Lesson Plan Whole Words and Phonics and The Ecchoing Green.

Grade Level - Third Grade

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.3
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.3.4.B
Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on
successive readings.
Lesson plan description
For the whole word part of the lesson, I will read The Ecchoing Green aloud to the class.
When I get to the word laugh, I will stop and write the word on the whiteboard. I will say the
word again and ask the students to say it with me. Then I will ask the students to write a sentence
on their own using the word laugh. I will go around and look at the students whiteboards as
they write. I will pick out a few examples and get the students to share. Then I will continue
reading the poem. When I get to the next instance of the word laugh, I will highlight it, and we
will repeat it together. I will then finish reading the poem myself.
For the phonics skill part of the lesson we will group read The Ecchoing Green. I will ask each
student to read two lines so that each time they read it is a rhyming couplet. We will read the
entire poem together, and then I will highlight the word make. I will ask a student if the a in
make makes a long or short vowel sound. I will then discuss the rule, in many short words
showing two vowels, a final e is not sounded while the first vowel has its long sound (Heilman,
2002, p. 183). I will tell the students that there are in fact many consonant-vowel-consonant
words that change pronunciation and meaning when you add on a e to the end. I will tell them we
are going to practice this together using the words hop and slid. After this students will begin
their activities.
Activities
For the whole word activity, students will read the Ha, Ha, Ha I Feel Better! article. Students
highlight each instance of the word laugh as they read. Once finished, students write a story
about a time they laughed.
For the phonics skill activity, the students will work in their reading journals. I will have a list of
numerous short vowel words that change to long vowels when you add an e to the end displayed
on the SMARTBoard. Examples include, mad, kit, tap, cop, shin, pal, plan, dim, etc. Students
would be asked to add a silent e onto these words and write the new word. Students will then be
asked to use these words in a sentence. If the students finish early, then they should see if they
can come up with some examples on their own.

Word Rationale
According to the text, it is important to teach students whole-words when those words are
irregularly spelled or considered to be high-frequency sight words (Heilman, 2002, p. 154-155).
Laugh is both a Dolch sight word for third grade and an irregularly spelled word. Because of
this, I think it is perfect for the whole-word approach.
My phonics skill word make illustrates the rule of the Effect of the Final E (Heilman, 2002,
p. 183). It is also a word that students would be familiar with, which makes it easier for them to
extend that knowledge into a rule that applies to numerous words contained within the English
language.
Poem Rationale
I believe this poem speaks to both the child and the adolescent contained within the average third
grader. I had a recent discussion with my students as part of a new restorative circle program we
are running at our school about what they worry about. I was surprised to hear so many of the
students worry about death and growing old. Come to find out, many of them have grandparents
who are sick or family members who have recently died. I believe The Ecchoing Green
provides a great message concerning the passage of time and the cycle of life. Not only that, this
poem also helps students familiarize themselves with the author William Blake who I am sure
they will encounter repeatedly throughout their academic careers.
Reflection
The experience of building a lesson plan using poems was new to me. I think children naturally
enjoy poetry, especially those poems that contain rhymes, and I could see this being a beneficial
method to teach students foundational reading skills. It took me longer to think about how to
incorporate whole-word and phonics instruction into poetry reading than I think it would have if
I were basing this lesson around a piece of non-fiction. That being said, I see this as a worthwhile
learning activity because this poem was in no way written specifically as an instructional tool,
and so students are encountering these words in a real-world text. Additionally, as we parse these
individual words and reread the poem, it will come to life in the minds of the students.
Watching myself try to do this without an actual class audience was painful. I would love to see
me teach this lesson for my class with the appropriate technology in place, i.e., SMARTBoard
slides, a whiteboard, the poem displayed for all to see, etc. I think the way that teachers interact
with their students has a large effect on student learning, and this part of the lesson was difficult
for me to simulate. Often times, I feel like reading student responses, their level of engagement,
and their facial expressions helps to guide my instructional flow, and obviously in this simulated
lesson that was completely lacking. This is the first time I have really thought about teaching
words using poetry, and I think the way we as a class engage with the poem itself could also be
tighter. Maybe there should be one complete student read through prior to engaging in class

discussion. I also wonder if it would be beneficial to discuss the meaning of the poem itself prior
to engaging in vocabulary instruction. Finally, there is an open offer at our school for someone to
come film us during instruction, and seeing this, I now realize how beneficial it might be to see
and critique my own instructional techniques.
Video - https://youtu.be/PzB5y2gdIMY
The Ecchoing Green
Related Poem Content Details
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
The sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring
To welcome the Spring.
The sky-lark and thrush,
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells cheerful sound.
While our sports shall be seen
On the Ecchoing Green.
Old John, with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk,
They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say.
Such, such were the joys.
When we all girls & boys,
In our youth-time were seen,
On the Ecchoing Green.
Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest;
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green.
Ha, Ha, Ha...I Feel Better!

A group of men and women are standing around in a circle. First, someone starts to laugh. Then a
few more people chuckle. Soon, the whole gang is cracking up. They are not laughing because
someone said something funny. Instead, this group of people is practicing laughter therapy.
When we laugh from being tickled or after hearing a joke, our bodies and minds feel good.
Laughing is also contagious. When one person laughs, the people around him or her will soon
start laughing, too.
The use of laughter therapy has been in hospitals since the 1970s. A doctor in the US found that
getting his patients to laugh helped them recover better. His story was later made into the movie
Patch Adams, which starred Robin Williams. In India, Dr. Madan Kataria started a laughter club
in 1995 to encourage good health. From then on, this form of therapy has spread around the
world. People in these groups may feel uncomfortable at first because the laughter feels forced.
But once they give in and fully enjoy the 45-minute activity, they feel at ease. People who take
part in laughter therapy learn what scientists have known for years laughter is the best
medicine.
Reading comprehension, English comprehension. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.englishdaily626.com/comprehension.php?161