Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education (Children’s Literature) Lesson Plan

Hannah Sedlock

Book Title and Author/Illustrator: Still A Family: A Story About Homelessness By: Brenda Lee Sturgis and
Jo-Shin Lee

LESSON RATIONALE/INJUSTICE CONFRONTED

By listening and responding to the story, students can relate to the story
and my own example to identify who is a “main character” in their lives
and understand that every person has a different family story than their
own. (Injustice confronted: homelessness and unique qualities of
families).
READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)— In working individually, students can pick out a main character in their own life and
understand why this person is important, just like the main character in a story.
B. Objective(s)—
- After listening to the story, students can pick out important parts of a story and answer grand
conversation questions.
- After completing the reflection activity, students will demonstrate an understanding of the
importance of a main character through their own written example.
C. Standard(s):
K.W.6.2c- Spelling – Spelling simple words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness.
K.RL.2.3 Identify important elements of the text (e.g., characters, settings, or events).

Management Plan-
- Time per lesson element:
o Anticipatory Set: 3 minutes
o Lesson presentation (read aloud): 10 minutes
o Lesson presentation (activity): 25 minutes
 o Conclusion: 3 minutes
- Use of space: Students will be sitting on the rug during the read aloud portion of the lesson.
They will then work at their tables for the response activity. I will be walking around the room
while students are working on the activity.
- List of materials :
o Book (Still A Family: A Story About Homelessness)
o Picture of family
o Response worksheet
II. Anticipatory Set
- Share a story about my family and how we stayed close during a time that was difficult. Provide
a picture of my family to give a visual for students to relate to.
- Share about someone that impacted my life during that time (the book talks about a family with
a mom and dad, I will give an example of someone that is not my parent because some students
do not live with their parents or biological family).
- “As we are listening to the story, pay attention to how this family has stayed close during a time
that is not easy. See if we can pick out who the important people are in the story and how they
help each other stay happy throughout the story.”
III. Purpose: “Today we are going to be reading a book that talks about the closeness of a family even in
a difficult situation. We are going to work on seeing the main characters and why they are
important in the story, and then think about the ‘main characters’ in our own lives.”

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

IV. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners—For students who struggle coming up
with their own idea, or putting it on paper, I will talk with them about their idea and how they can
start writing it down. I will provide lines on the paper to show how many words were in their
sentence and assist with sounding out each word in their sentence.

V. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

a. I will begin the read aloud, presenting the book a performance with different vocal
inflections.
b. Following the book will be a grand conversation, with the following questions:
i. How did you like the book?
 ii. What did you like about it?
iii. What didn’t you like about it?
iv. Did you notice who the main characters were? Who were they?
v. How did the main characters help each other?
vi. What was this book about? (main idea)
c. After the conversation about the book, I will deliver a short explanation about the family
(main characters) in the story and why they are important, even though they may look
different than our own family.
d. “You might have noticed in this story that the boy had both a mom and a dad. Even
though they didn’t live together all the time, they still loved each other very much and
still called themselves a family. Do we have any ideas of what makes a family?”
e. Lead students in a short conversation about their ideas on a family, not all the students
will live with their mom and/or dad. I will call on a few students to share their ideas, if
they have none then I will provide a few of my own examples (family can include both a
mom and dad, just one parent, it can be a grandparent, a sibling, a foster parent, or an
adoptive parent…)
f. “Now that we have looked closely at the main characters in this story, we understand
that each family is going to look a little bit different and that is okay. Now I want to know
more about your family, or the main characters in your life. We are going to do an
activity where you can show me one very important main character in your life. This can
be your mom, dad, sibling, grandparent, neighbor, or babysitter. These are people that
are so important that you would consider them a part of your family. When you do this
activity I would love for you to tell me with your words who this person is, and show me
in a picture. You will write one sentence to tell me who the person is. I would say ‘a main
character in my life is my mom.’ And then I would draw a picture of her, making sure to
use at least five colors” (show a finished example of this activity).
g. After explaining the activity, I will observe the group to see if there is confusion, and ask
if there are any questions. I will then dismiss by table group; the worksheet will already
be waiting at their table.
h. As students begin the worksheet, I will make my way around to each student to check on
their work and ask what their sentence is. We are working on spelling phonetically,
 spacing correctly, using capitals, and using correct punctuation. I will check each of these
aspects while they are working and give reminders where it is needed.
i. I will give the students twenty minutes to work on the activity, making sure I make it
around to conference with each student briefly. (A timer will be displayed on the board
to keep them on track with time)

VI. Check for understanding.

a. I will engage the class in a whole group discussion after finishing the read aloud, I will be
looking to see if the students were able to point out what I asked them to look for before
beginning the book. I will also be looking for thinking that connects the book to their
own lives.
b. I will be walking around to each table during the work time, if there is any student that is
struggling, I will work one-on-one with them to help them understand what we have
learned. I will revisit any area of confusion for that student.

VII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

a. When time is up for students to be working on their reflection activity, I will ask for two
volunteers to share what they have written and drawn (I will look for two students who
did something that is different from the other).
b. “I loved seeing who the important main characters are in your lives. And as we can see
from the two examples that just shared, even our families are all different from each
other, but they are still just as important in our lives.”

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative: After reading the story, the class will engage in a conversation, answering several questions
about the text. I will be observing each student that is sharing. After explaining the lesson activity, I will
again ask if there are any questions before dismissing students to their tables. If there are several
questions, I will reteach those specific portions of the lesson. When students are dismissed to their
tables to work, I will be walking around and observing how students are working and if they are
understanding how to complete the lesson activity.
Summative: Students will complete a reflection work sheet activity to be turned in to me at the end of
the lesson. They will be demonstrating their understanding of what a main character is by applying it to
their own lives. After we have a conversation about the important characters in the story, students will
take that information and think about who has been an impact in their own lives. On the worksheet they
will record one sentence about this person; in the sentence they will be practicing spelling their words
phonetically. They will also draw a picture representation of this “main character.” When it is turned in, I
will be looking to see that the students understood the activity, the concept of a min character, and that
they closely followed the directions.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. Were students engaged during the read aloud performance?
7. Were students able to answer the grand conversation questions?
8. Were students able to apply their knowledge about main characters to their own life?
Name: ________________________________________________________________________

Who is an important main character in your life?

A_main_character_in_m
ylife_is_____________
__________________
___________