Spring 2014

Sem I-ECED372

LITERACY WORKSHOP LESSON PLAN

JMU Elementary Education Program

Kendall Lawrence
Mrs. S, Kindergarten, Clementine Elementary School
November 2, 2016, 9:00-10:00 am
October 31, 2016

TITLE OF LESSON Letter Roll Reading: Blending Sounds

CONTEXT OF LESSON
After talking with the cooperating teacher, Mrs. S, it was clear to me that her children would be able to
blend sounds together to make words. However, including differentiation in this lesson is crucial to be
able to cater to all of the different needs of her students. I was able to observe the children in two
different classroom settings and talk more in depth about the current curriculum for Mrs. Ss class.
Using what I learned, I made sure to incorporate primarily letters and word families that the children
are currently working on or have already learned. The only group that I will be introducing four new
letters to is the one higher group. After observing these children I gained that kindergarteners are very
different from the first graders I work with in practicum and need to stay close to the belt with
curriculum. Straying to far would cause confusion and frustration.
OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT
Developmental Objectives
1. The students will identify different
letters of the alphabet and produce the
sound each one makes.

2. The students will use either the CVC

letters or family groups to blend letter
sounds together to make a word.

Assessment
Since this will done as a group, it is harder to asses individually each
letter. However, I will be asking individual students each time to identify
the letter and I can write down the letters that each child identifies
correctly. I will also be looking for them to give me the proper sound
associated with each letter. This can also be listened for each time if they
are producing the right sounds and marking Y/N.
I will look for if they properly put the vowel and two consonants in the
correct position of the word. (I will note if they mix these up.) Then I will
have them sound out each letter. (Emphasizing the beginning and ending
sounds of the word.) I will then ask each child separately if they think the
word created is a real word or a nonsense word. (This will be indicated
with thumbs up for real word and thumbs down for nonsense word.)

COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT DATA

*See attached Data Collection Form
RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING
Reading
o K.7
b) Match consonant, short vowel and initial consonant digraph sounds to appropriate letters
d) Identify beginning consonant sounds in single-syllable words
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MATERIALS NEEDED
Laminated alphabet cards (including only the letters on the dice)
(Provided by JMU student)
6 laminated letter dice
o 3 will be used for the higher level children with CVC words
o 3 will be used for the middle level children still with more simple CVC
words
o 2 will be used for the lower level children using a couple consonants and
word family groups
(Provided by JMU student)
White board, marker, and eraser
(Provided by CT)
Instruction Card
(Provided by JMU student)
Camera
(Provided by JMU student)
PROCEDURE

Preparation of learning environment Have the whiteboard, marker and eraser set up at your station
Have all alphabet cards and letter dice prepared neatly, ready for the
children
Have the dice differing for each group level separated for each other for
organizational purposes
Engagement and introduction of the lesson Ask the students if they can each tell you the first letter in their name and
what sound it makes

Explain to students that they will be playing a fun game using dice and letter
sounds to create words.

Get out your alphabet cards, and choose a card.

Hold the letter up and ask your students to identify the letter and make the
sound of the letter.

Repeat this process a few times, picking different letter cards.

You will also show the three word family groups, that the lower group will
be working with, to all five groups and practice them

Next pick up the whiteboard and write the letters a, m, and t on the
whiteboard.
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Ask a student to volunteer to figure out a word using the letters on the
whiteboard.

Implementation of the lesson

Set out the specific letter die appropriated to the present group

Explain to the students that they will roll the dice, one at a time, until each
lands on one letter or family group

Model rolling the dice

Next, explain to the students that they must try to make a word using the
letters that the die land on

Model trying to make a word using the letters on the die

Tell the children that the colored letters are the vowels and the vowels
always go in the middle of our words.

If a child is struggling and cant make a word, have the other students help
to see if as a group they can figure it out

Once a word has been made I will ask each student whether they think it is a
real word or a nonsense word
o

After each child has answered, we will review whether or not the word is
indeed a real word and how to sound out each letter to make the word
o

They will show me this by putting a thumbs up for a real word and a
thumbs down for a nonsense word

Even if the word is a nonsense word the letter sounds can still blend
together to make the word, which can be reviewed

If the word that was created is a real word I will write it down on the
whiteboard, adding it to a word bank of real words created

Closure Each child should have a chance to roll the dice and create a word at least
twice
If this is done before time is up, I will move on and have each child practice
writing a word on the whiteboard that I make for them with the dice
o This will most likely be the higher and maybe middle groups
o However, if it is the lower group as well I will have them just write
the first letter sound they hear in the word I spell for them
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This will not be a part of the assessment seeing how not all groups
are likely to get to this part of the activity

Clean-up
Return materials borrowed from the CT
Clean up dice and alphabet cards to take with
DIFFERENTIATION
Low group (1):
The low group will be focusing solely on beginning sounds and word family groups. This is the only
group that will have two die rather than three. They will only have the consonants: m, t, p, r, and s,
and the word family groups: -at, -am, -ap. This is according to the information Mrs. S provided us,
the lowest group would be capable of working with these letters in particular but it will still be a
struggle. They will probably need a good bit a coaching throughout the activity. Also be prepared for
everything to go at a slower pace in order to really work on their letter sounds.
Middle groups (3):
The middle groups will be a step up from the lower group, for starters with no word family groups.
They will also be creating CVC words like the higher group. However, they only have one vowel
which is the letter a, and that has been colored red to help the children always know that the vowel
goes in the middle. Their consonants include: m, t, p, r, s, h, c, and b, which are the letters Mrs. S
informed me they are working on currently or have already worked on.
If this differentiation is too hard for some of the middle groups after a few tries, I will move down to
what the lower group is doing.
High group (1):
They will be working with three die that will create CVC words. One way I have differentiated this
level is they have three vowels: a, o, and I, rather than just the letter, a like the middle group has. I
have colored the vowels a different color, as I did with the middle groups, to help the children know
that the vowels always go in the middle of the CVC words. Their consonants include: m, t, p, r, s, h,
c, and b, as does the middle group. However, they also have the consonants: g, l, n and d, as an
added level of difficulty for the higher level children.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
The differentiation I have created for each group level might still be too hard
and over the heads of some of the children. If after a couple rolls of the dice I
can see that the students are struggling where we are at I will move them to the
next level down. This is especially possible to occur in the middle groups who do
fall in that in-between stage. Though they have their own differentiation,
something could still go wrong and if that is the case we will move down a level
and proceed from there.
If things go the other way and the groups find the activity too easy, we will
possibly finish rolling the dice quicker than the other groups. If this is the case
we will move back to the whiteboard. I will spell out a word using the dice and
each student will have a chance to practice writing their letters and words on
the whiteboard. This will not be apart of the assessment, seeing how it is an
activity only some groups will get to, but it will help keep the children focused
and on task. All students work at different speeds but it is important to always
have a back up plan for those who are quicker than others.
I am aware of the fact that Mrs. S has a number of kids with different behavioral
problems. If the day we have our activity, one of those children decides to start
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acting out it is important to stay calm. Continue to try to keep everyone on task
as best you can and dont pay to much attention to the distracting behavior. If
things do escalate to the point where I cannot handle the child, Mrs. S has said
she will step in to assist with the problem child.

Lesson Plan Reflection

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, reflect on the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

A. How did your actual lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes you made & explain why
you made them. Be thorough & specific in your description. (3 pts)
o

For starters when I said that I would only pick a couple letters for the children to identify
and tell me the sound I actually ended up going through all of the letters that would appear
on their particular dice. Since I had differentiated the dice to a high, middle and low group I
decided last minute to do the same with the alphabet cards that we started with. I changed
this because I thought it would be more beneficial to get them prepared for what letters and
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sounds they would be seeing on the dice momentarily. This seemed to go over very well and
I only had a couple children produce the wrong sound or incorrectly identify a letter. I also
ended up only showing the word family groups to the lower group that would be using them
rather than all five mainly due to the time. There was only one group I ended up writing all
of the real words on the whiteboard to create a word bank. I realized that I would rather take
the time to review the idea of real or nonsense words with the dice that they could
manipulate rather than switching gears to the whiteboard. I was then able to keep their
attention right where I wanted it because sometimes when you constantly switch gears it
allows the children to become distracted and their eyes to wander. I picked up on this within
the first group and from then on administered the activity without the whiteboard.
Something I added to my lesson that wasnt specifically stated in my plan was the reviewing
of nonsense words and how to make them into real words. I would begin reviewing why a
nonsense word was indeed a nonsense word but I felt the children needed something else to
connect to a real word. So I would then flip one of the dice over a couple times finding
letters that would make the word real. I did this from then on out and the children really
seemed to respond to it in a positive manner.

B. Evaluate the impact of the lesson based on your plan for assessing learning and the individual data
you collected on each objective. Cite multiple examples of student behavior & language that document
your conclusions. (8 pts)
o

This lesson was geared to make it easier to assess learning for each child. I wanted to set up
my objectives and data collection sheet so that I would directly be able to see the impact my
lesson had on these children. The students were able to correctly identify any letter asked of
them and only three did not give the proper sound associated with the letter. Within the
creation of word portion of the data collection sheet, it revealed that almost all of the
children were able to identify the beginning and ending sounds of the word. If they werent
it was because they were reading the word from right to left or they were putting the vowel
at the beginning or end of the word rather than in the middle. These were things we then
discussed in order to hopefully correct the mistake they had made. There were similar results
for placing the vowel in the correct part of the word. This one was something I gave a little
less leniency on seeing how I had not only color-coded the dice with the vowels on them but
I had also gone over with them that the different colored die go in the middle of the word
because that is where the vowel goes. However, though, I had a couple of the children still
mess this up, but they were all able to self-correct with a bit of prodding. I would ask them
where they had placed all of the letters and whether they thought that was correct. I typically
received a couple nods or shrugs but once I asked about the colored die and its placement
that seemed to strike a chord with the children. They immediately corrected the mistake
putting the dice with the vowels on it in the middle where it belonged. Lastly, I was
assessing their ability to identify whether a word created was a real or nonsense word. This
was achieved by asking each child, after the word was created, if they thought it was a real
word or a nonsense word. If they thought it was a real word they would put their thumbs up
and if they thought it was a nonsense word they would put their thumbs down. This form of
assessment seemed to work relatively well in discovering where the children were at for
identifying real words. However, the one roadblock we ran into with this was that the
children often times would cast their vote of thumbs up or thumbs down depending on what
the others were saying. The observer and I both witnessed some children hesitating to
answer what they thought until the other children produced their thumbs. This didnt happen
every time but did occur sporadically throughout the lesson. There were also some children
that put their thumb either up or down and then changed their minds once they saw what the
other children were saying.
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C. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or
more thorough way if you were to present this lesson again. (2 pts)
o

D. If you were the teacher in this classroom, what follow-up experiences would you plan? (Develop
your answer based on the data that was collected and your observations during the lesson.) (2 pts)
o

I would make sure to fully focus on just the words and letters that the children know for
sure. It was interesting adding some letters they didnt know into the mix to see how they
would do but at the same time that doesnt help solidify what they have learned. Also, if I
had more time I would have had them write out each word they made with the dice to both
incorporate writing and forming the letters properly on paper. Writing the word out, rather
than just reading the letters on the dice, could help the child even more with their spelling
and ability to decipher whether the word created is real or nonsense. Also it would be
beneficial to have them do the activity separately on their own to show how much they fully
understand of each objective on an individual basis. Like I mentioned earlier the children
often times were swayed by others with their responses and I would like to assess the
children again without the influence of their peers. I want to get down to the core of what
these students truly know and what things they need to work on.

I would keep the differentiation the same as I did seeing how from observations those
seemed to work well. I would follow-up by having an activity where the children make their
own dice. I would provide them with small, empty tissue boxes where they can write the
letters themselves and glue them on. After doing so I will have them roll the dice at their
tables and see if they can create the words on their own without any help or guidance from
the teacher. I will also see if, while working together, they can determine whether the word is
real or nonsense. Going off of the data that was collected, most children responded very
positively to this lesson and that is why I wouldnt want to change much about it but rather
make the children a bit more independent by having them lead the lesson themselves with
the help of their peers.

E1. Share something you learned about young children as a result of planning and conducting the
activity. Relate this new knowledge to principles of child development or appropriate curriculum from
your ELED 308 and ECED 372 courses. (2 pts)
o I learned a great deal about Kindergarteners and what they can handle within a lesson. My
placement in practicum is in first grade and I had a hard time adjusting my lesson to the
ability level of a kindergartener. I wanted to compare them so badly and I realized that
couldnt do that when attempting to create a developmentally appropriate lesson plan. Every
grade is very different just as every child within each class is very different. Not even two
kindergarten classes can be fairly compared because they have different students in them.
Child development has shown me that though there are basic stages that children can be
grouped in, every child is going to be developing at a different pace than their peers. As a
teacher, I learned, that you must be aware of these differences and be prepared to meet the
needs of each and every one of your students. The beauty of differentiation is something I
am discovering through administering this lesson. I remember reading about using
differentiation within teaching strategies in order to meet the needs of all of your students
but honestly those words had no meaning to them until I experienced it in real life. My
original lesson plan had hardly any differentiation and if I had not been able to change it and
incorporate the distinct differentiation then my lesson would not have played out the way it
did. Differentiation was key to the success of my entire lesson and I will never again take it
for granted. Lastly, I learned that flexibility is key. I had to be very flexible through the
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entire process of creating my lesson plan and being willing to change everything in order
best benefit the children.

E2. Share something you learned about teaching as a result of planning and conducting this activity.
Describe how you will apply this new knowledge to upcoming opportunities for developing learning
experiences for children. (6 pts)
o

One major thing I learned was you have to be flexible. I had created the majority of the
activity and lesson plan when I received word that a lot of the letters I wanted to work with
were not going to be okay to use. The children had only been focusing on certain letter and
word family groups at the time that I was to conduct this activity. That then meant that
everything had to change and adjustments needed to me made. I learned that classes
typically have a very wide range of abilities in them so differentiation is so important to
ensure you are reaching every child at the level they require. I will be applying these aspects
that I learned in this experience to my future experiences in the classroom. Though time
consuming, the differentiation I created for this activity completely paid off and I was able to
witness each child hardly struggle with the activity at hand.

E3. Share something you learned about yourself as a result of planning & conducting this activity? (2
pts)
o

I learned that even though I was completely nervous before beginning the lesson, the second
the children came to my table I was at ease. I have always been someone who gets very
nervous before presentations or big projects. This whole experience has taught me that my
nerves will never get in the way of my love for working with children. I learned that
managing stress is key to remaining flexible and calm. I learned that I have to accept with
myself that not everything is going to go smoothly when working with children and I have to
be okay with that. I learned that reviewing your lesson plan is key to finding any mistakes
made and ensuring that everything is developmentally appropriate and differs to fit the needs
of all of the students. There are so many things I have learned throughout this entire
experience but most importantly I learned that you never stop learning. As a teacher you will
never know everything and learning is something youll be doing just as often as your
students are.

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