Common Core Aligned Lesson Plan Template

Subject(s): History/Social Science

Teacher(s): Ms. Towne

School: Whittier Elementary

Grade: 5
Date: October 28/30, 2015

Part I GOALS AND STANDARDS

1. Common Core Learning Standard(s) Addressed:
RF.5.4a Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. Read on-level text with purpose
and understanding.
2. ELD and State Content Standard Addressed (History/Social Science, Science, Physical Education, Visual and
Performing Arts):
HSS.5.1.2 Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements, including the cliff dwellers and pueblo
people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great
Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River. Describe their varied customs and folklore
traditions.
STUDENT-FRIENDLY
TRANSLATION

3. Learning Objective: (What will students know & be able to do as a result of this
lesson?)

Students will be able to close read their assigned text, share the instructions on how to
construct a totem pole with the group, and write the instructions in a flow chart.

I will be able to close read my

assigned text, share the instructions
on how to construct a totem pole
with my group, and write the
instructions in a flow chart.

4. Relevance/Rationale: (Why are the outcomes of this lesson important in the

STUDENT-FRIENDLY
TRANSLATION

real world? Why are these outcomes essential for future learning?)
Students will learn the history of the Native American people and have a better
understanding of their rituals and practices regarding the building of totem poles.

I will understand why the Native

American culture built totem poles.

5. Essential Questions:

Why did the Native American tribes build totem poles?

Part II STUDENTS INFORMATION

6. Class Information:
a. Total number There are 29 students total. Out of 29 students, there are 16 boys and 13 girls.
b. EL/Special Needs Out of the 29 students, 19 are ELs. One of the ELs does not have his CELDT testing
scores. In their CELDT testing scores, the ELs were tested on their listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
A 1 is the lowest score and a 5 is the highest score.
a. Listening: Out of the 18 EL students that were tested, there were zero students at level 1, one
student at level 2, three students at level 3, seven students at level 4, and seven students at level 5.
b. Speaking: Out of the 18 EL students that were tested, there were zero students at level 1, zero
students at level 2, three students at level 3, twelve students at level 4, and three students at level 5.
c. Reading: Out of the 18 EL students that were tested, there were zero students at level 1, five
students at level 2, twelve students at level 3, one student at level 4, and zero students at level 5.
d. Writing: Out of the 18 EL students that were tested, there were zero students at level 1, zero
students at level 2, eleven students at level 3, six students at level 4, and one student at level 5
c. Academic background in content area - The students have been learning about the Native Americans
already, so I will just be continuing the lesson and talking about their cultural practices with the totem pole.
d. Linguistic All 29 of the students have a firm grasp on the English language and speak it fluently. Since the
class is all Hispanic, the students are also fluent in Spanish.

e. Cultural/Health
f. Physical
a. Large muscles are developing quickly
b. Desperately need outdoor time and physical challenge
c. Snacks and rest periods benefit their rapidly growing bodies
g. Social
a. Work very well in groups; enjoy clubs, activities, and team sports
b. Highly sensitive to and able to resolve questions of fairness and other social issues
c. Able to enjoy cooperative and competitive activities
h. Emotional
a. Friendly, generally happy; quick to anger and quick to forgive
b. Usually truthful; developing more mature sense of right and wrong

i. Interests/Aspirations The students like mustaches. I know that because in our student store we have every
Friday, my MT had fake mustaches as a prize to pick out, and all of them were gone, because the students were having
so much fun playing around with them. The students also like when we read aloud to them. They really get invested in

the book, because they always desire to read more when we come to the end of a chapter.

7. Anticipated Difficulties (Based on the information above, what difficulties do you think students may have with the
content?):

I think the students may have some trouble with the vocabulary in the article. The Spanish-speaking student
will have a tough time understanding what is going on in the lesson.
Part III - LESSON ADAPTATIONS
8. Modifications/Accommodations (What specific modifications/accommodations are you going to make based on the
anticipated difficulties?):

Based on the difficulties, I will make sure that I review the vocabulary with the students before they read the
article, so it will be easier to comprehend when they read. I will have a student translating for Jennifer to make
sure she comprehends what I am teaching.
9. 21st Century Skills Check all that are applicable
Communication

Collaboration (X)

Creativity (X)

Critical Thinking

Describe how the 21st century skill(s) you have circled will be observed during the lesson:
The students will be creative in how they decorate their totem pole with the materials given. The students will show their
collaboration skills when they are in their table groups discussing the close reading of the article.
10. Technology - How will you incorporate technology into your lesson?

I will use the document camera to display the reading article to the students in order to show them an example of close reading.
The smart board will be used for the projection of the document camera.

Part IV - ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING

11.

Assessment Criteria for Success: (How will you & your students know if they have successfully met the
outcomes? What specific criteria will be met in a successful product/process? What does success on this lessons
outcomes look like?)
a. Formative: I will be walking around the room and checking whether the students are engaging in
conversations about the Native Americans and their practices with the totem pole, and evaluating small
sections of text so they can close read. I will also be walking around to see the progress in their building of
the totem poles.
b. Summative (if applicable):
c. (Attach rubric here, if applicable):

Part V - INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE

12.
Instructional Method: Check one
Cooperative Learning

Direct Instruction (X)

Inquiry

13. Resources/Materials: (What texts, digital resources, & materials will be used in this lesson?)

5 sections of the text for close reading each section will be printed out 6 times, so each group of students can have
different pieces of the article to read and disucss

Ingredients for putting together the candy totem pole

o

Marshmallows

Thin straws

Graham crackers

Gel icing in various colors

Fruit Roll-Ups

Candy corn

M&Ms

Toothpicks

Hot tamales

14.Procedure (Include estimated times. Please write a detailed procedure, including questions that
you are planning to ask.):
OPEN:
1. Anticipatory Set
WED: Hey friends, today we are going to learn about the totem poles of the Northwest Coastal Indians. Does
anyone know what a totem pole is? Has anyone actually seen one? I will wait for a few minutes until the class
has finished answering and is waiting on me to continue the lesson.
FRI: Who likes candy? I will wait a few seconds until the class has finished raising their hands and talking
amongst themselves. Well, today we are going to make a totem pole out of candy.
2. Objective and its Purpose
WED: We are going to close read the articles about totem poles so that we can learn about the culture of the
Northwest Coastal Indians.
FRI: I have brought the totem pole I created as an example for you to follow so you can create your own
candy totem pole based on the totem poles that the Northwest Coastal Indians built.
BODY:
3. Instructional Input
WED: Each one of you will be getting a different part of the article to close read. Please feel free to mark up
the article with your close reading annotations. I am also passing out close reading bookmarks that have all of
the annotations on them. Please look at the bookmark for reference while you are close reading your article.
FRI: I have directions that I am going to hand out to each of you. You can work together in your table groups
to help one another build your totem poles.
4. Modeling
WED: I will have an example of a finished close read that I can place under the document camera so that it can
be projected on the screen so the students can see what an annotation of a close reading article looks like. I will
have a finished annotation for my reference while I model the annotation on the clean sheet of paper so they
can see what I am doing. I will also make sure to think out loud while I am annotating so the students can see
how I expect them to annotate their pieces of the article. Friends, I am going to show you how to annotate the

article, so that you have an example to follow when you start annotating your pieces of the article. I will be
thinking out loud when I annotate so you can hear my thought process while I am close reading the article.
FRI: Friends, I have a finished example of the candy totem pole we are creating. I will place it on the desk, and
you can come look at it if you need some inspiration or help building it.
5. Checking for Understanding
WED: Why did the Northwest Coastal Indian tribes build totem poles? I will wait while the students answer
the question.
FRI: Do you understand what the instructions mean for building your totem pole?
6. Guided Practice
WED: Okay friends, I am going to annotate the first two sentences with you before you try annotating by
yourselves.
FRI: I am going to help you create the base for your totem pole. I will start building the foundation of the
totem pole with the students so they have the base built and all they have to do is build the rest of the totem
pole.

CLOSE: 7. Independent Practice

WED: You are going to finish annotating the article by yourself and then talk to your table group to figure out
the steps needed for building a totem pole.
FRI: Now, you can follow the directions for building your own candy totem pole. What did you learn about
totem poles?

Part VI - REFLECTION

1. What instructional strategies did you use to help students achieve the lesson objective?
One of the instructional strategies that I used to help the students achieve the lesson objective were to model
the instruction on the screen using the document camera so that the students were able to see what I was
doing in order for them to be able to meet the lesson objective of close reading and annotating. I knew that
they were vaguely familiar with close reading and annotating, so I just did a general overview of the close
reading model and how it looks when you are actually annotating a passage of text. When I annotated the text,
I made sure to think out loud, so that the students could hear what I was thinking and could see why I was
doing what I was doing. The standard was for the students to be able to read on-level text with fluency and
comprehension. Another way that I helped the students to achieve the lesson objective was by having them
write 3 sentences about what they learned from their passage and someone elses passage. That would mean
that every student would have to be listening and paying attention to what other students are saying. Each
student would also need to be able to comprehend the passage of text in order to be able to write about what
they learned from the passages.

Were the students successful at achieving the lesson objective?

a) If so, provide student evidence.
The only student that was able to complete the lesson objective was my highest learner. Part of the lesson
objective was for the students to write 3 sentences about what they learned from their articles and articles
from other students in their table group. Each student was required to write at least 2 sentences about what
they learned from their own article and one sentence about what they learned from listening to someone
elses article. Even though his sentences were not formed properly or spelled correctly, he was still able to
complete the assignment, fulfilling the lesson objective.

b) If not, why do you think they were not able to achieve the lesson objective? What are your next steps?
There were a few of the students that were not able to complete the lesson objective. Either they were not
paying attention, or did not understand the passage well enough in order to write 3 sentences about what
they learned. The first student that was unable to complete the lesson objective was my EL. She only wrote
one sentence about what she learned from the passage. I am not going to penalize her because she is an EL
and struggles with English fluency and comprehension. She has a lot of help, because we have a student
that is sitting next to her that is able to translate for her and keep her in the loop as to what is going on in
the classroom and what she needs to do. My next steps for the EL is to frontload vocabulary for her so that
she has better understanding and I will make sure to differentiate the instruction so that she has more time
to complete the assignment and I will modify her assignments to ensure she is able to finish and understand
what she is doing. One of the other students that was unable to complete the assignment was our lowest

learner. I noticed that he only did the bare minimum of what was required and even struggled with the little
that he was able to complete. In what he did write, it hardly made any sense. My next steps for the low
learner are for him to sit more near the front of the room so that he does not miss instructions and is able to
complete the tasks at hand. My medium learner was not able to complete the assignment either. For her, I
think it was just instructions that were unclear to her. She is a good student and is able to complete
assignments if she is able to understand what is required of her. My next step for my medium learner is to
make sure I really explain the directions well and model what she is supposed to be doing so that she can
reach the lesson objective.

2. What would you change about the lesson and why?

I would change the way in which I gave instructions for the writing activity. I should have specified what they
were supposed to be listening for in order to write their assignments. The students were supposed to
summarize and share what their articles were about, and they were not aware they had to write sentences
about the passages of text. I should have told the students that they had to be sure to listen and pay attention
to the other people in their table groups because they had to write sentences about what they learned from
another student in the group and from themselves. The students would have been able to complete the
objective of writing the sentences to determine what they have learned from the lesson content.