Osmani 1

Building Visualization Skills Lesson Plan

Submitted By: Xhenete Osmani
Suggested Grade Level: 2nd grade 12:1:1

Overview:
Visualization is essential in reading because it helps students become more engaged in their
reading. This lesson will introduce students to the idea of visualizing images as they read in
hopes of improving their comprehension skills. Struggling students’ ability to monitor and
evaluate their own comprehension is enhanced by mental imagery. Students will practice this
strategy by visualizing scenes from the book Sweet Dream Pie by Audrey Wood. By
practicing visualization skills, the students will understand that creating images while reading
will help in understanding and comprehending the text. This strategy also encourages
multiple perspectives and fosters open discussion of various interpretations. In addition, I
will show them that the pictures they see in their heads are always things they've seen before
(text to self, text to text or text to world connections).

Identify Information:
This lesson is designed for a 2nd grade inclusive class with students between the ages of six
and seven. The students in this classroom have a variety of reading levels (B through D).
When dealing with various reading levels it is important to think about each individual
student and differentiate instruction as best you can. These students have deficiencies that
hold then back from connecting illustrations from the story to the text. They primarily focus
their attention on the illustrations alone and do not connect them to what the book is actually
saying.

Strategy: Visualization

Standards Addressed:
E2b-Produce a response to literature.
E5a-Respond to non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive and critical
processes.
E3b-Participate in-group meeting.

Purpose/Aim:
Students will create mental images of a passage in a text.
To help students visualize images as they read in order to improve their comprehension
skills.
Students will realize that everyone has different perspectives; therefore, we may have a
different mental image for the same passage, poem, song, book, experience, etc.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

Through the study of visualization:
1) Read and interpret literature in order to demonstrate comprehension and abstract thinking
skills.
2) Understand that everyone has different thoughts and ideas and therefore create different
mental images of the same text.
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Through Shared Reading:

1.) Create mental images before, during and after reading.
2.) Use their mental images to draw conclusions, create interpretations of the text, and recall
details and elements from the text.
3.) Use textual clues to create mental images during the guided practice in the form of
drawing and/or writing on a Story Wheel.

Through Guided Reading:

1.) Visualize the descriptions and events in the text and describe how this strategy helps
enhance their comprehension.
2.) Develop mental images from the text that are of importance to them and draw and/or
write them on a Story Wheel.
3.) Share and discuss their mental images with their teacher and classmates.

Activities:
Introduction
1.) Play a short clip of instrumental music (wave, beach, seagull sounds) as students listen
with their eyes closed.
2.) Ask the students to think about what they are seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling. Have
the students share their mental images with the class.
3.) Explain to the students that what they just did is called creating mental images in your
head. State that as readers we create mental images by connecting our prior knowledge
with the text. We create a movie in our heads while we are reading. When we create these
mental images, the text will become more enjoyable because we can picture what is
happening. Explain that this strategy is called visualization. Visualization helps the reader
better remember the story and enjoy it.

Shared Reading and Introduction to Text

Before Reading:
1.) Initiate the lesson by asking students to close their eyes as they listen to a short poem:
Slightly Rainy Day by: Kenn Nesbitt
It’s windy and chilly
And rainy and gray,
But, still, I won’t need
My galoshes today.
I’ll need no umbrella,
No jacket or mittens.
It’s not raining hard;
Only puppies and kittens.
2.) Have the students draw a picture in their writer’s notebook about what they visualized in
their minds.
3.) The students will then share their images with the rest of the class.
4.) Have the students discuss the differences within their drawings and how our visual
images can be different from others.
5.) Introduce the graphic organizer (Story Wheel) to the class. Explain that we could use this
Story Wheel to draw different visual images we have in our heads while reading a book,
poem, or short story.
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During Reading:
Guide:
A. Introduce the book Sweet Dream Pie by: Audrey Wood. Ask the students what they
think the story will be about. Have them discuss the images that come to mind when
hearing the title of the story. Explain to the students that while reading the book, you will
stop at certain points in the book so they can create a mental image of that passage in
their heads. Then they will draw those images on the story wheel. The students will be
asked to close their eyes during these passages. They will not be able to see the
illustrations until after they have drawn and discussed that specific mental image with a
buddy or the rest of the class.

Model/Teach
1.) Stop reading after the first passage: Do a Think-Aloud. Share and record your mental
image on an enlarged graphic organizer (Story Wheel).
2.) Discuss and highlight prior knowledge and textual clues that helped you come up with
this mental image.
3.) After modeling how good readers create mental images, say, “Did you notice how my
mental image helped make the story come alive for me? I will always remember this
scene because of my mental image. Your mental images may be different from mine.
Mental images vary from reader to reader because every person has different prior
knowledge. This is called multiple perspectives. I want you to continue creating mental
images in your head as you listen to the rest of the story.”
4.) Continue reading the story aloud, stopping at different points to have students draw
and/or write their mental image on the Story Wheel.
5.) While reading, I will also use “Think Alouds” and “I Wonder” questions to encourage the
students to think about their 5 senses to enrich the pictures in their minds. For example:
Pg. 7 “Wow, what do you think a pie like this will taste like when it is done? Pg. 11 “I
wonder what a pie this big would really look like?” Pg. 13 “What do you think the pie
smells like?”

After Reading/Tying It All Together:

1.) Have students share their Story Wheels with their reading buddies.
2.) After buddy discussion, take volunteers to share their Story Wheels with the rest of the
class.
3.) Discuss their different visualization experiences.
4.) Highlight the multiple perspectives by saying, “As you can see, mental images vary from
reader to reader.”
5.) Students will then go back to their desks.
Remedial Learners: Students will describe their story wheel to the teacher and another
adult in the room.
On Task Learners: Students will write 1-2 sentences describing each of the visual images
they created.

Follow-up:
Independent Practice:
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1.) The students will read a book that is at their appropriate independent reading level. The
students will create mental images and record them on a graphic organizer in the form of
drawing and/or writing (Story Wheel).
Remedial Learners: Students will have a story wheel that contains three boxes and will
draw/color three scenes that they visualized from the book. They will then show and
describe their pictures to a reading buddy and the teacher.
On Task Learners: Students will have a story wheel that contains six boxes and will
draw, color, and write 1-2 sentences describing the images that they visualized.
2.) The students will share their mental images with the class and discuss how their mental
images helped to enrich their understanding of the story.

Resources/Materials:
• Instrumental Music
• Poem: Slightly Rainy Day by: Kenn Nesbitt
• Book: Sweet Dream Pie by: Audrey Wood
• Writers Journals
• Graphic Organizer: Story Wheel
• Crayons/markers/colored pencils