East Tennessee State University Name: Melissa Renee Loan Lesson Title: Never Smile at a Monkey / Gathering Information

Curriculum Standards
State Curriculum Standards AASL Learning Standards 2.1.2 Organize knowledge so that it is useful. 2.2.4 Demonstrate personal productivity by completing products to express learning. Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Date: 02/24/2014 Grade/Level: Grade 2

Program: M.Ed. / School Library Media Rationale/Theoretical Reasoning

The drive to meet Common Core State Standards has educators scrambling to introduce nonfiction to their students, especially early learners. This lesson supports elementary level educators in introducing engaging and informational nonfiction titles to their students. Students develop an understanding of nonfiction through literacy circle discussions and hand-on experiences in the information gathering process. Students then use KWL charts to record their new learning using current knowledge as a starting point.

Focus Question/Big Idea/Goal

What question(s), big idea(s), and/or goals drive your instruction? How can non-fiction / reference materials be used in the information gathering process? How can information be organized using a KWL chart?

Lesson Objective(s)
Objectives are measureable. TLW be able to listen to and look for information that helps answer a question(s). TLW be able to effectively use a KWL chart to document (1) what they know (2) what they want to know (3) and what they learned. TLW be able to use fact fragments to take notes that can be used for future research projects. TLW be able to use selected sources to meet their information needs.

TLW begin to develop the initial skills of selecting and sorting information with the ultimate goal of creating learners that are independent information gatherers.

Academic Language
What is the key language demand? What Academic Language will you teach or develop? What is the key vocabulary and or symbols? What opportunities will you provide for students to practice content language/vocabulary and develop fluency? KWL Chart Note taking Non-fiction / Reference Materials

Assessment/Evaluation
Formative: How will students demonstrate understanding of lesson objective(s)? How will you monitor and/or give feedback? How will feedback promote student understanding? Observation of student interest during the lesson. Observation of contributions of students during the pre and post reading discussions. Anecdotal notes about student participation and understanding during the note taking / information gathering process. Summative: What evidence will you collect and how will it document student learning/mastery of lesson objective(s)? KWL charts will be collected to assess the efficacy of student note taking and if they were able to use the select non-fiction materials to meet their information needs (from the W section of their KWL chart).

Instruction
Set/Motivator: How to engage student interest in the content of the lesson? Use knowledge of students academic, social, and cultural characteristic s. Day 1: Instruct students to take their seats in the reading circle upon entering class. Introduce Never Smile at a Monkey: And 17 Other Important Things to Remember by Steve Jenkins. State that this title is a Volunteer State Book Award Nominee so students know it will be one of their choices to vote on in March. Ask students to predict what this title will be about and whether they believe it is fiction or nonfiction. Instructional Procedures/Learning Tasks: Provide specific details of lesson content and delivery based on students prior knowledge, strengths and weaknesses. Read story. While still in circle (or rug) area, discuss story with students. Possible questions (1) Can you think of anything else that looks harmless, but is really dangerous? (2) Did you learn anything about these animals that you didnt know before? (3)Did any of the fact surprise you? (4) What makes these animals so dangerous? (5)What characteristics do they have that could be harmful to a human? (6) How would this story be different if it were a fiction story? (7) Do you know of any

Students are not asked to find their own materials during the information gathering process for several reasons. Mostly it is a time issue. If I allowed students to pick an animal to further research, they could very well spend most of the class choosing an animal (30 minutes). Furthermore, there are not enough computers in the library media center for each child and they are just learning the information gathering process so

 Day 2:

dangerous animals closer to where we live? Class will be ending at this time, use remaining time to ask students for their thoughts on how we would find more information about these animals. Tell them that our next lesson will be focused on gathering information on some of the animals described in the story. Instruct students to sit at their tables today (students are already divided into groups. If teaching a class that does not have groups, students would need to be divided into small groups of four to five students). Spend a few minutes reflecting on how the last lesson ended . . . (1) What did we read last time? (2) Do you remember the authors purpose? (to inform) (3) How can we find more information about the animals illustrated by Jenkins? Explain that students will do research on four animals we read about in Never Smile at a Monkey . . . One animal per table. If needed, explain the purpose of an encyclopedia. Highlight key features of an encyclopedia and explain how one differs from a dictionary. (I chose to show students an excerpt from both a dictionary and an encyclopedia because many of my students responded dictionary when I asked them on day one how we can find more information about the animals in our story.) Explain that today students are using articles from World Book Online Kids an online encyclopedia. Explain that todays assignment is an introduction to the research skills they will need for next nine weeks and since they are beginning researchers, you have chosen their articles and printed them for use at their tables. Show students how to access World Book Online Kids at home. Explain there are several way to take notes when gathering information, but today we are using a KWL chart. Introduce KWL chart and explain how it will help students chart what they know about, what they want to know, and what they learned. Provide students with an example text excerpt and demonstrate how to take notes. Focus on avoiding plagiarism. This is a fairly new idea for grade 2 students so I will demonstrate by reading a small excerpt from an article and asking students how they would put it in their own words, using short fragments. I would guide this discussion by showing them how we can take notes quickly by using our own words, in shortened thoughts. Using projector or white board, display a sample KWL chart so students are able to visually understand and have an example to refer to during their assignment. Assign each table one animal from Never Smile at a Monkey to further research. (1) Blue-ringed octopus (2) Cane toad (3) Hippopotamus (4) Platypus Hand out KWL and World Book Online Kids articles to each student. Ask students to write their name and topic on their KWL chart (topic is animal they are assigned). Then ask students to turn over their World Book Online Kids articles until they have completed columns one and two of their KWL charts. After students have complete columns one and two of their KWL charts ask them to read their World Book Online Kids articles to see if the question from column two was answered. If so, have students write that answer in column three of their KWL chart. If not, have students write an interesting fact they learned in column three. LMS walks around to assist students and make observations. Wrap up class by asking students to turn in KWL charts.

going off to use the Reference collection would be time consuming and intimidating. For the scope of this lesson, I have chosen to pick the animals myself and find the research so students are simply able to focus on how to use the information. This an introductory lesson for students on the information gathering process that will be further developed later in the semester.

Questions and/or activities for higher order thinking: These cannot be answered by yes or no. Can you think of anything else that looks harmless, but is really dangerous? Did you learn anything about these animals that you didnt know before? Did any of the fact surprise you? What makes these animals so dangerous? What characteristics do they have that could be harmful to a human? Closure: Verbalize or demonstrate learning or skill one more time. May state future learning. State future learning expectations of students. Students will understand and question how the use of their World Book Online Kids articles helped them further investigate and discover information about their topics. They will use this to further develop their information gathering skills later in the nine weeks. Material/Resources: What do you need for this lesson? Jenkins, Steve. Never Smile at a Monkey: And 17 Other Important Things to Remember. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Books, 2009. Print.

KWL Chart Select Nonfiction / Reference Materials to be used in small groups during information gathering (chosen according to librarys available collection) Access to World Book Online Kids (1) Blue-ringed octopus. (2014). In Public Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/forkids/article?id=ar835722 (2) Cane toad. (2014). In Public Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/forkids/article?id=ar842571 (3) Hippopotamus. (2014). In Public Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/forkids/article?id=ar830011 (4) Platypus.

2
ETSU Clemmer College of Education Residency II Handbook, rev. July 2012

(2014). In Public Libraries. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/forkids/article?id=ar831783 White board / projector Adaptations to Meet Individual Needs: How will you adapt the instruction to meet the needs of individual students? This particular class does not require adaptation to individual needs, but this lesson could be easily modified. Special needs students would need more direct influence during small group work. ELL students would need to be assessed for their instructional reading level. ELL students may be better able to orate their work with further assistance in the note taking section of this lesson.

Management/Safety Issues: Are there any management and/or safety issues that need to be considered when teaching this lesson?

Students will be expected to follow the rules already established in the LMC. There are no safety concerns outside of normal behavioral expectations for students. Reflections/Future Modifications: To what extent did the class learn what you intended them to learn? What will be your next steps instructionally? What did you learn about your students as learners? What have you learned about yourself as a teacher?

This lesson was so much fun to teach. Steve Jenkins gives teachers and librarians a real gem with Never Smile at a Monkey. Students were engaged from the moment I introduced the title. Because I have no experience teaching, I learned a lot (!!!!) while teaching this lesson. First, I was surprised that my students were not familiar with several words from the story (harass, badger, clutch, etc.). I had to improvise because I did not have anything prepared. I was beyond happy they felt comfortable enough to stop me and ask for definitions because these words greatly influence the story. When teaching this lesson to the remaining second grade classes I was prepared for my students to need these definitions. Furthermore, day two was a bit trial and error. My first class was sort of an experiment with how to do things and in which order. I allowed groups to talk while working because I knew that stronger students could help their classmates with spelling and reading. Overall, this approach worked well and the students enjoyed helping each other and I was able to circle the room to make observations and provide assistance. I did have one new student who I havent worked with yet who was noticeably behind the rest of the class. I am fortunate that the students in this class were very engaged in their assignment and I was able to focus on helping this student complete his KWL chart. I do wish I had more time for students to work first hand with World Book Online Kids on this assignment. It is a valuable

3
ETSU Clemmer College of Education Residency II Handbook, rev. July 2012

resource that would be wonderful for the students at home. I think the best part of this lesson was on day two when I told the students that they should think of themselves as beginner researchers (they loved this) and highlighted why I think they are already wonderful at this job. For this group of students this happened to be their curiosity. They had so many questions during this lesson and were so excited to ask them. Many of which I did not know the answer (they also loved this) so I explained to them that I am also a researcher and would have to look into the answers and get back to them on the next class. They could barely wait to get to their seats before surrounding me to find out the answer from the previous lesson. I truly loved this lesson, but in the future I would save the KWL chart for grades 3 and 4 and find a different activity for grade 2.

4
ETSU Clemmer College of Education Residency II Handbook, rev. July 2012

5
ETSU Clemmer College of Education Residency II Handbook, rev. July 2012