LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

Emily Shelleman
Lauren Caffrey, Young Childrens Program
September 27th, Time TBD
Monday September 25th

A. TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON
Read Aloud on the book Dream Big by Kat Kronenberg

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON
While in Practicum I have observed the students sit down on the rug and listen to different read
aloud stories. This is an appropriate activity at this time because as emergent readers, students
are learning to engage in the readings and answer comprehension questions. They will be
interested in this book because it talks about the different transformations of animals. They have
a caterpillar in class that they have been watching turn into a butterfly and have been very
engaged in learning about it. They are also strengthening their listening skills which will help
them to identify letters and sounds when they begin to reading. This fits with child development
because studies have shown that students that are read to frequently become better readers. This
book also encourages positive self-image.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand what are the broad Know what are the facts, rules, Do what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These knows through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
The students will be listening Students will gain an I will also assess if they are
and interacting with the story understanding of a structured listening to the story by asking
Dream Big. This will develop story time setting in the questions about things that have
listening skills and by answered classroom. They will work on happened in it. I can also see if
questions, they will be appropriate ways to interact they can connect the story back
communicating experiences and with the teacher and other to their own lives or if they can
ideas orally. students in a group by raising relate it back to the butterfly in
their hands. class.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Students will be able to listen and answer questions based on the story. They will be able to
generate their own questions based on the story. They will respond appropriately by raising their
hands before they answer or ask questions. Finally, they will be able to connect the story back to
their own lives and experiences.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

Virginias Literacy Foundation Blocks for Early Learning: The child will develop
listening and speaking skills by communicating experiences and ideas orally.

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
I will provide the book, Dream Big to carry out the lesson plan.

G. PROCEDURE
 I will start the lesson by holding the book up and saying this is Dream Big by Kat Kronenberg. I
will then ask the students what they see on the cover picture, making sure I call on someone
raising their hand. After they tell me what they see I will call on someone to tell me what they
think the story will be about. I will then say okay lets see! and beginning reading. On the first
page when it talks about Africa, I will ask if anyone knows where Africa is on the map? And
then point to it or have a student point to it. I will then ask if they know what a baboon is or
what it looks like. When it says Shhh I will make sure to raise my pointer finger up to my
mouth. After I read the second page about the caterpillar wanting to fly I will ask How do you
think the caterpillar will be able to fly like a bird? After the caterpillar turns into a butterfly on
page 7, I will ask if this reminds them of anything we have seen or talked about in class. On page
10, after the baboon sneered at the tadpole, I will ask the students How do you think the
tadpole felt when the baboon sneered at him and didnt believe in him? and they will tell me
what they think. On page 20, I will ask the students what they think flamingo, tadpole, and
butterfly all have in common. Hopefully they will answer that they all transformed into
something new. On page 30, after singing the song in the book that goes to the tune of twinkle
twinkle little star, I will ask them what song that reminds them of. To end the read aloud, I will
ask the students if they have any dreams that they want to follow.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
I will scaffold the levels of the questions I ask to meet the different learning levels each student is
at. For example, I will ask a question that is straight forward like did the caterpillar changing
remind them of the one in class but then I will also ask a question that takes more critical
thinking like how all three animals are connected. Also, as I am reading I can point to the
pictures that go along with the text to increase the comprehension of English language learners.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
This book is a little longer than the other books they have read in class. The students could be
restless or disengaged during it. If this happens I could skip one of the transformations of the
animals to shorten it. By skipping one of the transformations, it will not take the meaning away
from the book or change it much. This way, the book still sounds smooth and the children wont
be able to tell I skipped a part. If the students are responding inappropriately by calling out,
disrespecting others personal space, etc. I will redirect students with the appropriate way to
respond. I will become familiar with the exit routine in case of a fire drill, etc.
 Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.
For the most part, I did not differ from the plan that I had set and had practiced. The main
thing that differed from my plan was that the students had a hard time raising their hands to answer
or ask questions. I asked them to raise their hands but the teachers do not make them do this during
story time so they didnt really understand. Eventually, I just let them ask and answer questions
without raising their hands. The students would also ask their own questions throughout the book
that I would try to answer with another question to engage them more. Finally, at the beginning I
took more time to talk about Africa because the children were interested. I decided to show them on
the map where we live so they could see that in relation to where Africa is. Besides these things, I
followed my plan and did not have to use my backups.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
My cooperating teacher and I had a discussion after the read aloud and we both agreed that the
students learned a lot and were very engaged in the book. The objective for the lesson was to follow
along and be able to answers and ask their own questions which almost all the students did. For
example, all of them answered the question I asked at the end about their dreams. Also, many of
them got excited and answered the question that connected the caterpillar to what they have seen in
class. Some students asked their own questions as we went along with the book like why was the
baboon not being nice? which I would try to answer with a question to get them thinking even
more. Them asking question showed me that they were following along with the book and really
thinking about it. Finally, I think they learned how to make connections between different animals
and realized that many things transformed. We talked about the transformation of the caterpillar,
tadpole, and flamingo and related them to each other which the students seemed to understand.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

If I was teaching this lesson again I actually think I would have gone with my backup plan and
cut out the flamingo part of the book. At this point, the students were getting a little confused about
the transformations. I think it was a lot of information for 4 year olds so it would have been better to
just hear about the frog and caterpillar. This way, they could easily connect the two because you can
see the transformation. When I asked after hearing about the flamingo if they saw a connection
between them, they didnt really understand until I explained it to them. I could have also thought of
more questions to ask throughout the book to make sure they were still understanding everything
going on. I would have also tried to get a response in some way out of every student. Most students
did give me feedback and responses to the book but I would have made sure that every student was
accounted for and learning.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
Personally, I would use this book as a bridge from the caterpillar transforming in the classroom
to look at the transformation of other living things. The students were already very interested in the
caterpillar turning into a butterfly so I think it would be a good idea to build on that interest. I
would talk about tadpoles turning into frogs since the book touched on that and maybe even get
tadpoles to watch grow. It could further go into looking at plants growing from seeds into flowers
and they could plant their own to watch grow. Also, they could think about how they were once
 babies and now they have grown. At the end though they should make the connection that all living
things grow and have transformations.
Going off of what I learned about their comprehension of the story and their listening skills, I
would read more books to keep the thinking going and ask a lot more questions. I would also pull
students aside and talk to them about the book and their understanding or have them draw a picture
of something they learned. Also, I would have the students start to work on raising their hands to
answer and ask questions so that they started to get in the habit of it.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
This reinforced for me that young children are very curious learners and want to learn more
about the world. They also know a lot more than you would think. For example, I was surprised by
how many students knew were Africa was or knew that a baboon was a monkey. Finally, I have
learned that young children are very literal. When I was asking them at the end about dreams they
have for themselves they answered with dreams that they have had when they are sleeping.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
From planning and teaching this, I have seen how when students are learning something that
they are interested in they are so much more involved and learn so much more than they would
about something they did not care for. When I was thinking about this, I realized that many lessons
from many different subjects can circle around this one interest. I have also learned that a big part
of teaching is really just facilitating thought in the students and asking them critical thinking
questions to get them more involved in their own learning.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
After planning and doing this lesson, I have become more confident in myself in the classroom. I
have never written or done an actual lesson in the classroom so doing this first one really made me
realize that I am capable of becoming a great educator in the future with a lot more work. Before, I
was nervous, not around the children but around the teachers because I knew they would be
watching and judging everything I do. Now that I have done this and gotten my teachers feedback I
feel more comfortable in the class. This first lesson has reinforced that I want to be a teacher but I
have also learned that I would like to do older grades. Finally, it has shown me that I have come a
long way since I started in the education program but that I still have so much more to learn and
improve on.