Lesson Plan Where I as the Teacher Learned the Most

Justification: I chose this particular lesson because it was a think aloud focusing on summarizing where I

read a book to the students. This was a tape recorded lesson plan and after watching it, I realized just

how much expression you need to read with to engage the students. I also learned that a slow release of

responsibility from teacher to students is important in teaching.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Summarizing Think Aloud lesson plan

LEARNING PLAN

Jenny Meis

Title of the lesson: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Summarizing Think Aloud

Grade/Age level: 3 Date: 10/14/2011

Teacher Focus:

Expression while reading. Thinking aloud naturally.

Scenario:

This is a group of 4 3rd graders in about the first semester of the year. They are doing a unit of summarizing.

Iowa Core Curriculum Standards and/or Benchmarks:

RF.3.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Learning Targets (include the stem: to introduce/practice/reteach/review/assess … topic/skill):

To introduce summarizing while reading through think aloud to support comprehension through reading

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with purpose and understanding to a partner 3 times and then

independently 2 times.

Success Criteria (“I Can” statements):

I can summarize by using the think aloud strategy to help me comprehend Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

as a group 3 times and then independently 2 times.

Procedure: (include a suggested time allocation for each part of the procedure)

a) Introduction (attention getter, anticipatory set):

Briefly tell what it is:

When readers read, they summarize what they are reading as they read.

Sometimes when we read, we have trouble summarizing, so we think aloud to ourselves after key

events happen in the book or story.

Define/ explain the strategy:

Summarizing is when readers determine what is important amidst all they have read- for fiction (which

is what Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is) the reader focuses on main idea(s) and the sequence of

events, rather than unimportant details.

Ask students what they already know about the strategy:

Whenever I read a book, I summarize as I go or else I tend to forget what has already happened in the

story already.

5 minutes

b) Steps (note technology used):

Model:

Read the story

Teacher read aloud demonstration:

p. 133

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. I know that in the first page we are introduced to 4 characters: the narrator, Henry, the mother, and the grandfather.

p. 137

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. The author is telling me that grandpa is telling the narrator and Henry a story about a town named Chewandswallow.

p. 145

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. So far, I have read that grandpa is telling a tall-tale, or story, and food rains from the sky, which is how the people in the town of Chewandswallow eat.

Guided Practice:

Teacher/student sharing the task:

p. 147

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. This part was about bad changes happening in the story. Turn to your neighbor and think aloud about a part in the story.

p. 149

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. I see many details about violent weather. This must be important. Turn to your neighbor and think aloud.

p. 153

I am stopping here to think aloud and summarize. This paragraph is important because it explains the solution to the problem. Turn to your neighbor and think aloud.

Independent Practice:

Student independent think aloud:

p. 155

Say something about this page to summarize.

p. 156

Say something about this page to summarize.

15 minues

c) Closure (reviewing learning, summarizing, assignments):

Summarizing throughout the text has helped us remember what happened in the story because we stopped

periodically and thought aloud about important events in the story.

3 minutes

Total time: 18 minutes

d) Assessment (How you will determine that students have met the learning targets – something measurable):

The students can summarize by using the think aloud strategy to help them comprehend the story Cloudy

with a Chance of Meatballs as a group 3 times for supportive interactive practice and then independently 2

times for independent practice.

Evidence of addressing diversity: (for example: cultural, gender, linguistic, physical, religious, sexual identity, socioeconomic, etc)

I will call on students at random using the name cards to ensure a wide variety and unbiased selections of

students for sharing to the class what they and their partner thought aloud about.

Differentiation for cognitive, affective, psycho-motor needs:

I will have a poster hanging up with prompts for how to explain what they are thinking to summarize the text

to help students who need extra support with the task.

Materials / Equipment Needed:

Say something instructions and summarizing prompt posters

Old reading books

Teacher Reflection: (ways you will determine the success of the learning experience for learners and for you; changes you

would make another time; subsequent shifts in your thinking)

Corresponding Reflection

Lesson or activity: Summarizing Think Aloud Date: 10-14-11

Watching the students as I taught, I noticed…

They twirled in their seats a lot

They were excited to be taped so they were really talkative during the lesson

During the partner think alouds, they often got off topic Kid watching

If I had more time to prepare I would have…

Came up with more ways to help them remember to use the think aloud prompts

Read through my story a few more times

Practiced reading the story slower and with more expression Lesson Planning

A question for my CT…

What would you have done to stop them from twirling in their chairs? My Own Learning

For things to run more smoothly, I need to…

Show the pictures longer

Go over the “say something” for think aloud—I pointed to them but them didn’t read

them aloud to them or demonstrate how to use them

Gave them more time to think aloud with their partners

Use more expression and slow down my reading Management

Lesson Plan Students Learned the Most

Justification: I chose this lesson as the lesson where the students learned the most because they were

actively engaged. They were engaged because they were having a lot of fun putting together sentence

strips which was teaching them about compound sentences using and or but.

Compound Sentences lesson plan

Corresponding Reflection

Lesson or activity: Compound Sentences Date: 9-28-11

Watching the students as I taught, I noticed…

They were fidgeting with the cards and worksheets I had given them

Student M was having difficulty concentrating

They were very engaged during the lessom Kid watching

If I had more time to prepare I would have…

Made more sentences for the ziplocks with sentence strips in them

Thought of more questions to ask the students who were having difficulty understanding

the concept of a compound sentence Lesson Planning

A question for my CT…

What do you do when the students refuce to work with their assigned partners?

My Own Learning

For things to run more smoothly, I need to…

Get a watch so I can watch the time more closely

Not given them the ziplocks with the sentence strips or the worksheets in the beginning. I

should have waited until the instruction was over.

Used the overhead in the room to have each student write one sentence instead of having

them all write down the sentences individually. Management