Spring 2016_Writing

Descriptive Essay
Name:
Courtney Riley
School: Riverview
Elementary
Grade Level: 2nd
Number of Students in Class: 25
Unit:
Lesson Duration: 1 hour
Day, Date, and Time of Lesson: 2/26/2016
1. Objective(s): By the end of this lesson students will be able to write a
descriptive story describing where they think the best place to go on
vacation is, what would take place on this vacation, and an explanation of
this location.
2. Colorado Academic Standards:
Content Area: Reading, Writing, and Communicating
Standard: 3. Writing and Composition
1. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic,
use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding
statement or section. (CCSS: W.2.2)
2. Organize informational texts using main ideas and specific supporting
details
3. User relevant details when responding in writing to questions about
texts
3. Learning Target(s): I will be able to write a descriptive story telling
where I think the best place to go on vacation is, why this would be the best
place, and an explanation of this location.
4. Assessment:
Students will turn in their essays at the end of the lesson. Their final
copy as well as their picture.
Teacher will walk around while students are writing and check for
understanding.
Students sharing their writing

5. Materials:
White board and markers (For demonstrating writing)
Paper and Pencil
Picture
6. Essential Questions or Big Picture Statement:
What is descriptive writing?
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How could I use detail to describe my dream vacation?

How much detail is needed to write a descriptive story?

7. Introduction/Anticipatory Set:
Have the kids circle up on the carpet and ask them what place they chose
that they thought would be the best place to go on vacation.
8. ****Step-by-Step Lesson Process: ****
(This lesson takes place after two minilessons. The students were already
introduced to this topic and have researched the place where they want to
go on vacation.)
First I will have students gather on the carpet in the meeting area. I will
have already written the prompt on the board for the students to read.
(If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world where would you
go? What would you do on this vacation? What does this place look
like?)
I will ask students What place did you choose to go on vacation?
After a few students raise their hand and answer the question I will go
onto explain that the students will be writing an expository essay.
(Descriptive writing is a form of expository writing) Its purpose is to
use detail so the reader can picture something in his or her minds.
Explain to students what detail and descriptive writing is. Give
examples
Hold up a picture and give two sentence examples. One sentence will
include a lot of detail and one sentence will include little to not detail.
Ask the students which sentence is more descriptive.
Ask students how they could incorporate detail into their writing.
Then I will demonstrate on the white board a small portion of how I
would start the essay. (Choosing a topic that students may not find too
interesting so that they wont want to use this idea for their story)
I would like to go to San Diego. First I would like to go to San Diego
because it has a big sandy beach
I will ask students as I am demonstrating to answer questions such as,
What descriptive word could I use here?
After I am done demonstrating I will ask students to turn to a partner
and discuss a few descriptive words they might use in their writing.
Then I will send the students to their desks to begin working on their
essay.
As the students are working I would walk around and check for
understanding. (Also checking if they are adding in the information
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they researched about their vacation spot)

Once students are done writing I will check over their writing to make
sure all the proper nouns of capitalized and all the sight words are
spelled correctly. (this was suggested by my CT. She didnt want me to
completely correct all of their spelling mistakes.)
Once I have checked over students writing they will go get a fancy
sheet of paper to write their final draft.
After students are done with their final draft they will draw a picture of
the place they would like to vacation to.
If there is time a few students will get to share their writing. (explain to
the students that not all of them will get to share this time)

(After this lesson is completed my CT is going to hang up a world map and students
will write their name and the location they chose on a piece of paper. They will tape
this piece of paper around the outside of the map and then attach a sting to the
paper. This string will then be stretched across the map to the location they chose
and be held in place by a push pin. This way students can visual see all the different
places their classmates chose along with where they are located in the world.)

I incorporated differentiation into this lesson because students are able to

pick what place they think would be the best place to go on vacation and can
describe it in their own words. Students are also writing at their own level
and pace and can work on things they specifically need to improve on.

Reflection
The lesson went way better then I expected it to go. Even though
this a fairly easy lesson to teach because students are spending a
lot of time writing, I was still very nervous. For the most part
everything went very smoothly. All the students worked silently at
their desks and they really impressed me with their writing. A
couple things that didnt go well were my definition of the word
descriptive as well as what exactly I wanted them to write in
their paper. After this lesson I talked with my CT and she
suggested that maybe next time I have the prompt written on the
board before the lesson begins for students to look at. If I were to
teach this lesson again, I would change the way I explain to the
students what is expected of them. I would also come more
prepared and have more confidence in myself to teach the
lesson. I feel like one of my biggest downfalls is my confidence
level and my nerves. However, my students were so easy going
and easy to teach throughout this whole lesson. They would raise
their hand when they had a question and had a lot of patience
with me when I had to re-explain certain concepts. This particular
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group of students are extremely easy to work with.

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