LESSON PLAN OUTLINE

JMU Elementary Education Program

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Emily Shelleman
Lauren Caffrey, YCP
November 1st, Time TBD
Friday, October 27th

(Include the title of each of the following sections in your written plan.)

A.! TITLE/TYPE OF LESSON

!Read Aloud of the book Were Going on a Leaf Hunt and comprehension of the word
colorful

B.! CONTEXT OF LESSON

What pre-assessment did you do that tells you the students readiness, interests, and/or learning
preferences? Why is this an appropriate activity for these students at this time? How does this lesson
fit in the curriculum sequence? How does this lesson fit with what you know about child
development?
While in my practicum classroom I have observed the students sit down on the rug and listen to
different read aloud stories. This is an appropriate activity at this time because as emergent
readers, students are learning to engage in the readings and answer comprehension questions.
The class goes on nature walks every day I am at practicum to look at the different natural
objects like trees and leaves. The book I am reading is about finding leaves which will interest
them. They will also be interested because I will tell them we are going on our own leaf hunt.
The students have been answering open-ended questions all year and learning this new
descriptive word will help them critically think about things they make or see. It will also help
them better describe different objects. This will be a developmentally appropriate word because
it will be challenging for the student to think of their own definition but easier to understand. It
is also easy to assess if the students know the word or not.

C.! LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Understand what are the broad Know what are the facts, rules, Do what are the specific thinking
generalizations the students should specific data the students will gain behaviors students will be able to do
begin to develop? (These are through this lesson? (These knows through this lesson? (These will also
typically difficult to assess in one must be assessed in your lesson.) be assessed in your lesson.)
lesson.)
The students will be listening to The students will be able to Students will be able to point
the story Were Going on a Leaf comprehend what the word out things that are colorful, and
Hunt. This will develop listening colorful means and come up things that are not. They will be
skills and by answered with a class definition. We will able to justify as to why they
questions, they will be come up with a definition along identified something as colorful
communicating experiences and the lines of something that has or not.
ideas orally. They will also be many colors and is bright.
learning a new descriptive
vocabulary word.

ASSESSING LEARNING
What will your students do and say, specifically, that indicate every student has achieved your
objectives? Remember every objective must be assessed for every student!
 The students will be able to listen and answer questions based on the story. Through this story,
they will be able to comprehend what the word colorful means. I will assess if they are
understanding this vocabulary word when we make our own class definition and when each
student points to the pile of leaves they think is colorful. I will also assess later in the day when
we do an arts and crafts project. The students will be using paint to print with leaves and when
they are done, I will ask them to look at their own painting and ask if they believe it is colorful or
not and have them justify their answer.

Students Name The students answer to The students justification for

whether they believe their whether or not they believe
artwork is colorful or not their artwork is colorful.
Kai Yes I have green, red, and
orange
James Yes I dont know
Braeden Yes N/A
Macauley No Its just yellow
Hank Yes It had orange and yellow
Teagan Yes Because I used different
colors
Agnes Yes I dont know
Eivanna Yes Because different colors
Tina Yes Because these are my favorite
colors like rainbow
Birch Yes I dont know
Gloria Yes Because I mixed the colors

D.! RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (and NATIONAL STANDARDS if required)

! Virginia Literacy Foundation Block 1
o! Oral Language: The child will develop listening and speaking skills by
communicating experiences and ideas orally.
! Virginia Literacy Foundation Block 2
o! Vocabulary: The child will develop an understanding of word meaning through
the use of appropriate and expanding vocabulary.
! Virginia Health and Physical Development Foundation Block 1
o! Manipulative Skills: The child will demonstrate motor skills and movement
patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.
! Virginia Visual Arts Foundation Block 4
o! Aesthetics: The child will examine and express different views and experiences
through the visual arts.

E.! MATERIALS NEEDED

List all materials that will be needed to teach this lesson.
Who will be responsible for securing each item?
! The book Were Going on a Leaf Hunt- I will provide this
! Multiple pictures of things that are colorful and things that are not colorful.
! A pile of brown leaves
! A pile of colorful leaves
! Leaves and/or Acorns- Each Student will pick their own while on our daily nature walk.
! Paper bags to collect the leaves- I will provide the bags
o! 15 bags labeled with the students names
 ! Paint- The YCP has many different paints and paint color that they will provide.
o! Red paint bottle
o! Yellow paint bottle
o! Orange paint bottle
o! Green Paint bottle
! Paper- The YCP will provide the white paper for the activity.
o! Standard white printer paper size 8x11
o! Fifteen sheets- One sheet for each child
! Paper plates for paint- I will provide these paper plates
o! Four paper plates- One for yellow paint, one for red paint, one for orange paint,
and one for green paint.
! Place mats- The YCP will provide the place mats.
o! Four placemats- One for each of the four students at the table

F.! PROCEDURE
(Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will SAY and DO.)
! Preparation of the learning environment (if required)
!Engage -Introduction of the lesson
!Implementation of the lesson (specific procedures and directions for teacher and students)
!Closure
!Clean-up (if required)
Before adventure time, we will have the group sit on the carpet and I will read the book
Were Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger. Before I start the book I will tell the students to
make sure they listen carefully because we will be going on our own leaf hunt after. I will also
tell the students that We are going to learn a fun, new word today! Has anyone ever heard of
the word colorful before? The students will then either answer yes or no. Instead of calling out
and saying yes or no, I will tell the students to give me a thumbs up if the have heard it and a
thumbs down if they have not. Then I will ask Can someone raise their hand and tell me what
the word colorful means? We will come up with a class definition for colorful. Also, I will have
some students point out different things in the classroom that they think are colorful. I will then
read the book to them and stop on the first page and point out the word colorful. I will tell them
to pay special attention and make a C with their fingers for the word colorful every time they
hear it in the story. I will demonstrate how to make a C with the index finger and thumb. On the
pages that have the word colorful on it, I will ask students to point out something colorful they
see. For example, on page 7 a student could point out that the tree is colorful or on page 30 they
could point out the colorful house. After reading the book, I will have two piles of leaves. One
pile will have all brown leaves and the other pile will have different colored leaves such as red,
orange, green. I will ask the students which pile they think is colorful and have them point to
whichever one they believe is. I will then ask someone to justify their answer by asking why do
you think that one is colorful?. We will then move on to the next activity until it is time for our
nature walk.
The students go for a nature walk every Wednesday. Before the nature walk, I will tell the
students to pick up leaves and acorns during the walk for a special project we will do later in the
day. By saying they will use it for a special activity, they will get excited and be interested to find
out what it is. I will have a bag labeled with each students name to put their leaves in. I will
explain to them that they should pick up items that they usually would on nature walks but that
everyone should pick up some this time. During the walk, I will remind the students to pick the
items up and before we go inside I will check to make sure they have the materials. On our way
inside, I will tell the students to put their materials in their cubbies and then go wash their hands
to get ready for lunch. After lunch they have nap time. During this time, I will start to prepare
the activity by putting green, red, orange, and yellow paint on different plates. This way the
students can completely dip their leaves in the colors. I will have the arts and craft table set up
with paint, placemats, and white paper.
Once the students wake up from nap the table will be set up and groups can start to come
over during exploration time. We have a rock system so only four children will be able to be at
 the center at a time. For every group that comes over, I will tell them Go get your leaves and
acorns from your cubbies and come back to the table. Then, they will look at the direction tent
with pictures on it to try to understand what activity they are doing. Once they have looked at it,
I will explain that they are going to dip their leaves and acorns in paint and then use it to stamp
it onto the papers in different patterns. Once they are done with their picture, I will have them
place theirs on the drying rack, throw away their leaves and acorns, wash their hands, and have
them move onto another activity.
During the craft, I will ask students to remind me what the word colorful means as we
discussed earlier. Then, I will ask them if they think their painting is colorful and why. I will
record their answer to what colorful means and if they believe their painting is colorful or not on
my data collection form.
Once every student has finished the activity and I have pulled each child aside, I will start to
clean up. First I will collect all the paper plates and just throw them in the trashcan. Then, I will
put the different paint bottles back on the shelf in the storage room. I will clean the placemats
off in the sink, dry them, and put them back on the shelf. Finally, I will wipe down the table with
the water and bleach solution and paper towels they provide at the YCP.

G.! DIFFERENTIATION
Describe how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your classroom with varied
learning styles and abilities, English language proficiency, health, physical ability, etc. How will you
extend and enrich the learning of students who finish early? How will you support the learning of
children struggling with your objectives?

I have made sure to fit this plan to meet the needs all of students in the class. In my class,
there are some English language learners and most students do not read. To accommodate them,
I will have the two piles of leaves. This way, the children can see the meaning without reading or
listening to the definition. I will also have the students do thumbs up or down and making C
with their fingers instead of calling out so that all students can answer, even if their English is
not the best or they are shy. For the craft, I will have the direction tent include pictures of each
step they should do so that they can visually see it. I will also go over it verbally before they start.
Since this is a creative activity I will not interfere too much but I will show some students
struggling how to flip the leaf over and hold it down so that it stamps on the paper. I will also
chunk directions and ask individual students to repeat the directions back to me to ensures
understanding.

H.! WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation.

During this lesson, the students could have trouble coming up with their own definition.
If this happens I will guide the students with some examples of things that may be colorful. If the
students are responding inappropriately by calling out, disrespecting others personal space, etc.
I will redirect students with the appropriate way to respond.
During this lesson, there could be a few accidents with the paint. If the paint spills over, I
will clean it up as fast as possible and make sure the students dont step in it. Also, the paint
could get on the children or they might try to eat it. To try and avoid this I will have a talk with
the children before they start the activity. I will explain that the paint is only for the paper and
not for their bodies so they should do their best to keep it on the paper but it is okay that it gets
on their hands. To also help prevent painting getting on childrens clothes I could get smocks to
bring in for the children to wear. I will also explain that the paint is not a food and should be
nowhere near their mouths. The students leaves or acorns might break during this activity as
well. I will collect my own materials so if this happens I have more that the child can use. I will
become familiar with exit routine in case of a fire drill, etc.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts below to
guide your thinking. Be thorough in your reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

I.! How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.
For the most part, I did not differ from my lesson plan. I had to guide the class to think of a
definition for the word colorful. After this part, it went smoothly and the students were able to pick
out different things in the room that were colorful. I did not end up stopping on all the pages that had
the word colorful for the students to pick out what was colorful. The students had some trouble
making the letter C with their fingers so when it would come up on the page I would do it also as a
guide. The actual leaf hunt differed as well because I had to collect leaves from a different spot since
the leaves on the spot of the quad we were on were all the same shape and color.

II.! Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?
After teaching this lesson, I believe that most students understood the concept of the word
colorful and enjoyed learning it. When I did the two different leaf piles activity at the end of the
read aloud, most of the students were able to point to the colorful leaf and explain why they thought
it was colorful using our definition. This was even more validated when I asked the students about
their own creation. In my data table above, of the 11 students that did the activity, all of them were
able to distinguish if their painting was colorful or not. Only 7 were able to explain why to me but I
believe this is also because they wanted to move on to the next project and not spend anymore time
at the table. Since a majority of the students were able to distinguish these things, I believe the
students did learn and if the word is being used more often in the class they will learn and
understand it more. I also believe they understood the concept because one of the students went up
to my cooperating teacher and talk her that one of the projects she made days ago was colorful.

III.! Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

IV.! I would incorporate more examples for the students so that they could practice the concept. I would
also have written the word on the black board and written down the class definition so that the
students could refer back to it and get use to the word. This would be more for teaching the lesson in
an actual classroom that incorporates lessons.

V.! Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?
Next, we could work on more descriptive words that they can describe things with. During the
day, the students are asked many times what they are doing and why. To answers these questions
better, they will need to build on more descriptive vocabulary in order to explain their thinking. For
example, we could work on the words enormous or tiny to describe a building or patterned to
describe a piece of artwork.
VI.!

VII.! As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?
After teaching this lesson, I have learned that students are so much more engaged in the
learning if it pertains to something they are actually going to do. When I told the students to pay
attention because they were going on their own leaf hunt, they really listened. They also enjoyed that
they had a part in their own learning when they were able to collect their very own unique leaves.
 This reinforced that the students are very willing to learn as long as it is a subject they enjoy and
can connect to.

VIII.! As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
This lesson reinforced that a lot of planning goes into teaching different lessons in a day. I had to
prepare for the reading but also the craft and get the supplies for it all. It again made me
understand better how to captivate the students in their learning by doing things they are interested
in. This lesson involved art and literacy but it also could have gone into math and counting leaves or
science and where the leaves came from.

IX.! As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?

After teaching this lesson, I am more confident in myself as a teacher. Just from this lesson I
can see how much of an influence I can have on the students. By learning different ways to engage the
students, like making Cs with their hands or giving me a thumbs up, I have such a bigger impact than
I did when I just had them listen. This has made me realize how I use the things that I have learned in
class in my practicum placement without even thinking about it. I now know that I am capable of
teaching a big lesson that has many different components.