Design for Learning

Instructor: Ann Robertson

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: Pre-K
Lesson Title: Turkeys/Thanksgiving, Counting, and Shapes
Date: November 17, 2015
Curriculum Area: Math, Language Arts
Estimated Time: 35 minutes

Standards Connection:
1.2. Use number concepts, vocabulary, and quantities in meaningful ways
1.5. Use math vocabulary to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less,
equal to, greater than, fewer than
2.1 Recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts, and attributes
2.4. Build an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects,
as well as increase understanding of words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom,
inside, outside, in front, behind, next to, and beside
3.2 Show increasing abilities to
match, sort, put in a series, and
regroup objects according to one
or two attributes (shape, size, color, etc)
3.3 Make comparisons and describe objects based on attributes
3.3 Make comparisons and describe objects based on attributes

Learning Objective(s): When asked 8 questions about turkeys/thanksgiving, shapes, and

colors, children are able to answer scoring a 7/8 in order to be proficient.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language: Today boys and girls we are
going to learn all about turkeys and review our shapes and colors!
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s): The teacher will have eight questions in front of
her about turkeys/thanksgiving, shapes, and colors. She will ask each question and mark
on her paper which questions the student gets wrong. The student needs to receive at least
a 7/8 in order to be proficient in this area.
Engagement:
The teacher will have the students sit in their normal places around the table. She will
have in front of her a stuffed turkey. Okay, class today we are going to learn about
turkeys and Thanksgiving. We are also going to review our shapes and colors. Who
knows what this is (teacher holds up stuffed turkey)? Thats right! Its a turkey! Have you
ever seen a turkey before? I have only seen one turkey before! They are pretty cool
looking! You all can pass around the stuffed turkey while we watch this video on turkeys.
Teacher plays Youtube video about turkeys and Thanksgiving.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdXpPHKj9_Q
Did you like that video? I thought it was a lot of fun! What was your favorite part? Tell
your walking buddy what your favorite part was in the video.
Teacher transitions to teaching.
Learning Design:

I. Teaching:
I have a very special book I am going to read you called Five Silly Turkeys. How many
Turkeys? Thats right, five. Can you count the feathers of the Turkey, Jim for me. Good
job counting to five. What holiday do we usually celebrate with turkeys? Ill give you a

hintits coming up soon! Its called Thanksgiving. Has anyone heard of Thanksgiving?
Well, its a holiday that we celebrate every year to be thankful for what we have and the
people we know. Does anyone know what thankful means? Thats right. It means you are
appreciative. Appreciative is a big word! Okay, Im going to read you this book. Listen
very carefully to what happens! Teacher reads book and asks questions throughout.
(examples of questions might include asking the children to point out certain things in the
book or count something on the page like the feathers of the turkey or if we had five silly
turkeys, and one went away then how many would we have left? Or What did we see in
the video that turkeys ate? Thats right they eat berries and nuts that are on the ground. Or
have you ever eaten a turkey before? Keeping the children interacting by asking
questions throughout book is important.) Great job listening to the story about the five
little turkeys, class. Tell me one thing you learned. Oh thank you, Jimmy. That is a great
thought.
II. Opportunity for Practice:
Now that we have learned a lot about turkeys and Thanksgiving, we are going to make
our very own turkeys! I am going to show you what your turkey is supposed to look like.
Teacher pulls out model example of a shape turkey that is already made. All the parts of
the turkey are made out of shapes, including rectangles, triangles, squares, and circles.
They are also different colors so the children can work on colors along with shapes. Here
is a glue stick for you to glue on your shapes. Teacher passes out glue sticks.
Okay, everyone gets a piece of paper to glue all of their shapes on to make up a turkey.
What color is the paper Im passing out to you? Yes, it is orange. Now lets make the
body of our turkey. What shape is this, Jim? Thats right a circle. And what color is it,
Frank? Thats right a circle. I am going to give you two brown circles so you can also use
one for your turkeys head. Glue it so it looks like this! Teacher shows turkey model.
Now, we need four rectangles for the feathers to come out of his body. Steve, can you
count the rectangles on this turkey to make sure it is four. Student counts four. If he is
non-verbal then teacher will physically manipulate his hand to point as she counts to one,
two, three, four. Thank you! Here are four rectangles for each person. Teacher only gives
three rectangles to the two peers in hopes that they will realize they need another one and
are able to verbalize this. Challenging them is something that needs to be done to
continue the learning process for them. The teacher will continue asking the color and
shapes until all parts are passed out and glued on. Wow, those turkeys look wonderful! I
am so proud of your hard work. You did so well telling me all the different colors and all
the different shapes.
III. Assessment:
The teacher will dismiss children to center time and call each one up to sit with her at the
table while she asks the ten questions about turkeys, colors, and shapes to the children.
This will be a formative assessment since there are no grades in preschool, so there are no
summative assessments. She will figure out which area, or possibly multiple, that the
student is struggling with, whether it be turkeys/thanksgiving, shapes, or colors.
Materials and Resources:
10 questions
pre-cut construction paper shapes
orange construction paper
glue sticks
Five Silly Turkeys by Salina Yoon
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdXpPHKj9_Q
Computer to show video

Stuffed turkey
Colored blocks
Shape blocks

Differentiation Strategies:
Green: Teacher will ask children in green what they are doing with their family over
Thanksgiving, what their favorite Thanksgiving food is, etc.
Red: Children in red will be given shape blocks, so they can have a physical
representation of shapes. The teacher will ask them Where is the rectangle? Square? or
Show me the red one etc so that they dont have to actually say the shapes yet until
further practice is done. This gets them back to the basics of shapes and colors.
Data Analysis:
The assessment couldnt be given, but I took notes in my head of which students
struggled with what. The non-verbal children still seemed interested in the lesson and
pointed to things when I asked where the turkey was, or point to the rectangle, so they
understand these concepts. The peers were answering most questions correctly, but still
need practice on their shapes. They have their colors down and understood the idea of
Thanksgiving and turkeys.
Reflection:
I didnt like the teaching portion of this lesson very much, but it is what my teacher wanted me to
do. I felt like the book wasnt as good of a tool for teaching the concepts about turkeys and
Thanksgiving. It was more of a story than it was informational. The video was more
informational, and that was just for the engagement. I wish they had learned more about where
turkeys live, what they ate, etc without having to just randomly insert in the middle of the story. I
was trying to be respectful of my teacher in doing what asked of me, so I will have to save that
for another time. I liked the shape turkey because I felt like it was a practical way to practice
shapes and colors while still incorporated the lesson focus, which included turkeys/thanksgiving.
I think overall I would redesign this lesson by making my own interactive book about turkeys,
kind of like what I did with the bus.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Assessment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

What is Thanksgiving?
What color is this block? (shows red colored block)
What color is this block? (shows black colored block)
What shape is this block? (shows triangle shape)
What shape is this block? (shows rectangle shape)
What does a Turkey eat?
Can you name all the colors you can think of?
Can you name all the shapes you can think of?