Lesson Plan: Wemberlys Ice Cream Star

(Day 3 Beginning, Middle, and End)

Audience

28 Kindergarten students

2-3 adults/teachers
Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.2
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details.
Materials

beginning, middle, end worksheet (see attached) if you give them to the class,
then you may want to take the color out of the boxes to save on ink

vis--vis marker to write with

green, yellow, and red sticky notes

picture cards (see attachment)

listening ears

think aloud paddle

Anticipatory Set
Quickly act out a retelling of Wemberlys Ice Cream Star. (Students will be in a circle. Choose
one boy and one girl for the retelling.)
Outcome Statement
I can identify the beginning, middle, and end of this small moment story.
Introduction
Students will sit with their peanut butter and jelly partners. Today in reading we are going to
reread Wemberlys Ice Cream Star to find all the events in the story and then decide if they
happened in the beginning, middle, or end of the story. I am going to show you three pictures
about lunch time, and then you are going to decide which event happens in the beginning,
middle, or end.

Body
Show the students three pictures of children eating lunch (pictures will be on paper on the board
not in logical sequence order). Teacher will have students whisper something into their hands
about the picture, then release it. Teacher will show the second picture and do the same, then
the third picture and do the same. As a whole group, teacher will facilitate a class discussion
about which picture should go in the beginning, middle, and end.

Teacher will distribute sticky notes and black and white copies of the book to each partner group.
Teacher will say, We are going to read Wemberlys Ice Cream Star and mark the beginning,
middle, and end of the story. We are going to use the green sticky note to mark the event that
shows the beginning of the story, the yellow sticky note to mark the event that shows the middle
of the story, and the red sticky note to mark the event that shows the end of the story about
Wemberlys ice cream star.

Listen as I read. I am going to model for you how I read a story. Put on listening ears. Read the
first page. (Students can follow your page as you point and read or follow along in their own
book.) Hold up the think aloud paddle. Good readers not only read the words in a book, they
also think about what they are reading. As I was reading this page and read the words Wemberly
was given an ice cream star, I knew that that was the first event that started the whole story. I
am going to gently take my green sticky note off the holder and put it on my page to show that
this was the beginning of the story. Take off listening ears. Students should mark their page
Now, lets read together. Remember, when we hear an event that happens in the middle of the
story about Wemberlys ice cream star, we are going to take a yellow sticky note and mark the
page. Read the pages together. The following events should be marked with a yellow sticky
note:
-

She worried that she might drip on her dress and that there was no ice cream for

Petal.
She got two bowls, two spoons, and two napkins.
She waited for the ice cream to melt.

Good readers not only read the words on the page, they also think about what they are reading.
With your partner, you are going to go to your reading spot. Start from the beginning of the story,

and then read to find out hwat happens at the end of the story. Mark that event with the red
sticky note.

Remind the kids that they are going to sit and read with their partners like they did yesterday.
Listen to the kids as they read. The red sticky note goes on the page that says: They ate their ice
cream. As the kids finish, they can go back and reread.
Closure

Once most students have finished the red sticky note activity, teacher will distribute
the beginning, middle and end sheet. Students will be instructed to put their names
on the page. They will given five minutes to quickly sketch (with a pencil) what
happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Then peanut butter partners
will bring me their copies of the book and sit on the floor. Last, jelly partners will
bring me the papers and they will sit on the floor. The teacher will say, Today in
reading we found the beginning, middle, and end of a small moment story. Knowing
how to put events from a story in order will help you write better small moment
stories in writing, too. Class will move on to calendar, then lunch.

Differentiation

If students require extra time to complete the activity, they will be able to finish it during
learning center time later this afternoon.

Accommodations

 Emerging readers and/or ELL students will receive additional scaffolding and support
during this small group activity. (Small group with JV?)
Students with behavior challenges will sit at tables away from the group meeting area.
Blooms
The students will be able to recognize an event in the story.
The students will be able to determine the sequence of events in the story.

Best Practices
The best practices incorporated into this lesson include:
1. Using an anticipatory set to engage the learners at the beginning of the lesson.
2. Clearly stating the objective of the lesson to the small group.
3. Classroom discussions.
4. Clustered, varied, and functional seating arrangements.