ED 345 Calvin College Lesson Planning Form for Differentiating Instruction

Teacher: Beth Kusserow

Date:30 September, 2015

Subject/ Topic/ Theme: English/Reading/Fables

I. Objectives
What is the main focus of this lesson? The students do not all have the same focus for this lesson. They will switch off reading new
fables, revising a piece of writing with me, practicing their spelling words, and working with the ou/ow phonics pattern. In addition,
we will spend some time focusing on plural nouns.
How does this lesson tie in to a unit plan? The students read new fables so that later on we can work with them - continued
exposure. The spelling has some unit words in it, but mostly is independent, as is the word work. Plural nouns come after nouns
and proper nouns, and before series of nouns.
What are your objectives for this lesson? (As many as needed.) Indicate connections to applicable national or state standards. If
an objective applies to only certain students write the name(s) of the student(s) to whom it applies.
1) Students will read a new fable on their reading level with a friend.
2) Students will polish a piece of writing, focusing on creating good sentences and using good grammar and punctuation.
3) Students will review their spelling words in a variety of ways with a whiteboard.
4) Students will identify the sound and distinguish between ou and ow in words.
5) Students will correctly convert singular nouns to their plural form.
II. Before you start
Prerequisite knowledge and skills.

Assessment
(formative and summative)

Identify those students (individuals

or groups) in your class who will
need special attention and
describe the level of support you
plan on giving them. Refer back to
the survey you did of your class.

Materials-what materials (books,

handouts, etc) do you need for this
lesson and do you have them?

Do you need to set up your

classroom in any special way for
this lesson? If so, describe it.

Students have been introduced to what a fable is. They are familiar with the system of
centers, and can work independently at them. They know how to write good sentences,
though revising may be a new skill for them. They know what nouns and proper nouns are.
The students monitor their own learning at spelling, reading, and word work.
I will assess the students writing as they revise it, and [Mrs. Smith] will read it later for a
grade.
Work done together as a group in their workbooks will be checked as a formative assessment
immediately.
[Charlie], [Marissa], [Jada], and [Kimberly] are at the F reading level from Reading A-Z.
[Charlie]s fine motor skills are weak, so revising his writing could be a struggle for him.
None of the others in the class indicated that English was hard for them at school on their
surveys.
The leveled books need to be in the appropriate reading level baskets.
The students will need their English journals to revise their writing.
The spelling station should have whiteboards, markers, erasers, spelling prompts, and a
spelling list.
The word work station should have the laminated worksheets with markers and magic
erasers.
For nouns, I will need the BrainPopJr video (computer, projector) and the students
workbooks (p. 31).
As always.

III. The Plan

Time
Parts
8:00 8:05

Motivation
(Opening/
Introduction/
Engagement)

8:05 8:25 for

the first
rotation

The description of (script for) the lesson, wherein you describe teacher activities and student
activities
Once the students are gathered at the English carpet, I will let the students know that we have new
English centers today.
-The reading group will be reading some new fables - they are in the baskets. Pay attention to the
moral at the end, if there is one! Remember EEKK.
-The word work will be at the yellow table, where they will learn about the OW/OU sound. There will
be the words written with ou and the words written with ow, and they will divide them up and then
write them on their laminated sheets.
-The phonics group will be doing your spelling work over where they always do.
-The writing group will get their writing journals, a pencil, and chair, and come work with me at the
back table there.
Any questions? I will ask the students to go back to their desks while I assign groups. Then I let them
go.
Reading: The students read their new fable books with a classmate. After they finish, they can read
other books quietly until the rotation is over.
Word Work: The students organize the laminated work cards according to the spelling pattern of ow
or ou. After they have organized them (or one by one, if they choose to take turns), they write the
words on a laminated worksheet according to the spelling pattern.

Development

Phonics: The students take a whiteboard, marker, eraser, and spelling list. Then they choose a card
from a collection for instructions of how to write their words (ABC order, fancy letters, rainbow colors,
rhyming words, etc.). When they are finished, they may choose to do another or play hangman with a
friend.
Writing: The students will take out the writing work that they did the previous week, and edit it with
my support and the help of the Writers Eye posters close by. They check for capital letters and correct
punctuation. We will also work on making the sentences more delicious with who, what, when,
where, and why aspects. I will support and guide, but allow them to make any corrections, as the work
will be graded.

8:25 8:45 for

the
second
rotation

At the end of the first center, I will switch the assignment cards in the pocket chart up front, then ring
the bell. The students will have a few minutes to clean up before transitioning to the next center.

8:45 8:50

After the second rotation, I will have all the students come back to their desks and give them bug
awards to a quiet, hard working group. Then I will ask who read a new fable book today. I will ask one
from each group to share what the fable from their book was. If they need to run get the book to
remember, thats okay. They will share it with the class and then write it on our poster. Then a
representative from the other group can do the same.

8:50 ~9:05

When both morals have been written on the poster, I will put it aside and bring up the Brain Pop Jr.
video on plural nouns. Before starting it, I will ask the students if they remember learning about
nouns. I will ask someone what a noun is, someone else what a proper noun is, and then what a plural
noun is. Its okay if they dont know the last one - the video will be about that.

- 9:10

Closure

After the video and the Belly Up cartoon, I will ask my supplies helpers to pass out grammar books. I
will write Page 31 on the whiteboard and ask them to turn there. I will pull that up on the computer,
and together we will work through the first couple sentences. The students can do the last couple on
their own. When they are done, I give them a check. If there is time, we can do the following page.
Otherwise the quick finishers can read put their grammar book away and get a reading book to read
quietly for a minute, then get ready for break.
Closure for centers: writing the new morals on the poster.
Closure for grammar: grammar book and getting ready for break.

Your reflection on the lesson including ideas for improvement for next time:
When I finished this lesson, I thought it had gone pretty well. I had not run out of time for anything, the students had been
relatively quiet, and they seemed to be giving a lot of positive feedback about understanding plural nouns. I was glad that it had
gone smoothly. If I had changed anything, it would have been to add more work, because I knew that the students were finishing
their centers early. I could have easily added another activity on plural nouns.
But when I talked to [Mrs. Smith], I realized that it had been a lot worse than I had thought, which was discouraging. Apparently
two of the three members of the group I had given a bug award to had been goofing off and simply not doing their work. So I
accidentally rewarded their misbehavior, which of course I felt awful about. Instead of proving my authority to them, I reminded
them that they could get away with things when I was in charge.
Every time I have seen centers, I have been walking around to keep the students on task while [Mrs. Smith] works with one group.
But this time nobody was walking around, so I didnt expect the kids to just not do the work. Theyve done centers so many times, I
thought they would do what they were supposed to.
In the end, I was moving grammar along too slowly, and we could have done a second page in their book. So kids were getting
distracted again. I was hesitant to add more to the plural nouns, because I didnt want it to be too overwhelming for my ESL
students on an introduction day.
So next time I need to work better at keeping them quiet, paying attention, and staying on task. I need to require their attention,
rather than letting things slide. I also need to make sure I have a plan for an additional activity in case things move more quickly
than I expected. In my writing center today, I already had the students writing a fantasy story using quotation marks when they
finished their editing process.