Read Aloud Lesson Plan

Planners Name: Grace Conti

Topic: Interactive Read Aloud
Title of Lesson: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Grade Level: Pre-K
Academic Standards for Lesson - choose the ones being covered in
the lesson
1.3.PK.A With prompting and support, retell a familiar story in a sequence
with picture support.
1.3.PK.B Answer questions about a particular story (who, what, how, when,
and where).
1.3.PK.C With prompting and support, answer questions to identify
characters, settings, and major events in a story.
1.2.PK.D-With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of
the story.
1.3.PK.E-With prompting and support, differentiate between real and make-
believe.
1.3.PK.F-Answer questions about unfamiliar words read aloud from a story.
1.3.PK.G Describe pictures in books using detail.
1.3.PK.J Use new vocabulary and phrases acquired in conversations and
being read to.
1.3.PK.K With prompting and support, actively engage in group reading
activities with purpose and understanding.
Essential Question
LEQ: How can reading books out loud help us better understand the story?
Objectives (as many as needed for the lesson, usually no more
than three):
Objective 1: Children will demonstrate comprehension during a read
aloud.
Learning Activities
Introduction/Activation Strategy: This activity is the opening
conversation to create meaningful learning and connect to background
knowledge. Have children pair share and then have a few share their
ideas.
Ask children if they can think of a time that they have ever been
very, very hungry.
Ask the children when they are feeling so hungry what kinds of food
they eat. (Turn and talk to a neighbor about what foods you eat when
you are feeling hungry.)
Ask children to share with the class what kinds of foods they told
 their neighbor about.
Talk about several important content words that children will find
interesting. Be sure to bump into these words during other classroom
conversation.
Introduce the vocabulary words that may be new to some students.
VOCABULARY: caterpillar, salami, cocoon, nibbled
Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks:
Guided Practice, Checking for Understanding, and Questioning
Strategies:
BEFORE READING
Introduce the cover illustration, author, and illustrator.
The title of this book is called The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This is the
name of the person that wrote the story (Eric Carle). We call this person
the author. And sometimes if we only see one name on the cover, we can
guess that they drew the pictures, too! So our author of the story is also
the illustrator of the story (Eric Carle).
Ask the children to predict what they believe the story is going to be
about.
Ask children, By looking at the cover of the book, what do you see and
what do you think this story is going to be about? (Think-Pair-Share with a
neighbor)
Discuss genre.
Ask children if they think the book is real or make believe. Turn to a
neighbor and tell them why you think the book is real or make believe.
Tell children, This type of book is known as a picture book, and it is make-
believe, so we would call this book fiction.

DURING READING
Think Alouds are the words and thoughts that one thinks in her head
while reading and says them aloud, before, during or after reading.

Guided Questions assist the students in understanding the story by

asking questions which will enable them to grasp the meaning, using good
comprehension strategies.
Ask the children, One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and
pop! out of the egg What do you think that pop looked like?
(Children will visualize the caterpillar popping out of the egg)
Ask the children, five oranges, but he was still hungry. What
kinds of food do you think the caterpillar is going to eat next?
(Children will predict what happens next)
 Ask the children, What do you think these tiny holes in the fruit are
there for? What are they supposed to be or what do they mean?
(Children will ask questions to describe illustrations)
Ask the children, That night he had a stomachache! Can you think
of a time where you ate so much you had a stomachache? (Children
will connect what the character feels to a time they felt this way
before)
VOCABULARY: Ask the children, He built a small house, called a
cocoon, around himself. Does anyone recognize any of our
vocabulary words? What does it mean? (Children will recognize
vocabulary words.

AFTER READING
Guided Questions and Think Alouds
Ask children, Do you think that the butterfly is going to be hungry soon?
What kinds of food do you think it is going to eat? (Children will infer what
they think the character is going to do.
Ask children, Think about what you thought was going to happen in the
story. Is that what happened? Were your predictions right? (Children will
confirm predictions)
Children will confirm predictions.

Closure: Turn to your neighbor and tell them what kinds of food the
caterpillar ate throughout the story. Then, your neighbor will tell you how
the caterpillar felt after eating those foods, and what happened at the end
of the story.
Assessment: Formative or Summative
Formative Assessment (process): By listening to student responses
throughout the read aloud, we can assess how much students are gaining
comprehension of the story.
Formative Assessment (product): Students will use puppets to retell
the story in order from beginning to end using new vocabulary words.
Formative Assessment (product): Students will be given pictures or
cut-outs of objects that are in the story, and will have to put them in order
based on what happened in the story. (pictures could include: fruit, junk
food, big caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly)
Rubric/Checklist:
Children are able to retell the story in order from beginning to end
independently, with support, not at all
Children are able to place objects in the correct sequence independently,
with support, not at all
Differentiation: Content, Process, or Product
Product: Children who need support to retell the story using puppets will
require more prompting of ideas from the teacher.
Children who need support to place the objects in the correct order will be
given less cut-outs.
Materials/Resources/Technology
1. Materials students will need: puppets, object cut-outs
2. Materials teachers will need: Book to be read aloud, puppets, object
cut-outs
3. Teachers preparation for the lesson: See Learning Activities.
Reflection (responses regarding strengths, areas needing
improvement for next time, and ideas for follow-up)