Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Candidate Name: / Mildred Malone / Grade: / 3rd / Delivery Date: / 2/20/2013
Building: / Harding Elementary / Cooperating Teacher: / Ms. Juniper
Central Focus of thisLesson
A statement that summarizes the overarching learning outcomes beyond facts & skills
Using science vocabulary from the earth science chapter, learn and apply multisyllable decoding strategies in conjunction with written questioning strategies to bolster literacy skills. Differences and similarities among rock types will also be explored.
Common Core Standards and/or Illinois Learning Standards
Provide # of standard, actual text, & highlight relevant sections
Std # / Subject / Text
RF.3.c / Literacy / Decode multisyllable words.
W.4 / Literacy / With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.
11.A.1b / Science / Develop questions on scientific topics.
Student Learning Objectives associated with the standards
Objectives to be achieved by the end of the lesson or end of multi-lesson learning segment
  1. Learn VCCV and VCV decoding strategies for three, four, and five syllable words.

  1. Generate written, developmentally-appropriate, science-related questions using multisyllable words.

Academic Language Development
Description of how lesson supports students’ subject matter development as well as general academic language development
Subject Matter: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic, erosion, minerals, sediments, elements
General Terms: multisyllable, decode, inquiry
Instructional Materials and Resources
List and attach up to 5 artifacts (excluding assessments) used in this lesson (e.g., manipulatives not required).
Igneous rock samples / Periodic table
Sedimentary rock samples / Mineral chart
Metamorphic rock samples
If an artifact is too large to be included, attach a photograph of the artifact.
Assessment(s)
May be formal, informal, formative, summative, and student self-assessments
Written student-generated questions will be evaluated using the attached rubric.
Student oral decoding strategies will be informally assessed during whole-class decoding activity.
Instructional Strategies
Provide sufficient detail that a knowledgeable substitute teacher could easily deliver lesson.
You may require more instructional steps than shown.
  1. In the last lesson, students were briefly introduced to the topic of rock types.

  1. Students will form four-person groups, and each group will be given igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock samples. No mention of the names of these samples will be given at this time.

  1. The teacher will define the word inquiry as a method of exploring the attributes associated with each rock.

  1. The teacher will point out that inquiry contains three syllables and explain that it is a multisyllable word because it contains more than one syllable. The teacher will also emphasize that the process of pronouncing this word involves the process of decoding.

  1. With student input, the teacher will break the word inquiry into its respective syllables. The teacher will also point out that the word contains the following vowel and consonant configuration: vc/cvv/cc.

  1. Each group will generate a list of similarities and differences among the 3 rock samples.

  1. As a class, we will discuss these lists and document observations on the whiteboard.

  1. With these descriptors, the terms igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic will be written on the board next to each type of rock sample.

  1. The teacher will re-introduce the common terms of multisyllable and decode and ask for students to refresh the teacher’s memory on the meaning of these terms.

  1. Within each group, students will be challenged to arrive at a pronunciation of each word.

  1. In addition, even if they already know the pronunciation of these words, students will be expected to explain their strategy for pronouncing these words.

  1. As a class, we will discuss each group’s strategy as well as their pronunciation.

  1. The concept of vc/cv and v/cv splits will be introduced (or reinforced if a group identifies the pattern).

  1. As a class, we will discuss the benefits of such a technique and that it frequently works but not always.

  1. The following related terms will be introduced for students to decode: erosion, minerals, sediments, and elements.

  1. Do these words lend themselves to the vccv and vcv conventions? Discuss.

  1. Connections between these new words and the three types of rock will be presented using the summary table found on page 89 of the textbook.

  1. Using the new subject matter words introduced in this lesson and the group-generated lists of attributes, students will individually write a minimum of five questions (and accompanying answers) that contain these new subject matter words.

  1. Each student in a group will ask the other members of the group one of his/her five questions. When answering the question, students may refer to the whiteboard for assistance.

  1. Later, the teacher will select one student from each group to share a question with the class.

Differential Instruction
Based on differing abilities of specific students in your classroom, how will you differentiate instruction?
Billy writes sentences when prompted but struggles with stringing words into a cohesive sentence on his own. As a result, he will be required to write the multisyllable words without sentences. I will also have other students in his group share one of their sentences with him that he can use on his paper. Moreover, Billy will be expected to create a second sentence on his own. Note: he will only be required to write two sentences instead of five.
Suzy has cognitive delays that prevent her from reading at grade level. Suzy will be expected to generate three questions regarding rocks but is not required to use multisyllable words in her sentences.
Betty performs almost two grade levels above her peers and is already familiar with the scientific principles as well as the decoding strategies. Upon completion of her five questions, the teacher will provide her with a supplemental activity in which she reads a more advanced description of the inter-related nature between igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock types. Later in the day, I will pull her aside to discuss this supplemental material.
Novel Techniques and Representations
What novel techniques/representations will you use to enhance student understanding?
The use of the rock samples as well as the creation of lists citing the similarities and differences among the samples will enhance student understanding. Specifically, they are using inquiry to derive their own rock attributes rather than having the teacher lecture on the differences.
Student Engagement
How will you ensure that all students are continually engaged (not idle)?
Because students will be working in small groups and sharing their thoughts with each other, all students will be engaged to a greater degree than using a whole-class question-and-answer format in which only a few higher-performing students are participating.

After delivering this lesson, it is recommended that you promptly reflect on it.

Personal Reflection
As there were 17 students in the class, groups of four students were problematic. I should have used group sizes of three or four rather than having three groups of four and one group of five. The group of five students was too large to permit sharing of the rock samples.
In reflecting upon this lesson, I was generally pleased at how well the small group interactions worked. Students who did not typically talk in whole-class discussions were actively conversing with their peers regarding the similarities and differences between the rock samples.
When I passed out the rock samples before I introduced the concept of inquiry and decoding strategies, many students were more focused on looking at the rocks than participating in the whole-class activity. In the future, I will ensure that manipulative are distributed after whole-class instruction has been completed.
To simplify the comparisons among the three rock samples, I should have labeled the igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rock samples with an I, M, and S, respectively.
Introducing the vowel and consonant configuration (i.e., vc/cvv/cc) concept in step 5 of the lesson was lost upon the students. While I wanted to have students begin to think about vowels and consonants and their importance in segmenting multisyllable words, the timing was inappropriate. In retrospect, I should have introduced this concept when we began developing strategies for pronouncing multisyllable words.
I felt that the introduction of the additional subject matter words (i.e., erosion, sediments, elements, and minerals) was not productive. While it is important to practice these multisyllable decoding strategies, it detracted from the focus of the lesson. In the future, I will reinforce these decoding skills in other lessons and with other topics.
Although Suzy was given a modified assignment of generating only three questions using less advanced words. She was confused by the assignment as she observed other students in her group using the multisyllable words in their questions. In future lessons, I will need to create simpler definitions of the rock types (e.g., igneous rock is really volcano rock) and give her the option to use either the simple term or the multisyllable term.

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