Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

Teacher Candidate
Date/Time of Scheduled
Visit
Name/Address of School
Age/Grade level
Cooperating Teacher

Iseult Harvey
10/15/2016

Name of Lesson
Content
area(s)/developmental
domain(s) addressed

Readers use illustrations on the cover of informational books to help them read
What concepts or developmental skills will this lesson address?

Brief description of the

lesson
This lesson is:

Rationale
Timeframe

PS20 Brooklyn
1st Grade
Classroom Number

This lesson is part of bend 1 described by TCRWP as Getting started reading informational
books. It will be the third lesson in this unit, and builds on a strategy already used by
children in unit 1: getting help from illustrations in reading.

It does not focus on a particular milestone, but rather helps children develop
strategies in their reading, particularly in reading informational books
Students will watch the teacher demonstrate getting help from illustrations and
the cover to read an informational book, then participate in reading, then
practice on their own and with a partner. Volunteers will then share
A new concept/activity
Why is there a need for this lesson?
The objectives of this lesson help students get familiarized with informational
books, and help them develop an understanding that informational books have a
theme that will be stated on the cover. It will help them practice prediction skills.
45 minutes:
8-15 minutes as a whole group
20 minutes independent reading or 20 minutes guided reading with a small
group
10 minutes with a partner

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

5-10 minutes share
Objective(s) of the
activity

What will children know, or demonstrate as a result of this learning experience?

Content Objective: Anticipate what information will be found in an informational book by

looking at the cover.

Children will be able to demonstrate that they can use clues on the cover and in
illustrations to help them in their reading. They will also show that they can infer
as to what an informational book will be about, and predict what facts they will
learn in this book.
Connections to
standards

Common Core State/Learning Standard(s):

CCSSRI I.5 RI I.6 RI I.7Reading Strategy/ies: Informational Books readers look at the cover
and wonder/try to guess what the book will teach them.
This lesson is also tied to the science unit about animals and their habitat, as the teacher will
use books about animals to demonstrate and show that informational books help us learn
about their lifestyle and habitat.

Language Objectives

Because this lesson is to be carried in a dual language classroom, children will be

exposed to new academic vocabulary and language structures in their second
language through the mini-lesson and encouraged to use these structures in
their own questioning:
General Academic vocabulary: the cover (la couverture); illustrations (les
illustrations), a chapter (un chapitre)
Language structures: What is? (quest-ce que; est-ce que)

Resources/materials
needed:

Overhead projector
Informational books of intermediary level

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

(Include any worksheets or
sources of evidence for
childrens learning you will
use during the activity)

Technology inclusion (if

applicable)
Procedures (step by
step)

Set of books for the small group guided reading (depending on the level of the
children targeted)
Informational books for reading levels A to L to be read individually and with a
partner
Posters in the classroom with reading strategies
Individual illustrated phoneme charts for struggling readers + charts as posters.
Wall word walls
Use of the overhead projector to make sure all children can see the book
Part 1: MINI LESSON (8-15 minutes) WHOLE GROUP, on the rug, students raise
their hands to participate

1. Connection / Activating Background Knowledge

who remembers what you learnt about these new books that you started
reading? Books like this one? (holds an informational book)
expected answer: they are called informational books. They teach us several
things about one subject. They have chapters)
Great! Today, I selected a few informational books for us to look at together, and
because I love animals, the first one will be about animals that I love (I will
dramatically reveal the book that I have been hiding in my back)Monkeys!!!!
How cute! Lets look at the cover for a little bit.

2. Teaching Point / Lesson Objective

Today, we are going to learn how we can get help reading an informational book
just by looking at the cover. We can already ask ourselves many questions and
try to guess many things! It is very useful to learn even more and read more
easily.
First, I am going to look at illustrations, just like in our story books. Then I will
read the title. Do the title and the illustration fit together?

3. Demonstration / Teacher Modeling

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

So, I am looking at the illustration on this cover, and I see a monkey. If there is a monkey on
this illustration, then I guess this book is about monkeys! Lets read the title to be sure. Is the
title monkeys ? Yes, it is! I cannot wait to read it, I love monkeys!!!What could I learn about
monkeys in this book? Maybe I will learn where they live? What they eat? Maybe to
recognize several types of monkeys? Or maybe the name of their babies? I really cannot wait,
I am going to open my book. On the first page, I see a monkey eating a banana. I read:
monkeys eat bananas. It answers my question about what they eat!
4. Active Engagement / Guided Practice (use of sheltered language all along: mimes, slow, use
of known structures and words)
Lets look at this book. What do we see on the cover? (lets say it is dolphins)
So, what do you think it is about? (dolphins)
Lets see what the title is. Lets all read the first letter together. DDDDD
Does it start with the same letter as dolphins? Yes, interesting. Lets all take a minute to read
the rest of this word. Who wants to share what they think the title is? (Dolphins)
Now, lets try to think about what it could be about. What questions do you think it will
answer?
Turn to your partner (one francophone, one Anglophone) and talk about questions that this
book might answer.
30 seconds to 1 minute turn and talk.
Now who wants to share their questions? 3 or 4 students share.
We read together the 3 or 4 pages to check.
5. Link / Closure
Now, you are going to read informational books on your own, and remember to look at the
cover and ask what you might learn about this subject before opening it. Who has questions?
Go get your book baggies and go to your reading spot.
(I name 4 children), come on the rug with me.

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

PART 2: INDEPENDENT PRACTICE AND SMALL GROUP GUIDED READING

Children will read for 30 minutes: 20 minutes on their own, then 10 minutes with a partner.
With their partner they can do: echo reading, share a moment they liked, or what they learnt in
the book.
Meanwhile, I am doing a guided reading lesson with children that I have identified as having
needs, either in language (low level of the language I used during the mini lesson) or in
reading (not at expected reading level). I will present them with an informational book, reintroduce the strategy I presented today. We will brainstorm together about what we expect to
learn, then they will read aloud one after the other.
Part 3: SHARE
The teacher will ask a few students who used the strategy to share with the
whole class. They will first show us the cover and tell us what they thought they
would learn in the book. Then they will share with us one page that answered
one of their questions.
Method of assessing
childrens
understanding of
lesson/activity/objective
(s)
(Be sure to include any
tools, rubrics/checklists
and/or worksheets you will
use for assessment(s)

Pre-assessment
The teacher will ask
students to remember
what the previous lesson
was about

Assessment of Student
Learning
Children will be assessed
through questions asked by
the teacher during the mini
lesson. The teacher will
start with DOK level
1questions to assess
language learners, then
move to level 2 and maybe
3 as a way to assess the
other children. During the
guided reading in a small
group, the teacher will

Assessment of
Childrens Language
Learning
This assessment will be
ongoing in the
following weeks as this
lesson is only lesson 3
of a larger unit that is
also reinforced in
science and during
writing workshop.
Throughout the
following weeks, the
teacher will analyze

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

check that the students
students writing and
chosen can apply the
oral interventions.
strategies, and fill
checklists to analyze their
needs.
The share will also serve as
a way to assess 3 or 4
children and their
understanding of the
strategy
Supporting English Language Learners
use of sheltered language for ELLs (lesson to be used
in a bilingual setting)
use of pictures
extended demonstration
use of already mastered simple structures and
questions to allow ELLs to participate

Plans for differentiated

instruction/instructional
modifications

Supporting children
with identified delays
or disabilities
use of higher level
questions for children
above level
guided reading with a
small groups for students
identified as needing
extra support
use of books about
animals that have been
encountered in a previous
lesson to help both
students with learning
delays and Language
Learners

Follow up/Extension
activities

How can I provide an opportunity to remediate, reinforce, or expand on students

learning today in class?

Learning Activity Plan for PreK-Grade 2

We will go through this strategy again during the following reading mini-lesson.
We will also go through this strategy again during writing workshop, since
children will be encouraged to think about what facts they will be presenting in
their own informational book before they start writing it.
Any additional
information that would
be helpful for the
observer to know

This lesson will be carried in a bilingual environment, with students used to

spend half of the day in a language that is not theirs, and used to a certain
routine, commands, simple language and structures. They can answer in their
primary language if needed. During independent reading, children read in their
primary language: they are expected to understand the strategies of this lesson
in a language that is not theirs and then apply them to their reading in another
language.

Observer feedback on the lesson plan, including commendations and recommendations for improving aspects
of the learning activity