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Driver -- First Grade -- John C.

Myers

LESSON PLAN OUTLINE


JMU Elementary Education Program
I. TITLE OF LESSON Read Aloud on Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson
II. CONTEXT OF LESSON
In science class the students in Ms. Drivers class have been learning about seasons. The book my
teacher and I selected implements this concept of seasons in a fun and interactive way. The book
describes an apple tree and how it changes throughout the year based on the season. I feel the students
will be interested in learning about seasons because the weather outside has just started to change. In
the next few weeks the students will be able to watch the temperature gradually get colder as we enter
the fall season. They will be able to watch the leaves change colors and start to fall off the trees. This
will make the lesson applicable to their lives and therefore more interesting to learn about.
III. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand: The students will understand more about seasons and how they affect nature, especially
trees.
Know: Students have been learning about the seasons in class. They have discussed the weather
patterns and are familiar with the distinct seasons, the months they fall in and the clothing associated
with them.
Do: They will be confident about how these seasons affect trees and create a visual representation. This
will lead into their next unit lesson, deciduous trees.
IV. COLLECTION OF ASSESSMENT DATA
Following the read aloud, the students will complete an activity which involves coloring an apple tree
in each of the four seasons. I will use these drawings to assess their comprehension of this lesson.
V. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (K & 1) OR FOUNDATION BLOCKS
(First grade)
Science
1.7 The student will investigate and understand weather and seasonal changes. Key concepts include:
a) changes in temperature, light, and precipitation affect plants and animals, including humans;
b) there are relationships between daily and seasonal change; and
c) changes in temperature, light, and precipitation can be observed and recorded over time.
VI. MATERIALS NEEDED
Tap the Magic Tree: Christie Matheson
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Driver -- First Grade -- John C. Myers

For activity: tree template, tissue paper for leaves (green, orange, yellow, pink, brown),
cotton balls for snow, glue, crayons.

VII. PROCEDURE
A. PREPARATION OF THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
The activity will use stations for each of the seasons. Before the read aloud I will set up each station
with the necessary materials for that season so the students can move into the activity more easily.
B. INTRODUCTION AND ORGANIZATION
While all the students are sitting in their assigned place on the rug, I will conduct a mini
discussion on what they have learned about seasons. I will begin by asking what the four seasons are
then write all four on the board in the front of the class. Under each season name I will ask for one or
two key characteristics associated with each season to write under the name, for example- hot and
sunny for summer, cold and snowy for winter. After the list I completed I will ask the students to think
about what they know about how trees change during this time. I will tell them to keep this in mind as
they listen to the book and try to figure out what a tree would like during each of the four seasons we
discussed.
This book is very interactive as most of the pages require taping, blowing, shaking and other
activities. For example: one page says rub the tree to make it warm, for this I would select a student
to come up and rub their hand on the page to act as though they are warming the tree. Each page has a
different instruction, so I will allow the students to take turns assisting by doing the activity named in
the book. I will attempt to have every student participate in these read aloud.
To prepare them for the supplementary craft, I will review the books contents. I will ask the
students first what they noticed about the tree. Did it stay the same throughout the book? How did it
change? I will then go over each season and flip back to the corresponding page to make each student
has an understanding of what the tree looks like in that season.
C. IMPLEMENTATION
To supplement the students understanding of seasons I will lead a group craft. Each student will
be given a tree template broken into four quadrants. The quadrants will be labeled spring, summer, fall,
and winter. The students will rotate between the four stations and use the tissue paper and glue to create
a representation of a tree during that season. Ideally, the quadrants should look as followed:
Spring: green leaves and flowers
Summer: green leaves and bright sun
Fall: orange, yellow, and red leaves, red apples
Winter: no leaves and snowflakes
D. CLOSURE
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Driver -- First Grade -- John C. Myers

After the students have finished the craft I will ask the class if anybody has any further questions
to ensure that everybody completely understood the lesson. Later, I will look at their final products to
assess their learning and how they were able to show what they learned.
E. CLEAN-UP
I will need to make sure that all trash is thrown away and the class is back to its usual order.
VII. DIFFERENTIATION
In order to compensate for the large learning gap in this classroom, I will provide extra
assistance to those who need it. The book itself shouldnt be too academically difficult for these
struggling students, but the activity may prove to be challenging. If students struggle to visualize what
the tree should look like during that season, I can use leading questions to help them arrive at the
answer without simply being told. For the more advanced students I will let them work individually,
assisting them whenever necessary.
IX. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT
IT?
Opening of the Lesson:
Although the students have all learned about the seasons at this point, each student will have varying
levels of comprehension. This class has a very wide learning range which means some students will
understand this topic completely and be able to identify characteristics associated with each season,
while others may be struggling to remember the different names. The list I will be making with the
class will allow each student to review and remember what they have learned in class. This way each
student enters the read aloud with a basic understanding of each of the four seasons so they are able to
follow the book.
Closing of the Lesson:
Students may have trouble cutting and gluing, or following the directions. I will make sure to cycle
around to help them with the activity as needed. The sentence frame also may prove to be troublesome
for many students. I will do my best to guide them and help them write the sentence to reflect their
various abilities.
Behavior:
This class has a few students who struggle with behavioral issues, which may make this lesson
difficult. Since the book I am reading is interactive, the students will hopefully be laughing and having
a good time. However, with a book of this nature, there is a risk of the students becoming too silly. To
prevent this, I will try my best to make sure the kids have fun, without going crazy. This will be done
by limiting the volunteers to one or two per page and attempting to keep the overall volume down.
I have also noticed that many of the students seem unable to stay focused. This may be a problem
during the activity where they have to cut and glue many things in a limited amount of time. I will do
my best to move around to each of the stations and keep the students focused.
X. REFLECTION
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Driver -- First Grade -- John C. Myers

This read aloud reflects the course content because it allowed me to put concepts I have learned
about reading aloud into practice. In Read 366 we have learned about the importance of reading books
to elementary classes and proper techniques for doing so. We have learned about the ways reading
alouds can benefit children, and it was beneficial to me to be able to practice the skills I have learned.
To prepare for this lesson I observed my cooperating teacher teaching lessons. I watched the
dynamic of the class and how she handled the learning gaps and adjusted her approach accordingly.
Since my book is interactive I wanted to be prepared for the students to get overly-excited. I observed
the demeanor of the class and attempted to get a sense of which students might cause the lesson to get
out of hand. I used this information to be aware of the potential problems so I could try and prevent
their acting out.
After the book was finished, the students each had an opportunity to show what they learned
through the use of an activity. The activity was to recreate a tree as it would look in each of the four
seasons. Each of the students were given different colored tissue paper and a template of a tree broken
into four quadrants, each labeled as one of the seasons. Using various colored tissue paper, the students
were asked to create leaves, flowers, snow, or any other symbol they would like. When they finished
this I looked though their pictures to see how they did. Overall I think most of the students understood
the seasons and were able to recreate what they had seen in the book. The students were very engaged
during the read aloud, which definitely increased their level of learning. The book made them excited
and involved, which made the activity more enjoyable and more keen on understanding the seasons in
order to perfect the craft.
Overall I think this lesson was very successful. I felt very prepared going into it, which is
definitely something I plan to do for my next lesson. During the read aloud I attempted to handle the
different distractions as I thought my cooperating teacher would. My book was interactive which made
the kids excited as they all wanted to participate. Although I felt prepared for this, next time if I were to
conduct this read aloud again I would provide more structure for picking the students to participate.
The students became very excited and all wanted to participate. I made sure each student had a turn,
however some still protested and insisted they were skipped to try and get a second turn. Next time I
think this book would be more appropriate for a smaller group of students, rather than a large class of
21 students. I loved being able to do this assignment, and I am looking forward to continuing to
practice this valuable skill!

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