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Indiana Wesleyan University

Literacy Lesson Plan – Guided Reading
Comprehension: Sequence

Student: Ellie Stemple School: Northwestern Elementary

IWU Supervisor: Professor Hanson Co-op teacher: Mrs. Carrell
Teaching Date: 6 November 2018 Grade Level: 1st Grade

UNIT BIG IDEA: The Patterns in Our World

This lesson focuses on sequencing in a story. In order to introduce the importance of a
story’s sequence, I will encourage my students to look for the patterns in the text, such as
transition words and shifting events, using the illustrations as guides. My students will learn to
become critical observers of the text, looking for the various patterns to help them discover the
proper sequence of events in the story they are reading.

LESSON RATIONALE
Because the students are in first grade, they are only just beginning to read full books and
comprehend the meaning. Therefore, I am introducing the concept of sequencing in a story to
help students organize the key events and ideas within a story. This will help them comprehend
the full text in a more efficient and effective way as they continue to grow in their reading
comprehension skills.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
a. Goal: Students will learn how to properly sequence the main events in a story.
b. Objectives:
i. After reading various fiction texts, students will understand the importance
of proper sequencing in a story.
ii. By observing repeating patterns in the text, students will be able to
sequence the events of the story they are reading.
iii. By creating a book themselves, students will show their knowledge and
ability to effectively sequence events in a creative story.
c. Standards:
i. 1.RL.2.2 Retell stories, fables, and fairy tales in sequence, including key
details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
ii. 1.RL.4.1 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters,
setting, or events.
iii. 1.RL.2.4 Make and confirm predictions about what will happen next in a
story.
II. Management Plan
a. Time: 40 minutes (15 minutes at each center)
b. Prep
i. Print transition word paper (1 copy of each page)
ii. Print train paper (4 copies)
iii. Print and cut strips of paper for Tea Party strategy
iv. Have materials ready at each center
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1. White board and markers in Nook for anticipatory set

2. Books, papers, strips of paper at GR center
3. White paper and stapler at hexagon table
c. Materials
i. White board at Nook
ii. Transition word paper
iii. Train paper
iv. Strips of paper for Tea Party strategy
v. White paper
vi. Markers/Crayons (each student has their own)
vii. Stapler
d. Space
i. Anticipatory Set: Nook
ii. Guided Reading Center: U-Table
iii. Technology Center: At their desks
iv. Read to Self/Read to Someone: Around the room (beanbags)/Nook
v. Create a Book Activity: Short hexagon table on ground
vi. Closure: Nook
e. Behavior: Expectations will be set from the beginning for listening, speaking, and
using materials. They will have the materials they need at each center and will be
given specific directions if they need to bring something with them to their center.
I will use attention-getters (“On three, I want everyone to freeze. 1-2-3-
FREEZE”) to bring their attention back to me when transitioning from one center
to another.
f. Grouping
Group 1: Group 2: Group 3: Read Group 4: Create
Guided Reading Technology to Self/Read to a Book
Someone
Dylan R.W. Layla James
Emalee Michael Levi Lilly
Noah Anna Roman Zoee
Annabelle Braylen Seraphina Easton
Izzy Jaxson D. Jensen Greyson
Maya Kelcie Kaden
Jax
Groups will move from left to right on the chart. I will begin with my lower-level readers
(Group 1) and then have my higher-level readers (Group 4) right after them.
III. Anticipatory Set
Students will be in the Nook for the beginning of the lesson.
Since I only get to see you during the school day, I would like to find out a little bit about
what you guys do in the morning before you come to school. So, what is the first thing
you do when you wake up? Allow time for students to raise their hand and respond. Take
notes on the small whiteboard as students tell what they do in the morning and come up
with a list of the class’ general morning routine.
(Ex: Wake up, make the bed, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, gather supplies in
backpack, wait for the bus, drive to school)
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Show students the whiteboard with the sequence of events. Here we have our class’
morning routine. Some of you might have a slightly different routine, but it’s still similar
to this. See how everything happens in order? We can’t get on our school bus without
getting dressed first. We can’t make our bed without getting out of it! We can’t drive to
school without eating breakfast and brushing our teeth (or we shouldn’t)! The order of
our morning routine is very important.
IV. Purpose Statement
Today we are going to learn how to find and organize the main events in a story to help
us discover the topic of the books we read.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptation to Diverse Students
a. Remediation: There will be multiple means of receiving the information,
according to the various multiple intelligences and learning styles. At each center,
students will have various opportunities to engage in different learning strategies.
b. Enrichment: Each center is designed to be open-ended with no specific ending
point. Students should not have a point of completion at any of the centers.
c. Exceptional Needs:
i. Student with Autism: Because this student struggles with social skills, I
will make sure to put him in a group with people who respond well to him
and include him in activities. My teacher also suggested we pair him up
with a buddy during centers because if he doesn’t have someone to keep
him accountable, he often retreats and hides until the centers are over. I
will be sure to have someone keeping an eye on him at all times and be
sure he has a buddy in his group.
ii. Student with behavior issues: I will have this student in my lower-level
guided reading group for one of my guided reading centers to help him
improve on his reading skills. During the other rotation, he will be
working on his iPad which he seems to respond well to and stay on task.

VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

Mini-Lesson/Explanation of Centers
Today we are going to learn about sequence in a story. Has anyone heard of the word
sequence? Sequence is another word for order of events. For example, your morning
routine is a sequence of events.
We are going to have centers today where you get to learn more about the sequence of
events in books. Your centers are going to be very similar to the reading centers you guys
usually have in the morning but a little bit different.
I will then explain each center. Once I give a brief overview of the centers, pointing out
the locations of each, I will begin calling groups one at a time, having students move to
their assigned center as I read off their names. I will make sure to tell them what
materials they will need to bring with them.
Guided Reading Center 1: Lower-level readers
Title of Text: “See Me Run” by Paul Meisel
Text Type or Source: Fiction
Target Strategy/Teaching Points: Retelling, Sequencing Events
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1. Pre-reading
 Do any of you have a dog? What does your dog like to do? What happens if you
take your dog to a park or an open field, what will he do?
 Today we are going to read the book “See Me Run” by Paul Meisel to see what
this dog likes to do when he gets a chance to run. Let’s see if this dog does the
same things your dog does.
 We are going to read this book together all at the same time. Follow along with
your finger while we read. Also, while we are reading, pay attention to the
repeating words and patterns to help you understand what the dog is doing on
each page of our story. Use the pictures to help you.
2. Reading
 Read book chorally with the whole group. Remind students to use quiet voices so
they do not distract the other students in work stations. If necessary, allow
students to use whisper phones.
 Children read with me in unison. Mentally take note of what words students are
struggling with and which words they already know.
3. Responding
 What did you think about the book? Did you like it? Why or why not?
 Did you see any similarities between this dog and your dog?
 Allow time for children’s free responses.
4. Exploring
 Now I want each of you to get with a partner. Assign students to a partner based
on who they are sitting next to. I want you to go back through the book and retell
the story in your own words, only looking at the pictures. Pretend like you are a
story-teller explaining what happens in this story to someone who has never read
it before. Point to each picture and tell what happens. Then, when one person has
retold the whole book, have your partner do the same thing so you each get to
retell the story one time.
 Once students are finished retelling with a partner, go through the book one page
at a time, retelling the story as a whole group to review. Use pictures for
reference.
 Nice job retelling our story! Now, what if we tried to read this book backwards?
Would it make sense? Start reading the book starting from the last page. Read a
few pages in the wrong order.
 Did that story make any sense? Allow time for student response.
 Right! We have to know that they were digging in the dirt to know where the
dinosaur skeleton came from. We have to know that they got muddy to know why
they needed a bath.
 That is why it is so important that we understand the order of the events in our
story. If we skip over something or mess up the order, we might get very confused.
As we read books, we need to pay attention to what happens at the beginning,
middle, and end, making sure we keep the events in the right order. And we can
use the pictures to help us understand the order of events. We can also use a
visual to help us organize our events. Show the train visual and ask students to
help me figure out what happens throughout the story’s sequence of events.
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 Great job organizing our events in our train of events! Now, I want each of you to
make a prediction about what you think will happen next in the story. Talk to your
partner quietly and come up with one prediction that you think will happen at the
end after the skeleton chases them. Don’t say it too loud or else someone might
hear you. We will share our predictions when everyone is ready.
 Wait for everyone to finish, then share with the group.
5. Applying
 Now that we understand the importance of sequencing our events in a story, you
can look for what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the other books
you read. As you read other books, look for patterns in the words and pictures to
help you remember the important events in your story and what order they go in.
Guided Reading Center 2: Higher-level readers
Title of Text: “Clifford’s Sports Day” by Norman Bridwell
Text Type or Source: Fiction
Target Strategy/Teaching Points: Summarizing, Sequencing Events
1. Pre-reading
 Give each student a slip of paper with a word or phrase on it.
o Sports Day
o Jumping hurdles
o CRASH!
o Coach said he couldn’t play anymore.
o He was the hero
 Each of you have a slip of paper with some words on it. All of these words and
phrases are from the story we are going to read today. BUT, before we read it, I
want all of you to use your papers and work together as a group to predict what
you think this book will be about. You must work together! Come up with a
prediction as a group using the words you are given. When you are ready, you
will elect a spokesperson to tell me what you think the story is about.
 Give students time to discuss and predict. Then, one person will share with me.
 Great job predicting using the words you were given! Now, let’s read to see if you
were right in your prediction.
 Today we are going to read the book “Clifford’s Sports Day” by Norman
Bridwell to learn more about sequencing events in a story.
 I want you to pay close attention to words like “First,” Then,” “Next,” “After,”
“Last,” and “Finally.” The patterns of these words will help you understand
what comes first in the story and what comes next after that. Have list of words
printed out on paper as a visual aid.
2. Reading
 Children will read the book out loud with a partner, taking turns reading one page
at a time.
3. Responding
 What did you think about the book? Did you like it? Why or why not?
 How was the book similar to your predictions you made before reading? Was it
what you thought it would be?
 Allow time for children’s free responses.
4. Exploring
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 Now that you have read the book aloud with a partner, I want you to go through
and put a sticky note by the words I asked you to look for, like “First,” Then,”
“Next,” “After,” “Last,” and “Finally” (Have a paper with the words listed on it
for students to reference). If you see a word like this, it usually means this is the
next event in the story. Work with your partner to find these words in the story
and place your sticky note next to it.
 Have students share with the group what words they found.
 Great job working together to find the main events in our story! It is important
that we use these key words to find the important events in our story in the correct
order. This helps us know what is going on in the story without getting confused.
 We are now going to make a chart together to show what happens at the
beginning, middle and end of our story.
 Have train drawn on paper with words: BEGINNING, MIDDLE, END on each
car. Ask students for one event for the beginning of the book, 3 events for the
middle, and 2 events for the end. We have just created a summary of our story
based on the important events in it!
 Work together as a group to come to a consensus about the important events of
the story in the correct order, using the patterns of transition words throughout.
5. Applying
 Now that we understand the importance of sequencing our events in a story, you
can look for what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the other books
you read. As you read other books, look for patterns in the key transition words to
help you remember the important events in the story and what order they go in.
Work Station 1: Technology
 Students will explore on the I-XL and EPIC! apps to gain more experience in reading
comprehension. They will use the language arts feature that focuses on reading
comprehension within these apps. Mrs. Carrell will provide assistance if necessary.
Work Station 2: Read to Self
 Students will be able to pick a book of their choosing from the classroom library or
their book bags and read independently around the room. They can use bean bags or
sit in the Nook or couch if they choose to.
Work Station 3: Activity/Game
 I will have either Alex or Hannah at this station to give the students directions and
help with materials and questions.
 Each student will be given 5 plain white papers to create their own book. On the top
of each page (besides the cover), they will write - first, next, then, and finally. The
last page will be for the cover of their book that they will design once they have
completed their story.
 Students will start by thinking about a topic idea and sharing with a buddy. They will
then share their topic idea with whoever is helping at this station. Once they share and
get their topic approved, they can go ahead and begin creating their book.
 For students who are able to, they will write sentences with these words as starters to
explain the sequence of their story and then draw their pictures. For students who are
unable to write full sentences yet, they can just write the key transition words at the
top of the page and then draw pictures to communicate what is happening.
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 Students have freedom to be creative at this center. They can create a story about
anything they choose!
 I will provide paper and a stapler to “bind” the book. Students will bring coloring
materials to this station to draw the pictures in their story.
VII. Check for Understanding
 I will look at the books that students create to see if they understand the significance of
transition words when sequencing a story.
 I will carefully observe my students in their centers, making sure they are staying on task.
If students are getting too loud or losing focus, I will redirect them to their task.
 I will ask questions and look for hand signals throughout my guided reading lesson to
ensure that the students are following along.
 In my guided reading lessons, if I sense students are not following along, I will slow
down and review before moving on.
 My closure will also serve as a check for understanding.
VIII. Closure
For closure, I will bring all my students back to the Nook. Because not every student will
have had a chance to go to each of the centers, I will use my closure time to ask some
general questions to my class as a whole.
What was your favorite activity that you got to do today?
I want to hear something that you learned today. Can anyone raise their hand and
tell me one thing they learned today at their center?
Who can tell me some helpful things you can look for when you are trying to
figure out the order of what happened your story? (Transition words, pictures,
changing of events)
Would anyone like to share the book that they created at the activity center?

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative: To assess my students, I will use their handmade books to concretely assess their
level of understanding in sequencing the key events of a story. As I ask questions in my guided
reading lesson, I will also formatively assess my students’ understanding based on the level of
depth in their answers. I will observe their responses to make sure students understand the
importance of proper sequencing in a story. I will also use the train visual to ensure that students
can place the events of the story in the correct order: beginning, middle, and end.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
a. I believe that almost every student was able to achieve the lesson objectives.
The only students who were unable to achieve the learning objectives were
those that weren’t able to go to all of the centers. I felt that the one group that
only got to do the technology center and read to self center did not have as
much experience working with sequence. However, if I were to actually
facilitate these centers in my future classroom, I would have all the students
experience each center, which would eliminate the issue.
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
a. Strengths: I felt my behavior management strategy was much more effective
this time. I also modeled a lot more than I had before. I felt that my guided
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reading centers went as planned and the students really got into this center. I
also felt I did well transitioning my students.
b. Weaknesses: I think I could work on my discussion of sequence at the
beginning and have students engage in this discussion more. I also think I could
work on my guided reading center, giving students more freedom of choice to
read how they wish to read (how they read best). This might eliminate some
distractions for students as they read.
3. How should I alter this lesson?
a. I would definitely try to implement all of the rotations so students didn’t get sad
when they didn’t get to do one center. I would also maybe allow a little more
time at each center or limit the amount of pages students had to write in the
create-a-book center. This would give students the ability to actually finish their
book at the one center.
4. How would I pace it differently?
a. As I mentioned earlier, I think I would add a little time to my centers (maybe 20
minutes). This way, students would have more time to complete their books and
I would have more time to discuss the books with the students at my guided
reading center.
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
a. Yes, they were actively participating for most of the time. I did notice that my
second rotation had a bit of trouble with the read to self center because a lot of
the boys were talking instead of reading. I think they were doing this partially
because they were unsupervised and were taking advantage of this opportunity
to talk and goof off. However, after my prompting, they dispersed and were able
to focus the rest of the time. Students also did not seem to enjoy the technology
center either because it was just the same app that they always do. I might add a
new level of technology at this center next time.
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
a. I used visuals during my minilesson and also during my guided reading center. I
also utilized technology and gave hands-on experiences at the create-a-book
center. I gave many spoken instructions and used verbal signals as a means of
transition for auditory learners. Overall, I used a variety of learning styles to
contribute to my instruction.
7. How could I better conduct my transitions between centers?
a. I feel like my transitions actually went pretty well for the most part. However,
next time, when I tell students to freeze during transitions, I would reinforce the
rule that they need to stay frozen until I tell them to move. This would eliminate
the chaos a little bit and keep the room quiet until I am ready for them to move.
8. What should I change in my anticipatory set and mini-lesson that would better
introduce my lesson to the whole group?
a. I would definitely use Professor Hanson’s suggestion to have an anchor chart or
something for visually accessible for the students to see as I write. This would
help students track better and stay more focused instead of me hiding the
whiteboard in my lap. I would also reiterate the term sequence more so that it
really stuck in the students’ minds.