Caitlin Eyestone

EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLAN

Elements of the Lesson

Standard
MDE grade level or CCSS

Evidence that Documents the Elements

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key

details.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9

Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters

in stories.
Objectives/Targets and I can statements
What am I going to teach?
What will the students be able to do at the end of the lesson?
What formative assessments are used to inform instruction?

Lesson Management: Focus and Organization

What positive strategies, techniques and tools will you use?
What ideas for on task, active and focused student behavior?

I can
I can tell how many letters are in my name.
I can identify and describe the characters and main events in a story.
Part 1: Having students sit in assigned spots on the carpet and table spots will help
behavioral expectations associated with those two places in the classroom apply for the
time span of the lesson.
For students having a difficult time staying seated on the carpet, using a pillow or
weighted object to hold in lap as a reminder for student to stay seated in spot.
Verbal prompting when student leaves their seat, in combination with clear instructions
when students are called upon to interact (such as when students come forward to add
their names to the class graph) during whole-group discussions will help students know
the expected behaviors of the setting. Ex. Only standing up from their spot on the rug
when it's their turn to place their name tower on the graph, then return to seat.

Introduction: Creating Excitement and Focus for the

Lesson Target
What will you do to generate interest?
How will you access prior knowledge?
What will you practice/review?

Draw students attention to plant by holding up and asking, " Remember when we read a
book about flowers last week? What kind of flower do you think this is?"
Field student responses, encouraging replies such as "flowers, a plant, green, etc."
Tell students, "This plant is called a chrysanthemum. This type of plant grows in the fall.
Notice the beautiful flowers blooming and the buds at the ends of some of these stems?"

Caitlin Eyestone
(Using vocabulary words from read-aloud book Flowers)
Today, we are going to read a book called Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.
"While I am reading, I want you to look and listen to the story and be able to tell me how
the Chrysanthemum in our story looks. What is the connection between the
chrysanthemum plant and the character in the story?"
Part 2: Read Chrysanthemum book aloud.
Pause for predicting, contextual questions such as, "How do you think the character is
feeling at this time in the story? What do you notice about the illustration that makes you
think _____ about the character?", and syntax questions including, "What punctuation is
at the end of this sentence? Can you identify an uppercase/lowercase (letter name) on
this page?"
Introduction: Creating Excitement and Focus for the
Lesson Target
Task analysis:
What information does the learner need? If needed
how will it be provided?
How is the lesson scaffolded?
Thinking levels: questions to engage students thinking
Remembering
Understanding
Applying
Analyzing
Evaluating
Creating
Accommodations: differentiating to meet student needs
Remediation/intervention
Extension/enrichment
Learning styles
Methods, Materials and Integrated Technology
Instructional techniques

Task Analysis:
Seeing the chrysanthemum plant during the introduction provides learners with
adequate background knowledge to understand the play on words involving the name
Chrysanthemum and the flower found in the book.
The book will serve as a commonality, bringing students together in shared experience
before moving onto the graphing and name-length comparison.
The students will have to be able to count with one-to-one correspondence in order to
determine how many linking cubes are in the student's name tower.
Students need to know how to spell their names and count how many letters comprise
their name in order to construct their name towers.
Thinking Levels:
Students will connect the chrysanthemum plant with the name Chrysanthemum used in
the book, remembering what was learned in the introduction while reading. Students will
understand the significance of the character's name.

Caitlin Eyestone

Engagement strategies
Materials and Integrated Technology list

While reading, students will analyze the emotions and situations of the characters in the
story.
After reading the book, students will use what they learned about the significance of
Chrysanthemum's name-length to apply their knowledge and discover personal namelength.
When each person has created a name-length tower, the whole class will combine their
name lengths to evaluate who in the class has the longest, shortest, and equal namelengths.
Accommodations:
Extension- Have students who finish creating their first name-length tower create
another tower to see how many letters are in the student's last name. Combine the
towers to see total number of letters in the student's full name. If time still remains, have
student include middle name. Remind student that when the whole group comes back
together to compare name-lengths, only first name will be compared.
Differentiation-For students who are just learning how to spell their names, have
available a card displaying the student's first name. With a visual model the student can
count each individual letter listed in their name, then link the appropriate number of
cubes.
Instructional techniques:
Using whole-class read-aloud will allow students access to text otherwise inaccessible
independently. The text will also serve as a unifying point to build the rest of the lesson.
Modeling how to build name towers with the character's name and my own name shows
students expected procedures for the independent portion of the lesson.
Auditory learners will benefit from verbal read-aloud and discussions had regarding
the contents of the book and the graphing activity. Visual learners will connect well with
the graph created to represent the length of names in the class and from illustrations
pictured in the book. Tactile learners will benefit from being able to physically
manipulate the linking cubes to create representations of their own names. Kinesthetic

Caitlin Eyestone
learners will get to move when they deliver their name tower to the whole-group graph
on the whiteboard and the student will find the correct spot to add their name tower.
Engagement strategies:
Having students begin the lesson on the carpet then move to spots at the tables, seated
in chairs, builds necessary movement and state change into the lesson. The transition
allows the students to stretch and refocus attention.
Asking questions frequently throughout the story will capture the attention of students
and draw them into the situation of the book and lives of the characters.
Having extension and differentiation plans for learners of all ability level will help easily
shift the difficulty of the independent practice task before frustration occurs.
Necessary materials:
-live chrysanthemum plant in pot
-Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
-linking cubes, enough for each table group
-name cards for younger students
-vertical number line to create name-length graph on the white board
-white board
-dry erase markers of different colors
Modeling: I Do
SHOW/TELL (Visual/Verbal Input)
HOW/WHAT (Questioning and redirecting)

Checking for Understanding

Samples of questions to be asked
Ways in which students will respond and be engaged
Formative assessment strategies to be implemented

"Chrysanthemum, the character from the story, has a very long name and students in
her class tease her because her name is so long. Let's find out more about the lengths
of our own names. How many letters are there in my name? Let's see....E-Y-E-S-T-ON-E." (Write letters on whiteboard, count each letter individually, write number eight, link
eight cubes as I spell Eyestone again, then count the cubes in the tower.) "Look how
long my name is! Eight cubes tall because my name has eight letters."
Who was the main character in the story?
What was one of the biggest struggles Chrysanthemum had to face in the book?
If you were a student in Chrysanthemum's class, how would you have responded to her
name?

Caitlin Eyestone

Guided Practice: We Do
What do the teacher and student do together?
How will a gradual release of responsibility accomplished?

"Who in the class from the story had the longest name? How many letters are in
Chrysanthemum's name? Let's make a tower to show how many letters are in
Chrysanthemum's name. How many cubes should I combine to make a tower to
represent Chrysanthemum's name? One cube for every letter in Chrysanthemum's
name."
"Let's find out how long your names are too! When I invite you to, please go back to
your spots at the tables and make a tower of linking cubes that represents your name.
One cube for every letter in your name. Okay class, please head to your spots at your
tables."

Individual/Collaborative Practice
What practices will be demonstrated/modeled?

Students will work independently to create a name tower from linking cubes (located on
their tables) whose length is representative of the number of letters in the student's first
name.
After everyone has created a name tower, class will gather back together on the carpet,
in front of the whiteboard, to create a collaborative graph comparing name-length of all
students in class. A number line will run the vertical length of the whiteboard, depicting
numbers 1-15.
"Together as a class, we are going to see how long everyone's names are by making a
graph. We will put all our name towers in order from shortest to tallest and see how
many letters we each have in our names. We will call our graph, 'Name Lengths'."
(Label with dry erase marker across the top of the white board.)
"See the numbers that run up the side of our graph? These numbers tell us how many
letters are in a name tower." Demonstrate how to determine the number of letters in a
name tower by placing the two example towers, Chrysanthemum and Eyestone, on the
whiteboard and dragging a finger across the top of each tower to the corresponding
number on the vertical line.
Call on students individually to place their name tower on the white board in the correct

Caitlin Eyestone
spot on the graph, taking into consideration whether their name is longer or shorter than
the names previously placed. After each name is placed, have class confirm the name
tower placement and verbalize how many letters are in the student's name.
After all names are placed, highlight the fact that the names with the fewest letters are
on one end and the names with the most letters are on the other end. Ask students,
"How many people had four letters in their name? How many people had more than four
letters in their names? Did anyone have more than ten letters in their name?"
Closure

"How many letters are in the shortest name in the class?"

How will the I can statement(s) be reviewed?

How will students be involved?
What connections to future learning will occur?

"Who in our class has the longest name?"

"Who in your family has the longest name? The shortest name?"
"What other information, besides name length, could we display on a graph?"

Assessment
What evidence supports that the objective(s) were met?
What do my students know, understand and are able to do?
What formative assessments will be used to inform
instruction?

Reflection
How do you know that the objective(s)/target(s) was met? What
is your evidence?
Using your assessment data how will you change the lesson or
instruction for the next time?
How well did the students perform/respond? Were all my
students engaged?
How was my timing?
How many students struggled? What will I do to help the
student(s) who struggled?

"Please show me on your fingers how many letters there are in your first name."
(This assessment will work with this particular group of students because everyone's
names are under ten letters in length.)
Student answers to discussion questions following the read-aloud of Chrysanthemum
will serve as informal assessment of the student's comprehension and understanding of
the story.
Overall the lesson went well and the students made some impressive connections. A
student recognized that two other students names that were four letters long would
equal his eight letter long name when combined. The students responded well to the
story and it was a really good connection to bring in the chrysanthemum plant. One
student who had already read the story immediately understood the connection to the
flower that he hadn't understood before. After we figured out the plant was called a
chrysanthemum, he said, "Oh, that's why the kids think it's funny she's named after a
flower. That's why they pick her leaves."

Caitlin Eyestone
What will I do to extend the learning for those students who
met target?
What did everyone know? What did no one know? Were there
any surprises?

In the future, I would group students rather than use table place groupings, when it
comes time to build the name towers. More even groupings will result and hopefully
more on-task work.
I will be more explicit about making a tower with first name only, making a separation
between my example of Eyestone, which is a last name. For a different group of
students use my first name as an example.
As extra guided practice, use Chrysanthemum's name as an example and have the
students contribute greatly to the construction of a Chrysanthemum name tower to
practice for making their own.
Shorten lesson by 5-10 minutes.
(Revised/Edited by Elementary Team, 2014)