I checked their journals and had them explain what they drew to me.
Both were able to explain their drawings, where they would like to explore, and
why.