Cooperative Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Background:
Your Name: Jana Matthes, Katie Peterson, Coco Boothby
Subject:

Grade Level:

Language Arts

Lesson Title: Vegetable Shape (Concrete) Poems

Content Standards:
Iowa Common Core - W.2.5. With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen
writing as needed by revising and editing
Iowa Common Core - K-2 Essential Concepts and/or skills: work appropriately and productively with others to set
goals, demonstrate good listening skills, share thoughts and ideas with others, work positively and effectively with
Materials Needed: pencils, paper, worksheets, picture cards, group task tags (in teacher materials packet)
Prerequisite Skills: Students must know how to listen, use pencils to write, work cooperatively in groups
Lesson Objective(s):
Academic: In a group, second grade students will be able to come up with at least twelve descriptive words and use
the words to create a collective poem about their particular vegetable.
Social Goals: Students will be able to get into their groups quietly and quickly and listen to their partners.
Cooperative Learning Grouping Structure: Similar to a roundtable, students will collaborate to create a group poem.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Interaction with Students:

1. Present objectives:

Time: 2 minutes

How many of you have a favorite poem? Call on students and write examples on the board. These are all wonderful
poems! What makes a good poem? Call on students, may get responses such as rhyming, flow, descriptive, etc.
Today we get the pleasure of reading a couple of my favorite garden related poems and learn about how they are
written. We are going to work with our friends to come up with at least 12 descriptive words for vegetables and then
create our own poems! We will be practicing getting into our groups quickly and quietly and listen respectfully to our
partners. These are skills I know each of you possess, or have. I look forward to seeing you put them into practice!

2. Present information for the academic goal:

Time:15 minutes

Today we are going to talk about vegetables and poems. People write poems to tell stories, or tell about their
feelings, or to describe something. Poems can be short or long, or even a few words. Lets listen to a few poems
about vegetables. As I read these poems titled Carrots, Pumpkin, and Attack of the Vegetables, see if you can pick
out words or images that the poet uses to describe vegetables. By the way, what is a poet? You got it! A poet is
someone who writes poems, or poetry. Im going to read a few poems, and while you listen to the poems, think about
how the poet describes the colors and textures of the vegetables. Thank about the shapes, the taste, and even the
sound that vegetables might make. I will read each poem twice. Okay, lets listen. Teacher reads three poems
(included in packet). Okay, did you get some good images in your head from listening to the poems? What did you
think about? Teacher lets students speak. Now we are going to talk about shape poems. Shape poems are poems
that are written in a fun way to look like whatever it is the poem is talking about. For example, what is this shape?
Teacher shows example of a cat shape poem. Thats right, its a cat! And what about this one? Thats right, its a
Panda bear. Notice how the words are used to create the shape of the cat, and also of the Panda bear? Heres
another one. What is this? Thats right, its a tree. And here is a vegetable. What kind of vegetable is this? Of course!
Its a corn cob. The poet uses words about corn to create a picture of corn. Its called a shape poem.That is what you
are going to deb creating today. You are going to work in groups of four, and you are going to write, or construct, one
poem together, and then you are going to use your poem to create a shape poem of a vegetable. Except you are
going to write your words on lines that form a vegetable, like this example. Teacher shows example of shape poem of
Apple with poem. After we form groups, I will give your group a piece of paper like this with a vegetable on it. You will
have to work together to come up with ideas about how your groups vegetable looks, sounds, tastes, feels, and
maybe even how it smells. Your recorder will write the words you come up with and then you will all create a poem
out of those words and write it inside of your groups vegetable, like this example. Teacher shows the example of
another poem written in a vegetable. Lets take a minute to talk about green beans and then create a green bean
poem on the dry erase board so you can see how you are going to do it in your groups. Teacher moves to dry erase
board. Lets think of some things about a green bean and I will write your ideas down. This is exactly what your
recorder will do in your group. First, lets think about what a green bean looks like. What are some words we can use
to describe what a green bean looks like? Teacher calls names and writes down the words that students say. Teacher
repeats this for smell, taste, sound, and smell, or any other words an ideas that describe a green bean. Okay,
these are great ideas you have! Now, lets construct a poem. Ill think of the first line using some of the words you
thought of as a group, and then you can think of more lines to create a real poem, and Ill write them down. The first
line is _______. Teacher writes this on the board. Teacher then dictates on the board what the students say as they
create a poem together. Now lets put those words into this green bean shape I am drawing. Teacher draws the
shape of a green bean and writes the poem inside of the green bean. This is what you will be doing in your groups
today. What questions do you have?

3. Organize students into learning teams:

a. Explain how theyll practice the social goal?

Time: 5 minutes

When you are in your groups working I will be looking to see if you are following our guidelines for working in groups.
Lets look at our GROUPS poster to review how we are supposed to act in a group. The first thing we need to do is
GET ALONG. That means there will be NO arguing. We will RESPECT OTHERS and listen to ideas. If we have a
disagreement we will work through our issues politely. Everyone will BE ON TASK. You will each be assigned a
job/task. You will need to work with your group to complete your tasks. We will USE QUIET VOICES when we are
working in our groups. Only your group members should be able to hear you talking. Everyone will PARTICIPATE in
their group. They will do their job/task and they will speak during discussions. Lastly, STAY IN YOUR GROUPS, the
only person who can leave the group to talk to me is the Question Master. If materials are needed the Gopher can
leave only to collect supplies.
b. How will you organize the groups?
Teacher will use mixed ability groups for this assignment. Since the unit is on gardens the teacher will break students
into groups by the seasons their birthdays are in. The goal is to have groups of 4-5. If needed the teacher will shift
some people around to insure that all of the groups are close in size and that each group member has a job or a role
in the group. If needed the teacher can create multiple groups for a season. Teacher will post images of the season
on the board with each students name written under the season they are grouped in. That way students have a
reference for the group that they are in.
We will break up into groups based off the season our birthdays are in. I might have to rearrange people to make
sure that our groups are even and that everyone has a task or a job in their group. I am going to write your name on
the board under your groups season incase you need a reference for what group you are in.

c.What group roles will you have?

The jobs for this lesson are

Idea Referee- their job is to make sure that everyone gets a chance to speak and share. They keep the
group sharing and moving forward.
Brainstorm Idea Recorder- their job is to record a list of the ideas that were brainstormed by the group.
Poster Recorder- After group has finished brainstorming. Their job is to record final ideas on the poster.
Gopher- their job is get materials for the group. They are also responsible for putting all of that materials
away. They will also submit the students work to the teacher.
Question Master- their job is to talk with the teacher to get their groups questions answered. They are the
only student who can leave their group to ask the teacher questions. (If there are only 4 students in the
group combine jobs of gopher and question master, that way only one student is allowed to leave the group.)
I am going to let you pick and assign your roles in the group if you can get along and respect each other. If you cant
then I will come to your group and assign with your jobs and tasks. If you dont get the job you want today, that is
okay. We will work in a variety of groups in our class and everyone will do each group job at least once. I am going
to record what job you did today and the next time we are in groups you will be assigned a different group job.
4. Assist team work and study:

Time: 20 minutes

Students will have 20 minutes to work on their project. During that time teacher is actively walking the room, asking
questions, and providing feedback. If multiple groups struggling with same problems pausing and providing whole
group instruction.
a. How will you monitor academic progress?
Teacher will use their clipboard during cruising to record observations. Teacher will ask scaffolding
questions to guide students along.
Example: What is a descriptive word again?
How can describe our vegetable? Fruit?
What does it taste like? Feel, smell, look, or sound like?
b. How will you monitor the social goals?

Teacher will use their clipboard during cruising to record observations. If needed teacher will step in and remind
students about the GROUPS poster and guidelines. They will ask them if they tried to resolve their differences prior
to asking the teacher for help in conflict management.
5. Provide recognition:

Time: 20 minutes (during work time)

During the lesson the while the teacher is cruising they will provide feedback to the students. Teacher will
compliment and point out great group behavior. The teacher will also compliment academic progress. If students
need guidance the teacher will provide feedback and guidance to support and move the group along. Teacher will
discuss progress with the student groups and let students know where they are at individually.
6. Assessment / Closure:

Time: 5 minutes

Include documents for assessing both the academic and social goals.
What wonderful work you all have done! Lets share some of our poems, shall we? If someone from each group
would like to share the poem we can enjoy each others work. (Allow students to share their poems. Let them choose
who shares - there should be no pressure, students are not assessed on their presentation.) We have so much
creativity in this classroom. You did a great job getting into your groups quickly and quietly. I appreciate how you
listened quietly to each other and cooperated to make such beautiful poems. Sometimes when we collaborate, we
are able to come up with even better products than we would be by ourselves! I am going to pass out an evaluation
for you to fill out with your group. (Start handing them out) You should all try to agree on the answers to the
questions. Sometimes we dont agree, and that is okay. If you do not agree, write the number of group members
who answer yes under the Yes column and the number who answer no under the No column.
Class, please return quietly to your seats and gophers bring me your list of descriptive words and finished poem so
that we can put them on our bulletin board garden for us all to enjoy.
Social Assessment - Students will be assessed on a four-point scale (see attached) on their ability to work quietly in
their groups, cooperate and complete the assignment. Teacher will fill out assessment as she observes during the
activity (clipboard cruise).
Students will not be assessed on the group work evaluation that they fill out but rather it is incorporated to help them
reflect on their group experience.
Academic Assessment - Because the concept of writing poems is new, the poems themselves will not be assessed.
Rather, they will be assessed on, as a group, coming up with at least 12 accurate descriptive words/phrases.
7. DIFFERENTIATION of Content, Process or Product:
a. Adaptation for students who need extra help, time, or attention? Students may draw pictures to represent their
descriptive words. Students may write word poems instead of complete sentences.
b. Extension for students of high ability? Students will use metaphors rather than direct words. For instance,
instead of writing the color of a vegetable, students must create a metaphor relating to the color they chose, but not
directly mention the color name. Students may write about a less common vegetable, or a vegetable from another
culture.
TOTAL LESSON TIME: 42 - 45 minutes
8. References Consulted (Curriculum books in Drake SOE curriculum lab, previous teachers as resources, online
websites, your past experiences, or your own initiatives, etc):

Picture References:
Groups Poster
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/558235316283115924/
Images Used for Reference for Grouping
http://eofdreams.com/spring.html
http://feminspire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/summer33.jpeg
http://seasonalhome.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/fr_fp_fall-mantel_closeup.jpg
http://jessetherrien.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/winter.jpg?w=800&h=533
Group Roles
http://www.dthunter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_1641.JPG

Group Work Evaluation

Date _____________
Assignment:_______________________________
Members: _____________________ _____________________
_____________________ _____________________
YES

NO

Comments

1. Did this group

work well together?
2. Did this group
divide its work well
among the
members?
3. Were the
members of the
group able to
share?
4. Did this group
stay on task most
of the time?
5. Did group
members listen well
to each other?
6. Did each group
member get to
share their ideas?

Group 4-Point Assessment Scale

4 Worked quietly, cooperatively, completed assignment
3 - Usually worked quietly, somewhat cooperative, completed poem
2 Sometimes quiet, minimal cooperation, completed assignment
1 Not on task, worked poorly with others, incomplete assignment

Student
Name
Jerry
Jose
Leon

Date /
Points

Date /
Points

Date /
Points

Date /
Points

Date /
Points

Date /
Points

Paul
Hahn
Clara
Pete
Kelly
Paublo
Nina
Lee
Stella
Pierre
Louise
Peter

Descriptive Words
Groups
1________________________
________________________
________________________

2________________________
________________________
________________________

3________________________
________________________
________________________

4________________________
________________________
________________________

At Least Twelve Present

Eleven or Less Present

5________________________
________________________
________________________

6________________________
________________________
________________________