Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Teachers: Mr. Scott

Subject: 4th grade English Language Arts

Common Core State Standards:

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning,
revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 13 up to
and including grade 4.) (4.W.5)
4.L.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage
when writing or speaking
Objective (Explicit):
Students will create more meaningful and powerful sentences from basic sentences
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):
Students with 80 percent accuracy will use the sentence graphic organizer to create a powerful sentence
from a basic sentence 4/5 times.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex):

Students will be able to demonstrate proper punctuation and grammar

Students will be able to determine parts of a sentence
Students will be able to recall strategies to help them create more complex sentences
Key vocabulary:

Materials:

Verb
Paper
Dependent clause
Pencil
Adjective
Crafting powerful sentence graphic organizer
Noun
Description
Meaningful sentence (SFA)
Opening (state objectives, connect to previous learning, and make relevant to real life)

For the beginning of this lesson teachers will remind students of the goal of this week
which is to work on their sentences.
Teacher will state before we begin creating awesome and dynamic sentences today, lets
do a warm up to get the blood flowing.
Teacher will introduce the race to the board game that the students will play for 20
minutes or less. Teacher will break up students into groups of four.
Teacher will give each student a card, each team will have the same set of cards as the
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other team. When the teacher calls out the word on the card, the person on the team who
has that card must rush to the board and write a sentence using that card. The sentence
must be grammatically correct, with the write punctuation.
Since the students have been learning about Greek Allusions, each card will have a
greek allusion for the students to use.
Before the game the teacher will go over the rules and safety requirements.
The game is not timed, and the other students can still answer the question even when
the first person finishes, so students with physical disabilities can make it to the board
however they need to, and write down a sentence. There will also be clear pathways for
students to get through. If a student cannot write, then they can state their sentence out
loud to the class or to the teacher privately.
The game is also not timed and students are not rushed so they can focus on writing a
good sentence and do not have to feel pressure. Therefore, a student with a learning
disability or struggle can also do their best.
This game is a common ESL game because its primary focus is helping students build
on their knowledge of sentence structure. Students can also get help in line while they
wait and cheer on the other student.

Instructional Input

Once the game is over, teacher will begin the presentation

Teacher Will:

Teacher will present a short presentation on strategies

used to create powerful sentences

To recall prior knowledge, teacher will have students stand

up, hand up, and pair up three different times to go over
What are the basic parts of a sentence
How does a sentence create a mind movie in their head

Student Will:

Students will put their hand up, either walk, skip, or jump
around the room, then once the teacher says pair up, the
student will pair up with the closest person to them.
Students will demonstrate active listening by following along
with the presentation
Students will be asked to help teacher use strategy on example
sentences.

Why it is important for students to create more descriptive

sentences
Each time students go around the room, they will do a
different movement. The first time around will just be a
walk, the second time around will be a skip, and then
finally the third time around will be a hop.
Teacher will make sure students do not run into each other,
and are only in contact with each other when it is time to
pair up. Teacher will move desks around so there are clear
pathways to get through.

Teacher will ask students what it means to create

meaningful sentences
Teacher will ask students to recall SFA, and the sentences
they create in that program. What makes you score a 100
on those sentences.
Teacher will review strategies on how to stretch sentences
with who, what, where, when, and why, and also using
descriptive language
Teacher will do an example sentence with the students for
each strategy shown in the presentation

Co-Teaching Strategy
Differentiation Strategy

Guided Practice

Presentation with visuals and easier words to read

Teacher Will:

Student Will:

Teacher will pass out worksheet with Powerful

sentence graphic organizer

Students will change the basic sentence of The

boy walks up the stairs to a more powerful
sentence.

Teacher will identify the parts of the graphic

organizer they are going to focus in on to
change a basic sentence, to a more complex
sentence.

Students will draw a picture of the before and after

they changed the sentence to see how they create
different images and the powerful sentence gives
more detail

Teacher will use the example of The boy walks

up the stairs.

Students will use mood and emotion to come up

with adjectives, dependent clauses, and
descriptors to put into their sentence

Teacher will ask students, from that sentence

alone, draw a picture to represent that
sentence.

Students will use graphic organizer to organize

where certain parts of the sentence go.

Teacher will then start going into the graphic

organizer and explaining how if we add a mood
or emotion to the sentence, how the sentence
can go from basic to powerful.
Teacher will use the moods scared, excited,
sad, angry, and happy to help the students
change the subject, verb, and predicate or
descriptor of the sentence The boy walks up
the stairs.
Teacher will then have the students choose
one of the new sentences they created, to draw
a new picture of their meaningful sentence.
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Co-Teaching Strategy
Differentiation Strategy
For the powerful sentence graphic organizer, instead of having my students draw the chart, I will
print one off for them that is as big as an 8.5x11 sheet of paper for practice purposes
I will also color code the chart so where the verbs go, I will have those boxes green, where the nouns/
adjectives/dependent clauses go, I will make that section pink, and for the descriptor, I will make
those boxes yellow. That way I can say we are focusing on the green boxes right now or the verb
boxes. This will allow students who may not have that academic vocabulary know where we are on
our chart.
Each sentence will be created with a mood in mind. On the left side of the chart it states the mood,
but before we begin I will go through each mood, and have students draw a visual so they are
reminded of what that mood means. This will work for words like reluctant because some students
may not know those words.
Teacher Will:

Independent Practice

Teacher will instruct students to flip over their

papers and to now start on a new sentence of
their own.
Teacher will go to each table and give them a
basic sentence to work with.
Co-Teaching Strategy

Student Will:

Students will independently change a basic

sentence to a powerful sentence using mood and
emotion and also using the graphic organizer.
Students will create before and after pictures of the
sentences they create on their own to show the
difference.

Differentiation Strategy
A list of adjectives and description words will be available for students to use. Also, students can
search up words in a dictionary.
For my upper level kids I want them to focus on adding a dependent clause with a comma to the
beginning of a sentence to make it more impactful
So instead of saying the happy boy, they will focus on adding a dependent clause such as With a
grin on his face, the boy.

For my lower level kids, I just want them to focus on using adjectives to describe the noun in the
sentence
Closing/Student Reflection/Real-life connections:

Students will compare the two pictures that they drew, the first one being with the basic
sentence of the boy walked up the stairs, to the new powerful sentence picture.
Students will compare and contrast the details and explain why the second sentence
creates a better mental image.
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Reflection: