Literacy Lesson Plan Template

Goals/Objectives
In clear and specific terms, say what it is you hope your students to accomplish.
Students will be able to gain practice in compare and contrast skills within nonfiction
texts.
Standards (and Assessment Anchors, if applicable)
Note which the standards and assessment anchors this lesson will help students to accomplish.
CC1.2.21 Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the
same topic.
CC1.2.31 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in
two texts on the same topic.
Materials and Preparation
List the materials you will need to prepare for the lesson.
Printed copies of 2 nonfiction texts
Chart paper (for Venn diagram and lion vs. cheetah characteristics)
Markers
Pencils
Classroom Arrangement and Management Issues
Briefly describe the physical arrangement of the class with respect to managing your plans in
the particular space: 1) Describe the classroom arrangement you will use; explain why you have
chosen it. Consider where students will be for each part of the lesson and how they will get
there. 2) Describe how students will get the materials needed. 3) Anticipate management
concerns likely to arise and describe steps you will or have taken into address them.
1) The lesson will take place in the hallway and/or small teachers room so as not to
disturb other students completing work within the classroom. Students will be seated in
tables throughout the lesson. Chart paper in the front of the space will be visible to all
students.
2) We will distribute the two passages to the students, one at a time.
3) Management concerns:
o Children may be excited to be pulled out of the classroom.
We will address this by establishing expectations at the beginning of the
lesson. If they conduct themselves well, they may be rewarded with
marbles, stars, etc.
o Because we are in the hallway or near the hallway, students and teachers who
also use the space may pose a distraction.
We will address this by instructing students to focus on the lesson at hand
so they may earn a reward.
Plan
Include the imagined sequence of events (with a time estimate for each part of the lesson): 1)
the hook 2) the body of the lesson 3) closure (if appropriate). For each portion of the lesson,
specify focus questions that you plan to ask or problems that you will pose that will help you
structure the activity. This is particularly important for sharing/discussion times. It is not enough
to indicate that you will bring the class together for a discussion. You need to specify how you

will shape the discussion and what kinds of things you will be listening for and attending to
during it.
Hook 3 min. - Discuss the childrens recent trip to the zoo.
o Students will discuss two animals they saw at the zoo that are similar and two
that are different
o Did you see more than one kind of animal (like different kinds of primates) how
are they similar/how are they different?
Body 32 min. - Read two passages and compare and contrast the content within each.
o As we read, underline important information you learn about each animal. Circle
vocab words you dont recognize.
o Make connections from the text to childrens experience at the zoo. This
passage will be about lions. Did anyone see a lion at the zoo? What do we
already know about lions? 2 min.
o Teacher reads first paragraph of lion passage. 30 sec.
Does anyone want to continue? 4 min. 30 sec.
Shared reading for the bottom chart of lion facts.
Take a minute to circle a fact about lions that you didnt know before. 1
min.
Chart on paper: What did we learn about the lion? 5 min.
o Continue reading the cheetah passage. Pay attention to characteristics you hear
about the cheetah. 8 min.
Shared reading for the bottom chart of cheetah facts.
Take a minute to circle a fact about cheetahs that you didnt know
before. 1 min.
Chart on paper: What did we learn about the cheetah? 5 min.
o Define compare and contrast.
o Introduce Venn diagram as tool to help compare and contrast. 2 min.
What do you notice about this?
Teacher will explain how we write differences and similarities on the Venn
diagram.
Emphasize that students should say where in the text they found their
answer.
o Chart on Venn diagram: Do you notice any characteristics that the two animals
have in common/are on both of our lists? Can you circle where in the text you
see this. 5 min.
o What do we notice only about the lion? 2 min. 30 sec.
Use chart we made together. The chart we made might help us.
o What do we notice only about the cheetah? 2 min. 30 sec.
Use chart we made together. The chart we made might help us.
Conclusion - Why might we want to compare and contrast?
Assessment of Goals/Objectives
Describe how you will assess students with respect to your goals. What evidence of student
learning will you gather (written work, class discussion, observations) and how will you gather
it? Explain how this evidence will help you assess progress toward your goals.
We will assess verbal and discussional contributions to the conversation to see if
students shared pertinent information that displays an accurate understanding of
compare and contrast.

We will collect the annotated passages that students have read to see if they noted
similarities and differences among the two animals.

Anticipating Students Responses and Teachers Possible Responses

Management concerns:
o Children may be excited to be pulled out of the classroom.
We will address this by establishing expectations at the beginning of the
lesson. If they conduct themselves well, they may be rewarded with
marbles, stars, etc.
o Because we are in the hallway, students and teachers who also use the space
may pose a distraction.
We will address this by instructing students to focus on the lesson at hand
so they may earn a reward.
o One child may dominate conversation.
We will address this by being explicit in how many hands we will take. We
will emphasize that it is important to respect others as we read.
Response to content of the lesson:
o Students may be surprised or excited by the content about lions and cheetahs.
o It is possible that some students may be concerned with the mention of killing or
attacking of prey mentioned in the passaged.
o Students may encounter unfamiliar vocabulary words.
Accommodations
Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging:
o Students will engage in purposeful pair work in which the teacher will match
higher level students with lower level students.
o The teacher will read more difficult excerpts aloud.
Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early:
o Students who finish reading early, can begin to list the characteristics of each
animal.